As the race entered its last three hours, positions were essentially unchanged in the Hypercar category, while drama hit the leading team in LMP2.
In the Hypercar category, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria López took the win, a full lap ahead of the sister car, the #8 Toyota driven by Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley.
In third position, the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480 shared by Mathieu Vaxivière, André Negrão, and Nicolas Lapierre finished four laps behind the leading Toyota. The two Glickenhaus Racing 007-LMH ended fourth and fifth respectively, with the #708 driven by Pipo Derani, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Pla leading the #709 shared by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Roman Dumas.
The winning car led the race from start to finish. It is the first victory for Conway, Kobayashi, and López at Le Mans and a fourth consecutive overall victory for Toyota in La Sarthe. That lineup had already come close to overall victory and in particular in 2016 when the Porsche 919 shared by Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Niel Jani took first place from Toyota in the final lap of the race.
“We knew during the last six hours of the race that we had a real problem with the car,” said Mike Conway at the end of the race. “Luckily, the team came up with a solution to keep us going […] A one-two for the team is pretty special given circumstances. This race is never easy, even when you are out leading many laps ahead. You worry until the end. […] We can enjoy now and celebrate. A bit of weight is lifted off me. I’ve had really bad luck here. It’s nice to get it down now. It feels good.”
Alpine took the final spot on the podium. The French car was never in a position to win the race, yet Philippe Sinault was still beaming with joy over the result. “I am extremely proud of what the team did today,” said Sinault. “It is a logical result that we acquired after a tough early race driven under the rain and a long 8 hour battle with the Glickenhaus. Alpine loves Le Mans.”
The Glickenhaus 007 LMH demonstrated speed and reliability during the 24 hours. Jim Glickenhaus promised he would be back in La Sarthe.
All five Hypercars saw the chequered flag on their maiden race at Le Mans.
In the LMP2 class, the race seemed set for a 1-2 for Team WRT with the #31 Oreca 07-Gibson shared by Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi leading the #41 Oreca 07 driven by Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz and Yifei Ye. Cars swapped positions several times during the final two hours of the race as the #31 undertook an extensive pitstop resulting from air jack issues.
As the race drew to an end, the #41 looked like an obvious class winner while the #31 kept on losing ground. “We are in an ideal situation,” said Delétraz from the #41 crew. “I would love it if we could fast forward clocks to 4 P.M. We have to avoid making mistakes now!”.
Unfortunately, with Ye at the wheel for the last stints, his car stopped suddenly on track just two laps short of the checkered flag. “It’s really hard to accept for the drivers of the #41. We really don’t know what happened,” said WRT managing director Vincent Vosse.
The #31 WRT Oreca shared by Frijns, Habsburg, and Milesi inherited the class win with less than a one second lead ahead of the #28 JOTA Oreca driven by Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist. The #65 Panis Oreca 05 shared by Julien Canal, Will Stevens and James Allen finished third in class.
It is a first LMP2 win for Team WRT at Le Mans on their first attempt, an incredible result unseen in La Sarthe since Starworks Motorsport did it in 2012.
The LMP2 Pro-Am category went to the #21 Dragonspeed USA Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Finally, in the Innovative car category, the #84 Association SRT41 Oreca 07-Gibson shared by Matthieu Lahaye, Takuma Aoki and Nigel Bailly ended in 33rd place overall. It is the second time that an Innovative Car takes the chequered flag in Le Mans and a clear recognition of Frédéric Sausset’s relentless efforts for the disabled community.
