Unfortunate car failure deprives Lopez’s team–and gives Nakajima’s team–the win at LeMans.
LE MANS, France—June 19th—After leading most of the night–and dominating the 97th running of the 24 Hours of LeMans–Toyota driver Jose Maria Lopez was only 30 minutes away from glory. But a sensor on his front dashboard indicated a slow puncture, which cost him and his teammates a chance for victory, giving the Japanese senior car of Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastian Buemi, and Fernando Alonso their second win in a row at the Circuit de la Sarthe Sunday afternoon.
With this victory, Nakajima, Buemi, and Alonso also clinched the World Endurance title.
But despite his goal of winning a world championship was achieved, Alonso felt that the race was given to his team. “The main goal was to get the championship,” stated Alonso. “But the race was given to us, and the #7 (Toyota) deserved to take the victory because they were quicker than us. Today we feel fortunate, and we don’t deserve it, but we will take it.”
Lopez’s Toyota car, which was also driven by Briton Mike Conway and Japanese ace Kamui Kobayashi, got off to a great start and was on a sprint race in the first two hours. By four hours into the French classic, the team had an hour lead over Alonso’s entry, which had a balance problem for most of the race.
But the balance problem improved and by the early part of the morning hours, and both Toyotas were reversing leads. That is until one hour from the end of the race. That’s when Lopez stepped into the car and took the lead until the tire issue dropped him down to the second, where he eventually finished.
While there were no real challenges from other manufacturers in the LMP 1 Division, the other three groups had closer competition.
The LMP 2 class was a battle all night between the two rivals from last season–G-drive and the French Signatech Alpines. The former won the race last season but was disqualified because of an unbalanced race car, giving the win to the French team. The G-Drive could not keep their car in this year’s race. After battling the Alpines most of the night, the car had problems with everything, which gave the French a fashionable and fair win–and just like the Toyotas–a class championship.
The GME Pro class was supposed to be a fight between the Aston Martins, Corvettes, and Fords (competing in this class for the last time). But there was a different outcome. Following a fight among these manufacturers, it came down to a familiar sight–a duel between Porsche and Ferrari–with Ferrari winning in a car driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Daniel Sierra. The Prancing Horse won at this venue for the first time since 2012.
“It is amazing, amazing what we did, and it is great for Ferrari,” said an emotional Guidi afterward. “We worked so hard for this, and we gave everything, everything for 24 hours. We worked like crazy from beginning to end, and it is difficult to believe.”
For the amateurs, the private entry of Keating Motorsports (with a Ford entry and Wynn sponsorship) surprised everyone by holding off challengers to win their first international race. Car owner Ben Keating gave Ford Motorcar more ammunition by announcing afterward that another car will be in the team next season.
With the “Super Season” of 2018/19 now complete, the 2019/20 season begins September 1 at the Silverstone circuit in England.
