LMP @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015
The LMP1 race.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Four major manufacturers were entered in LMP1 class for the 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Audi and Porsche delivered a tight battle for wins at Brands Hatch and Spa while TOYOTA Racing, the reigning world endurance champion, was unable to match theirpace, and Nissan was making a comeback with cars lacking development. During qualifying, the gap between Porsche #18 and Audi #8 was 2.979”, 6.656” with Toyota #2 and 20.108 with Nissan #22!
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
At the top of the time classification from the 9th hour, the Nico Hülkenberg-Earl Bamber-Nick Tandy crew offered Porsche its 17th victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The then-rookie Nico Hülkenberg took the chequered flag for #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid, one lap ahead sister car #17.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Porsche #17 trio Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, and Mark Webber was penalized at the beginning of the evening for an overtaking under yellow flag. She finished second by one lap.
With this 4th double for the 65th year of Porsche participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche was gaining 86 points and taking the lead of the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers Championship ahead of Audi Sport with 13 points. Toyota dropped 66 points behind Porsche, with five races left in the season.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Title defenders Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler finished 3rd, 2 laps behind the winning Porsche. #7 was Audi Sport’s best car, with Lotterer setting the fastest lap of the race for the third time in a row (2013-2014-2015). #7 Audi had a drive-through penalty as Lotterer made contact with Tandy's leading #19 Porsche and was forced into an extra pit stop due to a puncture.
With this third place, Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer scored 30 points, and increased their FIA World Endurance Drivers' Championship advantage over Nick Tandy to 20 points, Nico Hülkenberg-Earl Bamber to 22 points. Lieb, Dumas and Jani became fourth, 24 points behind.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Late Saturday afternoon, #8 Audi with Duval behind the wheel clipped the #51 AF Corse Ferrari's right-hand section and was thrown back sideways across the track, into Indianapolis corner and ripping the car's front bodywork off. Repairs took less than five minutes and the car resumed in eighth place ending the 24 hours race in P4 with teammates Lucas di Grassi and Oliver Jarvis, 3 laps behind the winners.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
The third Porsche (#18) from Romain Dumas - Marc Lieb - Neel Jani ended 5th, 4 laps behind the winners after establishing pole position but struggling with brake issues.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
During qualifying sessions, the gap between the fastest Porsche (#18) and the fastest Toyota (#2) was 6.656! They were unable to match the pace of Audi and Porsche. No wonder that the first Toyota driven by Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway ended the 83rd edition 24 Hours of Le Mans at P6, 8 laps behind the winning Porsche.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
The #9 Audi (Marco Bonanomi – Filipe Albuquerque – René Rast) was the best challenger to the leading Porsche in the first hours, and René Rast was able to take the race lead but came into contact with a Ferrari during the night before experiencing problems with its hybrid system. #9 Audi began to fall off the race pace after multiple visits to the garage for repairs ending 7th, 8 laps behind the winners.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
#1 Toyota from Anthony Davidson – Sebastien Buemi – Kazuki Nakajima ended 8th overall, 9 laps behind the winning Porsche.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Nissan successfully finished the race with one of their cars, although it failed to complete enough laps for classification. Nissan Motorsports #22 driven by H. Tincknell, M. Krumm and A. Buncombe ended 39th but Not Classified after it lost a wheel on the Mulsanne Straight at 299 km/h (186 mph) and needed a lengthy repair to its front-end.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
Both Nissan Motorsports #21 and #23 did not end the race. #21 car stopped at Arnage with a suspension failure that caused its front-left wheel to detach from the vehicle and was unable to continue.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
The LMP1 class counted 3 more entries with 2 Rebellion and one ByKolles. The last one was excluded from the race, Rebellion #13 (Alexandre Imeratori – Dominik Kraihamer – Daniel Abt) ended 18th behind 8 LMP2 and the winning Corvette in LMGTE Pro; Rebellion #12 (Nicolas Prost – Nick Heidfeld – Mathias Beche) ended 23rd, 65 laps behind the winners.
LMP2 race
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
KCMG, #47 Oreca 05-Nissan remained unchallenged since the early hours of the race, winning the LMP2 class with a P9 overall. KCMG was the first Chinese team to claim victory in the LMP2 category with Nicolas Lapierre - Richard Bradley - Matthew Howson.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
#38 Jota Sport of Simon Dolan, Oliver Yurvey and Mitch Evans was able to take second place from G-Drive Racing in the final hours.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
The Rusinov, Julien Canal and Bird #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan, took the chequered flag in P3 of LMP2 class, P11 overall in the same lap as the class winner.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015.
#28 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan of Pipo Derani, Ricardo Gonzalez and Gustavo Yacaman ended 4th of the LMP2 class, 4 laps behind the LMP2 podium.
