24h of Le Mans FIA endurance race - update after 23.9 hours of competition

Hello #Lemansians !

Hope you are doing well ⚡It's finish.... Small review

Welcome to the #best 24 hours of the #year here at the #Circuit des #24 #Heures in #Le #Mans. The #Sarthe track is 10 minutes to checkered flag! Get ready for last news and #enjoy #spectacular #finish of the #challenge...! ⚡⏩

Control, application, precision. Toyota has made its mark on this 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and looks set to overcome its ill luck with a one-two. Two hours of racing remain for the hybrids.

The final sprint is shaping up and Toyota is still well in control. Fernando Alonso has given up the driver’s seat of the #8 TS050 Hybrid after a good part of the morning at the wheel. An identical situation for the #7 sister car which had been in the possession of José María López. The two men handed over to the two Japanese drivers. Kazuki Nakajima is now at the wheel of the #8 TS050 Hybrid and Kamui Kobayashi is in second place with the #7 TS050 Hybrid. The two drivers should stay in place until the end of the race. A symbolic move from the Japanese manufacturer.

No change at the top of the LMP2 standings in the last hour. There are now two laps between the leading #26 Oreca 07 – Gibson of G-Drive Racing and the #36 Alpine A470 – Gibson.

Two teams that were showing well in the early stages of the race have suffered serious mechanical issues. They are IDEC Sport with a gearbox problem, which has forced its retirement, and Panis-Barthez Compétition (clutch). The number of cars not finishing the race now stands at 14.

The level of suspense is still as high in the LMGTE Pro class behind the all-conquering Pink Pig (#92 Porsche 911 RSR). The battle between the #91 Porsche 911 RSR and the #68 and #67 Ford GTs continues to rage. Porsche holds the upper hand but the Ford drivers are pulling out all the stops to stay in touch. In the last hour, the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GTE with Alex Lynn at the wheel put in a lap at a very slow speed. It is now 16 laps down on the class leader.

There has been some changes to the LMGTE Am leaderboard. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR is still out in front, but the Ferrari 488 GTE of Keating Motorsport is no longer in hot pursuit! Ben Keating made a mistake at Mulsanne and went off into the gravel trap. The car had to be pulled out by the marshals before the team boss could set off again. He slipped back to third, one lap down. The Ferrari 488 GTE of Spirit of Race slipped into second place, but subsequently lapped by the class leader.

Best comment: It's a shame the 24 Hours of Le Mans is only once a year, they should organise it every two or three weeks!
said: Fernando Alonso, #8 Toyota

Highlights:

12:39 Driver change in the #8 Toyota TS050-Hybrid as Fernando Alonso hands over the wheel to Kazuki Nakajima, with approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes left to go in the race.

12:59 The race looks settled at this point but in Endurance you'll never know. We're currently the second Aston. 22 down, 2 hours to go.

13:16 It appears that the United Autosport #32 Ligier JSP217 driven by Hugo De Sadeleer has a left-rear puncture.

13:20

13:30 The #7 Toyota is moving slowly with an hour and 30 minutes to go.

13:33 Drama! The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid with @kamui_kobayashi at the wheel was moving agonisingly slowly for a few minutes and has pitted with an hour and 35 mins to go. A fuel problem? #LEMANS24 @Toyota_Hybrid

14:09 Jenson Button has gone off at Indianapolis with the #11 BR Engineering BR1 - AER and the car is stopped on the track.

Standings after 23 hours:

The finish is always a special moment in every motorsport discipline, and in many other sports too. It is especially so when the event lasts as long and feelings and emotions are on overload. Throughout the history of the 24 Hours, there have been memorable finishes like in 2016 when Kazuki Nakajima (Toyota TS050 Hybrid) missed out on victory by four minutes, leaving the Porsche 919 Hybrid to steal the win! There was also the 1966 race concluded by a 20-metre winning margin for Ford. Here’s a brief recap of the tightest finishes and the biggest landslides.

The closest finishes

1966 FORD (Amon/McLaren) – FORD (Miles/Hulme): 20 metres

1969 FORD (Ickx/Oliver) – PORSCHE (Larrousse/Herrmann): 120 metres

1933 ALFA ROMEO (Nuvolari/Sommer) – ALFA ROMEO (Chinetti/Varent): 401 metres

2011 AUDI (Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer) – PEUGEOT (Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud): 775 metres (13.854 seconds)

2004 AUDI (Ara/Capello/Kristensen) – AUDI (Davies/Herbert/Smith): 2.267 km (41.354 seconds)…

2017 PORSCHE (Bernhard/Bamber/Hartley) – ORECA (Tung/Laurent/Jarvis): 13.82 km

The widest gaps at the finish

1934 ALFA ROMEO (Chinetti/Etancelin) – RILEY (Sébilleau/Delaroche): 180.208 km

1981 PORSCHE (Ickx/Bell) – RONDEAU (Haran/Streiff/Schlesser): 186.025 km

1963 FERRARI (Scarfiotti/Bandini) – FERRARI (Beurlys/Langlois): 215.390 km

1987 PORSCHE (Stuck/Bell/Holbert) – PORSCHE (Yver/de Dryver/Laesssig): 259.785 km

1927 BENTLEY (Benjafield/Davis) – SALMSON (De Victor/Hasley): 349.808 km

Driver’s impressions...

Nicolas Lapierre, #36 Alpine A470, Signatech Alpine Matmut (LMP2): Irrespective of the result, finishing is already a victory in itself! The fatigue hits you when the pressure suddenly drops. Emotions are running high and that’s why you often see people crying. It’s a special moment. So if on top of all that, there is a result that the entire team has been pursuing for months, that’s fantastic [Lapierre has won the LMP2 class twice].

Olivier Beretta, #70 Ferrari 488 GTE, MR Racing (LMGTE Am): It’s magic… if you’re in front [laughs]. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve quite a few top 3 finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans [including six GT wins] and it’s really special. If you run a good race, without too many snags, and you cross the finish line, then it’s a great feeling.

At the finish, all the magic of Le Mans finds its true meaning!
said André Lotterer

Toyota deserved the success - two cars finish the race without problems.

FINAL result

1st PLACE

2nd PLACE