Inter Europol Competition has claimed a third LMP2 victory in four years at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Kuba Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly successfully defending their win from 12 months ago aboard the #43 ORECA 07 – Gibson.
The key difference this time around was that the Polish squad had two cars in the fight, with its #343 ORECA of Bijoy Garg, Reshad De Gérus and Nico Müller completing a 1-2 finish, the pair inseparable for the majority of the event.
Overnight, the Inter Europol pair emerged as the closest threat to the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA of Doriane Pin, Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor, which led for the majority of the race, with Dé Gerus wrestling the lead away from the French squad in the 21st hour.
Sadly, Duqueine would then go on to claim the title of this year’s Le Mans heartbreak story, with a brake issue forcing Verschoor to pull off the circuit and into retirement at the Daytona Chicane, bringing to an end a standout performance from the R-ace GP-run team, which has had a difficult time of things since its podium finish here in 2023.
Duqueine’s retirement turned the race into an intra-team battle, with the decisive move coming in the penultimate hour, when Dillmann passed Müller on the Mulsanne on the latter’s out lap. The Frenchman was then able to pull out a margin of over 20 seconds to secure victory.
The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson finished third, following an impressive comeback drive for the reigning European Le Mans Series champion.
An issue for Rousset at the Daytona Chicane, and the unfortunate timing of a pit stop, allowed Duqueine to trap the #29 ORECA one lap down at the first Safety Car period, but strong stints by Masson and Gray brought the car back into contention, with them threatening to at least split the Inter Europol entries until Masson had to pit for a splash of fuel in the final hour.
The #26 Vector Sport ORECA was an impressive fourth, after a consistent drive, whilst plaudits should also be given to CLX Motorsport’s Theodor Jensen, Adrien Closmenil and Ian Aguilera, who became the youngest line-up to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and brought the #37 ORECA safely home in fifth.
In LMP2 Pro/Am, CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s #4 ORECA of George Kurtz, Laurin Heinrich and Alex Quinn cruised to a dominant victory, over one lap clear of its nearest opposition after a trouble-free run.
With Algarve Pro Racing electing to front-load its Bronze drive time more than the opposition, the class started out as a duel between the #14 TDS Racing and #199 AO by TF ORECAs, before the #4 ORECA surged to the front overnight.
By Sunday morning, its margin was over one lap as its rivals struggled to put together a clean run, with the team then able to focus on simply bringing the car home to add a Le Mans victory to its Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona triumph from earlier this year.
Second went to the #183 AF Corse entry of François Perrodo, Mathieu Vaxiviere and Ben Barnicoat, with the #99 AO by TF ORECA of PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and James Allen third.
In LMGT3, the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Nicky Catsburg triumphed from 17th on the grid, adding a 10th victory to Corvette Racing’s impressive Le Mans record.
It was an incredible performance from Keating in particular, with the Texan still recovering from an elbow injury which forced him to skip the first two FIA WEC events. Despite this, he was still amongst the first Bronze-rated drivers to complete his minimum drive time, which enabled Edgar and Catsburg to surge into a comfortable lead as the sun rose.
The race’s second and final Safety Car eliminated this advantage, but the #33 TF Sport crew managed to keep its rivals at arm’s length to secure its first Le Mans victory since beginning its partnership with General Motors in 2024.
Second went to the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Tom van Rompuy, Hadrien David and Jack Hawksworth, with the French squad, which has struggled to finish six-hour FIA WEC races so far this year, exceeding all expectations. Both Lexus’ had strong pace throughout, with Bronze drivers van Rompuy and Petru Umbrarescu looking especially comfortable.
Umbrarescu’s sister #87 Lexus came up just short of making it both cars on the podium, with Jose Maria Lopez coming up under two seconds short of catching the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Gray Newell, Eduardo Barrichello and Jonny Adam third.
As different pit strategies unfolded, plenty of cars enjoyed time near the front of the LMGT3 field in the closing stages, including both Heart of Racing Vantage AMR LMGT3s. The sister #27 entry, in which Mattia Drudi scored pole, looked to be arguably the more competitive of the two, but retired from a gearbox issue in the 22nd hour.
The #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo finished fifth, ahead of the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette, #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, and #150 Richard Mille AF Corse, #74 Kessel Racing and #57 Kessel Racing Ferraris.
It was a difficult race in LMGT3 for Ferrari and BMW, and for that matter McLaren, with the best of Garage 59’s LMGT3 Evos finishing 12th. All three marques had cars run without major issues, but they also were without the pace required to challenge for top honours.
The same can’t be said for Ford and Mercedes-AMG, who might’ve lacked outright speed, but none of the Proton Competition Mustang LMGT3 Evos or Iron Lynx AMG LMGT3s were able to put together a clean run in a disappointing outing for both camps.
And Manthey’s pair of Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3s had the speed needed, but their hopes of keeping their unbeaten run in LMGT3 alive were over by the 19th hour of the race. The #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche lost time as early as Hour 2 with a broken tie rod, before a steering issue saw Ayhancan Güven crash the #91 Manthey DK Engineering entry on the exit of the Daytona chicane on Sunday morning whilst running in podium contention, with the car retiring on the spot.
