Porsche Wins Wild 24 Hours of Le Mans

The No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid won a battle of attrition to capture the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But it didn’t look good early on for the team. The team spent more than an hour in the garage replacing a front axle in the third hour of the race. That dropped the team 18 laps behind the leader when they rejoined. But the other LMP1 cars began to fall by the wayside. Two Toyotas dropped out before the midway point of the race. Then the No. 8 Toyota ran into a problem of its own. It also needed a front motor generator unit replaced. It would have been a golden opportunity for the Bykolles privateer LMP1 team to make history. But the car suffered an engine failure just two laps into the race.

That moved the No. 1 Porsche to the front and it had a 13-lap lead but stopped on the track with four hours remaining. Suddenly the No. 2 Porsche was leading the LMP1 class. But the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing entry was the overall leader. It was the first time an LMP2 car ever held the overall lead at Le Mans. But the Porsche was faster and eventually overtook the P2 car for the overall lead and victory. The No. 38 finished second overall making it the first time since 1995 cars from two classes were on the podium.

LMGTE Pro came down to the very last lap when the No. 63 Corvette Racing C7.R suffered a punctured tire. That allowed Aston Martin to take the class victory. The No. 67 Ford GT was able to get past the limping Corvette and place second in class.

JMW Motorsports pulled a bit of stunner and won the LMGTE Am class with a crew of three rookie drivers. There was a Ferrari podium sweep with all three top finishers driving the Ferrari 488 GTE.