2019 24 Hours of Le Mans – 87th Edition

Final-Hour Heartbreak Hands Victory and 2018-2019 Title to Buemi, Nakajima and Alonso

The day before the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans saw Bentley celebrate its centenary anniversary with a display of its racing cars, including its most Le Mans race winner, the Speed 8, which claimed the 2003 overall victory – a sixth win for the Crewe-based marque. An alternative fuel car was showcased of the ACO’s ‘Mission H24’ aspirations as a hydrogen fuel and KERS hybrid prototype was exhibited, later running on the circuit the following day. With over 650 horsepower at its disposal and upwards of a 300km/h top speed, the LMPH2G offers a potential alternative drivetrain for future generations of sports car racing.

Following the withdrawal of the #99 Dempsey-Proton Porsche following its crash during Wednesday’s Free Practice session, 61 cars lined up on the grid, coming together from no fewer than four sportscar racing series – FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – plus a privateer entry with the #85 Keating Motorsports Ford GT, making its debut race, for the 87th edition of the world’s most famous and iconic motor race. Six-time Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx, serving as Grand Marshal of the race, led the field of cars, headed by polesitter Mike Conway, at the wheel of the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050, who would first receive the Tricolor from Princess Charlene of Monaco, officially starting the race at 1500 hours on 15th June 2019.

#8 Toyota Drivers Become 2018-19 World Champions

While only a retirement or extended stint in the pits had any chance of denying the #8 Toyota from claiming the drivers championship, the drivers of its sister #7 car were hungry for victory, having maintained a faster pace over the week at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Having resorted to return to the 2018 car setup albeit on different tyre compounds in 2019, the trio of drivers of the #7 car opted for a more familiar and balanced car for endurance than the qualifying setup that offered a marginal single-lap benefit in terms of pace. Although Mike Conway said he would be cautious during the race while serving a suspended three-minute penalty following a collision during Q1, he set the pace early on in LMP1, lapping the 8½-mile circuit in 3:17.297 on only his fourth tour, which would become the fastest lap over the 24 hours of running. By the sixth hour into the race, the #7 car was leading its fellow #8 Toyota by over a minute though this would be slashed by a safety car period and turn to a change of the lead following a full-course yellow period as the #8 car benefitted from a reduced net loss of time during the pit stops and jumped its sister car.

In a later admission by Kazuki Nakajima, Sébastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso, they were never fully happy with the balance of the #8 car and could not maintain their lead going into the night as the #7 came back to the front of the field. As daybreak approached into the morning, the gap between the pair of hybrid cars exchanged quicker and slower laptimes, heading toward the final hour of the race with José María López at the wheel of the #7 Toyota leading Nakajima in the #8 Toyota by two minutes but López’ car reported a puncture in his right-front tyre, forcing a tyre change. Toyota’s strategy team opted to change only the reportedly punctured tyre as it argued that changing all four tyres to previously used ones carried greater risks of being punctured later in the race. However, this decision proved to be decisive and extremely costly as what was later revealed to be an incorrectly connected sensor loom reported the incorrect tyre having lost pressure – in reality, the left-rear tyre had experienced a puncture. The forced return to the pits for another change of tyres handed the lead of the race to Nakajima, who would go on to win the race (with Buemi, Alonso) by just 17 seconds, completing 385 laps of the Le Mans Circuit. Victory for Buemi, Nakajima and Alonso secured the World Championship for the trio in the conclusion of the 2018-2019 FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season.

The non-hybrid LMP1 cars had extremely mixed fortunes as SMP Racing’s Vitaly Petrov, Mikhail Aleshin and Stoffel Vandoorne had a largely trouble-free race, starting 5th on the grid in the #11 car to finish 3rd overall, six laps down on the lead with only a puncture and a front end change over the 24 hours slowing the car down. After two extremely difficult seasons with McLaren in Formula 1, Vandoorne had an extremely impressive debut at Le Mans, arguably being the quickest of SMP Racing’s six drivers and driving the car for the longest total period of time with more than 9 hours behind the wheel. The #17 SMP Racing did not fare as well as it was forced to retire due to an overnight crash so heavy that it triggered a warning light that would force Egor Orudzhev to withdraw on medical grounds even if the car could have been repaired. The #17 car was in contention to secure a 4th place finish before its as both Rebellions lacked overall pace, compounded by accidents and penalties, seeing the #1 and #3 duo claim 4th and 5th in the race, 9 and 15 laps down respectively. Adorning a Gulf Racing livery, the #10 DragonSpeed competed for the last time at Le Mans/WEC in LMP1 before the team switches its attention to an IndyCar programme for 2020. However, it was forced to retire after completing a mere 76 laps due to unresolved electrical problems. The ByKolles team’s limited running of the #4 car after a mid-season change of engine hurt its race. Though it was potentially in line for splitting the Rebellions with their similarly wanting pace, ByKolles simply lacked the reliability to compete as a water leak cost time for repairs, only for a gear selector failure to put an end to its race almost 14 hours into the race.

Victory for #36 Signatech Alpine in LMP2 Confirms Category Win

TDS Racing initially led the LMP2 field with Matthieu Vaxiviere starting the race in the #28 car though by a few hours in, the battle for the class win came between the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus of Roman Rusinov, Jean-Éric Vergne and Job van Uitert and #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and André Negrão. On course for a class win, G-Drive held a 3-minute cushion over its class rival 19 hours into the race after leading for 12 hours but during a scheduled pit stop, the #26 car would not restart and with not be until 20 minutes later that the problem was resolved, having been identified as wiring-related. The lost time put the #26 car four laps down from the LMP2 lead where it would go on to finish 6th in class. G-Drive’s misfortune benefitted the #36 Signatech Alpine as it left the drivers relatively unchallenged for the remainder of the race as Lapierre would take the chequered flag one lap ahead of the 2nd place LMP2 finisher (Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #38 car). Lapierre’s class win helped him maintain his perfect run of four wins in as many LMP2 entries at Le Mans. The win in its category handed the French team the title of LMP2 Champions in the WEC Super Season. Taking the final step on the LMP2 podium were TDS Racing French trio of drivers of the #26 car: Matthieu Vaxivière, François Perrodoand Loïc Duval, two laps off the class lead and one lap ahead of the #22 United Autosports car driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Philip Hanson and Paul di Resta.

Calado, Pier Guidi and Serra win in LMGTE Pro but Estre and Christensen take the Championship

With a 12th place start on the grid in LMGTE Pro, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra took Ferrari’s first class win in the LMGTE Pro category at Le Mans since 2014. A myriad of safety car and FCY periods in the first hours of the race shaped the lead in the class between the #51 AF Corse and the #63 Corvette piloted by Jan Magnussen, Antonio García and Mike Rockenfeller going into the early hours of the morning. However, a crash of Nyck de Vries at Indianapolis with just under four hours remaining saw the #63 Corvette being held at the pit lane exit until a green light was given to return to the race track, gifting #51 Ferrari a one-minute advantage. Insult to injury would be added later as Magnussen hit the barrier at Porsche Curves, necessitating repairs that put it five laps down from the class lead and all but eliminating any prospect of a win. Fortunes for the #51 AF Corse and #64 Corvette were much less favourable however as the #71 Ferrari 488 GTE piloted by Sam Bird, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina retired just before the 11th hour of the race due to engine trouble and the #64 Corvette driven by Marcel Fassler, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner was forced to with withdraw due to heavy damage caused by Fassler clipping Satoshi Hoshino at Porsche Curves.

Having won the manufacturers championship in WEC, Porsche’s GT Team only had the drivers championship to fight for in the class with Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen having a sizeable lead in the points standings positioning them as clear favourites to win the championship. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR of Estre, Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor suffered a serious setback as a broken exhaust forced a long stay in the pits during the night for repairs. Though the loss of track position against much of the class put the car out of contention to win, the drivers brought the car home after 24 hours 10th in LMGTE Pro to win the title as the #51 AF Corse Ferrari’s class win denied the other Porsche GT contenders enough points to win the top the championship standings. Taking the other two steps of the podium were Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Frédéric Makowiecki in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR and its American cousin #93 car driven by Patrick Pilet along with 2015 winners Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber.

Chip Ganassi’s US and UK Ford GT teams were best of the rest behind the three trios taking to the rostrum after 24 hours. Though the #68 car driven by Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Sébastien Bourdais finished a little over 2 minutes behind the class winner but the Ford GT was later disqualified for its fuel tank being fractionally larger than the maximum permitted capacity. The #67 car (in a red & white livery resemblant of the 1967 Le Mans winning GT40) driven by Harry Tincknell, Andy Priaulx and Jonathan Bomarito was promoted to 4th in class. 5th place was given to Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Richard Westbrook while the black & white liveried #66 car (like that of the 1966 Le Mans winner) of Olivier Pla, Stefan Mücke and Billy Johnson were awarded 6th. 2019 would mark Ford’s final year of its four-year project with the GT as a manufacturer team though it is considering offering the car to a wider privateer customer base in future.

Though Aston Martin Racing enjoyed a strong performance in qualifying with Marco Sorensen setting the LMGTE Pro in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, its drivers felt that the Balance of Performance changes (reduced fuel capacity and turbo boost pressure) made their cars less than balanced in terms of competitiveness against the other cars in their class. Neither the #95 nor the #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR enjoyed a particularly successful race as Marco Sorensen would crash out at Indianapolis during the 10th hour of the race, sustaining minor injuries that would preclude him from competing at the British GT race the following weekend. Alex Lynn, driving the #97 car at the time, was spun out after contact with an LMP2 car. A lengthy stay in the pits during the night resulted in the #97 fall out of contetion completely, eventually finishing 17 laps down from the class lead, 13th in class. Aston Martin revealed at Le Mans that its Red Bull Racing-designed Valkyrie would form the basis of its hypercar, which will succeed the current LMP1 class in 2021.

Project 1 wins LMGTE Am as Keating Ford is Disqualified

A late negotiation with Ford, Multimatic and sponsors permitted Ben Keating to fund a privateer entry of the Ford GT at Le Mans, giving Keating Motorsports the distinction of being the only entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans not to already be associated with another racing series. Though it would have arguably been a more rational choice to enter a Porsche or Ferrari entry in LMGTE Am, Keating ran the #85 car team of his family name out of passion from his family’s deep-rooted history as Ford dealers. Along with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga, Keating saw his team’s Ford GT lead its class by the conclusion of the race though like the #68 car in LMGTE Pro, the #85 car was excluded from the standings due to fuel tank infringements. The disqualification handed victory to the Project 1 trio of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Edigio Perfetti in the #56 Porsche 911 RSR, all of whom had been effectively been crowned LMGTE Am Champions at Spa. Taking 2nd after 24 hours in class was the #84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 of Jeff Segal, Rodrigo Baptista and Wei Lu while Cooper MacNeil, Robert Smith and Toni Vilander of the #62 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari 488 took third.

Of the 61 starters of the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours, 47 cars were classified in the final standings along one non-classification, 11 retirements and two disqualifications. The 88th Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is due to take place on 13-14th June 2020, concluding the 2019-20 FIA WEC Super Season.

Words & images by Darren Taylor.

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