Toyota’s Buemi car wins as turbo failure costs Conway car the victory. United Autospors takes LMP 2 class, and Aston Martin wins both GTE divisions.
LE MANS, France—September 20th—Call it bad luck or just not ever getting the chance to win the most immortal of all racing events. Still, Toyota drivers Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez had their car in the lead for nearly 12 hours at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Lemans–until the car encountered turbo failure during the night, which kept them in the garage for half an hour.
That gave the sister car–driven by Sebastian Buemi, Kaz Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley–the chance to take the lead for good, and the trio held it until the end on Sunday, winning their second Lemans race in a row.
For Hartley, it was his second win with a different manufacturer. The New Zealander replaced Fernando Alonso this season after the Spaniard won two years in a row. For Buemi, it was his third victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
“I am feeling great after winning Le Mans for the third time,” he said. “My teammates have done an amazing job. To get better is never really easy, so we pushed hard, and I’m very proud of them.”
In the same LMP 1 class, Rebellon Racing’s top car of Bruno Senna, Norman Nato, and Gustavo Mendes came in second after the lead Toyota was fixing their turbocharger. The unfortunate Toyota managed to get some luck after their repairs, as the car grabbed third place. That happened when the second Rebellion, driven by Romain Dumas, Nathaniel Berthon, and Louis Deletraz, ran wide at Indianapolis corner and damaged the front end, forcing the Swiss into the pits for repairs.
The most exciting event was the the LMP 2 class. The United Autosports car, driven by Phil Hanson, Felipe Albuquerque, and Paul Di Resta, locked horns with their sister car for most of the night until that entry dropped back.
The French Panis entry of Nicolas Jamin, Julien Canal, and Matthieu Vaxiviere grabbed their first podium when both the G-drive ran wide when his suspension broke and the Graff entry hit the barriers at the Porsche curves with one hour to go in the race. Both of those cars had a chance for a podium.
For the smaller classes, the GTE Pro mostly was a tight fight all night between the Aston Martin and the AF Corse Ferrari. However, midway through the night, the Aston Martin took the lead and won the race with Maxime Martin, Alex Lynn, and Harry Tincknell at the controls. The AF Corse’s second Aston Martin was third.
Aston Martin also won the GTE Amateur division with the private TF Sport car driven by Salih Yoluc, Charles Eastwood, and Jonathan Adam. They lead most of the race ahead of a Dempsey-Proton Porsche, which sneaked into second with two hours to go, and another Porsche Team Project 1 entry that encountered problems all night. Still, though, Astin Martin managed to improve once daylight appeared again.
Buemi joins many individuals, such as Jacky Ickx, Tom Christensen, and Henri Pescarolo, who have won Le Mans three years in a row. But one thing that Buemi remembers about this race is this: if you can win it, you must finish the race.
“Once again it shows that the luck can turn here in Le Mans because when we started the race, I had the feeling that everything was against us–slow zone, puncture, and the problem with the brakes. Suddenly, things started to go well, and we found ourselves leading the race and winning by five laps. You never know until the race is over.”
