Alonso, Nakajima, Buemi win Le Mans 24 Hours and 2018/19 WEC title
Toyota's Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, and Sebastien Buemi took an unlikely back-to-back Le Mans 24 Hours victory after a near final-hour problem snatched a win from the dominant sister car
With around 62 minutes left on the clock, Jose Maria Lopez slowed between the two Mulsanne chicanes and TV footage suggested his Toyota was stuck in third gear.
Lopez then had to slowly drive the #7 Toyota around the majority of the 8.3-mile circuit before entering the pits.
Toyota confirmed that the #7 car's tyre-pressure sensors had told it that the car had a front-right puncture, with the tyre then changed at the penultimate pitstop.
But it transpired the puncture was actually on the left-rear tyre, forcing Lopez to pit again the next time around.
Lopez was then unable to catch up to Nakajima, with the Toyota driver and team-mates Alonso and Buemi sealing the World Endurance Championship title alongside their second Le Mans win.
Hopes of a first Le Mans win for the #7 crew had looked increasingly likely after Mike Conway's strong starting stint helped build a lead of over a minute clear of the sister car in the opening hours.
It took an intervention from the safety car to get the #8 Toyota truly into the lead for the first time during the seventh hour.
Nakajima had taken advantage of a slow zone, during which rain was falling lightly, to stop and switch to a new set of slick tyres.
Lopez stopped a lap later after the slow zone in anticipation of rainfall that would require intermediates tyre, but he was then sent back out on the same tyres because the threat did not materialise.
But the safety car influence levelled out when the #3 Rebellion-Gibson R-13 of Thomas Laurent crashed soon after and allowed Lopez to close on Nakajima before making a move for the lead.
The #8 Toyota fought back when Lopez made two errors in quick succession during the eighth hour, with a trip across the Mulsanne corner gravel allowing Nakajima to breeze by for the lead.
A similar to-and-fro battle would occur between the impressive Conway and Buemi after the previous two drivers stepped out of the Toyotas but, by the mid-distance mark, the #7 car became increasingly dominant until its late heartbreak.
As expected, the privateer LMP1 contingent did not prove a threat to Toyota, apart from Gustavo Menezes's impressive start in the #3 Rebellion that allowed him to pass front-row starter Buemi on the first lap.
But a spate of reliability problems and driver errors put any chance of a true SMP Racing and Rebellion head-to-head to bed.
Stoffel Vandoorne took the #11 SMP Racing BRE-AER BR1 to the flag in third place, six laps down on the Toyotas, having played a key role in overcoming Rebellion in his first stint by hounding and then passing the #3 car during a slow pitstop.
But it was the #17 SMP car that looked like it had an edge until Egor Orudzhev crashed at the Porsche Curves and forced the car he shares with Stephane Sarrazin and ex-Formula 1 driver Sergey Sirotkin into retirement during the 11th hour.
Bruno Senna crossed the line fourth in the #1 Rebellion, after falling as low as 26th overall following an early puncture.
The #1 Rebellion-Gibson R-13 overcame the sister car after multiple late incidents resigned last-stint driver Menezes to fifth at the flag - six laps down on Senna.
The #3 Rebellion's most costly moment came when Menezes - who impressed in spells - beached the car at the Porsche Curves and required recovering.
Laurent's crash under braking on the Mulsanne also caused a significant delay for the #3 Rebellion before it could continue and the entry suffered from multiple brake problems in the race.
ByKolles and the #10 DragonSpeed BRE-Gibson BR1 were plagued by reliability problems and failed to make the flag, retiring after 163 and 76 laps of the total 342 respectively.
LMP2 - Signatech-Alpine wins again
Signatech-Alpine made it back-to-back LMP2 class victories at Le Mans with Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet to seal its first WEC LMP2 title since 2016.
It was the third victory at the race for Phillipe Sinault's team in four years, and continued Lapierre's 100% victory record in four LMP2 starts at Le Mans, three coming with Signatech.
The #36 crew's ORECA 07-Gibson held the lead from the 19th hour to the end after the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-branded ORECA lost 20 minutes at a scheduled pitstop with a mechanical problem believed to be related to the starter motor.
Roman Rusinov, who was at the wheel at the time, and team-mates Jean-Eric Vergne and Job Van Uitert, had enjoyed a 90-second lead prior to the problem thanks to a safety car intervention during the 10th hour.
The two teams had enjoyed a spirited battle for much of the race up to that point, with Lapierre leading from the first pitstops - when he ran one lap longer than the polesitting #28 TDS Racing ORECA started by Matthieu Vaxiviere - until the fourth hour, when van Uitert passed Thiriet.
Negrao then retook the lead from Rusinov in hour six, before Vergne returned the favour in hour seven.
Negrao kept pace with Vergne for the remainder of his stint, but was delayed coming into his pitbox at the start of the eighth hour and lost 14s.
That would prove decisive when Marco Sorensen's accident at Indianapolis in the 10th hour meant the two leaders were caught behind different safety cars, which looked to have decided the outcome of the race until G-Drive's problem.
After a short seven lap stint to ensure Thiriet met his minimum drive time, Lapierre returned to the cockpit early in the final hour and brought the #36 car home 2m22s clear of the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA driven by Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry.
The Jota-run crew lost touch with the leaders in hour 18 when Aubry slowed suddenly on the Mulsanne Straight and lost a minute getting back to the pits.
The car spent much of the rest of the race around one lap adrift, albeit comfortably clear of the third-placed #28 TDS ORECA Vaxiviere shared with Loic Duval and gentleman driver Francois Perrodo.
The #28 car had dropped as low as 13th after Vaxiviere made way for Perrodo in the second hour, but Duval and Vaxiviere drove back-to-back stints through the night and rose up the order as problems hit their rivals.
Pastor Maldonado was within striking distance of the eventual winners when he crashed the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA at Tetre Rouge in the 17th hour, while problems with the left-hand door on the #22 United Autosports Ligier put Filipe Albuquerque, Paul di Resta and Phil Hanson two laps down.
It enjoyed a spirited battle for fourth in the closing stages with the #30 Duquiene Engineering ORECA that had been delayed by a puncture in hour one, which was ultimately decided in the favour of the Ligier crew when Nico Jamin suffered a suspension problem in the final hour.
That promoted the #48 IDEC Sport ORECA of Paul-Loup Chatin, Memo Rojas and Paul Lafargue fifth and the recovering #26 G-Drive crew to sixth.
GTE Pro: Ferrari wins after Corvette heartbreak
Ferrari scored its first GTE Pro class victory since 2014 thanks to the efforts of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra in the #51 AF Corse 488 GTE.
The vagaries of the safety car periods had essentially turned the battle for honours into a two-horse race between the #51 Ferrari and the #63 Corvette of Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller heading into the morning hours.
Then the 21st-hour intervention safety car caused by Nyck de Vries' high-speed off in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara at Indianapolis led to the #63 car getting held at the end of pitlane, which handed the #51 Ferrari a one-minute lead it would never lose.
Any chance of Corvette salvaging a podium finish was lost when Magnussen spun at the Porsche Curves, making light contact with the barriers. That cost the car two laps and a further 15-minute trip to the garage left it five laps off the pace.
Corvette had already lost one car when Marcel Fassler hit the barriers at the same part of the track with force towards the end of the sixth hour, the result of contact with the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Satoshi Hoshino for which the stewards judged Fassler to blame.
Behind the winning Ferrari, Porsche filled out the remaining spots on the podium, with the #91 car of Gianmaria Bruni, Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz beating the best of the IMSA entries, the #93 of Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet, by under 20s.
Ford's quartet of retro-liveried GTs filled out the next four places, led by the #68 machine of 2016 class winners Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand.
Exhaust problems in the night cost the #92 Porsche crew any of chance of defending their 2018 victory, but 10th and fifth among the WEC points-scoring cars was enough to ensure Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen came away with title honours.
Both BMW and Aston Martin had races to forget, BMW's top finisher finishing six laps down in 11th and both Astons suffering incidents in the night.
Marco Sorensen's violent crash at Indianapolis in the #95 Vantage GTE, which had started on pole, made it one of three non-finishers in the class, along with the #64 Corvette and the #71 Ferrari, which suffered engine troubles.
Keating Motorsports' privateer Ford GT, piloted by Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga, held on for a narrow win in GTE Am, surviving a late scare when owner-driver Keating picked up a stop-and-go-penalty.
The Wynn's-liveried #85 machine had led by as much as a lap, but in the closing hours the #56 Project 1 Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister, Egidio Perfetti and Patrick Lindsey had worked its way back into the fray even before Keating earned his penalty for spinning his wheels in a pitstop.
That infraction reduced a 36s lead to under five seconds, but Bleekemolen was able to pull away in the final hour to secure victory by around 50s, helped by a late splash for Bergmeister - who nonetheless sealed WEC GTE Am class title honours along with his team-mates.
The final spot on the class podium went to the JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Rodrigo Baptista, Jeff Segal and Wei Lu, which ended up only 40s behind the Project 1 Porsche.
Race result
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 385 | 24h00m10.574s |
2 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 385 | 16.972s |
3 | LMP1 | V.Petrov, M.Aleshin, S.Vandoorne | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 379 | 6 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 376 | 9 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | T.Laurent, N.Berthon, G.Menezes | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 370 | 15 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 368 | 17 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, S.Richelmi, G.Aubry | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 367 | 18 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 366 | 19 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | Ligier/Gibson | 365 | 20 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | P.Lafargue, P-L.Chatin, M.Rojas | Idec Sport Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 364 | 21 Laps |
11 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.van Uitert, J-E.Vergne | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 364 | 21 Laps |
12 | LMP2 | N.Jamin, P.Ragues, R.Dumas | Duqueine Engineering | ORECA/Gibson | 363 | 22 Laps |
13 | LMP2 | R.Binder, J.Canal, W.Stevens | Panis Barthez Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 362 | 23 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | T.Gommendy, V.Capillaire, J.Hirschi | Graff | ORECA/Gibson | 362 | 23 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | D.Zollinger, A.Pizzitola, J.Falb | Algarve Pro Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 357 | 28 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | A.Fjordbach, D.Andersen, M.Beche | High Class Racing | Ligier/Gibson | 356 | 29 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | E.Creed, R.Ricci, N.Boulle | Larbre Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 355 | 30 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, G.Sernagiotto, A.Belicchi | Cetilar Villorba Corse | Dallara/Gibson | 352 | 33 Laps |
19 | LMP2 | R.Cullen, A.Brundle, W.Owen | United Autosports | Ligier/Gibson | 348 | 37 Laps |
20 | GTE Pro | A.P.Guidi, J.Calado, D.Serra | AF Corse | Ferrari | 342 | 43 Laps |
21 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, G.Bruni, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 342 | 43 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | P.Pilet, E.Bamber, N.Tandy | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 342 | 43 Laps |
23 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, J.Bomarito | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 342 | 43 Laps |
24 | GTE Pro | R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 341 | 44 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 340 | 45 Laps |
26 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | Dallara/Gibson | 340 | 45 Laps |
27 | GTE Pro | S.Muller, M.Jaminet, D.Olsen | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 339 | 46 Laps |
28 | GTE Pro | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Rockenfeller | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 337 | 48 Laps |
29 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre, L.Vanthoor | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 337 | 48 Laps |
30 | GTE Pro | A.Farfus, A.F.da Costa, J.Krohn | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 335 | 50 Laps |
31 | GTE Am | J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 334 | 51 Laps |
32 | GTE Am | J.Segal, R.Baptista, W.Lu | JMW Motorsport | Ferrari | 334 | 51 Laps |
33 | GTE Am | C.MacNeil, T.Vilander, R.Smith | WeatherTech Racing | Ferrari | 333 | 52 Laps |
34 | GTE Am | M.Campbell, C.Ried, J.Andlauer | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 332 | 53 Laps |
35 | GTE Am | T.Kimura, K.Cozzolino, C.Ledogar | CarGuy Racing | Ferrari | 332 | 53 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | L.Prette Jr., P.Prette, V.Abril | Proton Competition | Porsche | 332 | 53 Laps |
37 | GTE Am | L.P.-Companc, M.Griffin, M.Cressoni | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 331 | 54 Laps |
38 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 331 | 54 Laps |
39 | GTE Am | M.Gostner, R.Frey, M.Gatting | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 330 | 55 Laps |
40 | GTE Pro | P.Derani, O.Jarvis, J.Gounon | Risi Competizione | Ferrari | 329 | 56 Laps |
41 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever | MR Racing | Ferrari | 328 | 57 Laps |
42 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, E.Hankey, C.Eastwood | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 327 | 58 Laps |
43 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 327 | 58 Laps |
44 | GTE Pro | M.Martin, A.Lynn, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 325 | 60 Laps |
45 | LMP2 | J.Smiechowski, J.Winslow, N.Moore | Inter Europol Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 325 | 60 Laps |
46 | GTE Am | C.Schiavoni, S.Pianezzola, A.Piccini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 324 | 61 Laps |
47 | GTE Pro | N.Catsburg, M.Tomczyk, P.Eng | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 309 | 76 Laps |
- | GTE Pro | J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 342 | Disqualified |
- | GTE Am | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, F.Fraga | Keating Motorsports | Ford | 334 | Disqualified |
- | LMP2 | J.Farano, A.Maini, N.Nato | RLR M Sport/Tower Events | ORECA/Gibson | 295 | Not classified |
- | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Gibson | 245 | Retirement |
- | LMP2 | D.H.Hansson, J.King, R.Taylor | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 199 | Retirement |
- | LMP1 | S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, S.Sirotkin | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 163 | Retirement |
- | LMP1 | T.Dillmann, O.Webb, P.Ruberti | ByKOLLES Racing Team | ENSO CLM/Nissan | 163 | Retirement |
- | LMP2 | M.Konopka, H.Enqvist, K.Tereschenko | ARC Bratislava | Ligier/Gibson | 160 | Retirement |
- | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 140 | Retirement |
- | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 132 | Retirement |
- | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 87 | Retirement |
- | GTE Pro | O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 82 | Retirement |
- | GTE Am | S.Hoshino, G.Roda, M.Cairoli | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 79 | Retirement |
- | LMP1 | H.Hedman, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande | DragonSpeed | BR Engineering/Gibson | 76 | Retirement |
- | GTE Am | P.Long, T.Krohn, N.Jonsson | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 0 | Withdrawn |
Final championship standings
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Fernando Alonso | 198 |
1 | Kazuki Nakajima | 198 |
1 | Sebastien Buemi | 198 |
2 | Jose Maria Lopez | 157 |
2 | Kamui Kobayashi | 157 |
2 | Mike Conway | 157 |
3 | Gustavo Menezes | 114 |
3 | Thomas Laurent | 114 |
4 | Mikhail Aleshin | 94 |
4 | Vitaly Petrov | 94 |
5 | Andre Lotterer | 91 |
5 | Neel Jani | 91 |
6 | Mathias Beche | 73 |
7 | Bruno Senna | 73 |
8 | Andre Negrao | 64 |
8 | Nicolas Lapierre | 64 |
8 | Pierre Thiriet | 64 |
9 | Nathanael Berthon | 51 |
10 | Gabriel Aubry | 51 |
10 | Ho-Pin Tung | 51 |
10 | Stephane Richelmi | 51 |
11 | Stoffel Vandoorne | 38 |
12 | Pastor Maldonado | 36.5 |
12 | Roberto Gonzalez | 36.5 |
13 | Jazeman Jaafar | 35 |
13 | Nabil Jeffri | 35 |
13 | Weiron Tan | 35 |
14 | Egor Orudzhev | 27 |
14 | Stephane Sarrazin | 27 |
15 | Jenson Button | 27 |
16 | Anthony Davidson | 26.5 |
17 | Oliver Webb | 22.5 |
17 | Tom Dillmann | 22.5 |
18 | Brendon Hartley | 19 |
19 | David Heinemeier Hansson | 15.5 |
19 | Jordan King | 15.5 |
19 | Will Stevens | 15.5 |
20 | Erwin Creed | 14.5 |
20 | Romano Ricci | 14.5 |
21 | Frits van Eerd | 14 |
21 | Giedo van der Garde | 14 |
22 | Dominik Kraihamer | 12 |
23 | Sergey Sirotkin | 12 |
24 | Francois Perrodo | 12 |
24 | Matthieu Vaxiviere | 12 |
25 | Nyck de Vries | 10.5 |
26 | James Rossiter | 10 |
27 | Loic Duval | 9 |
28 | Ben Hanley | 8.5 |
28 | Renger van der Zande | 8.5 |
29 | James Allen | 8 |
30 | Gunnar Jeannette | 5 |
31 | Jan Lammers | 3.5 |
32 | Nick Boulle | 3.5 |
33 | Yoshiharu Mori | 2 |
34 | Jean-Eric Vergne | 2 |
35 | Thomas Dagoneau | 2 |
36 | Keiko Ihara | 1 |
37 | Norman Nato | 1 |
38 | Charlie Robertson | 1 |
38 | Leo Roussel | 1 |
38 | Mike Simpson | 1 |
39 | Julien Canal | 0.5 |
40 | Henrik Hedman | 0.5 |
41 | Enzo Guibbert | 0.5 |
42 | Paolo Ruberti | 0.5 |
43 | Alex Brundle | 0 |
43 | Matevos Isaakyan | 0 |
43 | Oliver Rowland | 0 |
43 | Oliver Turvey | 0 |
43 | Rene Binder | 0 |
43 | Ricky Taylor | 0 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments