24 Hours of Le Mans: After the pole position, it’s a historic victory for Ferrari
Ferrari triumphed on its return to Le Mans. After a stressful and suspenseful race, everything was decided in the last hour. The Scuderia puts an end to five years of Toyota's domination in Sarthe and enters history.
This is a historic comeback. Ferrari had not competed in the top category at Le Mans for 50 years. And this comeback was brilliant. First, the Scuderia secured its first pole position here in half a century, beating Toyota. Three days later, the Reds repeated the feat by winning in Sarthe. A first since 1965.
The last two hours continued at the same pace as the previous 22. Idec Sport fell victim to a puncture, while they were in third place in LMP2. The two contenders for the overall victory continued to follow their strategy in the pits. The Ferrari #51 even managed to gain some time at the start of the 23rd hour.
Porsche still struggling with reliability
At 2:15 PM, the Toyota made a fatal mistake. At Arnage, Ryo Hirakawa completely messed up. He locked his brakes and the rear spun out. The Japanese driver hit the barrier twice. In the Ferrari camp, a few smiles appeared, but discreetly. The Japanese car went into the pits to repair all the damages. The #8 car came back out with nearly one lap behind.
In LMGTE-AM, the battle raged for victory. The Aston Martin from ORT by TF took the advantage over the Porsche of the Iron Dames with 1 hour and 20 minutes remaining.
New off-track
With half an hour to go, the Porsche number 5 experienced another mechanical issue. It had to complete half of the circuit at a very slow pace. The mechanics brought it back to the garage.
After one last scare in the stands, Ferrari number 51 maintained its advantage and sped straight towards the checkered flag. The Glickenhaus’ spin off the track with 20 minutes to go didn’t change the outcome of this centenary. Peugeot finished a distant 9th with car 93, the other car in 27th position. Cadillac number 2 completed the podium.
In LMP2, the Inter Europol #34 finished ahead of the WRT #41 after a battle of several hours. In a thrilling ending, the Corvette crossed the finish line first, after coming back from behind.
