Ferrari 499P Hybrid Hypercar WEC’s crew, Spanish driver Miguel Molina, Italian driver Antonio Fuoco, and Danish driver Nicklas Nielsen have a good time on the rostrum after profitable Le 24 Hours of Le Mans sports-car race Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Le Mans, France. (AP Photograph/Jeremias Gonzalez)
Ferrari gained a wild and moist 92nd version of the Le Mans 24 Hours race on Sunday.
Nicklas Nielsen took the chequered flag after a classic and grueling race, the Dane sharing driving duties within the Italian constructor’s No 50 automobile with Italian Antonio Fuoco and Spaniard Miguel Molina.
Toyota’s No 7 automobile took second with Ferrari’s No 51 automobile, which triumphed final yr, finishing the rostrum.
Twenty-four lengthy hours, 311 laps and 4,238 kilometers after French soccer nice Zinedine Zidane had despatched the 62 car-grid on its manner on Saturday, the Ferrari that emerged victorious after a basic model of motorsport’s supreme endurance take a look at.
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Porsche’s pole-sitting No 6 automobile narrowly missed a podium place in fourth forward of Toyota’s No 8 automobile, with simply over a minute masking the primary 5.
In an attritional affair, the evening proved lengthy and tedious with incessant rain forcing lengthy yellow flag intervals.
That diminished the gleaming high-spec racing automobiles able to going properly in extra of 300kph to pottering alongside at speeds usually related to a household hatchback heading to the native grocery store.
Drivers like Toyota’s earlier winner New Zealander Brendon Hartley complained of knee cramp as they have been unable to place their foot on the fuel within the confined cockpits.
READ: ‘Improbable’ Ferrari makes triumphant return at Le Mans
Molina always complained of boredom on the crew radio.
This yr’s Le Mans set an invidious document of over six hours-racing neutralized by security automobiles. 4 have been used at anyone time, with some even having ‘to pit’ to refuel.
Mechanics used the interval to seize some a lot wanted slumber, however that was not a luxurious all of the unpaid monitor marshalls from France and Britain may afford.
Daytime mayhem
Spanish driver Miguel Molina, proper, Italian driver Antonio Fuoco, left, and Danish driver Nicklas Nielsen, driving the automobile, a Ferrari 499P Hybrid Hypercar of WEC’s crew, have a good time after profitable Le 24 Hours of Le Mans sports-car race Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Le Mans, France. (AP Photograph/Jeremias Gonzalez)
On the halfway level – 0400 native time – with the rain tipping down, visibility minimal and the spray flying at nighttime – Hartley’s Toyota led Kevin Estre in one in every of Porsche’s six Hypercar entries.
After daylight broke over the saturated Sarthe circuit, the security automobiles retreated to offer the weary 250,000 crowd a welcome daybreak refrain of automobile engines roaring once more in anger.
Nocturnal tedium made manner for daytime mayhem.
At round 0930, mechanics within the Aston Martin storage had their hearts of their mouths watching Daniel Mancinelli endure a terrible-looking crash.
The 35-year-old Italian rolled his automobile, and there was an agonizing wait earlier than he pressured open his aspect door and scrambled out, fortunately unscathed.
With six hours to go and a restart after one other security automobile interlude Earl Bamber within the No. 2 Cadillac was informed on the crew radio “it’s time to make the eagle fly”.
The closing hours developed right into a mesmerizing battle between 4 constructors – Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota and Cadillac.
Ferrari’s No 50 automobile led from final yr’s profitable No 51 automobile with underneath 120 minutes to go, from Toyota’s No 7 then the No 2 Cadillac.
Nielsen within the main Ferrari then needed to pit after orders from race management because of an unsafe open door which he had tried frantically to close himself.
That gifted Jose Maria Lopez’s Toyota the lead however solely momentarily as Nielsen with an hour remaining had regained management, the Dane establishing a 30sec cushion because the lengthy awaited 1400GMT end approached.
A frantic conclusion within the rain, with pit stops aplenty triggered a number of adjustments within the lead with Ferrari crossing the road 14 seconds forward.
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With winners, come losers and one crew leaving a memorable version of a race first staged in 1923 downcast, have been Alpine, whose two automobiles failed to complete, and motorcycling legend Valentino Rossi, whose BMW within the LMGT3 class crashed out.