[JasonB]

I hear some Italian team has won some sort of race.  

Where's Anthony, probably out celebrating.

[KensRedZed]

Hahaha! 

[mickey thumbs]

Aha! This explains their F1 season - all the focus has been on the Hypercar. ?

[Henk]

Common back after so many years and taking the win can be called historical. 


Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. I guess that Italian brand will sell some cars today 

[Kevan]

With BoP handicaps it wasn't really a fair fight, a hollow 'victory' it's been going on for years and the main thing that spoils le mans for me.

[Anthony B]

Errrrm Kevan explain the BOP - co as far as I remember the Ferrari's were penalised on Friday after quali?  Did I miss something :)


FORZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  


Seriously though - what a race - 6 different teams that led. I was uber impressed with Cadillac. Peugeot a disaster but beautiful looking cars, Porsche were not prepared enough and a tad slow - but with BMW, Lamborgini and ALpine here next year - oh man we have a great racing series we can watch again!!!!

We had it on Eurosport - what happened to the normal commentators - you hvae NO idea how much I was shouting at the TV listening to their pompostic idiotic drivel abot how I did it - whicle missing HUGE incidents and moments on the track.???? Somebody needs to be fired - truly awful.

[Kevan]

Toyota were handed a 37kg handicap, Ferrari 24kg.

Like I said it adds a feel of manipulation and allows sandbagging.

Coverage this year has dropped in quality, the other class races were largely ignored and I switched the telly off shortly after the race as there's only so much Ferrari trumpet blowing a person can stomach.

Prototype racing seems to be on the up which is a refreshing change to what's now a bland F1 series.

[BAracer]

I saw one brief youtube clip and I think the rentacommentator sounded like Carlton Kirby who has been the scourge of cycle racing coverage for years...welcome to our world!

[Gpa113]

Well done Ferrari,  congratulations Anthony!

BOP is very clever as it keeps multiple manufacturers interested,  and spending their money! 
But.....it isn't what many of us are used to.   Not sure what the outcome would have been otherwise?

Completely agree with the coverage complaints.   Poor analysis,  and talk about stating the obvious,  aaagh. 

My highlight was a Full Course Yellow for gravel on the exit of, I think, Mulsanne Corner. Brooms, industrial size blowing machine etc.
But a Hiab Lorry, with course workers replacing Armco barriers was only a Slow Zone!!  Only at Le Mans.
And don't mention the darn Safety Car procedure.......

[woodcote]

It was a brilliant race - I watched all but about 3 hours of the Eurosport coverage. The drama was utterly relentless and made a perfect 100th anniversary celebration.

Of course, all eyes were on the top class - with Toyota, Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot all looking like they had a decent shout of victory at various stages of the race. The best race laps also seem to confirm the success of BoP, even with numerous cars carrying damage and/or mechanical issues into the track's sweet spot on Sunday lunchtime...

Ferrari #50 (LMH) - 3:27.218 (lap 307)
Toyota #8 (LMH) - 3:27.549 (lap 308)
Ferrari #51 (LMH) - 3:27.890 (lap 264)
Cadillac #311 (LMDh) - 3:27.963 (lap 289)
Cadillac #2 (LMDh) - 3:27.967 (lap 263)
Porsche #5 (LMDh) - 3:27.987 (lap 320)
Porsche #38 (LMDh) - 3.28.075 (lap 228)
Porsche #6 (LMDh) - 3:28.294 (lap 307)
Cadillac #3 (LMDh) - 3:28.298 (lap 12)
Peugeot #94 (LMH) - 3:28.446 (lap 275)
Peugeot #93 (LMH) - 3:28.798 (lap 290)
Glickenhaus #708 (LMH) - 3:29.577 (lap 294)
Porsche #75 (LMDh) - 3:29.916 (lap 12)
Glickenhaus #709 (LMH) - 3:29.936 (lap 261)
Toyota #7 (LMH) - 3:29.993 (lap 12)
Vanwall #4 (LMH) - 3:32.636 (lap 125)

The new safety car procedure has a proven track record in IMSA of delivering the drama, intrigue and redemption we saw at La Sarthe over the weekend. Although the bunching-up and wave-around changes the goalposts a little, I think the chance of redemption works well in a 24-hour race - Alessandro Pier Guidi was forced off into the gravel by a spinning GT car during the night, but finished as a Le Mans race winner after he and his team worked hard to recover the lost time. The Corvette's recovery was even more dramatic after they lost two laps with early mechanical troubles. It meant the Iron Dames missed out on a history-making GT podium, the outright pace of the three teams ahead of them proving decisive under the new system.

The LMP2 victory for Inter Europol was glorious - the bigger-budget teams protesting every possible infringement over the final few hours. But race control was not swayed and the Polish bakers beat all the fancied LMP2 contenders - many of whom will be moving up a class to give us yet more Hypercar entries next season.

Finally, congrats to SC Glickenhaus - whose overall budget was less than some other teams spent on catering... according to Jim Glickenhaus! The sixth and seventh place finishes for their two cars show what's possible in a highly-competitive Hyperclass class with limited resources. Despite their share of off-track excursions and mechanical issues, the #708 car finished seven laps behind the winners, beating both Peugeots, all four Porsches and the Kolles Vanwall.

As soon as the race finished, I was wishing away the days until next year...