Le Mans: LMP2 and LMGTE roundup reports and team quotes

LMP2 No.38 JOTA Sport Zytek Z11SN of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and late replacement Oliver Turvey who lifted the winner’s trophy

Le Mans June 15th 2014 -The 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans kept fans on the edge of their seats from the moment that Fernando Alonso waved the French Tricoleur to the chequered flag at the finish, with elation and despair being experienced in equal measure.

Deserving and joyful winners of the world’s most famous – and challenging – endurance race were André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler in the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Making it an Audi 1-2 was the Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gené crew of the No.1 Audi but it was a bitter-sweet podium place as that car had been in a strong position for victory until a turbo problem delayed it in the pits. Recovering from accident damage in the first of two heavy rain showers in the first quarter of the race, and finishing in the final overall podium place was the No.8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre, the result allowing them to keep their lead in the World Endurance Drivers Championship.

The Rebellion Racing R-One achieved its goal of finishing the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its first attempt, and the No.12 LMP1-L of Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche crossed the line 4th overall. Its sister car retired after 8 hours of racing with an engine problem.

The two Porsche 919s were competitive from the start of the race and the no20 car of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard leading for several hours before a problem with the engine put the car into retirement after 346 laps. The no14 919 of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas also had technical issues, this time with the gearbox, that forced the car into the garage for repairs. Lieb emerged on the last lap to take the chequered flag.

LMP2

LMP2 was a triumph for ELMS entrants and a disappointment for its FIA WEC runners, and the result was too close to call until the very end. The Ligier JS P2 entries performed beyond expectations for a new car, but it was the No.38 JOTA Sport Zytek Z11SN of Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and late replacement Oliver Turvey who lifted the winner’s trophy. They finished ahead of the No.46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier and the No.36 Signatech Alpine A450b Nissan. The action was closely fought, exciting to watch and perfectly demonstrated the high level of competition within the European Le Mans Series.

The only LMP2 car from the WEC to take the chequered was the no27 SMP Racing Oreca Nissan of Mika Salo, Sergey Zlobin and Anton Ladygin, which finished in 35^th overall and 11^th in LMP2. But because the other 10 cars ahead of the SMP Racing Oreca were not eligible for world championship points the team and drivers scored the 50 points on offer.

The nr37 SMP Racing Oreca Nissan of Nicolas Minassian retired on lap 9 of the race and the other two WEC LMP2 cars – the no47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan and the no26 G-Drive Morgan-Nissan – both retired following separate accidents on lap 87 and Lap 120 respectively.

LMGTE Pro

Reigning World GTE Champion driver Gianmaria Bruni, his team mates Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella were in a class of their own in the LMGTE Pro class, bringing the No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia home for their second class win in three years. The victory wasn’t achieved, however, without a huge battle for supremacy throughout the race, with the second-placed No.73 Corvette of Garcia-Magnussen-Taylor and the No.92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Frédéric Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Marco Holzer in third being among the contenders to push the Italian team hard. The victory extends Bruni and Vilander’s lead at the top of classification for the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers.

The inter-class battles began right from the start of the race, and the Ferrari had to fight hard against the American muscle cars as well as Porsches at certain points and, primarily, the No.97 Aston Martin Vantage of Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna. The British and Italian marques fought relentlessly for the lead in class, and everyone was as disappointed as Aston Martin when a power steering hose leak caused the battle to be curtailed.

Well down the order then, but scoring valuable double championship points, was the No.97 Aston Martin and the No.91 Porsche Team Manthey 911 of Bergmeister-Pilet-Tandy which was delayed by fuel pressure issues. Of special note is the finish of the No.79 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR which was crashed in qualifying, injuring one of its drivers, and Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil made a bit of modern history by competing with a two-man line up in the LMGTE Pro category instead of its planned crew of three in the LMGTE Am class.

An emotional class win for the all Danish crew No.95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicki Thiim

LMGTE Am

With hearts in mouths for a large majority of the race were the front runners from the LMGTE Am class. It was undoubtedly a very emotional victory for the No.95 100% Danish-crewed Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicki Thiim – their win being poetic justice for the loss of their friend and team mate last year, Allan Simonsen, who tragically lost his life in the 2013 race.

“We have achieved what we were aiming for last year but didn’t succeed,” commented Young Driver Team Owner Jan Struve. “We have now fulfilled it and we know that Allan has been cheering for us and smiling down on us and, of course, he has been in our thoughts.”

No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Klaus Bachler, Christian Ried and Khaled Al Qubaisi

Two laps behind the Aston Martin in LMGTE Am was the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Klaus Bachler, Christian Ried and Khaled Al Qubaisi, followed home by the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Marco Cioci, Luis Perez Companc and Mirko Venturi.

A notable retirement from this class was the pole-sitting No.81 AF Corse Ferrari of Sam Bird, Stephen Wyatt and Michele Rugolo which crashed out in the first of the two rain showers.

Driver Quotes:

Gianmaria Bruni, No.51 AF Corse Ferrari (LMGTE Pro): “It was a very good battle all the way through; very tough at the start battling with the Corvette and then again during the night with Aston Martin and into today (Sunday) with five hours to go. I had a good fight with Bruno [Senna in the No.97 Aston Martin] and took the lead, and then it changed around again – it was great racing. The result is fantastic and I’m very happy for my team mates and the team who did a great job. What we achieved today is really a team effort for everybody.”

Toni Vilander, No.51 AF Corse Ferrari (LMGTE Pro): “It’s a great result – we’ve been testing the car since the beginning of the season and the main objective is always Le Mans. You want the car to be fast everywhere but the main concern is this race. Last year was difficult for us here and we put our heads down, had a lot of meetings, comments from the drivers and a lot of engineers working on the car, so this is the best possible way to thank them. Also in the team there were guys from the Ferrari factory who stayed awake the whole race, wanting to follow every detail; they’ve been involved in F1 and everywhere in motorsport and to see their faces afterwards and the smiles, it shows how important it is. We are here to win and when we’re able to do it, it’s a very good feeling.”

Giancarlo Fisichella, No.51 AF Corse Ferrari (LMGTE Pro): “It means many things to win here but the most important is that it’s the most important and historic sports car race. I’m so proud of our win – we won in 2012 and this year, and were very close to winning in 2011. It’s a very important race for Ferrari and the team, AF Corse. They did a fantastic, brilliant job and I have to say thank you to all of them and also a big thank you to Gianmaria and Toni. It was all perfect.

“It was a very up and down race, with different tyre strategies being used at different tyres, and very tough. Aston Martin and Corvette were very quick but we were pushing hard and it went very well. The pit stops were great and we gained a few seconds there, the reliability of the car was fantastic with no issues at all, and it was another great victory.”

David Heinemeier Hansson, No.95 Aston Martin Vantage: “The key to this race is reliability. We’ve not pushed very hard but had a decent pace and made sure nothing bad happened. We had a two-lap lead because we’ve not been in the pits and that’s how you win Le Mans.

“To win is magical. It’s my third time here. The first time I tasted leading, the second time I finished second and finally I’ve stood on the top of the podium.”

Nicki Thiim, No.95 Aston Martin Vantage: “I came here and I didn’t know what to expect. Now I’m sitting here as a Le Mans winner and it is an amazing feeling. It’s been a fantastic week… everything has built up gradually to a huge climax.

“It’s the biggest endurance race in the world and the pinnacle of my sport. To be here winning with Aston Martin with such a big history at Le Mans is perfect.”