Porsche has lowered its flag

Avec cinq Porsche for ten Ferrari in the LMGT2 category, the fight seemed unequal from the start of the race. It must be said that the task was not made easy by the teams operating them. After 2h30 of racing, the Felbermayr Proton team saw its 997 stop in the middle of the track. to a lack of fuel. But the team IMSA Performance, with two cars entered, could hope to fight for victory. If the Ferrari 430 from Risi Competizione quickly showed its superiority, the 996 n°76 from IMSA has long been competing for a place on the podium in GT2.

But Franck Rava?s team began to become disillusioned at nightfall, when his Porsche n°70 stopped on the track, without the problem being known. All hopes were then placed on the second car which, however, began to encounter gearbox problems when the sister car retired. “ I knew we wouldn't be able to last until the end like that, explains Raymond Narac, driver of the No. 76. At each refueling, you had to put the gearbox in neutral and suddenly engage first to be able to leave. There was bound to be a problem. From midnight, we started to fall behind and in this kind of situation, do we take more risks, do we get into more mechanics? »

This is how, at 10:30 a.m., the Rouen team?s Porsche had to stop to be repaired. After repairing the gearbox, IMSA Performance returned the only Porsche then present in GT2 to the track. Because, in the meantime, the n°80 of the Flying Lizard Motorsport and the n°75 of the?Endurance Asia Team have given up. And what the last representative of IMSA Performance also had to do, its transmission not being satisfactory to finish the race. Franck Rava preferred not to take any risks and stop his second car. “ It?s a real shame for the whole team, who did a fantastic job this week. No one made a mistake during these 24 Hours. We were opportunistic at the start of the race, we knew how to make the right decisions and we progressed all weekend, I think that all of that is very poorly rewarded. " The 24 Hours of Le Mans of GT2 therefore dedicated the Ferrari 430, which only experienced one retirement, and which occupied nine of the ten places in the final ranking.