The star performers at Le Mans

Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber
#19 Porsche 919 Hybrid
Start: 3rd
Finish: 1st

Each of the three winners excelled in the race. They were the star performers in the Porsche camp and were suitably rewarded with an historic victory.

Tandy, Bamber and Hulkenberg celebrate © LAT

Separating them would somehow seem churlish, which explains why we have grouped them together. Each of them was an LMP1 rookie, and Hulkenberg and Bamber were making their first appearances at Le Mans. That makes each of their performances all the more impressive.

The trio had the fastest Porsche and made the most of it. Hulkenberg made team-mate Mark Webber look distinctly average when he got in the car for a second time and then Bamber and Tandy continued the car's progress towards the front of the pack.

Andre Lotterer
#7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
Start: 5th
Finish: 3rd

The consistency of performance that has made Lotterer the best sportscar driver of his generation was there to see once again. His final stint that ran to just past midday on Sunday was something special.

Not only did it yield him a fourth fastest lap in five years and a new lap record, but it showed the never-say-die attitude of the three-time Le Mans winner.

Jani's pace went unrewarded in the #18 Porsche © LAT

Neel Jani
#18 Porsche 919 Hybrid
Start: 1st
Finish: 5th

The Swiss didn't necessarily have a great race courtesy of the braking issues that restricted his Porsche to fifth place, but the qualifying lap that made him the fastest man around Le Mans since the chicanes went in on the Mulsanne Straight a quarter of a century ago was something special.

Jani absolutely nailed it, setting fastest splits in all three sectors. He would have gone quicker but for traffic at Indianapolis and could almost certainly have lowered his time had he been given another qualifying run on Thursday.

Filipe Albuquerque
#9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro
Start: 6th
Finish: 7th

The Audi driver arguably came of age as an LMP1 pilot on his second appearance at Le Mans. Any doubts that the Portuguese couldn't cut it at this level were removed by his pace in both qualifying and the race.

It was Albuquerque who set the qualifying mark in the #9 R18 e-tron quattro, which is arguably not very significant. A fastest race lap, set very early in the race before the track had rubbered-in, that was less than two tenths slower than Lotterer's best of the race most certainly was.

KCMG dominated the LMP2 class and Toyota refugee Lapierre starred © LAT

NICOLAS LAPIERRE
#47 KCMG Ligier-ORECA
Start: 1st in LMP2
Finish: 1st in LMP2

To say the Frenchman did exactly what he was hired to do is an accurate statement, but it also undersells his performance. Team-mate Richard Bradley took pole and built a handy lead, but when the opportunity was there to take charge of the race into Saturday evening, Lapierre did just that.

During the sixth hour, he pitted twice compared with once for class rivals, but the lead only fell by 20 seconds. He did much the same during the graveyard shift, building the lead from 1m45s to almost four minutes, before a slow stop to fix an illuminated light panel slashed that to 49s.

By the time he pitted again, it was back out to 1m30s. Admittedly he was up against a few silver-rated drivers during these particular stints, but Lapierre strung together fastest laps and cashed in. And after a torrid 2014 that ended with his Toyota split, it was just the performance Lapierre needed.

MITCH EVANS
#38 Jota Gibson-Nissan
Start: 4th in LMP2
Finish: 2nd in LMP2

KCMG's outright speed was probably the one thing standing between Jota Sport and another last-to-first LMP2 victory.

The Gibson went three laps down inside the first hour due to a gearshift problem, and they were hard to regain, despite Oliver Turvey's and Mitch Evans' own rapid efforts. KCMG's Sunday wobbles helped get them back in the game, and ultimately Jota finished 48 seconds shy.

Turvey and Evans were both massively impressive, but it's GP2 race winner Evans on this list, just, as the 20-year-old Le Mans rookie. In only his second sportscar start, he didn't put a foot wrong, including during a quadruple stint, and was supremely quick.

From a GTE Am Ferrari to LMP2, Bird has impressed twice at Le Mans © LAT

SAM BIRD
#26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan
Start: 2nd in LMP2
Finish: 3rd in LMP2

In the lead G-Drive (OAK) Ligier, Bird did the heavy lifting. The car lost time due to a small fuel fire when Bird pitted at the end of his first stint, and when he jumped back in several hours later, he climbed from seventh back up to third.

In a car he surmised as "fast, just not fast enough in a straightline", he was second to the sleek KCMG for the bulk of Sunday, but didn't have the speed to hold off Jota's Oliver Turvey during the penultimate hour.

The fastest laps logged by its three drivers paints the picture. Bird recorded a 3m37.078s, Roman Rusinov a 3m40.285s and Julien Canal a 3m42.575s. By contrast, the slowest fastest laps set by KCMG and Jota Sport's drivers were 3m40.209s and 3m40.135s.

Nicki Thiim
#95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE
Start: 4th in GTE Pro
Finish: 4th in GTE Pro

The 26-year-old Dane is no stranger to Aston Martin's WEC programme, but 2015 is his first in the GTE Pro car. Thiim is leading the 'Danish' #95 as it steps up from the GTE Am category this season, and looked every inch a man made for that role last weekend.

While you can't win the 24 Hours in the first stint, his progress from fifth on the GTE grid to first in the opening stanza was remarkable.

A power-steering failure early on did for the #95's victory bid. Fourth and seven laps down was scant reward for the man who when on track was the quickest driver in his class more often than not.

Milner helped Corvette to another Le Mans win © LAT

Tommy Milner
#64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
Start: 7th in GTE Pro
Finish: 1st in GTE Pro

Oliver Gavin started and finished as he claimed his fifth class win at Le Mans and Jordan Taylor set the #64's best lap in the race. So it would be easy to overlook Milner's contribution to Corvette's victory.

But the American was actually the driving force behind the Chevy's first ascension to the head of the pack, slicing from fourth to first within two laps of his first stint as he slipped past the #99 Aston and then took advantage of a scrap between the #97 Vantage and #51 Ferrari to draft past both in one go.

When he was in front later on in the race he handled everything that was thrown at him impeccably, retaining the lead when required and extending it when he could - no more could have been asked.

Gianmaria Bruni
#51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia
Start: 2nd in GTE Pro
Finish: 3rd in GTE Pro

Bruni had only completed his first stint when the #51 Ferrari's victory bid appeared to be taken away by a puncture for team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella that cost them four minutes in the pits for repairs.

It was during Bruni's early-morning stint that the Ferrari edged its way back onto the lead lap and set up the opportunity to claw back the rest of the time with the call to pit Vilander while under safety-car conditions, that put it right back into victory contention.

Bruni hauled in the #64 Corvette in the night and got ahead when the pitstop cycles went in Ferrari's favour - but a late gearbox failure ruined its race just as it looked like a second consecutive win might be on the cards.