WEC

Fifth consecutive victory for Toyota at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The No. 8 Toyota of Buemi-Hartley-Hirakawa wins the 24 2022 Hours of Le Mans. Success in LM P2 for the Jota team. In GTE Pro, Porsche defeated Corvette and Ferrari. Aston Martin gleans the GTE Am class.

Published on 12/06/2022 à 16:02

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Fifth consecutive victory for Toyota at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The No. 010 Toyota GR8 Hybrid wins the 24 2022 Hours of Le Mans. © DPPI

It was almost a walk in the park. Parties on the front line, both Toyota GR010 hybrids have never been worried at the top of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, exchanging commands and often evolving together. The dramatic turn of events occurred shortly before 8 a.m. While he was in first position, the No. 7 Toyota then driven by José Maria Lopez stopped on the track.

The Argentinian managed to restart, but lost a lot of time in the pits, which benefited his New Zealand teammate Brendon Hartley, on sister car #8. A lap now separated the two and the intervention of the safety car just over four hours from the end would confirm the result, the two Japanese prototypes finding themselves in two different groups.

The end of the race was just a matter of managing to reach the checkered flag without any worries. Defeated in 2021, Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley respectively won their fourth and third successes in Sarthe. Their teammate Ryo Hirakawa is crowned for the first time on his first attempt in Hypercar on the double clock. Title holders, José Maria Lopez, Mike conway et Kamui Kobayashi settle for second place.

The third step on the podium was for Glickenhaus. The small American team confirmed its first promising appearance in 2021 where it took fourth and fifth places. Far from the Toyotas, the two LMHs did not suffer any major damage allowing them to secure this first podium in two participations. This third place was decided by an error by Olivier Pla in the evening, the No. 708 losing numerous laps in the pits to repair. This benefited the trio composed of Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux, the only French representative in the first three places overall.

It was in fact not the edition of the French team entered in the Hypercar category. Alpine experienced all the misfortunes of the world. Already penalized by the Balance of Performance, the A480 had difficulty containing the LM P2s at the start. Fifth for a long time, the Dieppe brand was thrown back four laps during the fourth hour due to a hydraulic clutch control problem.

This was only the beginning of the problems, as the car returned to its garage a second time in less than an hour. Andrew negrao came out in 36th place overall, more than seven laps from the lead. Hopes of victory and podium were dashed and the prototype with the A arrow remained stuck in the LM P2 peloton until the finish.

Jota dominates in LM P2

In LM P2, the forecasts were counting on a daggers drawn fight as the quality of the field was impressive. However, the Jota team was above the rest from Saturday afternoon. The English team, already winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014 and then in 2017 in the category, scored a third success with the Oreca 07 of Antonio Félix Da Costa, Will Stevens and Roberto Gonzalez.

The green prototype always led the race by around a minute. For its first participation in the Le Mans round, the trans trainingalpine Prema climbs onto the second step of the podium with the experienced Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz (19th in 2021 after a breakdown of their leading LM P2 car on the very last lap), and the rookie Lorenzo Colombo.

The other Jota car, of Oliver Rasmussen, Ed Jones and Jonathan Aberdein, finished third. Started from the back of the grid due toaccident of gentleman driver Philippe Cimadomo in free practice, the TDS Racing x Vaillante made an incredible comeback to finish at the foot of the podium thanks to the luxury freelancer Nyck de Vries, associated with Mathias Beche and Tijmen Van der Helm.

Victorious in 2021, the Team WRT caught his feet in the carpet from the start, colliding with the Oreca of Will Owen (United Autosports) with the No. 31 (Frijns-Rast-Gelael) and the No. 41 (Nato-Andrade-Habsburg) before even the first braking.

For his discovery of Le Mans, the eight-time world rally champion (WRC) Sébastien Ogier arrived in ninth place alongside Charles Milesi and young Lilou Wadou (Richard Mille Racing).

Porsche finishes in style in Pro

These 24 2022 Hours of Le Mans marked the last general representation of the GTE Pro in Sarthe. Condemned to disappear at the end of the season making way for the Ams, the official cars were therefore keen to finish this edition in style. Therefore Porsche, Corvette and Ferrari presented themselves for the last battle.

Untouchable in qualifying, which they dominated head and shoulders by securing the 1st row during the Hyperpole, the Corvettes were the big favorites for this 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Everything started perfectly for the machines from Detroit which retained the first two positions in the category ahead of the Porsche and the Ferrari.

Hours passed and positions began to solidify in GTE Pro. It was then that the first twist took place. Around 23:00 p.m., the No. 63 Corvette, firmly in the lead in front of its sister car (No. 64), suffered a puncture at the left rear. On the way back to the pits, the suspension of the same part gave way, forcing the team to keep it in the garage for several minutes. A situation which made it start again 15 laps behind the No. 64 which had meanwhile taken control.

Despite this setback, Corvette remained in contention for a first victory in Sarthe since 2015. And yet, the morning at Le Mans was not going to be kind to Laura Wontrop Klauser's machines. Then virtually in the lead and chasing the No. 51 Ferrari, the No. 64 was hit by François Perrodo (Oreca 07 No. 83 / AF Corse) and ended its race in the safety rails in the Mulsannes.

With Corvette's second retirement confirmed (the No. 2 had been withdrawn a few minutes earlier), Ferrari and Porsche saw their race restarted. Neck and neck, the 63 RSR-911 No. 19 and the 91 GTE Evo No. 488 engaged in a great battle on the track which would ultimately turn out in favor of the German.

Victim of a puncture following a pit stop, the No. 51 Ferrari was forced to make another pass with just over 5 hours to go. A godsend for the Porsche No. 91 which did not ask for so much for the last official appearance of the Pros at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Ferrari left behind at the end of the morning after its mishaps, the No. 91 Porsche of the Makowiecki-Lietz-Bruni trio had a relatively quiet end to the race and was able to make it to the finish to take the checkerboard with more than 50 seconds left. ahead to end the GTE Pro era in style at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, giving the Germans victory for the first time since 1.

Aston tames Porsche in Am

In GTE Am, the Porsches have long claimed a group shot. After a great start to the race from the Stuttgart machines which took the first 5 positions in the category, everything led to believe that the German brand was in the running for a Pro-Am double.

The incredible comeback of Julien Andlauer (Porsche N°79/WeatherTech Racing) confirmed the trend but the 911 RSR-19s were ultimately not going to resist the night at Le Mans unlike theAston Martin No. 33 of TF Sport.

At a very fast pace, the British team's car would emerge at the top of the category standings at first light this Sunday. If we could then believe in a battle between the Aston Martin and the Porsche, it never happened. The No. 33 of TF Sport traced its own path and was never caught by its pursuers, relegated to more than 50 seconds.

By Valentin Glo, Gonzalo Forbes and Medhi Casaurang

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