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Porsche defeats LMP2 cars to win 2017 Le Mans

The #2 Porsche crew only claimed the lead in the penultimate hour of an incident-filled race when Bernhard passed LMP2 racer Ho-Pin Tung.
3 min read19 Jun '17
Autocar India News DeskAutocar India News Desk
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Porsche drivers Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley claimed a dramatic victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours after all six LMP1 cars encountered major problems during the race.

The #2 Porsche crew only claimed the lead in the penultimate hour of an incident-filled race when Bernhard passed LMP2 racer Ho-Pin Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.

Bernhard eventually finished over a lap clear of Tung to secure his and Bamber's second Le Mans wins and the first for Hartley.

The trio's late victory bid came after a motor generator unit failure in the fourth hour dropped the 919 Hybrid crew 18 laps behind the leaders.

It looked like the sister #1 car would take a dominant victory ahead of the LMP2 runners until it ground to a halt with a lack of oil pressure with three hours left on the clock. At the time it had a massive lead of 13 laps.

The early stages of the race were all about Toyota until the Japanese manufacturer's 'curse' at Le Mans struck again.

First the #8 TS050 dropped out of contention in the eighth hour with an MGU issue when running second.

Work to fix the problem caused it to drop 30 laps with Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima eventually finishing ninth overall.

Neither of the other two Toyotas made it beyond half-distance.

The #7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Stephane Sarrazin led from pole and was beginning to build a commanding advantage when a clutch problem caused the car to slow as it crossed the start/finish line during the 10th hour.

Kobayashi, who set a new circuit record qualifying lap, attempted unsuccessfully to get the car back to the pits.

Then, just minutes later, the #9 car was also out of the race after being hit by the #25 Manor ORECA of Simon Trummer.

The contact caused a rear-left puncture for the Toyota and Nicolas Lapierre was also unable to make it back to the pits with too much damage done to the car.

But the shortest race of all was for the ByKolles CLM crew.

Oliver Webb hit the wall on the opening tour at Terte Rouge and the car was later retired in the second hour with an engine issue.

LE MANS 24 HOURS RESULT

LMP1T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.HartleyPorsche LMP TeamPorsche36724h01m14.075s
2
LMP2H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.LaurentJackie Chan DC RacingORECA/Gibson3661 Lap
3
LMP2N.Piquet Jr., M.Beche, D.H.HanssonVaillante RebellionORECA/Gibson3643 Laps
4
LMP2T.Gommendy, A.Brundle, D.ChengJackie Chan DC RacingORECA/Gibson3634 Laps
5
LMP2N.Panciatici, A.Negrao, P.RaguesSignatech Alpine MatmutAlpine/Gibson3625 Laps
6
LMP2F.Albuquerque, W.Owen, H.de SadeleerUnited AutosportsLigier/Gibson3625 Laps
7
LMP2R.Bradley, J.Allen, F.MatelliGraffORECA/Gibson3616 Laps
8
LMP2J-E.Vergne, J.Hirschi, T.GravesCEFC Manor TRS RacingORECA/Gibson3607 Laps
9
LMP1A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.NakajimaToyota Gazoo RacingToyota3589 Laps
10
LMP2A.Belicchi, R.Lacorte, G.SernagiottoCetilar Villorba CorseDallara/Gibson35314 Laps
11
LMP2R.Dumas, G.Menezes, M.RaoSignatech Alpine MatmutAlpine/Gibson35116 Laps
12
LMP2N.Moore, K.Chandhok, P.HansonTockwith MotorsportsLigier/Gibson35116 Laps
13
LMP2P.Lafargue, P.Lafargue, D.ZollingerIdec Sport RacingLigier/Gibson34423 Laps
14
LMP2R.Barrichello, J.Lammers, F.van EerdRacing Team NederlandDallara/Gibson34423 Laps
15
LMP2B.Hanley, F.Rosenqvist, H.HedmanDragonspeed - 10 StarORECA/Gibson34324 Laps

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