*** 329,000 spectators watched the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 on site, according to official information. The 92nd edition of the endurance classic thus broke the previous record from the previous year by 4,000 spectators ***
*** Ferrari celebrated its 2nd overall victory in a row and the 11th at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1960 to 1965. In the eternal statistics The Italians are only 2 wins away from equalling Audi (13). Porsche remains the record holder with 19 overall victories ***
*** Nine Hypercars finished the race in the Leading lap – record in the 101-year history of Le Mans! Previously, no more than 2 cars crossed the finish line within the lead lap. 8 different hypercars were in the lead at one point ***
*** The more than 4-hour safety car phase during the night due to heavy rain set the record for the race with the longest SC interruption The participants trailed the three Porsche safety cars for a total of 6 hours, 54 minutes and 27 seconds ***
*** Bitter: Toyota driver and team boss Kamui Kobayashi missed his second Le Mans victory after 2021 and ended up for the 5th time in second place. The Japanese greeted the Ferrari crew at the winners’ press conference with the words: “Don’t talk too long, I need a beer right away!” ***
*** Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor of the #6 Penske Porsche lead the WEC table after P4 in the race with 99 points. The victorious #50 Ferrari with Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco shot up to second place in the World Championship with 90 points. In Le Mans there are double WEC points ***
*** Speaking of Laurens Vanthoor: The Belgian completed 156 of the 311 laps in the #6 Porsche – and was thus in 12 of the 24 hours behind the wheel! No one drove longer. Teammate and three-time Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer only managed 60 laps. Due to the constant changes in the weather, it was often better to drive longer in one go, explained Vanthoor ***
*** Manthey-Porsche won the first Le Mans appearance of the new LMGT3 category with the #91 911 GT3 R. At the same time 5. Class triumph for the Meuspather. The winners Richard Lietz (5th class victory in the 18th start), Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin are tied at the top of the World Championship rankings with their Manthey colleagues Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin ***
*** The World Championship rankings in the WEC are only provisional, because: Ferrari had Appeal against a rejected protest of the third race of the season in Spa. According to information from Motorsport-Magazin.com only heard before the International Court of Appeal in September ***
*** Porsche donates as part of its ‘Racing for Charity’ initiative 911,000 euros for charitable purposesThe 3 Penske cars collected 750 euros for each lap in Le Mans and ended up with 624,750 euros. The Zuffenhausen-based company rounded up the amount as it did last year. 350,000 euros each went to ‘Save Children’s Hearts’ and ‘Interplast Germany’, and the Ferry Porsche Foundation received a further 211,000 euros for other aid projects ***
*** How important the 24 Hours of Le Mans are for Porsche was already evident in the starting grid: Almost all Board members including CEO Oliver Blume crossed their fingers for the team on site. They were joined by a special guest Wolfgang PorscheChairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG. Iconic image: In the grid we saw Mr. Porsche, Blume and ‘Captain’ Roger Penske in an eager and detailed exchange ***
*** Other manufacturers also did not hold back and sent their top management to Le Mans: Ferrari CEO John Elkann was happy about the Scuderia’s renewed victory. Frank-Steffen Walliser As the newly appointed CEO of Bentley, he visited his old friends at the Porsche media camp and watched the opening match of the European Championship with the 5-1 victory of hosts Germany over Scotland ***
*** Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann and technical director Rouven Mohr, current interim head of motorsport, saw the top-10 finish of the #63 Lamborghini SC63 (Bortolotti, Mortara, Kvyat) at its Le Mans debut ***
*** Lamborghini has not yet been able to present a new motorsport boss following the surprising departure of Giorgio Sanna. It should be ready in 2 months at the latest, Rouven Mohr assured us in a small media round on Saturday morning ***
*** In return Lamborghini announced, 2024 with two LMDh cars in the WEC This will be mandatory for all manufacturers from next year, as the ACO confirmed the previous rumors at its press conference. Lambo is also continuing to be involved in the IMSA, the exact scope of the program was not yet known ***
*** And Lamborghini hit the jackpot in the paddock: The team garage of the Iron Lynx team was adorned with a truly gigantic video wallon which the race was broadcast live. All manufacturers had installed larger or smaller monitors in front of the team garages and broadcast either the race or the work in the pit ***
*** AstonMartin will also increase in 2025 with a Two-car team in the WEC The first track tests with the LMH hypercar, which does not have a hybrid drive, have already taken place. A Valkyrie is also set to start in the IMSA. This makes the British the first manufacturer to use its LMH car in the US sports car championship ***
*** The homologation period for the current WEC hypercars (LMH and LMDh) has been extended by 2 years until 2029. This could also make it easier for McLaren make it even more attractive, as we hear. The Brits are already dancing at many weddings with Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E, GT3 and Co., “but there are still a few free weekends,” an insider told us ***
*** Also presented at the ACO press conference: The WEC race calendar 2025. For cost reasons, there will be 8 races, and Germany will still not be taking part. The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2025 will take place on June 14-15 and will overlap with the Formula 1 race in Canada. Due to the time difference, at least the starts and finishes will not coincide ***
*** This time, Le Mans and Formula 1 avoided each other. Accordingly, there were some visitors from the premier class. The two Alpine pilots Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon paid a visit to their home race. Sophia Flörsch was also there as a junior Alpine driver. Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur and his deputy Jerome D’Ambrosio were spotted in the paddock ***
*** Alpine team boss Bruno Famin is also responsible for the WEC as the Renault brand’s motorsport director and was of course in this role at Le Mans. When the Frenchman was asked before the race whether he would prefer to be in the WEC in view of the F1 problems, Famin replied: “I am not here to go on holiday!” ***
*** The Quote of the weekend Alpine driver Ferdinand Habsburg, who has returned to the wheel after his test accident, said: “The WEC is like a date with a girl. Le Mans means marrying the girl!” There were no more funny statements from the Austrian, “because Alpine only allowed me one line per press conference” ***
*** Less funny: Alpine had to retire both of his A424s at their Le Mans debut due to Engine damage after only 88 laps. Until then, the French had been one of the positive surprises in the Hypercar starting field and even brought the #35 Alpine to fifth place on the grid ***
*** In the Alpine sister car with the #36, Michael Schumacher the debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans also ended prematurely. 33 years after his father Michael’s only Le Mans start, Mick drove two stints and completed 33 of the 88 laps. His best time (3:30.577 minutes, top speed 340.19 km/h) was once again the fastest of all six Alpine drivers ***
*** BMW experienced how Alpine Double failure of his two hypercars and also had to deal with an early crash of the #46 BMW M4 GT3 driven by superstar Valentino Rossi. The focus was on the accident of Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW with Robert Kubica’s AF Corse Ferrari. This is a topic of conversation: Vanthoor accuses the Pole of having done something intentional in the 300 km/h crash at the end of the Hunaudieres straight ***
*** For a Hero story Porsche customer team Jota provided a complete rebuild of the #12 prototype after Callum Ilott had a training accident. The new monocoque came from the Penske factory team and was previously installed in a Porsche 963 that drove the parade lap in the city but was not intended for racing. Jota completed the rollout after the more than 24 hours of repair work on Friday evening on the runway of the small airfield directly behind the track ***
*** The #12 Jota Porsche (Stevens, Ilott, Nato) lasted the entire race and finished eighth ahead of its sister car. Football megastar and team sponsor Tom Brady praised in the starting line-up: “What a great underdog story!” ***
*** For customer team Jota and Porsche, this could be the last Le Mans together. The British have been struggling with a Switch to Cadillac linked as new WEC factory team ***
*** At Jota we have in the paddock Antonio Felix da Costa spotted. The Portuguese driver is still competing for Porsche in Formula E, but a return to the WEC with his old Jota team – then with Cadillac – is being speculated. At Porsche, he could be succeeded by Nico Müller, who is still a Peugeot driver and has already secretly tested Porsche’s Formula E car. The Swiss driver doesn’t say a single word about this, but says: “I’m a free agent for next year” ***
*** Heavy Accident in the supporting program: In the first race of the ‘Road to Le Mans’, Frenchman Louis Rossi brutally destroyed his Ligier JS P320. There are no video images of the accident. The destroyed Tec-Pro barrier and the remains of his prototype, which was decimated at both the front and rear, provide information about the severity of the crash. Rossi was lucky and was able to get out under his own power ***
*** The second Run The Lamborghini Super Trofeo in Le Mans had to be cancelled at short notice cancelled In the first race, several drivers suffered tire damage. The team did not want to take that risk in the fastest one-make cup in the world with some amateur drivers ***
*** The youngest drivers in Le Mans was Conrad Laursen. The Dane celebrated his 18th birthday on May 11, 2024. He started in the #155 Spirit of Race Ferrari in the LMGT3 class and reached eighth place in the class *** in a trio with his father Johnny Laursen and pro driver Jordan Taylor
*** The 67-year-old oldest pilot in the field was the British bronze driver John Hartshorne. He achieved fourth place in the LMGT3 class in the Proton-Competition Ford Mustang GT3 with Ben Tuck and Christopher Mies. Le Mans debutant Mies narrowly missed the podium and completed the most laps of all GT3 drivers with 135 laps ***
*** Le Mans not only has a very long race track of 13.626 kilometers, but also an exceptionally large media center. The journalists’ center above the pit lane on the Circuit de la Sarthe is 300 meters long. There are a total of 110 monitors in it. But as is so often the case in life, the following also applies in this case: Size is not everything ***