Motorsport
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Unbelievable twist hands Porsche its 18th victory.
For most of the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota seemed on track to finally land its first win in the world’s toughest sports car endurance race. It had been a tense battle between Toyota and Porsche with their prototype racers separated by only seconds for the majority of the classic. But Toyota, with surprising pace and slightly better fuel consumption and therefore reduced time in the pits, seemed to have the slightest of edges.
After a painfully long pause, #5 eventually restarted and completed the final lap…but in a further knife to the heart, it moved too slowly to be classified as a finisher.
With a mixture of incredulity and elation, Jani, Dumas and Lieb, celebrated on the podium in front of a huge crowd of 263,500. The drenching wet start to the race behind the safety car at 3pm Saturday seemed an eternity earlier..
Mark Webber’s Le Mans dream went all nightmarish around 11pm on Saturday – after eight hours – when his Porsche overheated with water pump issues whilst fighting up front, leaving the #2 sister car to continue the fight.
The two Toyotas and lone Porsche duked it out with often only seconds overing the three-way battle for glory.
A regular winner in the modern era of endurance racing, Audi struggled after early turbocharger failure.
The race was one of the closest in Le Mans history, with three cars locked in an intense battle for supremacy whilst weaving through the still-heavy traffic – 50 of the 60 starters were running at the finish.
All three contenders had kept up a relentless pace through the night and into the last phase of the race before the second Toyota lost time to have bodywork repaired.
“It’s hard to find the words for what has happened today,” said a shattered Buemi. “We were in control of the race and were so close to the win that we all want. This is the biggest race of the year so it’s even tougher to accept. It is so disappointing for the whole team; we did the right preparation and we had the car to win. So we already look to next year when the target will be clear.”
After a long stop for repairs the Webber Porsche fought back to finished 13th overall, Queanbeyan’s favourite son commenting: “I’m happy for our team mates and Porsche. But what has happened to Toyota is really hard to take and you have to feel for them.”
The revival of the hectic Ferrari versus Ford rivalry of 50 years ago was no fizzer with the two legendary Le Mans brands fighting hard throughout in the GTE Pro category, with the Blue Oval finally gaining the upper hand.
Aussie Ryan Briscoe’s Ganassi Ford GT took third in class and 21st overall.
