Buemi, Nakajima and Alonso win 24 Hours of Le Mans for Toyota

What a race for Fernando and the Japanese team!

By Franck Drui

17 June 2018 - 15:14
Buemi, Nakajima and Alonso win 24 (...)

The 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans finished with Toyota finally lifting the most coveted trophy in endurance racing after Kazuki Nakajima took the chequered flag in the no8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid two laps ahead of the no7 Toyota with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel.

It looked like the race between the two Toyotas was going to be closer but two ten second stop and go penalties, the first for exceeding the maximum number of laps per stint and the second for exceeding the fuel / quantity limit. The no7 Toyota also slowed in the penultimate hour, the car travelling back to the pits slowly. Suddenly the car was back up to speed but Kobayashi still headed to the pits for the car to be checked.

Kazuki Nakajima crossed the line and stood with Sebastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso on the top step of the podium. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez were second. The two Rebellion Racing R13s were third and fourth, with Thomas Laurent, Mathias Beche and Gustavo Menezes taking the final podium position one lap ahead of their teammates in the no1 R13-Gibson. The no5 CEFC TRSM Racing was the only other finisher in the LMP1 category, with five retirements including the no11 SMP Racing BR01-AER of Jenson Button in the final hour of the race.

Porsche converted their early domination of the race to take a 1-2 in the LMGTE Pro category. The no92 Porsche 911 RSR of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor finished the race after completing 344 laps, one more than their teammates Richard Lietz, Gimmi Bruni and Fred Makowiecki in the no91 911. This win was Porsches 106th class victory at Le Mans, which added to the 70th anniversary celebrations this week at Le Mans.

Ford finished 3rd and 4th with the no68 Ford GT finishing ahead of the no67 WEC entered car of Andy Priaulx, Harry Tincknell an Tony Kanaan, who all finished just one lap behind the winning car.

The LMP2 category was dominated by one car, the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07-Gibson of Roman Rusinov, Andrea Pizzitola and Jean-Eric Vergne. The team had travelled to Le Mans on the back of two wins at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza and a third and greatest track in endurance racing gave them three in a row.

The G-Drive Racing crew finished two laps ahead of their nearest rivals, the no36 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine A470-Gibson of Nico Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao, with another lap on the third placed car of Vincent Capillaire, Jonathan Hirschi and Tristan Gommendy in the no39 Graff-SO24 Oreca-Gibson.

There were even more celebrations for Porsche as the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR driven by Matt Cambell, Christian Ried and Julien Andlauer secured the victory in the LMGTE Am class, 1minute 39 seconds ahead of the no54 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellachi and Giancarlo Fisichella. The victory for the Dempsey Proton Porsche secured the German manufacturer their 107th class victory at Le Mans.

The 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans was the second round of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship.

How Le Mans 2018 went...

Race report after 6 hours :

The first quarter of the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is over with several safety zones and two safety cars during the first six hours of racing.

Several accidents during the first quarter but there is only one official retirement which is the no4 Bykolles Racing Team ENSO-Nismo after Dominik Kraihamer clipped a backmarker while passing and the Austrian spun off into the wall. Kraihamer emerged unscathed but the car was unable to continue.

With just over 90 laps of the 13.6km La Sarthe circuit complete the two Toyota TS050s are leading with the no8 Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima leading by just 12 seconds from the no7 TS050 of Kamui Kobayashi. The no17 SMP Racing BR01 is in third place, one lap behind the leaders and over a lap ahead of the no3 Rebellion Racing R13 of Gustavo Menezes.

In the LMGTE Pro category two of the Porsche 911s hold the upperhand, with the no92 911 of Michael Christensen holding a two minute advantage over the no93 Porsche of Patrick Pilet. The early race leader Gimmi Bruni is currently in 4th in the no91 911, 3 seconds behind the no81 BMW of Martin Tomczyk

The no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca is out in front thanks to the efforts of jean-Eric Vergne and the Russian entered team now has Roman Rusinov holding a 1 lap advantage over the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Timothe Buret.

Porsche also hold the upperhand in the LMGTE Am class after six hours of racing with the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried holding a strong lead over the no56 Team Project 911 of Edigio Perfetti. Third spot is currently held by the reigning LMGTE Am WEC champions in the no98 Aston Martin Racing, with Paul Dalla Lana at the wheel and just over three seconds behind the Team Project Porsche.

Race report after 12 hours :

he first half of the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been completed and the no7 Toyota TS050 of Jose Maria Lopez is leading the race by 77 seconds ahead of the no8 Toyota of Fernando Alonso. The no8 Toyota was penalised when Sebastien Buemi was found to have driving too fast in a slow zone and the Swiss driver was forced to serve a 60 second stop and go penalty.

The no3 Rebellion Racing R13 of Matthias Beche is running in third place, four laps behind the Toyotas and ahead of the no1 Rebellion of Bruno Senna. The no17 SMP Racing BR01 was running at the front of the field but Matevos Isaakyan spun at the Porsche Curves damaging the car. The Russian tried to clear the damaged parts of the car to get back to the pits but then the engine failed in spectacular style in a cloud of smoke and the race for the no17 was over.

In the LMGTE Pro category the two of the Porsche 911s continue to lead the class, with the no92 911 of Michael Christensen holding a one minute fifty three second advantage over the no91 Porsche of pole sitter Gimmi Bruni. The no68 Ford GT is third ad the no52 AF Corse Ferrari of Toni Vilander is fourth.

The no81 BMW M8 was handed a drive through penalty when the team refuelled the car while it was still on the skates and the earth lead wasn’t attached to the car during the refuelling process.

The no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca is still in charge in the LMP2 category with Roman Rusinov circulating 1 lap ahead of the rest of the field. Nicolas Lapierre is currently second in the no36 Signatech Alpine A470, 3 seconds ahead of the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Timothe Buret.

Porsche continue to dominate the LMGTE AM class as well as the PRO category and at the end of the twelfth hour the no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Julien Andlauer over 90 seconds ahead of the no85 Keating Motorsports Ferrari, with last years’ class winner JMW Motorsport in third.

The no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage was another retirement in second quarter when Paul Dalla Lana went off into the barriers at the Porsche Curves. The Canadian was OK but the car had to recovered to a safe area, its race run.

Race report after 18 hours :

After 18 hours of racing the two Toyota TS050 hybrids are still out in front but there has been a change for the lead. The no8 Toyota is now leading thanks to Kazuki Nakajima, who went past Kamui Kobayahsi at 06h25 this morning.

Porsche continue to dominate LMGTE, with the no92 Porsche over a lap ahead of the no91 911 RSR as the clock went past the 18 hour point. The no68 Ford GT of Dirk Muller was lying in third position, 31 seconds behind the second placed Porsche.

The no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca continued to lead the LMP2 class with Roman Rusinov still in the car at the top of the hour. The Russian team is over a lap ahead of the second placed car, the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier, with the no36 Signatech Alpine A470 a further lap behind in third.

The no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried is also still out in front of the class, over a lap ahead of the no54 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488 of Giancarlo Fisichella

There were plenty of incidents in the third quarter of the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both Toyotas had to serve stop and go penalties for speeding under slow zone regulations.

There were several cars that went off track during the night with some retirements. The no47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara went of into the gravel at Indianapolis and had to be recovered, the Italian team able to return to the track. The no82 BMW wasn’t so lucky, with Alexander Sims going off into the wall at Porsche Curves. The heavy damage forced the retirement of the car. The no84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari also went off at Porsche and there were reports of oil on track.

The no88 Dempsey-Proton Competition was another retirement from the LMGTE Am class after hitting the barriers, with the no10 Dragonspeed BR01 of Ben Hanley also going off at Porsche Curves a few minutes later.

The no52 AF Corse Ferrari had to serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

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