Winners and losers of Hypercar’s record fight at Le Mans in 2024

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Records were broken at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans as nine cars finished on the opening lap.

This was partly circumstantial given that the safety cars intervened for more than a quarter of the race – including a consecutive period of more than four hours overnight due to incredibly heavy rain – but it was nevertheless telling of a fierce fight for honors at the forefront.

And even though it turned into a battle between the same two manufacturers who competed for victory last year, there was still prestige to be defended.

Who stood out and who didn’t live up to expectations? Here is our pick of the winners and losers in the Hypercar category of the showpiece of the World Endurance Championship.

Winner: Ferrari

It wasn’t just the fact that Ferrari defended its victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was also the manner in which it did it that was impressive.

Yes, each of the record nine cars that finished on the opening lap had problems during the race; it wasn’t like #50 was the only one having his own unique experience. When has a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans never experienced a setback of some kind?

What sets him apart from his competitors is the nature and timing of his setback: a loose door forced a pit stop that put him out of sequence with his rivals for victory in the final two hours.

When Nicklas Nielsen stopped with more than 50 minutes to go, it seemed unlikely he would be able to race to the finish without a final stop.

At least that’s how it appeared to the outside world – but Ferrari were confident in their estimates and couldn’t have dreamed of a more balanced driver behind the wheel. Nielsen was apparently the coolest character at Le Mans as he assured Ferrari that energy-saving targets were under control.

Crucially, while last year’s win was marked with a huge performance asterisk, Nielsen’s win this time around alongside Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco carries no such caveats.

And to top it off, Ferrari also placed its second works car on the podium.

Loser: Ferrari #83

What a roller coaster ride for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari crew of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye.

Kubica experienced a sort of Jekyll and Hyde race, carving an absolutely monster path from 12th place at the start to the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, only to come into contact with Dries Vanthoor in the night – while the car remained in the lead – with devastating consequences for the BMW driver.

Even after the resulting 30-second penalty, the #83 fought its way back into the fight for victory. After leading more than 80 laps, it was then cruel that his charge ended in the pit lane with smoke billowing from the front of the car as the race entered its final hours.

Winner: Toyota No. 7

If the saying “if they didn’t have bad luck, they wouldn’t have any luck at all” applied to anyone at Le Mans, it’s surely the No. 7 Toyota crew.

Of course, sometimes luck comes from within yourself. After all, Kamui Kobayashi’s spin in qualifying is what prevented the car from qualifying for the Hyperpole session and condemned it to last place among the 23 Hypercar cars to start. And even if Nyck de Vries was hardly responsible for his collision with the #78 Lexus during warm-up, it was avoidable.

Still, finishing second was a solid effort from a lineup that changed on the eve of the race, with Jose Maria Lopez – dropped this winter for De Vries – brought back to replace the injured Mike Conway.

Lopez, to his credit, fitted in perfectly and was very quick in the closing stages as he attempted to make up ground lost to two punctures, finding the limits of the car and the track (including a spin at the Dunlop chicane) in pursuit of the leading Ferrari. . Ultimately, that spin and a power tuning issue was a blow, as was Toyota’s decision to call off Lopez’s pursuit and settle for second place with half an hour remaining. of the end.

So there was no fairy tale ending for the replacement super-sub and the car starting at the back of the pack, an ending that would have been entirely deserved. But the fact that it was considered in the first place was a victory of sorts.

Loser: Alpine

Alpine had the most obvious reliability issues among the top competitors heading into the race, so a double DNF might not come as a huge surprise.

That doesn’t mean his failure to finish isn’t a disappointment, though. Especially since Le Mans took place barely a quarter of the way through the 24 hours, with both cars having retired following engine failures (one of which was particularly spectacular).

One lap speed seemed good and this outing was not without its positives. But a double failure early on suggests there’s plenty of work to do if Alpine is to be a true force at the front in 12 months’ time.

Winner: Lamborghini

Lamborghini lacked the eye-catching single-lap speed of fellow 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar newcomers Alpine and BMW (although that’s not to say it was disappointing in qualifying, with its lead car a respectable 13th place).

But the 24 Hours of Le Mans is a marathon, not a sprint, and while those particular rivals were left behind, Lamborghini’s Iron Lynx-led effort was effective when it needed to be.

The race presented this as more likely a data-gathering exercise than one in which Lamborghini was fighting for the lead, but even if that were true, its performances with both cars were credible and, more importantly, reliable.

The reward was a top 10 finish with his lead car #63, beating an established Peugeot team on merit.

Loser: Peugeot

Compared to Lamborghini, Peugeot is not a loser. Both cars were able to reach the finish without any technical problems.

But this, if anything, highlights just how lukewarm this performance has been in its third year back in the WEC. Even though he’s starting to master his 9X8 evo package, finishing 11th and 12th two laps down simply isn’t enough.

Peugeot called this a “creditable performance” in the context of the strength of the Hypercar segment. If he really clings to this feeling, we will wonder if he has what it takes to take on the leaders.

Winner: Something

Jota’s No. 12 Porsche 963 has been the crème de la crème of independents since joining all three WEC races during the 2023 season, so the fact that it led a privateer’s one-two finish ahead of sister car n °38 at the checkered flag was not necessarily a sign. surprise.

But it was made all the more impressive by the herculean effort put into getting the car into the race in the first place. Damage suffered in Callum Ilott’s crash just at the end of FP2 – after the car had reached the Hyperpole – forced Jota to start from scratch with a new monocoque that was somehow another ready for a Friday evening shakedown at nearby Le Mans airfield.

The fact that the car ran flawlessly during the race was a triumph for Jota’s mechanics.

Loser: Jota too

Although Jota has prepared the car for the race, it is also difficult not to see this as a missed opportunity.

The fact is that the #12 car was _The Privateer That Could_ in the WEC. It’s been close to the points-leading No. 6 Penske Porsche all year, so there’s every chance it could have been tied with the car that took pole position if its own 963 had been able to honor the Hyperpole.

As Will Stevens says, “We’re not here to finish eighth and we’ve felt really good in the car all week.”

There was always the impression that the hopes of an improbable private victory rested on the No. 12, and that these had gone up in smoke with Ilott’s accident – an accident with wider consequences beyond of reconstruction. This proved to be the case during the race.

Loser: BMW

Two big impacts ruining the race, this was not what BMW had in mind for its return to the top category at Le Mans.

His V8 M Hybrid looked fast but nervous throughout testing and qualifying and, ultimately, it was a minor collision on the pavement that had major consequences for Robin Frijns, as the crash and strike the resulting barrier ended BMW’s hopes with its No. 20 car.

Vanthoor was much more of a passenger in his frightening shunt after contact with the race-leading No. 83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica. But it came as Vanthoor tried to make up ground after Marco Wittmann’s exit at Tertre Rouge early on.

BMW held on to a “conciliatory end” to the race by securing a podium in the GT3 class, but it would have hoped for much more from its Hypercar effort.





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