In only the second year of their return to endurance sportscar racing, Porsche won the 83rd running of 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber ending Audi’s run of five straight wins at the famed event.
The trio ran trouble-free and led the race for more than half the duration, eventually crossing the line by a margin of a lap. Nick Tandy was arguably the star of the day while Force India F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg is also set to make headlines for winning the prestigious event on his debut.
The #17 Porsche of full-season drivers Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Berhnard finished on the podium in second place, despite a one-minute stop-go penalty for overtaking rival cars in a slow zone.
The pole-sitting #19 car could have ensured a podium lockout for Porsche, had it not been for an incident involving Neel Jani.
AUDI MANAGES A BEST FINISH OF THIRD
The #7 Audi of last year’s winners Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer salvaged the final spot on the rostrum, despite showing strong pace throughout the race. An early puncture, a drive through penalty, and a trip to the garage for change of bodywork had dropped the trio out of contention for outright victory.
The other two Audis also ran into all sorts of troubles, eventually crossing the line in fourth and seventh places respectively.
With Audis and Porsches battling at the front, Toyota was relegated to the position of the third best LMP1 team, with their two cars finishing in sixth and eighth places respectively.
Nissan endured a dismal weekend on their return to Le Mans, with only one of their three radical GT-R LM Nismos making it to the chequered flag.
24 HOURS OF LE MANS - LMP1 RESULTS
- Hulkenberg/Tandy/Bamber (#19 Porsche)
- Webber/Hartley/Bernhard (#17 Porsche) +1 lap
- Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer (#7 Audi) +2 laps
- Di Grassi/Duval/Jarvis (#8 Audi) +3 laps
- Jani/Dumas/Lieb (#18 Porsche) +4 laps
- Wurz/Sarazzin/Conway (#2 Toyota) +8 laps
- Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Rast (#9 Audi) +8 laps
- Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima (#1 Toyota) +9 laps
- Abt/Kraihamer/Imperatori (#13 Rebellion) +59 laps
- Heidfeld/Prost/Beche (#12 Rebellion) +65 laps
KCMG OUTFIT TAKES LMP2 VICTORY DESPITE TROUBLES
The KCMG outfit survived a scare when Richard Bradley got struck in the escape road at Arnage to take LMP2 victory ahead of last year’s winners Jota Sport and the two G-Drive entries.
The sole Murphy Prototypes entry of Karun Chandhok/Mark Patterson/Berthon Nathanael were running in the top three before an accident and the subsequent repair task relegated the Irish team to fifth in the final classifications.
CHEVROLET CORVETTE AND SMP RACING SHARE GTE WINS
Chevrolet Corvette and AF Corse were embroiled in a race long battle in GTE Pro before gearbox issues for the latter allowed the Corvette to take class win. The two AF Corse run Ferraris, nevertheless, finished second and third, albeit five and seven laps down respectively.
In GTE Am, SMP Racing enjoyed a comfortable win in the hands of Victor Shaytar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov. Dempsey-Proton Racing finished second in the Porsche 911 RSR while Scuderia Corsa ensured two Ferrari cars finished in the top-three.
Aston Martin remained eluded of a podium finish in both GTE classes.
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