With the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class bulging to 19 cars for 2024, there were plenty of impressive performances during the course of the season.

And it was not only drivers in the Porsches, Ferraris and Toyotas at the front of the field who starred, as there were also stand-out results from those whose machinery was not quite so competitive.

Here, Autosport looks back on the campaign and selects the 10 best drivers from the 2024 Hypercar ranks.

10. Charles Milesi

Milesi could have bagged a couple of podiums for Alpine at the end of the season

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It should be no surprise that Charles Milesi makes it into the list on his graduation to the WEC’s top class: he was outstanding at the end of last year in Alpine’s LMP2 operation. He may not have the profile of his team-mates at the Signatech-run squad, but the Frenchman repeated that form this year, starring when the A424 eventually became a competitive proposition as the season drew to a close. He flew in Austin, Fuji and Bahrain and would have come away with a couple of podiums but for a penalty in each of the last two races. They stand as a black mark against him and mean he can’t be ranked higher.

9. Julien Andlauer

Andlauer was particularly impressive at Spa and has been rewarded with PPM drive for next year

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche had clearly seen the Frenchman’s potential when it placed one of its factory GT roster in the Proton Competition customer 963 for this season. Julien Andlauer was being given the chance to prove that he was worthy of a factory seat at Porsche Penske Motorsport in the future. He grasped the opportunity with both hands and posted a series of stirring performances. He was probably at his best at Spa when he and team-mate Neel Jani were very much in contention for the victory before the stoppage. But just as good, probably, was his drive in Bahrain, another one that went unrewarded. Andlauer deserved to finish the season with some silverware but, by the time he turned up in Bahrain, he had sealed an even bigger prize - a seat at PPM for the WEC next year.

8. Kamui Kobayashi

It was not a blemish-free season from Kobayashi

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It was another strong season for Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese was on top of his game for much of it and blindingly quick in Le Mans and Interlagos in particular. That’s what you’d expect from a two-time WEC champion even as he approaches 40. But last year, he was fourth in the top 10 and it would be impossible to rank him so highly this time around after the clash with Matt Campbell at Fuji. Clash is actually the wrong description: it was an assault from behind that smacked of desperation. Others have been forgiven for mistakes here, but it was a big misjudgement with even bigger implications.

7. Matt Campbell

Campbell instantly impressed by taking pole in Qatar

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

It was easy to forget that Matt Campbell was racing a prototype in the WEC for the first time after switching from PPM’s IMSA squad as he made his mark aboard the #5 entry. The Australian proved his one-lap pace with an out-of-the-box pole in Qatar, a feat he repeated at Spa, and immediately emerged as the stand-out driver in what was definitely the ‘second’ factory Porsche in terms of results but not always race pace. His performances would have deserved a victory and the pity for the WEC is that he’ll only be a part-timer next year on his full-time return to IMSA.

6. Dries Vanthoor

Just like his brother, Dries Vanthoor instantly got to grips with the WEC's Hypercar class

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The younger of the Vanthoor brothers starred for BMW over his first full season in the WEC, taking to prototypes with ease just as his sibling Laurens had done 12 months earlier: both had just a handful of appearances in such machinery behind them on their graduation to the Hypercar ranks. There were any number of strong performances from Dries Vanthoor, Le Mans included and not just the lap that put him quickest in opening qualifying, while there was another starring drive in Fuji.

5. Mikkel Jensen

Jensen hustled the Peugeot to a podium in Bahrain

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Mikkel Jensen was again the stand-out driver in the Peugeot roster and not just in the final races of the season in Fuji and Bahrain when he flew in the closing stages both times. The Dane had fresh tyres under him on each occasion, but he still had to deliver. And he most definitely did: it was a joy to watch him hustling the car up the order and onto a couple of decent points hauls - and a first podium of the season in the season finale on the penalisation of the #51 Ferrari. The performance in Le Mans was every bit as good - probably even stronger - but went unrewarded. It deserved better than 12th.

4. Sebastien Buemi

Buemi's storming Bahrain drive ensured Toyota retained the manufacturers' title

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Memories of his charge to victory to secure Toyota the manufacturers’ crown in Bahrain are still fresh, but it’s not the only reason Sebastien Buemi climbs a couple of places in this ranking on 2023. The Swiss drove at least as well as he did on the way to the title last year: he was outstanding at Le Mans and among the quickest on the averages. The low point of the season was his move on Kevin Estre on the back straight in Austin. Cynical is the only word to use to describe his desperate jink to try to protect his position, doubly so if the second swerve wasn’t the result of the puncture that followed the first as Buemi suggested (Estre was all but fully off the track by that point). The penalty and points on his licence that followed were fully warranted. He probably got off lightly.

3. Laurens Vanthoor

Impressive pace pretty much everywhere helped take Vanthoor to the championship

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Another strong season for Laurens Vanthoor yielded the biggest prize of an already well-decorated career. He retains his position in the top 10 from 2023, though there perhaps fewer stand-out moments - the Belgian just performed everywhere. There wasn’t really much to choose between him and team-mate Estre, but that lap at Le Mans gets the Frenchman the nod as best PPM driver. There’s also that sequence of penalties in Bahrain to consider. It wasn’t his finest hour but, given that the title was more or less already won, those misdemeanours can be overlooked.

2. Nicklas Nielsen

Nielsen was Ferrari's shining star this year

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

No one doubted Nicklas Nielsen’s talents coming into the season, but he had an impressive campaign over which he emerged from the shadows of #50 team-mate Antonio Fuoco, the stand-out Ferrari driver in 2023. The Dane was perhaps at his best in the final stages at Le Mans to seal Ferrari a second straight victory: he remained cool under pressure when the door didn’t shut properly and then kept up the pace to stay ahead of the chasing Toyota while saving fuel in extremis. Through the season there were examples of his raw pace at just about every race from Qatar through Bahrain - and those two are, in fact, good examples.

1. Kevin Estre

Stunning lap in Le Mans qualifying was among Estre's highlights

Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo

It was a lap of the ages, one pulled out from deep within. Estre didn’t have the fastest car around the Circuit de la Sarthe, but he somehow put his Porsche 963 LMDh on pole for the Le Mans 24 Hours. To call it the high point of his season, though, would be to diminish a series of impressive performances that helped yield him and his Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mates in #6 the Hypercar drivers’ title. Interlagos and Bahrain where he brought the car up through the pack mid-race were just as significant high points as the victories in Qatar and Fuji. Consistency was the big weapon in the armoury of #6 in 2024 and Estre had that by the bagful.

Estre's consistency made him tough to beat

Photo by: Shameem Fahath