LM GTE @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2017
With less than 2” between the 13 cars in LM GTE Pro qualifications (Aston #97 in pole, Ferrari #51 and Aston #95 2nd and 3rd), it was clear that the 2017 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans would be a tight race.
It was indeed a Corvette-Aston-Porsche-Ford-Ferrari close race, with many cars keeping within the lead lap throughout the first two-thirds of the race, which meant several cars still had a big chance at a good result if any misfortune struck those ahead.
Each team were showing their strengths in different parts of the track or in different moments of the race: Corvette was fast in straight line, Ferrari great in corners, Aston-Martin was a bit of both with massive acceleration out of the turns and the Porsches started to come into their stride and led as night fell.
The #97 Aston, #63 Corvette and #91 Porsche regularly exchanged the lead during their out-of-sync pitstops.
In a dramatic last lap, Aston Martin Vantage #97 emerged as the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans winner 1:32.705 ahead of the Ford GT #67. Corvette CR-7 #63 finished 3rd, 3.644 behind the Ford.
What a race! 1 minute 36.349 seconds between the top 3 on the podium after 24 hours full of twists and turns!!!
Aston-Martin did lead most of the way, but nothing was decided until the very end for the #97 team Darren Turner, J. Adam, Daniel Serra. Adam made an unsuccessful lunge at Arnage with three laps to go, before Taylor (Corvette #63) skipped across Mulsanne the following lap and was slowed down by a slow puncture.
Taylor's slow final lap enabled Harry Tincknell to move up from 3rd to 2nd in the Chip Ganassi Racing UK Ford GT #67. With his team mates Andy Priaulx and L. Derani, they ended 1:32.705 behind the winning Aston Martin.
Corvette Racing-GM #63 driven by Jan Magnussen, A. Garcia, Jordan Taylor ended 3rd, 3.644 sec. behind the FORD GT.
The crew of the Corvette C7-R had its share of bad luck, an early puncture throwing it at the back of the field.
Three laps before the end, Taylor (then strong leader) outbraked himself, entering the second chicane on Mulsanne which helped Adam to claw back the gap. With his tires affected, Taylor ultimately lost the lead coming out of the Ford chicane and also cut the Dunlop chicane as he picked a puncture that made him run wide and onto the grass in Tertre Rouge. The tire disintegrated on Mulsanne, slowed the # 64 so much that Harry Tincknell in the # 67 Ford caught up and passed Taylor for second.
Porsche GT TEAM #91 with Richard Lietz, F. Makowiecki, Patrick Pilet finished 4th, one lap behind the winning Aston.
They were always in the run for victory until Frederic Makowiecki had to make an extra stop in the final 20 minutes after picking up a puncture in the #91 Porsche and lost any chance of a podium.
Porsche 911 RSR GT TEAM #92 (Michael Christensen, Kévin Estre, D. Werner) crashed out at the end of the 12th hour.
AF Corse Ferrari 488 #71 with D. Rigon, S. Bird, Miguel Molina ended 5th, 1:05.598 behind the #91 Porsche.
AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE #51 driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi (replacing Gianmaria Bruni going to Porsche after the 24 Hours), M. Rugolo had an incident during the night but could still return to race to end 12th, 28 laps behind LM GTE PRO winning Aston Martin.
Ford, 2016 winners, were with three cars in the top 7.
Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA Ford GT #68 with J. Hand, D. Muller, T. Kanaan, ended P6 a bit more than 25 sec. behind the Ferrari.
JR. Briscoe, R. Westbrook, Scott Dixon driving the Ford GT Chip Ganassi Racing USA #69 finished 7th, 3 laps behind the winning Aston.
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK #66 driven by S. Mucke , O. Pla, B. Johnson ended 10th, 8 laps behind the winning Aston.
2015 winners Corvette had a complicated race with the #64 (Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, Marcel Fässler) going out of contention during the night when an incorrectly fixed left-rear wheel on the Tommy Milner-driven C7.R resulted in a crunching impact with the barrier when the wheel came loose at the Porsche Curves. This wasn’t the end of it, Milner proceeding to spin into the gravel at pit entry and losing time before he was salvaged by a rescue vehicle. The team ended 8th, 5 laps behind the winners.
N. Thiim drove the #95 Aston Martin into a lead that lasted until the third hour, when the car ran over debris at Tertre Rouge and suffered a vicious tire blow-out, with M. Soerensen at the wheel. Richie Stanaway was the third driver of the team ending 9th, with 6 laps delay.
Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK #66 driven by S. Mücke, O. Pla, B. Johnson ended 10th 8 laps behind the winning Aston.
Dempsey Proton -Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR #77 driven by C. Ried, M. Cairoli, M. Dienst finished 11th, 11 laps behind the winner.
AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE #51 driven by J. Calado, A. Pier Guidi (replacing Gianmaria Bruni going to Porsche after the 24 Hours), M. Rugolo had an incident during the night but could still return to race to end 12th, 28 laps behind LM GTE PRO winning Aston Martin.
Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE #82 (Toni Vilander, Giancarlo Fisichella, Pierre Kaffer) did not finish. It was through no fault of Risi Competizione or Pierre Kaffer, the German being taken out by an oblivious Matthieu Vaxiviere, who turned into the Ferrari under braking. The LMP2 driver received a hefty seven-minute stop-and-go penalty but Giuseppe Risi’s car was still standing heavily damaged by the wayside.
3 steps of the podium for Ferrai in LM GTE AM:
1. JMW Motorsport #84 R. Smith, W. Steven, D. Vanthoor
2. Spirit of Race #55 D. Cameron, A. Scott, M. Cioci
3. Scuderia Corsa #62 C. Macneil, W. Sweelder, T. Bell
