“I really think this is going to be a race of attrition, especially with the weather,” Oliver Jarvis said to DSC earlier this week. “Even if you did give us the best car, and the best drivers, you can’t control other factors. Other drivers on track, safety cars, weather…”
It was a telling comment ahead of what turned out to be a treacherous 24 Hours of Le Mans. Other drivers on track, safety cars, weather, all of the above and more were slung at the drivers over the course of the last 24 Hours, and it was thanks to Oliver Jarvis, and Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel, that the #22 United Autosport ORECA 07-Gibson took home an incredible win.
“It’s always an incredible feeling to be in Le Mans, but to be able to win it is an honour,” Jarvis said post-race.
“I was relieved to see the chequered flag. What a tough race.
“Just staying on the track was already an achievement. The conditions were so difficult.
“There were there were times when I wasn’t sure if we were going to win it, or stick it in the wall.
“Big thank you to my two teammates. They arrived here as rookies and they’re leaving as winners.
“United Autosport as always gave us a phenomenal car. They got everything right and we can be very proud of what we achieved today.”
“It was extremely difficult,” added Siegel. “The conditions were very difficult and it made everything from strategy to the actual driving much more difficult than it would have been otherwise.
“It was interesting driving the car through the race. You get in one time after having a nap and then you’re full dry, full push on slicks. Then it starts raining and you’re on slicks, then you go to wet and the conditions are different.
“Figuring out how hard you can push and what you can do. Coming out of the pit lane on your first lap of the new stint, in different conditions is quite difficult.”
“I’ll remember this for the rest of my life,” said Garg. “We’ve had we’ve had our struggles this year. European Le Mans hasn’t gone the way we’ve hoped for, we’ve had an up-and-down season, and to get this win, the first one of 2024, for them means so, so much.
“We’ve had a great car all week. Ollie [Jarvis] did a phenomenal job, not only in the race but getting Nolan and me up to speed, and teaching us everything he knew.
“A huge thanks to all the engineers, the mechanics, this win wouldn’t have been possible without them. They had to execute on a lot of set up changes, and every pit stop.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team and I couldn’t be more happy to win with these guys.”
A well-timed pit stop to move to wets with 2 hours to go, while needing less fuel than their competitors, moved the #22 from the battle for the lead into the outright lead, and Oliver Jarvis was not seen again. A 21-second gap became over 40 seconds with an hour to go, and despite a late charge from the #34 Inter Europol Competition car and #28 IDEC Sport machines, United were able to win once again at La Sarthe.
Taking second on the podium were last year’s champions, the #34 Inter Europol Competition crew of Kuba Śmiechowski, Vladislav Lomko, and Clement Novalak, in an impressive defence and vindication of their 2023 title. The #34 crew kept their nose clean, managed their pace to stay on the lead lap overnight, and maximised their chances late in the race.
Third was the #28 IDEC Sport crew of Paul Lafargue, Job van Uitert, and Reshad De Gerus. The #28 had an impressive run, not least of all because they missed the cut at the first safety car, finding themselves a lap down and needing to find a way to get back into the mix. A fast set of stints overnight from Job van Uitert and Reshad de Gerus got them back on the lead lap just in time, with a second safety car bringing them back into the fold.
Winning LMP2 Pro-Am was the #183 AF Corse crew, of Francois Perrodo, Ben Barnicoat, and Nicolas Varrone. The AF Corse team led in large parts overnight and into the morning, and were in with a solid shot at overall victory in the last stanza of the race. Ultimately, the team lacked performance in the wet, with the team falling away late in the race, finishing in fourth place overall.
As Jarvis predicted, it was a race of attrition in LMP2. While only three cars failed to make the finish, many cars were eliminated from contention in the early stages. The modern Endurance race, especially in LMP2 with the ever-reliable Oreca 07, demands teams stay in the mix, and out of the garage, before making a dash to the end.
And there were casualties from the second lap – the #47 COOL Racing car was straight into the garage for lengthy repairs. A punctured radiator was diagnosed as the issue, but the #47’s chance at challenging for Pro-Am was over from the off, with five laps lost before the end of the first hour.
Also taken out of contention in the first hour was the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car, when Olli Caldwell tagged the wall on the left-hand side, with damage to the front and rear of the car, including the toe link. Two laps lost in the first hour meant that Algarve Pro Racing was no longer in the mix.
An innocuous-looking spin for Ben Keating at the end of the first hour dropped the #23 United Autosports car off the lead lap, but there was worse still to come for that team. A piece of gravel managed to lodge itself in the alternator pulley assembly, destroying it, and forcing the #23 car in for repairs lasting over an hour. A major player in Pro-Am, with potential for LMP2 overall, another one out of the mix in the first hour.
At the end of the first hour, it was the #9 Proton Competition car that was leading the race. Five hours later, that car would become the first retirement in LMP2, after grinding to a halt on the exit of the Porsche Curves as the sun set.
After making it to the night, the next challenge was to stay on the lead lap. A Safety car at 11 pm on Saturday – to repair the barriers after the #15 WRT BMW’s incident with the #83 AF Corse Ferrari – caused a split in the LMP2 field. Only seven of the 16 cars were still on the lead lap, and the safety car ensured that those now over 4 minutes behind would need a miracle to return to the front.
The United #22 lead from the #24 Nielsen Racing, then the #37 Cool Racing, #10 Vector Sport, #14 AO by TF, #183 AF Corse, and #34 Inter Europol cars all on the lead lap, and all effectively nose to tail.
Treacherous conditions overnight favoured teams that played it safe, especially when the first Safety Car was called in, just as the rain fell. Most of the P2 field dived in for wets, except for the #22 United car and #34 Inter Europol car. Both lost plenty of time as those who changed to wets were lapping 20 seconds a lap faster, forcing the United and Inter Europol cars into the lane.
Pit strategy, driver times, tyre strategy and track conditions meant that the hierarchy in LMP2 was always in flux. It became easier to track who was dropping out of contention.
The first to do so was the #24 Nielsen Racing car, which collected the #77 Proton Competition Mustang in the Forest Esses. David Heinemeier Hanson at the wheel went for a move that was not quite there, tagging the Mustang through the left-hander, spinning both cars into the gravel.
A Slow Zone was required to recover both vehicles, with the #24 also given a drive-through penalty for the contact, dropping that car well off the lead lap, and out of contention.
The next car to slip away was the #14 AO by TF car, with the car seeming to lose the early race pace overnight. An awkwardly timed stint for PJ Hyett against many of the Pro drivers saw the #14 lose out to its competitors, with the car falling off the lead lap before half distance, and unable to recover. The #14 stayed just outside the lead lap, finishing sixth overall, and second in Pro-Am.
In the dead of night, there was one car that was making good ground: The #28 IDEC Sport car, which was off the lead lap at the advent of the first safety car, had timed its strategy and worked its way back on the lead lap before the second safety car was called at half race distance.
Hard work from Job van Uitert and Reshad de Gerus brought the car up while the leading group utilised their Am drivers, and when the safety car for weather was called at half distance, Paul Lafargue was able to get into the #28 and burn through his drive time to keep the #28 in the hunt.
After the lengthy safety car due to the conditions, it was a battle in six for the run into the finish. The #22 United Autosports, #10 Vector Sport, #183 AF Corse, #34 Inter Europol Competition, #37 Cool Racing, and #28 IDEC Sport cars were in the mix as we went to green in the morning run.
A few interruptions with slow zones and safety cars for accidents in the morning prevented long running. But with 5 hours remaining, the leading pack split into two distinct groups – the #10 Vector Sport, the #28 IDEC Sport, and the #34 Inter Europol cars, with a 10-15 second gap over the #22 United Autosports, #37 Cool Racing, and the #183 AF Corse cars behind.
Both groups were in a titanic battle, with the gaps between the cars barely over two seconds, and the groups separated by around ten seconds on the track.
A sequence of pit stops moved the players around, with the Vector Sport car dropping down during Cullen’s last stint, while United moved up on fresh tyres, but the arrival of rain with two hours remaining forced everyone into the pits, and everyone onto the same strategy.
United Autosport #22 hit the lead, thanks to great timing, a shorter fuel stop, and a great tyre change from the crew. Jarvis was returned to the circuit with a 21-second lead, over the #183 AF Corse car, then the #28 IDEC Sport in third place.
The final stops of the race, with 40 minutes remaining saw the #34 Inter Europol car jump into second and cut the lead of United Autosport in half, with the #28 IDEC Sport car third, then Vector Sport and AF Corse. But try as they might, no one could overcome the advantage that United Autosports had built, and the #22 United Autosports car took victory in a truly crazy 24 Hours of Le Mans.
While United had cause to celebrate, there were plenty of stories of woe in an attritional race.
COOL Racing’s #37 was in the fight for the win but struggled on wet tyres before the car came to a stop at Mulsanne Corner in the final hour. Malthe Jakobsen managed to get the car moving and into the pits, but that car went straight into the garage. The #37 returned to the track after half an hour but had dropped to 12th in class.
The DKR car had slipped off the lead lap early on after being tagged into a spin by the #22 United Autosport at 8 pm, and could never recover, eventually finishing 7th overall and 3rd in Pro-Am.
The #30 Duqueine Team had taken a drive-through for a Full-Course-Yellow violation which saw them off the lead lap before nightfall, but a spectacular engine failure on the Mulsanne straight after the first safety car made their drop off the lead lap immaterial, as the car was retired on the spot.
The #45 Crowdstrike by APR car had been in the wars on the approach to darkness, already a lap down when a technical issue forced the car to limp back to the pits after three and a half hours of running. Eventually, the #45 had a tyre depart company with the car on the approach to Mulsanne corner just before half distance. Despite the best attempts of Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, the #45 would not continue.
Panis Racing’s #65 showed great pace when Beche was in the car. However, a string of penalties during the night for Safety Car and Blue Flag infringements, and the overall pace of the team, saw that car drop away and finish in 9th place in class.
However, for United Autosports, today’s win is their second win in the LMP2 class at Le Mans, with a previous victory in 2020. For Jarvis, it is a second win in 13 attempts, with his last win back in 2017 with Jackie Chan DC Racing. For Siegel and Garg, both join a list of Le Mans class winners on debut.
In Pro-Am, the class win for Francois Perrodo makes it his second, after previously winning in GTE-Am with AF Corse in 2021. On that occasion, he was driving with this year’s overall winner, Nicklas Nielsen.
