JUNE 19, 2024

(Javier Jiminez/DPPI - Photo courtesy of Sportscar365)

Ferrari claimed back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans victories, following a highly competitive and rain-impacted classic that saw more than a quarter of the race run behind the safety car and a record nine cars finish on the lead lap. Nicklas Nielsen survived a scare with the right-side door of his No. 50 AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P to take a 14.221-second win over the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Jose Maria Lopez following a late-race duel between the two Hypercar manufacturers. The Dane was forced to pit from the lead with 1 hour and 42 minutes to go due to the car’s right-side door becoming ajar, which initially appeared to put the Ferrari off-sequence.

Nielsen made it to the finish, however, without needing an additional stop for energy ahead of Lopez’s No. 7 Toyota that he shared with Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. It marked Nielsen and co-drivers Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina’s first Le Mans overall triumphs after the sister No. 51 car won last year.

This year’s twice-around-the-clock enduro was the shortest since 2001, with the winning No. 50 Ferrari completing only 311 laps due to a lengthy four-and-a-half-hour safety car period overnight for rain, along with on-and-off showers that impacted more than half of the race.

The No. 51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi crossed the line in third, despite having faced a five-second time penalty added to its penultimate pit stop for contact with the No. 8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley with two hours to go. (THANK YOU to John Dagys/Sportscar365)

(Javier Jiminez/DPPI - Photo courtesy of Sportscar365)

Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel (No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson) combined to deliver the United Autosports American team its second LMP2 class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jarvis, Garg and Siegel's victory margin was 18.651 seconds over the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition car, giving United its first triumph since the 2020 edition. It marked a second class win for British veteran Jarvis, following his 2017 triumph for Jackie Chan DC Racing, while American duo Garg and Siegel both picked up victories on their Le Mans debuts. Clement Novalak brought home the No. 34 Inter Europol car he shared with defending race winner Jakub Smiechowski and Vlad Lomko for second, the Polish squad recovering from losing a wheel that dropped them off the lead lap on Saturday evening. Completing the podium was the No. 28 IDEC Sport machine of de Gerus, Paul Lafargue and Job van Uitert, 33 seconds down at the finish. (THANK YOU to John Dagys/Sportcar365)

(Charley Lopez/DPPI; Photo courtesy of Sportscar365)

Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring and Richard Lietz claimed the first-ever LMGT3 class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Manthey EMA, beating Team WRT in the process. The No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R finished a lap ahead of the No. 31 BMW M4 GT3, which was shared between Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus. Proton Competition secured a class podium on debut for the Ford Mustang GT3 at Le Mans, with Giorgio Roda, Mikkel Pedersen and Dennis Olsen. The pair of Manthey-entered Porsches featured at the front of the field from the early stages of the 92nd running of the French endurance classic, which was interrupted by a four-and-a-half-hour safety car period for heavy rain during the night hours. When the race eventually returned to green flag conditions, the No. 91 machine ran in second position behind the No. 92 Porsche team car of Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler. After Lietz passed Bachler shortly after the restart, however, the No. 92 car was then pushed into the garage to address gearbox problems and was thus effectively eliminated from contention. With the No. 91 Porsche assuming the lead, the No. 31 Team WRT BMW moved up to become Manthey’s primary rival. (THANK YOU to John Dagys/Sportscar365)

INDYCAR announced on June 13 that FOX Sports will be the new exclusive home of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the iconic Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge beginning in 2025. The new media rights deal provides a massive and unprecedented increase in exposure for North America’s premier open-wheel racing series, with every 2025 race airing on FOX and available on the FOX Sports app. FOX Deportes will carry exclusive Spanish-language television coverage, with a schedule to be announced at a later date. FOX will also provide coverage of Indy 500 qualifications on both Saturday and Sunday, bringing the total number of broadcast network windows to 19, a record for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. INDYCAR will become the only premier motorsport in the United States with exclusive major broadcast network coverage for all its races. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Is this good news? It depends on how you look at it. All coverage on the main FOX network instead of the hodgepodge of networks that NBC used to present the series is a very good thing, but I remain skeptical that FOX will cover INDYCAR with the right perspective. After all, it is a NASCAR-oriented network. It remains a giant "we'll see" but I thought NBC did an excellent job, and I will miss their coverage. -PMD

Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG