Porsche Three-peats at 24 Hours of Le Mans!
The 24 hour endurance race at Le Mans is most likely the toughest test of a car and driver around. Porsche has done well at Le Mans historically, with production based cars in GT classes, and in the purpose built LMP, but this is their 3rd year in a row taking the overall win.
Porsche Wins, Again!
Porsche three-peats victory at the 85th running of the greatest endurance race on earth - The 24 Hours of Le Mans. For a company that puts its heart and soul into sports car racing there really is no substitute for 1st place. When you stop and think about how massively difficult it is to run a car flat out for 24 hours, you begin to understand just how daunting it is to survive, never mind win. Let’s recap and analyze how it happened.
Porsche #1 is done
You know when you’re watching a movie and it opens up with everyone super happy and content with life? Nothing is wrong, the flowers have a little glimmer of sunlight shining through them and there are kids selling lemonade on the corner? This is usually an indicator that !@#$ is about to hit the fan. It also describes what happened to Mr. Lotterer when he lost oil pressure in the primary Porsche with a commanding lead. The car would eventually retire allowing Porsche's secondary team car to make a charge.
Toyota's Brutal Luck
Kamui Kobayashi was on fire when he laid down a striking lap time of 3:14.791 in qualifying. If you’re competing against anyone and they break the over all track record you know one thing: you’re going to have to fight hard and get lucky. That’s exactly what happened for Porsche when both Toyota’s retired. Kobayashi had engine problems and Nicolas Lapierre was literally on fire after a puncture. Anything can happen and it often does at this race.
Brendon Hartley goes ballistic
Because of the stress put on endurance racing cars, things tend to fail. Even the best prepared cars have hiccups that you just don’t expect to happen. Modern Le Mans events are like 24 hour sprint races with laps being pounded out at lightning speed. The cars are truly driven flat out until the race ends. Porsche’s #2 car had engine problems that downed them for an hour and five minutes; in a 24 hour race that may as well be a life time. Brendon Hartley had his work cut out for him to try to catch up from 18 laps behind, and when the belts strapped down, that’s exactly what he did, going from 56th to 4th before the driver change. His driving brought Porsche closer, however, they still had a mountain to climb.
Jackie Chan takes the lead
Yes, actor Jackie Chan is now a team owner, and his DC Racing Oreca found itself in the lead with 6 hours to go. Reliability is king in endurance racing, and the story about The Tortoise and the Hare parallels the sport perfectly. Steady consistent laps without mechanical issues see this slower car up front after others are struck with misfortune. Porsche is closing at this point and will have to be absolutely perfect, but they realize that victory might just be possible...
Go for the kill
Timo Bernhard strapped in for the final stint and had to be flawless if Porsche wanted the win. LMP1 cars lap quicker than “lower” division LMP2 guys like the Jackie Chan team, but that doesn’t mean you just walk around them like they’re stuck in reverse. It had to have been a fight, and the pressure on him to drive fast while staying clean must have been epic. In the end the endurance racing veteran did exactly what he had to do and put the 919 on the top spot of the podium. Picture perfect finish to a classic under dog story.
Victory!
Le Mans this year was crazy and shows that in racing and in life you can never quit until the end. No matter what happens or how big the underdog you suddenly find yourself, you have to fight on. The #2 drivers did a great job of keeping their heads down, staying cool and working hard to bring home the third consecutive victory for one of the biggest sports car racing brands in the world. Well done gentlemen. Well done.
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