Ferrari denied Toyota victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second year in a row.

Finlay McSporran
Published: 17:16, 17th June 2024

However this win was by no means an easy feat, as they had to overcome rain, safety cars and multiple incidents throughout the 24 hours.

Race Highlights

The race would begin with an all American front row lead by the number 3 Cadillac and Penske’s Porsche, with the number 50 and 51 Ferrari occupying the 2nd row. The Ferrari’s were quick to pounce with the number 50 car driven by Nicklas Nielsen taking the lead by the end of the first lap. The 51 car soon followed through to make it a Ferrari 1-2 in the opening stages.

While Ferrari were enjoying a dream start to their race, the same could not be said for the Alpine team, who seem to be struggling in WEC as well as F1. This was all but confirmed when the number 35 car came to a stop with an engine failure 4 hours into the race, with the sister car coming into the pits with a critical engine warning on the very same lap, taking both cars out of the race.

As night began to fall, so too did the rain which created difficult conditions that caught many drivers out including Dries Vanthoor who lost control of the number 15 BMW, smashing into barriers and taking himself out of the race.

MORE drama on track as #15 BMW Motorsport collides into the barrier.

First safety car of the race is deployed.

Watch live on https://t.co/IPZa0nvsLu.#WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/B4B9GVxk59

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 15, 2024

The damage done to the barriers would result in extensive repairs having to be carried out, which brought out the safety car. With the rain intensifying the race would continue behind the safety car throughout the night as the race passed the 12 hour mark, with racing finally getting back underway in the early morning with 8 hours still to go.

The rain had caught many drivers out however both Ferrari Hypercars remained in the race along with the number 7 Toyota that was starting to become a real threat to the leading Ferrari’s. With two hours to go the Toyota moved up into second place as the race leading #50 Ferrari came into the pits for what looked like its second last stop as they had barely enough fuel to go to the end, but Ferrari made it work, crossing the finish line just 15 seconds ahead of Toyota, with just 2% energy left, to win at Le Mans for the second year in a row.

A RACE FOR THE AGES! The chequered flag falls on the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. 🏁🇫🇷#WEC #LeMans24 #Rolex pic.twitter.com/R0l0hVFsot

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 16, 2024

Race Result

Hypercar:

POS.	NO.	TEAM	DRIVERS
1	50	Ferrari AF Corse	A. Fuoco, M. Molina, N. Nielsen
2	7	Toyota Gazoo Racing	J. Lopez, K. Kobayashi, N. de Vries
3	51	Ferrari AF Corse	A. Pier Guidi, J. Calado, A. Giovinazzi
4	6	Porsche Penske Motorsport	K. Estre, A. Lotterer, L. Vanthoor
5	8	Toyota Gazoo Racing	S. Buemi, B. Hartley, R. Hirakawa
6	5	Porsche Penske Motorsport	M. Campbell, M. Christensen, F. Makowiecki
7	2	Cadillac Racing	E. Bamber, A. Lynn, A. Palou
8	12	Hertz Team JOTA	W. Stevens, N. Nato, C. Ilott
9	38	Hertz Team JOTA	O. Rasmussen, P. Hanson, J. Button
10	63	Lamborghini Iron Lynx	M. Bortolotti, D. Kvyat, E. Mortara
11	94	Peugeot TotalEnergies	S. Vandoorne, P. di Resta, L. Duval
12	93	Peugeot TotalEnergies	J. Vergne, M. Jensen, N. Müller
13	19	Lamborghini Iron Lynx	R. Grosjean, A. Caldarelli, M. Cairoli
14	11	Isotta Fraschini	C. Bennett, J. Vernay, A. Serravalle
15	311	Whelen Cadillac Racing	P. Derani, J. Aitken, F. Drugovich
16	99	Proton Competition	N. Jani, H. Tincknell, J. Andlauer
17	20	BMW M Team WRT	S. Van der Linde, R. Frijns, R. Rast
DNF	83	AF Corse	R. Kubica, R. Shwartzman, Y. Yifei
DNF	3	Cadillac Racing	S. Bourdais, R. van der Zande, S. Dixon
DNF	4	Porsche Penske Motorsport	M. Jaminet, F. Nasr, N. Tandy
DNF	15	BMW M Team WRT	D. Vanthoor, R. Marciello, M. Wittmann
DNF	36	Alpine Endurance Team	N. Lapierre, M. Schumacher, M. Vaxiviere
DNF	35	Alpine Endurance Team	P. Chatin, F. Habsburg, C. Milesi

LMP2:

POS.	NO.	TEAM	DRIVERS
1	22	United Autosports	O. Jarvis, B. Garg, N. Siegel
2	34	Inter Europol Competition	J. Smiechowski, V. Lomko, C. Novalak
3	28	IDEC Sport	P. Lafargue, J. Van Uitert, R. de Gerus
4	183	AF Corse	F. Perrodo, B. Barnicoat, N. Varrone
5	10	Vector Sport	R. Cullen, P. Pilet, S. Richelmi
6	14	AO by TF	P. Hyett, L. Deletraz, A. Quinn
7	33	DKR Engineering	A. Mattschull, R. Binder, L. Hörr
8	25	Algarve Pro Racing	M. Kaiser, O. Caldwell, R. De Angelis
9	65	Panis Racing	R. Sales, M. Beche, S. Huffaker
10	47	COOL Racing	N. Rao, M. Bell, F. Vesti
11	24	Nielsen Racing	F. Scherer, D. Heinemeier Hansson, K. Simpson
12	37	COOL Racing	L. Fluxá, M. Jakobsen, R. Miyata
13	23	United Autosports USA	B. Keating, F. Albuquerque, B. Hanley
DNF	45	Crowdstrike Racing by APR	G. Kurtz, C. Braun, N. Catsburg
DNF	30	Duqueine Team	J. Falb, J. Allen, J. Simmenauer
DNF	9	Proton Competition	J. Ried, M. Capietto, B. Viscaal

LMGT3:

POS.	NO.	TEAM	DRIVERS
1	91	Manthey EMA	Y. Shahin, M. Schuring, R. Lietz
2	31	Team WRT	D. Leung, S. Gelael, A. Farfus
3	88	Proton Competition	G. Roda, M. Pedersen, D. Olsen
4	44	Proton Competition	J. Hartshorne, B. Tuck, C. Mies
5	85	Iron Dames	S. Bovy, M. Gatting, R. Frey
6	55	Vista AF Corse	F. Heriau, S. Mann, A. Rovera
7	78	Akkodis ASP Team	A. Robin, T. Boguslavskiy, K. van der Linde
8	155	Spirit of Race	J. Laursen, C. Laursen, J. Taylor
9	777	D’Station Racing	S. Hoshino, E. Bastard, M. Sorensen
10	87	Akkodis ASP Team	T. Kimura, E. Masson, J. Hawksworth
11	82	TF Sport	H. Koizumi, S. Baud, D. Juncadella
12	86	GR Racing	M. Wainwright, D. Serra, R. Pera
13	70	Inception Racing	B. Iribe, O. Millroy, F. Schandorff
14	92	Manthey PureRxcing	A. Malykhin, J. Sturm, K. Bachler
15	81	TF Sport	T. Van Rompuy, R. Andrade, C. Eastwood
16	60	Iron Lynx	C. Schiavoni, M. Cressoni, F. Perera
17	77	Proton Competition	R. Hardwick, Z. Robichon, B. Barker
DNF	59	United Autosports	J. Cottingham, N. Costa, G. Saucy
DNF	95	United Autosports	H. Hamaguchi, N. Pino, M. Sato
DNF	27	Heart of Racing Team	I. James, D. Mancinelli, A. Riberas
DNF	66	JMW Motorsport	G. Petrobelli, L. ten Voorde, S. Yoluc
DNF	46	Team WRT	A. Al Harthy, V. Rossi, M. Martin
DNF	54	Vista AF Corse	T. Flohr, F. Castellacci, D. Rigon

Next up– We’ve got a busy week of motorsport ahead of us, with round 10 of the 2024 F1 season taking us to the Circuit De Barcelona Catalunya, with F2, F3 and F1 academy taking place as well.

Away from F1, IndyCar heads to Launa Seca for the Firestone grand prix of Monterey, while the Hungaroring plays host to round 4 of the Formula Regional European Championship.