24 Hours of Le Mans: The Return of the King Porsche

Porsche reconnects with its glory days

It’s a historic page that was written during this 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. King Porsche, record holder for the number of victories (now 17), has reclaimed its throne seventeen years after the triumph of the Aïello-Ortelli-McNish trio on the 911 GTi 98. Their brilliant successors are named Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy, and Nico Hülkenberg: collectively, they only had five participations at Le Mans! This highlights the fact that their victory—against the two other Porsche cars and the three Audis—has all the makings of a courageous feat. The Force India driver, actively competing in F1 this season, achieves an unforgettable performance which should inspire (or cause regrets for?) many of his peers.

Two years after its return to endurance racing (and 45 years after its first victory at Le Mans), Porsche dethrones Audi. The brand with the rings had claimed victory (almost) uninterruptedly since the year 2000. The impressive technological level of Porsche’s cars overcame the experience of Dr. Ullrich’s teams. Is this a turning point in the history of Le Mans? Will we see Audi (a member of the Volkswagen Group, just like Porsche) turn towards F1 in the near future? The following months will provide answers; but for now, the Porsche heir could savor, with tears in his eyes, the return to the top of the former team of the gentleman driver, Jacky Ickx.

The initial expectations of the public were not disappointed: the race was tough into Saturday night and severely tested both the mechanics and the drivers. As often at Le Mans, the concentration of each driver and the resilience of each car made the difference. The gaps were firmly established during the last hour of a race that slipped away from Audi for reasons that were not anticipated before the competition began…

Audi: reliability wasn’t quite there

Indeed, while reliability was supposed to be one of Audi’s strengths, it was not the case during the final hours of the race. The third and ultimate (albeit slim) hope for the brand with the rings, car No. 7 led by the formidable trio Lotterer-Tréluyer-Fässler had to make two pit stops in two laps: the first time to fix the persistent rear hood problems (which risked coming apart), and another time to add oil.

In these conditions, two hours from the finish and three laps behind the Porsches, there is not enough time to catch up, as André Lotterer confided to the Eurosport microphone. Even though the race was decided, the Porsches and Audis continued to attack throughout the end of the race, including when the rain made a timid appearance in the final half-hour, without any consequences or tire changes for the drivers involved.

The performance of the Porsches must therefore be acknowledged, as they have, unlike last year, brilliantly achieved the success of reliability. It is indeed on this point that the 24 Hours of Le Mans were decided—as is often the case—because in race pace, under regular conditions, the Audis often proved to be the fastest. During the last two hours, André Lotterer’s Audi was consistently finishing its laps one second faster than the leading Porsche.

Thin consolation for the four-ring brand: the Porsche No. 17 is not competing in the world championship, and the Lotterer-Tréluyer-Fässler trio, winners of the first two races, is still in the best position for the season. Nevertheless, it’s the end of a long reign for Audi; the four-ring brand had only been beaten since 2000 by Bentley (in 2003) and Peugeot (in 2008).

Nico Hülkenberg: First Attempt, Masterstroke

The victory of Porsche No. 19 was largely built during the night, thanks to the devastating stint by Nico Hülkenberg. The German Force India driver, who was naturally participating in Le Mans for the first time, impressed observers, delivering a performance worthy of the seasoned veterans of the discipline, and reminded everyone that F1 and Endurance are much more complementary today than in the past.

Porsche therefore wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its third car entered, which is quite a surprise. Nico Hülkenberg’s victory definitely marks the annals of motorsport, as it is the first time since 1991 that a Le Mans winner is a driver still active in Formula 1 (the predecessors being Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot in a Mazda 787B).

Faster at the end of the race than its brilliant predecessor, the Porsche n°17 (Bernhard-Webber-Hartley) hardly deserved any blame and deserved its second place. Nevertheless, a severe one-minute stop-and-go penalty received on Saturday night, just before midnight, for overtaking under yellow flags, condemned this crew from being able to fight to the end for the final victory. This marks two years in a row that the former Red Bull driver, Mark Webber, narrowly misses the mark on mancelle soil…

Toyota and Nissan are betting on 2016

The Germany-Japan duel didn’t truly take place: the German cars significantly outpaced their Japanese counterparts, who are expected to be much closer next year. The first TS040 Hybrid (the Wurz-Sarrazin-Conway team) finished 6th, 8 laps behind the leader, while the Buemi-Davidson-Nakajima trio could only manage an 8th place, behind the Audi No. 9 of Filipe Albuquerque, René Rast, and Marco Bonanomi. For 2016, Toyota is expected to rely on an increased budget and several technological innovations that were sorely lacking this year – the much-anticipated rain only arrived twenty minutes before the finish.

As expected, the Nissan Nismos – revolutionary but deserving of their designation as « prototypes » – suffered considerably. Only one car made it to the finish (dozens of laps behind the leaders), with various reliability issues affecting vehicles that had yet to participate in a WEC championship event. The learning curve, however, is promising for these ambitious prototypes.

The lower categories

In LMP2, the Nissan Oreca 05 No. 47 driven by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre, Richard Bradley, and Matthew Howson encountered no reliability issues to claim victory over the Gibson 015S of the Turvey-Dolan-Evans trio. The Chinese team KCMG secures its first win at Le Mans – the first for a Chinese constructor. The Ligier No. 26 of the G-Drive Racing team, driven by Sam Bird, Julien Canal, and Roman Rusinov, finishes in third place.

The GTE Pro category provided plenty of spectacle. The No. 64 Corvette, driven by Oliver Gavin, Jordan Taylor, and Tommy Milner, ultimately claimed the laurels, ahead of the No. 71 Ferrari driven by James Calado, Davide Rigon, and Olivier Beretta. The No. 97 Aston Martin (Bell-Mücke-Turner), which was leading solo for a long time, had to withdraw due to engine failure. Disappointment will also be significant for the No. 51 Ferrari (Vilander-Bruni-Fisichella), which encountered transmission issues during the final hours of the race.

But what then of the drama that unfolded in GTE Am? The Aston Martin Vantage No. 98 was alone in the lead, with a two-lap advantage, less than an hour before the finish… when Paul Dalla Lana went straight into a barrier. The retirement followed, to the utter dismay of the desperate mechanics. The harsh law of Le Mans benefited the SMP Racing team and the Ferrari No. 72 of Victor Shaytar, Andrea Bertolini, and Aleksey Basov, who claimed an unexpected victory.

Final ranking of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (LMP1):

Porsche No.19 (Bamber-Hülkenberg-Tandy)

2. Porsche No. 17 (Bernhard-Hartley-Webber)

3. Audi No. 7 (Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer)

Audi No. 8 (Di Grassi-Duval-Jarvis)

5. Porsche No. 18 (Dumas-Jani-Lieb)

6. Toyota No. 2 (Wurz-Sarrazin-Conway)

Audi No. 9 (Albuquerque-Bonanomi-Rast)

8. Toyota No. 1 (Davidson-Buemi-Nakajima)

9. Rebellion No. 13 (Imperatori-Kraihamer-Abt)

10. Rebellion No. 12 (Beche-Heidfeld-Prost)