Toyota dominated the 90th running of the 24-hour classic in Le Mans: Starting from pole position, the driver trio Sebastien Buemi (Sui), Brendon Hartley (Nzl) and Ryo Hirakawa (Jpn) drove the fifth overall victory that was ultimately undisputed series one. In total, the trio completed 380 laps or 5177.88 kilometers. The only serious challenger was the Toyota sister car with Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez, which finished second.
One class lower – in the LMP2 cars – Ferdinand Habsburg’s dream of defending the title was shattered early on. After just a few bends, the man from Salzburg, who was driving for the WRT real team, suffered a puncture due to a collision between Rene Rast and Will Owen. The 24-year-old made it back to the pits under his own steam. Due to repairs to the body, he was only able to resume the race two laps down from the penultimate place.
Second victory for Lietz
Thanks to a catch-up race, Habsburg ended up in 17th place, two places behind his compatriot Rene Binder (Algarve Pro Racing). LMP2 victory went to Jota-Oreca (Gonzalez/Felix Da Costa/Stevens).
Another Austrian, Richard Lietz, cheered from the top of the podium this year. The Lower Austrian won the title in the GTE Pro category together with his Porsche teammates Gianmaria Bruni (Ita) and Frederic Makowiecki (Fra). For the 38-year-old, it was the second Le Mans success since 2010. For the first time in Le Mans history, all the cars ran on completely renewable fuel.
Source: Nachrichten
