Ferrari has done it again! Twelve months after winning the 100th Anniversary Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Italian manufacturer and its AF Corse partners have claimed their second successive victory in this thrilling endurance classic edition.
Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco aboard the team’s #50 entry, giving Ferrari its 11th overall victory in blue-ribboned sports car racing after a climactic epilogue.
The team barely beat the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, while defending winner Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari #51 completed the podium.
In a race that turned into a war of attrition against the weather from the start, the cold weather and heavy rain sporadically falling across the track made life very difficult for all teams struggling with tire selection.
Several high-profile entries succumbed to the harsh conditions, including the #46 Team WRT LMGT3, which features Alpine Hypercars and motorcycle legend Valentino Rossi in its driver line-up.
Even when the rain stopped, the break was short. The racing line dried quickly, creating additional obstacles as slower cars were forced to move off the line to allow faster competitors to overtake.
This constant give and take added another layer of complexity to an already tricky race.
However, in the early morning, track conditions and visibility deteriorated significantly, necessitating a four-and-a-half-hour safety car intervention that crippled progress for the longest time in the event’s history.
©WEC/DPPI
As dawn broke, the No. 8 Toyota emerged as the leader, and once the green flag was deployed, racing resumed after 8:30 a.m. with its Japanese rival taking over the field.
As teams used different strategies throughout the race, the actual running order was unclear until the pit stops.
The drama was heightened on the track when the #8 Toyota, a strong contender for victory, was spun by last year’s winning car, the #51 Ferrari.
The crash effectively dashed the #8 car’s hopes, with its offending Ferrari rival receiving a five-second time penalty, effectively ending its bid for victory.
©Ferrari
Things are about to get busy for leaders, too. Nielsen produced a brilliant final triple attempt, but panic ensued in the second period when the Dane had to make an early pitstop to repair an unwieldy door latch on the #50 Ferrari.
Lopez was in the #7 Toyota to chase Nielsen, but still caught up in tricky conditions, the Argentine suffered a short spin at the Dunlop Curve, putting the leading Ferrari out of reach.
However, an early pitstop left Nielsen running low on fuel. However, the #50 Ferrari 499P was able to get to the checkered flag safe and sound, 14 seconds behind Lopez’s Toyota.
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