日: 2022年6月12日

Sébastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley in the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR101 Hybrid Hypercar celebrated a convincing win, ensuring that the Swiss racer claimed his fourth victory at Circuit de la Sarthe, with Hartley’s securing his third triumph and Hirakawa his maiden one.

The race between the two Toyotas raged for the first 16 hours of the event with each car leading at stages, but an issue with the front hybrid system meant the No.7 driven by José María López , Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi lost crucial time and ensured No.8 was clear to take the win.

Toyota’s win today marks the first time since the works Ferrari team took five straight victories at Le Mans between 1960 and 1964.

Glickenhaus Racing got one better than its 2021 fourth place by sealing a three-four finish. Ryan Briscoe, Franck Mailleux and Richard Westbrook took a popular podium in the No.709 Glickenhaus 007LMH after fighting back from an early unscheduled pit stop for a sensor change.

The sister No.708 Glickenhaus Racing entry driven by Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Romain Dumas took flag fourth after recovering well from damage and time lost from an off-track excursion by Pla at Tertre Rouge just before midnight.

Alpine ELF Team took point for fifth place for the 2022 WEC Hypercar class title bid but leaves Le Mans disappointed after a difficult weekend. A clutch issue, an accident, and several other smaller problems ensured it placed a distant 24th overall.

PORSCHE VICTORIOUS IN LMGTE PRO
Porsche took its first Le Mans LMGTE Pro win since 2018 as Frederic Makowiecki, Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz claimed a hard-fought victory in No.91 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19.  

Makowiecki took the chequered flag ahead of the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari driven by James Calado, Daniel Serra and Alessandro Pier Guidi in a close and tactical battle to the very end.

Each of the three manufacturers in LMGTE Pro – Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette spend times leading the immensely competitive category over the course of the 24 hours.

Several incidents and tales of misfortune played out over the race, with initially Corvette Racing appearing to have the advantage.

No.63 and No.64 Chevrolet Corvettes spent a good portion of the race in the lead but a suspension issue for the No.63 car of Nicky Catsburg, Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia, and then an early morning accident for the No.64 Alexander Sims-driven C8.R, meant an early end to US-entered teams’ hopes.

Sims, who shared the seat with Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner, was an innocent party in a three-car incident on Mulsanne Straight after he was swiped into the barriers by the No.83 AF Corse-entered LMP2 car.

These issues had allowed the No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, and Laurens Vanthoor to hit the front, but their own accident damage relegated this car down to fourth place at the chequered flag.

This was one place behind the Miguel Molina, Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco-driven No.52 AF Corse Ferrari which was delayed in the early stages of the race by a puncture.

The final finisher in LMGTE Pro was the Riley Motorsports Ferrari of Felipe Fraga, Sam Bird and Shane van Gisbergen that crossed the line fifth in class.

JOTA SPORT FIRST AND THIRD IN LMP2
Jota Sport celebrated a hat-trick of Le Mans LMP2 victories as Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez, and Will Stevens dominated the class from the early stage in flawless performance.

Adding to the British team’s previous wins in 2014 and 2017, the No.38 car controlled the field and lead home the Prema Orlen Team trio of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Lorenzo Colombo.  

Stevens took the chequered flag to trigger wild scenes of jubilation in the Jota Sport pit as they also toasted a double podium success with the No.28 claiming third with Ed Jones, Oliver Rasmussen and Jonathan Aberdein completing a fine showing.

Reigning champions, WRT suffered bitter disappointment as pole-sitting No.31 car dropped back after a 60-seocnd penalty for the first corner contact with No.22 United Autosports USA entry.

But heroic fightback saw the car in contention for a podium finish until Robin Frijns crashed on the exit of the Indianapolis corner on Sunday lunchtime.

TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca-Gibson served up a feel-good story of Le Mans after replacing its chassis and driver ahead of the race.

Nyck de Vries made a last-minute cameo appearance and turned out to be a significant weapon in the car, claiming fourth position alongside his teammates Mathias Beche and Tijmen van der Helm.

Team Penske place fifth in class with Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron and Emmanuel Collard making their final WEC appearance of 2022 together, before the team switches its focus to Porsche’s forthcoming LMDh project. The distinctive yellow and blue Oreca-Gibson lost time with bodywork repairs early on in the race.

United Autosports concluded a fightback race from first-hour issues to place sixth, with the No.23 car of Alex Lynn, Oliver Jarvis and the youngest ever driver to start at Le Mans, Joshua Pierson.

The Pro/Am division was taken by the No.45 Algarve Pro Racing entry of Steven Thomas, James Allen and Rene Binder, as they lead home the Nielsen Racing car of Ben Hanley, Rodrigo Sales and Matt Bell.

TF SPORT CLINCHES SECOND LE MANS LMGTE AM WIN
TF Sport sealed the victory in the 23-car LMGTE Am field with Ben Keating, Marco Sorensen and Henrique Chaves to double up and reprise 2020 Le Mans success.

The Aston Martin Vantage took the lead of the class from the WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the early morning, never looked back and went on to extend its lead beyond the reach of the US-entered car.

Keating took a much-coveted first win at his eighth attempt and banished the memory of losing victory through disqualification in 2019, while Sorensen scored his first Le Mans class victory on his eighth attempt.

WeatherTech Racing completed an excellent race but ultimately lost the chance of a victory after an off-track excursion in the early morning period.

A fine day for Aston Martin saw the No.98 NorthWest AMR line-up of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard taking third place after a relatively smooth run.

GR Racing took its best-ever Le Mans result as Ben Barker, Mike Wainwright and Riccardo Pera claimed fourth, ahead of similar No.88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 entered for Jan Heylen, Fred Poddard and Maxwell Root.

World Endurance Championship

WEC24 Heures du Mans24 Hours of Le MansWECSEASON 2022FIACircuit1FIAWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2022WEC24 Heures du Mans24 Hours of Le Mans01Sunday, June 12, 2022 – 4:55pmSunday, June 12, 2022 – 4:55pm

Mikel Azcona scored his second WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup victory of the season in Race 1 at WTCR Race of Hungary as he led all the way from pole position at the Hungaroring.

The Spaniard made a strong start in his BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse entry, built a gap and clinched an impressive second win in the Hyundai Elantra N TCR. The victory has made him the new Goodyear #FollowTheLeader after he knocked Néstor Girolami off the top of the title standings.

King of WTCR Yann Erhlacher, who started third on the grid, pounced on a small mistake from Nathanaël Berthon on the penultimate lap to snatch second place. Ehrlacher’s Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR had shadowed Berthon’s Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS all race and with the latter mindful of track limits warnings, one mistake was all it took to change the podium order.

“Really pleased, very happy, a very comfortable race,” said Azcona, who won Race 2 at WTCR Clean Fuels for All Race of France last month. “There was no pressure from behind. The first lap is always the most tricky part of the race. The first few corners I felt the pressure and tried to defend. I have to say the car was working very good, the degradation was amazing. Thanks to my team.”

“It was really tough, it was really hot in the car,” said Ehrlacher. “The start was tough because I was not on the inside. We gave it a good go, but I lacked a bit of speed. But actually I saw I could save my tyres not running too close behind Nath because I would have destroyed them. Then the last three laps I saw as my chance. I felt some vibration in my tyres so I was careful as well. But I went for it.”

Berthon was disappointed about the warnings he received on track limits violations. “I was surprised about it, because maybe it was close, but hmm… we need to check the footage. A big frustration and so close to the end you shouldn’t lose a position. But I was struggling from lap two so I think I did a good race. Anyway, Yann was much quicker.”

Comtoyou Team Audi Sport’s Gilles Magnus started and finished fourth, with Cyan Performance Lynk & Co’s Ma Qing Hua piling on the pressure during the final laps. Rob Huff came through from eighth on the grid to finish sixth, the Zengő Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición pulling two good moves on the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Hondas early in the race.

Girolami, who lost his status as Goodyear #FollowTheLeader to Azcona, finished seventh ahead of Santiago Urrutia, who got the better of Esteban Guerrieri after a tough race-long battle. Guerrieri, who had started fifth, was under attack for most of the race, Urrutia’s Lynk & Co tapping him into a slide on one lap at Turn 3.

Yvan Muller completed the top 10, ahead of fellow Lynk & Co driver Thed Björk. Local hero Norbert Michelisz made up one place for his grid slot to finish in P12, ahead of Mehdi Bennani’s Comtoyou Audi, Attila Tassi in his LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler Honda Civic Type R TCR and Tom Coronel, who was penalised for contact with Zengő Motorsport’s Dániel Nagy.

Huff was the first WTCR Trophy finisher followed by Bennani and Coronel. The Briton extends his lead of the category for independent racers as a result.

Race 2 at WTCR Race of Hungary is scheduled to start at 16h45 CET.

World Touring Car Cup

Race of HungaryWTCRSEASON 2022SportCircuit1SportWorld Touring Car CupCircuitWTCRSEASON 2022Race of Hungary00Sunday, June 12, 2022 – 1:02pmSunday, June 12, 2022 – 1:02pm