World Endurance Championship 2015 - Porsche reclaim Le Mans

Hulkenburg, Tandy and Bamber took a historic victory in the #19 Porsche 919

As the lights turned green at the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans, not many people expected the #19 Porsche 919 LMP1 of Nico Hulkenburg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber to be the victor come Sunday afternoon. It was the third car, the extra car, essentially the backup car, in case the #17 and #18 didn't succeed.  Not only did these two cars, the pole sitter and second place starter, fail to convert those positions to a victory, they were both outpaced by the three LMP1 rookies.

LMP1

The three Porsche 919's lead the field away

It had been a quiet start for the #19. In the opening laps the car dropped behind two of the three Audi's, and had lost more ground during the first two of the races four safety car periods. The #17 Porsche had lead much of the race, and had been engaged in a thrilling tactical battle with the #7 Audi. 

The #8 Audi was delayed thanks to a big crash, leaving the #7 and #9 car's to chase the Porsche's

The #7 was able to pass the Porsche's on track, but due to the Porsche being more economical, able to do an extra lap or two and require less fuel at its pitstop, the car could would be re-passed during the stops. However, a puncture put paid to the early races hopes for that car, and things got worse for Audi as the #8 crashed and had to pit for repairs. This left the #9 Audi as the main rival for Porsche.

The #18 Porsche and pole sitter didn't have a great race

Night fell, and it was still the #17 Porsche out in front, but the #19 car had worked its way back up into the top three and was closing down the two leaders. The #18 Porsche was struggling for pace, and had two offs during the night at the Mulsanne corner, the first one resulting in a broken nose, the second one a costly hoist out of the gravel and the #8 Audi wasn't in a position to fight with the leaders, being a lap down after its repairs. 

Toyota just didn't have the pace of Audi and Porsche, but were comfortably in front of Nissan

The Toyota's? Well, they started the race at the rear of the leading LMP1 teams, and had made no further progress, despite getting past one of the Audi's at the start of the race, which immidiatley re-passed them down the Mulsanne straight.  The #2 car finished six laps down in sixth, the #1 nine laps down in 8th. after being delayed earlier on for repairs.

As night fell, the #19 Porsche 919 stormed off into the distance

It was during the night that the #19 Porsche started to come into its own. Hulkenburg closed in on Mark Webber in the #17, and he was asked to let the #19 go. Over the next fer hours, the #19, with Bamber, Tandy and Hulkenburg, pulled out a huge lead, that had extend to a lap over the stop/go penalty delayed second placed #17 Porsche. But the penalty, caused by Brendon Hartley overtaking another car in a slow zone, did not decide the race said Webber. "We weren't quick enough" said Mark, "the #19 car was faster than us, especially in the night. It left us and the Audi's behind". Regarding the penalty, he said "it doesn't help to lose half a lap, but I don't think it was going to make a difference to the victory-the #19 deserved it".

The leading Porsche 919's take the checkered flag

To wins Le Mans is incredible, but to win Le Mans as a trio of rookies is just amazing. Only Tandy had been to Le Mans before out of the three in the #19 Porsche, but that was in a GT car, not an LMP1 machine. All three were LMP1 rookies and had driven a clean and faultless race, and not since 1991 has an active F1 driver taken victory at Le Mans. "I couldn't believe this was happening" said Nico after winning the race. Not many people could either, but what a victory it was for himself, Tandy and Bamber.

Nissan had a horrible weekend

LMP1 debutantes Nissan had a vile weekend. Only one car finished the race and they were all well off the pace, the finish not even classified after spending so long in the pits for repairs. Hopefully things will improve the the team at the Nurburgring, the radical front-wheel drive GTR-LM Nismo just proving to be to radical right now. "We know we've used out get out of jail free card" said Nissan Motorsport chief Darren Cox. Things have to improve in Germany

LMP2

The #47 KCMG dominated in LMP2

The #47 KCMG of  Nicolas Lapierre, Richard Bradley and Matt Howson took a dominant LMP2 class win, leading 349 of its 358 laps in the race and led the way at the end of every hour in the race. For a brand new car, with a small team it was a stunning victory. With it being a one car team, any failure would mean victory potentially lost for good, but they drove a fine and trouble free race to take class victory. "We stayed clear of the kerbs, tried to really preserve it and not make anything worse" said Howson, who was ecstatic after their victory. It was one hell of a result!

The KCMG was a brand new car, ran by a small team, yet lead nearly every racing lap of LMP2

Second place went to the #38 Jota sport car of Mitch Evans, Oliver Turvey and Simon Dolan, again recovering from three laps down as they did last year to win the race, and third went to the #26 G-Drive car of Sam Bird, Roman Rusinov and Julian Canal. The beauty of Le Mans eh? Three laps down, and yet they still climbed back onto the podium. Impressive stuff. "No one could get near our pace" said Evans. Just imagine if they had been on the lead lap.

The #38 Jota Sport car took a fine second place after being three laps down early on

The #38's heroics were similar to that of the team's last year, where they came from three laps down to win the race. There was no victory in 2015, but 2nd place was a fine result, especially for Mitch Evans, this being his first time racing at Le Mans.

GTE PRO/GTE AM

The lone Corvette took a brilliant victory in a thrilling race for the GTE PRO catergory

After the #63 Corvette withdrew from the race due to damage sustained in a practice crash, the #64 of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor prevailed in a thrilling contest, with the #97 and #99 Astons also in the mix, and fighting off the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni, Giancarlo Fisichella and Tony Vilander, which sadly lost half an hour in the pits near the end of the race. The #97 and #99 Aston's both had issues, indeed the #99 took out the #46 Thiriet ORECA LMP2 car in the 14th hour,resulting in a great win for Corvette.

SMP Racing took a surprise victory in GTE AM

In GTE AM the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari took a late win in dramatic fashion, after the #98 Aston Martin crashed out in the final hour.  The #98 had dominated throughout, with occasional interruptions by the #72 Ferrari but to finish first, first you have to finish! It was a great result for the SMP team, but commiserations to Aston. They had that in the bag.

The overall top three celebrate on the podium

That then was the 2015 24 hours of Le Mans. A great contest, in which saw Porsche fight and beat Audi, and take a 1-2 finish as well. Next up is the six hours of Nurburgring, where Porsche will hope to beat there fellow German rivals on home soil. Finally, congratulations to all the victors in Le Mans, and of course, especially the crew of the #19 Porsche 919. Until next time folks. Ciao.

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