Ferrari made a triumphant return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after a 50-year absence, to win the centenary edition of the mythical endurance race, thwarting Toyota’s bid for a sixth successive victory.
The hybrid Ferrari 499P driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guido and Antonio Giovinazzi took the 10th victory for the Cavallino Rampante brand, its first since 1965, when it crossed the finish line with 342 laps and 1.21.793 minutes ahead of the second classified, Sébastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley (Toyota).
Eral Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook (Cadillac) rounded out the podium, already one lap down.
Toyota started to dominate operations, attempting for its sixth straight French race victory, but this time it was thwarted by the other manufacturers, who proved more competitive.
Porsche, Cadillac and Peugeot also took the lead in a race that was still affected by the rain that fell on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
With five hours to go, Alessandro Pier overtook Guido Sebastien Buemi to take the lead, which took well over a minute. But a problem with the Ferrari during one of the pit stops shortened the lead and the two cars entered the final two hours 20 seconds apart.
Brendon Hartley caught up with the Ferrari then driven by Antonio Giovinazzi and reduced the gap to 10 seconds.
At that point, Japanese driver Ryo Hirakawa made a mistake, failing to brake at Arnage and hitting the front of the Toyota against the wall; it spun and also hit the rear before coming to rest.
It was the latest step in the aspirations of the Japanese manufacturer, who had to settle for second place and miss out on a sixth successive win, something Ferrari achieved in 1965, the year of the transalpine marque’s last win at Le Mans.
In LMP2, the victory went to the Spaniard Albert Costa, the Swiss Fabio Scherer and the Pole Jakub Smiechowski, in an Oreca.
The race was unlucky for the Portuguese, with António Félix da Costa, partnered by Brit Will Stevens and China’s Ye Yifei in an official Porsche 963, having problems and completing just 244 laps, finishing in 13th place in the hypercars (major category), 40th overall.
In the second category, the LMP2, Filipe Albuquerque saw his British teammate Frederik Lubin make a mistake and go astray as they led the class, losing a lot of time to repair United Autosports’ Oreca.
The Portuguese finished his 10th participation in 11th place in LMP2, 21st overall.
“The feeling is not easy to describe. We had a very competitive car, recovering positions and confident. And a mistake by Frederik, new to the race and less experienced, ruined the chance of us being in the fight for victory. was frustrating. From that moment on, we did everything we could to finish as far ahead as possible,” said the driver from Coimbra.
The Portuguese driver also regretted the brake problems that affected his car.
“Looking at the final result of the race, the winning team was much further behind than we were at the start of the race. But the reality is that they survived without a hitch a race that was adept at adventures for the vast majority of teams,” emphasized Albuquerque, who hopes to take the second win of his career in the French race next year.
Source: DN
