Ferrari out-run chasing Toyota to win again in demanding, rain-hit Le Mans

Ferrari repeated last year’s victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours in a race of ever-changing fortunes in mixed conditions.

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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.

Rain, Le Mans 24 Hours, 2024 — Persistent rain caused a four-hour overnight Safety Car period

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, Toyota told him to concentrate on bringing the car home.

Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, Toyota, Le Mans, 2024 — Toyota told Lopez to ensure they secured second place

The pole-winning number six Penske Porsche came fourth, with the delayed number eight Toyota separating it from the number five machine. The number of Penske Porsche ended its race in the Indianapolis barrier when Felipe Nasr spun out on a drying track in the 17th hour.

Cadillac hit trouble in the race’s 18th hour. First Scott Dixon came to a stop on the Mulsanne straight and had to crawl back to the pits using electrical power. Soon afterwards the number 311 Whelen Cadillac was delayed by a crash. The number two V-Series.R came in seventh, followed by the two Jota Porsches.

The first nine Hypercars home all completed 311 laps. The Lamborghinis and Peugeots occupied the next four places, two laps behind.

While the factory Ferraris finished on the podium, the AF Corse-run number 83 customer machine put up a strong challenge in the early stages. It was still in contention when it was forced to stop in the pits with less than four hours remaining. A smart decision to take soft tyres before an early, light rain shower helped Robert Kubica pull out a 20-second lead.

However their cause was derailed when Kubica tangled with Dries Vanthoor’s BMW on the Mulsanne straight, sending the number 15 car into a barrier and out of the race. Besides triggering a Safety Car period for barrier repairs which lasted over an hour and a half (during which time a dog was chased from the track), Kubica also incurred a stop-go penalty which dropped their car out of the lead.

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The car’s race came to an end shortly after Robert Shwartzman was passed by Buemi’s Toyota. Thick smoke poured from the front wheels as it came to a stop and the car was soon pushed back into the Ferrari garage, never to re-emerge.

BMW confirmed Vanthoor was uninjured in the crash. His retirement compounded a tough race for the marque, Robin Frijns having already suffered a crash in the number 20 machine when the race was just two hours old. Both Alpines retired before quarter-distance with engine trouble.

United Autosports won the LMP2 class with Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel, and Manthey’s Porsche 911 triumphed in the LMGT3 class with Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz.

The Safety Car made several appearances during the race, including a prolonged, four-hour deployment during sustained rainfall overnight. The 311 laps completed by the winners is 31 less than last year.

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Race result

Pos	No.	Class	Team	Car	Drivers	Laps
1	50	Hypercar	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 499P
2	7	Hypercar	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR010	Jose Maria Lopez/Kamui Kobayashi/Nyck de Vries	Toyota GR010 – Hybrid
3	51	Hypercar	Ferrari AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P
4	6	Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche 963	Kevin Estre/Andre Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 963
5	8	Hypercar	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR010	Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 – Hybrid
6	5	Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche 963	Matt Campbell/Michael Christensen/Frederic Makowiecki	Porsche 963
7	2	Hypercar	Cadillac Racing	Cadillac V-Series.R	Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Alex Palou	Cadillac V-Series.R
8	12	Hypercar	Team Jota	Porsche 963	Will Stevens/Callum Ilott/Norman Nato	Porsche 963
9	38	Hypercar	Team Jota	Porsche 963	Jenson Button/Philip Hanson/Oliver Rasmussen	Porsche 963
10	63	Hypercar	Lamborghini Iron Lynx	Lamborghini SC63	Mirko Bortolotti/Edoardo Mortara/Daniil Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63
11	94	Hypercar	Peugeot	Peugeot 9X8	Paul di Resta/Loic Duval/Stoffel Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8
12	93	Hypercar	Peugeot	Peugeot 9X8	Mikkel Jensen/Nico Mueller/Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8
13	19	Hypercar	Lamborghini Iron Lynx	Lamborghini SC63	Romain Grosjean/Andrea Caldarelli/Matteo Cairoli	Lamborghini SC63
14	11	Hypercar	Isotta Fraschini	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C	Antonio Serravalle/Carl Wattana Bennett/Jean-Karl Vernay	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C
15	22	LMP2	United Autosports	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Oliver Jarvis/Bijoy Garg/Nolan Siegel	Oreca 07 – Gibson
16	34	LMP2	Inter Europol Competition	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Jakub Smiechowski/Vladislav Lomko/Clément Novalak	Oreca 07 – Gibson
17	28	LMP2	IDEC Sport	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Paul Lafargue/Job van Uitert/Reshad de Gerus	Oreca 07 – Gibson
18	183	LMP2	AF Corse	Oreca 07 – Gibson	François Perrodo/Ben Barnicoat/Nicolas Varrone	Oreca 07 – Gibson
19	10	LMP2	Vector Sport	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Ryan Cullen/Patrick Pilet/Stephane Richelmi	Oreca 07 – Gibson
20	14	LMP2	AO by TF	Oreca 07 – Gibson	PJ Hyett/Louis Delétraz/Alex Quinn	Oreca 07 – Gibson
21	33	LMP2	DKR Engineering	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Alexander Mattschull/Rene Binder/Laurents Horr	Oreca 07 – Gibson
22	25	LMP2	Algarve Pro Racing	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Matthias Kaiser/Olli Caldwell/Roman De Angelis	Oreca 07 – Gibson
23	65	LMP2	Panis Racing	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Rodrigo Sales/Mathias Beche/Scott Huffaker	Oreca 07 – Gibson
24	47	LMP2	Cool Racing	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Naveen Rao/Matthew Bell/Frederik Vesti	Oreca 07 – Gibson
25	24	LMP2	Nielsen Racing	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Fabio Scherer/David Heinemeier Hansson/Kyffin Simpson	Oreca 07 – Gibson
26	37	LMP2	Cool Racing	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Lorenzo Fluxa/Malthe Jakobsen/Ritomo Miyata	Oreca 07 – Gibson
27	91	LMGT3	Manthey Ema	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Yasser Shahin/Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3
28	31	LMGT3	Team WRT	BMW M4	Darren Leung/Sean Gelael/Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 LMGT3
29	311	Hypercar	Whelen Cadillac Racing	Cadillac V-Series.R	Luis Felipe Derani/Jack Aitken/Felipe Drugovich	Cadillac V-Series.R
30	88	LMGT3	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang	Giorgio Roda/Mikkel Pedersen/Dennis Olsen	Ford Mustang LMGT3
31	44	LMGT3	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang	Ryan Hardwick/Zacharie Robichon/Ben Barker	Ford Mustang LMGT3
32	85	LMGT3	Iron Dames	Lamborghini Huracan Evo2	Sarah Bovy/Doriane Pin/Michelle Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2
33	55	LMGT3	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari 296	Francois Heriau/Simon Mann/Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 296 LMGT3
34	78	LMGT3	Akkodis Asp Team	Lexus RC F	Arnold Robin/Timur Boguslavskiy/Kelvin Van Der Linde	Lexus RC F LMGT3
35	155	LMGT3	Spirit of Race	Ferrari 296	Johnny Laursen/Conrad Laursen/Jordan Taylor	Ferrari 296 LMGT3
36	777	LMGT3	D’Station Racing	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	Clement Mateu/Erwan Bastard/Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3
37	87	LMGT3	Akkodis Asp Team	Lexus RC F	Takeshi Kimura/Esteban Masson/	Lexus RC F LMGT3
38	82	LMGT3	TF Sport	Corvette Z06.R	Hiroshi Koizumi/Sebastien Baud/Daniel Juncadella	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R
39	86	LMGT3	GR Racing	Ferrari 296	Michael Wainwright/Daniel Serra/Riccardo Pera	Ferrari 296 LMGT3
40	70	LMGT3	Inception Racing	McLaren 720S Evo	Brendan Iribe/Ollie Millroy/Frederik Schandorff	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo
41	92	LMGT3	Manthey Purerxcing	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3
42	23	LMP2	United Autosports	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Ben Keating/Filipe Albuquerque/Ben Hanley	Oreca 07 – Gibson
43	81	LMGT3	TF Sport	Corvette Z06.R	Tom Van Rompuy/Rui Andrade/Charlie Eastwood	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R
44	60	LMGT3	Iron Lynx	Lamborghini Huracan Evo2	Claudio Schiavoni/Matteo Cressoni/Franck Perera	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2
45	99	Hypercar	Proton Competition	Porsche 963	Harry Tincknell/Neel Jani/Julien Andlauer	Porsche 963
46	77	LMGT3	Proton Competition	Ford Mustang	Ryan Hardwick/Zacharie Robichon/Ben Barker	Ford Mustang LMGT3
47	20	Hypercar	Bmw M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	Sheldon Van Der Linde/Robin Frijns/Rene Rast	BMW M HYBRID V8
48	83	Hypercar	AF Corse	Ferrari 499P	Robert Kubica/Robert Shwartzman/Yifei Ye	Ferrari 499P
49	3	Hypercar	Cadillac Racing	Cadillac V-Series.R	Sebastien Bourdais/Renger van der Zande/Scott Dixon	Cadillac V-Series.R
50	59	LMGT3	United Autosports	McLaren 720S Evo	James Cottingham/Nicolas Costa/Gregoire Saucy	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo
51	95	LMGT3	United Autosports	McLaren 720S Evo	Joshua Caygill/Nicolas Pino/Marino Sato	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo
52	4	Hypercar	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Porsche 963	Mathieu Jaminet/Felipe Nasr/Nick Tandy	Porsche 963
53	27	LMGT3	Heart Of Racing Team	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	Ian James/Daniel Mancinelli/Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3
54	45	LMP2	Crowdstrike Racing by APR	Oreca 07 – Gibson	George Kurtz/Colin Braun/Nicky Catsburg	Oreca 07 – Gibson
55	66	LMGT3	JMW Motorsport	Ferrari 296	Giacomo Petrobelli/Larry ten Voorde/Salih Yoluc	Ferrari 296 LMGT3
56	30	LMP2	Duqueine Team	Oreca 07 – Gibson	John Falb/James Allen/Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer	Oreca 07 – Gibson
57	46	LMGT3	Team WRT	BMW M4	Ahmad Al Harthy/Valentino Rossi/Maxime Martin	BMW M4 LMGT3
58	15	Hypercar	Bmw M Team WRT	BMW M Hybrid V8	Dries Vanthoor/Raffaele Marciello/Marco Wittmann	BMW M HYBRID V8
59	36	Hypercar	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine A424	Nicolas Lapierre/Mick Schumacher/Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A424
60	9	LMP2	Proton Competition	Oreca 07 – Gibson	Jonas Ried/Maceo Capietto/Bent Viscaal	Oreca 07 – Gibson
61	35	Hypercar	Alpine Endurance Team	Alpine A424	Paul-Loup Chatin/Ferdinand Habsburg/Charles Milesi	Alpine A424
62	54	LMGT3	Vista AF Corse	Ferrari 296	Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon	Ferrari 296 LMGT3

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16 comments on “Ferrari out-run chasing Toyota to win again in demanding, rain-hit Le Mans”

Doh
16th June 2024, 16:53

Does anyone know the extra time it takes to change tyres after refueling? Is it around 10 seconds or 20?

In that last hour before the stops I thought surely if it’s just an extra 10 or even 15 seconds it’d be worth it considering the possibility of more rain and thats exactly what happened

So for the Toyota I thought they may just do but I can see why not especially if they didn’t have a new set and it also could have cost ten the race but since get were that far back and not likely to win on pace it seems like it would have been worth it considering the possibility of further rain and the Ferrari then being on much more worn tyres.

Just unsure exactly how much h longer it would have made their stop.
1. MacLeod (@macleod)
  17th June 2024, 7:55
  
  During the course of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the LMP1 cars are expected to stop at least 25 times, and each stop will last around a minute if it includes a tyre change.
  
  So around 60 seconds …
Elvira
16th June 2024, 19:52

Not long but Toyota had just watch themselves lose 10 seconds to a wheel nut malfunction on the swap to wets (and probably thought themselves lucky to only lose that).
MichaelN
16th June 2024, 20:14

It was a fun race, marred somewhat by the lengthy safety car. Good thing the weather forecast was pretty good, so I didn’t stay up to watch what seemed like an inevitable neutralisation!

At different points it seemed like Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche and Cadillac and earlier on even the ‘independent’ AF Corse had a real shot at the win. For all the complaints around the BoP, it seems it was pretty spot on for the Le Mans event – just like last year. Peugeot will be disappointed with a lack of pace even with their ‘new’ car, and Alpine and BMW had a rather unfortunate run so didn’t get to show their full potential.

I think the LMP2 field suffered a bit from some of the bigger teams making the jump to run Hypercar, making it seems a bit… ‘regional’, I guess. If the number of Hypercars keeps growing I wouldn’t be surprised to see them ditch LMP2 from Le Mans entirely, just as it’s already been removed from the regular WEC races. It’s unfortunate in a way, because the class has been great in the past. It just seems a bit outdated in this current field.
Tristan
16th June 2024, 20:23

It’s crazy you can use your 2nd car to take out a rival like that. 5s penalty is a joke, ruined what was turning into a great race.
1. MichaelN
  16th June 2024, 23:10
  
  That’s imagining a whole lot of intent and scheming for which there is absolutely zero evidence.
  
  It was wet. Plenty of cars had close calls and small contact. It’s not ideal, but it happens in racing.
  1. EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
    17th June 2024, 1:39
    
    That’s imagining a whole lot of intent and scheming for which there is absolutely zero evidence.
    
    You are, of course, correct. And I know the penalties are meant to be action based, not outcome. However this type of occurrence does rather incentivize pushing the limits given that an outcome may benefit the team. So to be clear, I am not suggesting the contact would be intentional, BUT one could imagine racing in such a way that you could legitimately claim the offence was not intentional, even though your driving in a manner where it may be quite probable.
    1. Doh
      17th June 2024, 3:46
      
      Yeah 5 seconds in an F1 race would be questionable but in a 24 hours race should have been at least 10 if not 15
Mog
16th June 2024, 20:40

Didnt Ferrari benefit from the BoP rules this race?
1. AlexS
  16th June 2024, 21:00
  
  Ferrari vs Toyota Le Mans 2024
  
  Min weight (kg)
  1053 vs 1043
  Max Power below 250kph (KW)
  508 vs 508
  Power Gain after 250 kph
  + 0.9%(positive) vs – 1,7%(negative)
  Max Stint Energy (MJ)
  906 vs 889
  
  Does not seem so.
  1. AlexS
    16th June 2024, 21:02
    
    Apologies the manufacturer name is inverted
    It is Toyota vs Ferrari vs Toyota Le Mans 2024
    
    Min weight (kg)
    1053 vs 1043
    Max Power below 250kph (KW)
    508 vs 508
    Power Gain after 250 kph
    + 0.9%(positive) vs – 1,7%(negative)
    Max Stint Energy (MJ)
    906 vs 889
    
    Toyota have more 10kg but wins in max energy stint and power gain above 250kph
    1. AlexS
      16th June 2024, 21:04
      
      I am making a mess of title, should be read: Toyota vs Ferrari Le Mans 2024
  2. Bob
    17th June 2024, 8:44
    
    Just because their car was held back more by the BoP, doesn’t mean they didn’t benefit from it. If they’re slowed down more then everyone else, but still quicker, then they still benefit from a better BoP since it’s meant to equalise the performance. It just means they happened to build a better car as well, which in a BoP doesn’t really count for anything.
Evans
16th June 2024, 22:34

The #50 unsafe release was so blatant yet not penalised.
Then the #50 drove a long time with the door open. The director waited a while before coming on radio just to tell them that the door was open! They then waited some more time to come on radio this time to tell them that if they can’t close the door they would have to pit, all this time allowed them to go more into that stint minimising the impact of having to come back to the pits immediately.
The 5secs penalty for the sister car was also equally inconsistent.
PlosslF1
16th June 2024, 23:22

All the talk of could the Ferrari make it to the finish without a ‘splash an dash’ an a LMGT3 Ferrari stops at Dunlop chicane causing a few laps of fuel saving yellow flags and the winning Ferrari finishes with 2% fuel…. Hmmm.. Interesting .. :)
1. Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
  18th June 2024, 13:45
  
  I really hope the :) is a new way of typing /s