Toyota Dominant In Securing Latest Victory at Le Mans

Toyota hybrid vehicles have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four years in a row, breaking the three-year win streak by Porsche and giving Toyota its first four wins.

The Japanese manufacturer was never seriously threatened by its two Hypercar rivals, Glickenhaus and Alpine, in a relatively clean race for both of the two GR010 Hybrid crews. The only major drama to hit either Toyota came just shy of the 16-hour mark when Jose Maria Lopez stopped on track in the #7 car and had to perform a full power cycle of the front hybrid system to get going again, losing a lap in the process.

Although the car shared by Lopez, Mike Conway, and Kamui Kobayashi was able to get back onto the lead lap, on pace there was virtually nothing to choose between the two Toyota crews, which had spent the first two-thirds of the race exchanging the lead. The only blip on the way to victory for the #8 car was a slightly slow changeover from Buemi to Hartley in the penultimate hour, with Hartley going on to secure victory by a final margin of 2m01.222s over Lopez in the #7 machine.

It marks a fourth Le Mans win for Swiss driver Buemi, a third for New Zealander Hartley – both of whom are now the most successful drivers at La Sarthe from their respective nations in terms of wins – and a first for new Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship driver Ryo Hirakawa, who becomes the fifth driver from Japan to win the event.

Corvette’s Victory Hopes Destroyed In Crash

Sims was leading by more than a minute in the #64 C8.R he shares with Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner when he was taken out of the race by the #83 AF Corse LMP2 car driven by Francois Perrodo.

Gentleman racer Perrodo was trying to pass the #47 Algarve Pro Racing car along the Mulsanne straight after the first chicane when he jinked to his left, making contact with Sims and sending the Corvette driver spearing into the barriers at high-speed head-on.

The incident, unfortunately, marked the end of Corvette’s hopes of securing GTE Pro honors in the final outing for the class at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Corvette Racing’s Chevrolet Corvette C8.R driven by Tommy Milner of the U.S, Nicholas Tandy of Britain, and Alexander Sims of Britain races during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, in Le Mans

The Best of the Rest

The quicker of the American manufacturer’s cars early in the race, the #708 car of Olivier Pla, Pipo Derani, and Romain Dumas, had already dropped off the lead lap when a rear suspension problem put Pla into a spin at Tertre Rouge in the eighth hour.

The trio finally recovered to fourth overall, 10 laps off the winning Toyota.

Alpine’s solo grandfathered A480 LMP1 car had a disastrous race beset by technical gremlins that resulted in the entry shared by Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Andre Negrao finishing outside of the overall top 20, 18 laps down.

Two trips to the garage – first to replace the electronic clutch unit and then the ignition coil was followed by a penalty for speeding and then another 20-minute spell in the pits after an off for Vaxiviere at the Porsche Curves in the morning hours

JOTA Sport won the LMP2 class, completing a dominant drive for the mighty No. 38 ORECA 07-Gibson of Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez, and Will Stevens, who finished fifth overall. The LMP2 overall podium is completed by the No. 9 Prema Orlen Team ORECA of Lorenzo Colombo, Louis Deletraz, and Robert Kubica in second, and the second JOTA car, the No. 28 of Oliver Rasmussen, Ed Jones, and Jonathan Aberdein, in third.

Cars race during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race, in Le Mans, western France, Saturday, June 11, 2022.

The No. 13 TDS Racing x Vaillante ORECA (Nyck de Vries, Mathias Beche, Tijmen van der Helm) was fourth, the No. 5 Team Penske ORECA (Dane Cameron, Emmanuel Collard, Felipe Nasr) fifth, and the No. 23 United Autosports USA ORECA (Alex Lynn, Oliver Jarvis, Josh Pierson) sixth.

Recovering from a heavy crash on Wednesday that could have ended its race before it ever began, the No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA of Steven Thomas, James Allen, and René Binder took the LMP2 Pro-Am victory, finishing 15th across all P2s. Second in P2 Pro-Am was the No. 24 Nielsen Racing ORECA (Rodrigo Sales, Matt Bell, Ben Hanley), and third was the No. 3 DKR Engineering Oreca (Laurents Hoerr, Jean Glorieux, Alexandre Cougnaud).

The factory Porsche GT Team won the final battle for GTE Pro, as the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz, and Frederic Makowiecki took the victory — the last for an all-pro GT team at Le Mans, at least for the foreseeable future. They completed 349 laps on the day and won by 49.4s.

AF Corse’s two Ferrari 488 GTE Evos gritted their way to a 2-3 finish, with the No. 51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Daniel Serra in second, and the No.52 Ferrari of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco, and Davide Rigon in third.

United Autosports USA’s Oreca 07 – Gibson driven by Philip Hanson of Britain, Filipe Albuquerque of Portugal, William Owen of the U.S. crashes during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race,

The No. 92 Porsche (Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor) consolidated fourth after a devastating puncture in the morning, and the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ferrari (Felipe Fraga, Sam Bird, Shane van Gisbergen) took the flag in fifth. Corvette Racing’s dreams of a final Le Mans win in the class were dashed as the day wore on, with both cars retiring before the flag.

GTE Am was won by the No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves, and Marco Sorensen, who seized the lead at halfway and drove on to victory from there.

The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche of Cooper MacNeil, Julien Andlauer, and Thomas Merrill finished second in GTE Am, followed by the No. 98 Northwest AMR Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim, and David Pittard in third. Fourth was the No. 86 GR Racing Porsche (Michael Wainwright, Ricardo Pera, Benjamin Barker), with the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche (Fred Poordad, Maxwell Root, Jan Heylen) fifth, and the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari (Thomas Floehr, Francesco Castellacci, Nick Cassidy) sixth.

The Glickenhaus Racing’s Glickenhaus 007 driven by Ryan Briscoe of Australia, Richard Westbrook of Britain and Franck Mailleux of France during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race

Le Mans 2022: The Results

Place Car No. Car Class Laps
1 8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Hypercar H 227
2 7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Hypercar H 227
3 709 Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 224
4 38 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 221
5 9 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 220
6 708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 220
7 65 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
8 5 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
9 28 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
10 13 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
11 31 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
12 37 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
13 43 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
14 23 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 219
15 32 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 218
16 1 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 218
17 34 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 218
18 22 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 218
19 44 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 217
20 48 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 217
21 36 Alpine A480 – Gibson Hypercar 217
22 41 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 216
23 45 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 216
24 24 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 216
25 83 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 215
26 3 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 215
27 39 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 214
28 10 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 213
29 35 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 212
30 47 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 212
31 51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Pro 208
32 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LM GTE Pro 208
33 92 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Pro 208
34 91 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Pro 207
35 52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Pro 207
36 74 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Pro 206
37 33 Aston Martin VANTAGE AMR LM GTE Am 204
38 99 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 204
39 79 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 204
40 98 Aston Martin VANTAGE AMR LM GTE Am 204
41 77 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 204
42 56 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 203
43 54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 203
44 86 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 203
45 88 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 202
46 21 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 202
47 85 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 201
48 55 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 201
49 61 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 200
50 60 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 200
51 57 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 199
52 80 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 199
53 66 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 196
54 75 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 195
55 93 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 193
56 27 Ligier JSP217 – Gibson LM P2 P/A 192
57 59 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 190
58 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LM GTE Pro 186
59 30 Oreca 07 – Gibson LM P2 178
60 777 Aston Martin VANTAGE AMR LM GTE Am 112
61 71 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LM GTE Am 127
62 46 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 LM GTE Am 77
A car in passes by during the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race in Le Mans, western France, Saturday, June 11, 2022.