This historic race held its 92nd edition on the Sarthe circuit, which is a semi-permanent track of more than 13.5 kilometers with 38 curves, and had a lot of Argentine prominence. In addition to “Pechito” López being on the second step of the podium In the Hypercar category, Nicolás Varrone finished fourth in the LPM2 division.
Ferrari number 50, piloted among others by the Spanish Miguel Molina, won the Hypercar category after a quite disputed development with the Argentine’s Toyota.
Historic: an Argentinian finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Molina, teaming up with the Italian Antonio Fuoco and the Dane Nicklas Nielsen, won ahead of the Toyota N.7 and another Ferrari (N.51), which had been proclaimed champion last year.
“It has been incredible, last year we were very close… It is the best day of my career. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, my parents, my wife, my children…”declared Molina in his first words after shouting champion in an exciting ending in the rain.
The Italian team was the main favorite this year, in which numerous elite manufacturers participated, such as BMW, Lamborghini, Alpine, Toyota and Porsche.
The promoters of the new premier category, the Hypercars, can be satisfied considering the spectacle experienced this year, with nine cars that finished in the same lap.
The intervention of the safety cars during the early hours of Sunday as a result of the rain helped reduce the differences between the different vehicles, which explains the short distances between nine of them.
It is worth remembering that “Pechito” was not going to be part of the HyperCar this year, but after the accident suffered by his former teammate and friend, Mike Conway, the Toyota team chose him to replace him. This is the fifth time in his career that López has managed to get on the podium at Le Mans.
For its part, Nicoass Varrone -who had just been champion in the last edition- He led the LMP2 category at times but could not hold the top and finished fourth in the race that had as winner United Autosports.
Finally, the Porsche N.91 won in LMGT3. In this same category, the Italian Valentino Rossi participated, but the Italian motorcycling legend abandoned after a teammate left the track.
Some 300,000 people attended throughout the weekend in this legendary race that lasts 24 hours on a 13.629 km circuit.
Classification
1. Antonio Fuoco – Miguel Molina – Nicklas Nielsen (ITA-ESP-DEN/Ferrari 499P N.50/Hypercar) 311 laps
2. Jose María López – Kamui Kobayashi – Nyck de Vries (ARG-JPN-NED/Toyota GR010 N.7/Hypercar) at 14.221 seconds
3. Alessandro Pier Guidi – James Calado – Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA-GBR-ITA/Ferrari 499P N.51/Hypercar) at 36,730
4. Kévin Estre – André Lotterer – Laurens Vanthoor (FRA-GER-BEL/Porsche 963 N.6/Hypercar) at 37,897
5. Sébastien Buemi – Brendon Hartley – Ryo Hirakawa (SUI-NZL-JPN/Toyota GR010 N.8/Hypercar) at 1 min 02.824
6. Matt Campbell – Michael Christensen – Frédéric Makowiecki (AUS-DEN-FRA/Porsche 963 N.5) at 1 min 45,654
7. Earl Bamber – Alex Lynn – Alex Palou (NZL-GBR-ESP/Cadillac V-Series.R N.2/Hypercar) at 2 min 34,468
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
