Ferrari repeated last year’s victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours in a race of ever-changing fortunes in mixed conditions.
The number 50 car, sister machine to last year’s race-winner, took the chequered flag 14 seconds ahead of the number seven Toyota. Nicklas Nielsen, who shared his car with Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina, drove a carefully-managed final stint in worsening conditions to eke out his energy as the number seven Toyota closed in.
Jose Maria Lopez, who was drafted in alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries as a late substitute for the injured Mike Conway, was told to back off in the final half hour. But he pressed on in pursuit of Nielsen, more than halving the gap between them as Nielsen crossed the line with just 2% of his energy remaining.
Ferrari’s hopes suffered a double blow shortly after the 22-hour mark, at which point their factory cars held the top two places. First Alessandro Pier Guidi in the second-place number 51 car was passed by Lopez in the number seven Toyota.
Then the race director warned the race-leading 499P it had to take action over its loose right-hand door. The team urged Nielsen to try everything to close it, knowing he would be summoned into the pits if he couldn’t. Race director Eduardo Freitas took several laps to issue his warning, and though Ferrari eventually succumbed to the inevitable and brought Nielsen in, the timing of his early pit stop compromised them less than it might have done.
That left Nielsen out of sync with the remaining leaders as the laps ticked down. But a delay for Brendon Hartley in the sister number eight Toyota, knocked into a spin by Pier Guidi’s Ferrari at Mulsanne, cost it well over half a minute, and left Ferrari with only one of their Japanese rivals to worry about. Pier Guidi was penalised five seconds for the contact.
Car 50 made its final pit stop with 50 minutes remaining. With the track damp and drying at this stage, Nielsen’s chances of winning seemed slim. But more rain arrived, and with it energy consumption fell, playing into their hands.
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Meanwhile the number seven Toyota was losing time. A spin at the first chicane and a loss of power delayed Lopez’s pursuit. Although his last pit stop left him with all the power he needed, he struggled to bring the Ferrari’s lead down as the conditions worsened again. With 17 minutes remaining,…
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