Autosport Plus

The two finishes that showed the best of endurance racing

In the latest feature in our series looking back at motorsport in the 2010s, we remember two standout endurance races that showcased the best epic events can offer - and neither happened at Le Mans

Obviously, a 24-hour race is never over until the chequered flag has fallen - and indeed, following the exclusion of class winners at Le Mans in each of the past two years, until technical inspections have been cleared - but very rarely is there anything of importance left on the table to fight for in the final hour.

Yes, it's true that reliability is better now than ever before, and drivers often do race flatout. But attrition resulting from mechanical issues and fatigue-driven mistakes has a knack of thinning out the fight at the front and leaving those who have survived at healthy intervals behind.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.