MOTORSPORT: Porsche reigns; agony for Toyota at Le Mans

A Porsche came back from last to give the German manufacturer victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the 19th time, and third year in a row with its 919 Hybrid. Two New Zealanders were among its three victorious drivers.

Despite starting more of its TS050 Hybrids (three), than Porsche (two), Toyota flopped again in its 19th start in the world’s biggest endurance race.

The winning Porsche was on the track barely 22½ hours. It spent well over an hour in the garage for a full rebuild of the front axle after a motor generator unit failure in the third hour. This dropped it 18 laps down to 52nd place.

But it steadily recovered to give one Kiwi, Brendon Hartley (a contemporary of Daniel Ricciardo in junior open-wheelers) his first victory in the classic, countryman Earl Bamber his second (both with Porsche) and German Timo Bernhard a dream second triumph (after an earlier one with now-departed Audi).

“It was a roller-coaster of a race,” Hartley said.

“We didn't really dream of coming back, but we fought so hard. So did the mechanics to get it back out there.”

The Toyotas had been the hares throughout the lead-up to the French classic. But two of them were out before half distance – one stopping out on track with clutch failure, another stranded after a puncture, violent spin, crash, fire and severe damage.

The other Porsche 919 led by 13 laps when it lost power with just over three hours to go, grinding to a halt on the long Mulsanne Straight.

That left a LMP2 (class two non-hybrid) prototype lading Le Mans for the first time, and quite a stretch. Ultimately, however, the victorious Porsche finished a lap clear.

The star LMP2 was an ORECA 07 backed by world-famous Hong Kong martial artist and actor/producer Jackie Chan, with a Chinese driver, Ho-Pin Tung (born in Holland), 19-year-old Thomas Laurent the event’s standout rookie and Brit Oliver Jarvis as the senior partner.

Another ORECA 07 in which one of the trio of drivers was Brazilian Nelson Piquet Junior wound up third and second in LMP2, two laps behind the Chan car.

An Australian debutant in the classic, James Allen, had a brilliant outing in yet another ORECA 07 that finished sixth in LMP2.

While there was a ‘meltdown’ in the searing heat among the few class 1 prototypes this year (with their worst reliability since the introduction of the hybrid drivetrains in 2014)overall 49 of the 60 starters in the four classes finished the gruelling enduro.

The one Toyota to get to the chequered flag (driven by Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima) did so in ninth outright, having dropped 30 laps after a motor-generator unit issue while running second in the eighth hour.

An Aston Martin Vantage prevailed in the prestigious GTE Pro class after a thrilling battle in the closing stages with a Chevrolet Corvette that chewed up its softer tyres.

Jonny Adam piloted the Aston home as American Jordan Taylor in the Corvette surrendered second in the class to a Ford GT with Brit Harry Tincknell at the wheel.

Another Ford in which US-based Sydneysider Ryan Briscoe and NZ’s IndyCar ace Scott Dixon were drivers was seventh in GTE Pro.

Ferrari 488s swept the podium in GTE Am while Australian Nick Foster was 10 in that class on debut in a Porsche 911 RSR.

What the Porsche heavy-hitters said…
Fritz Enzinger, vice-president LMP1: “One of our ambitious targets for the 2017 season was to achieve a hat-trick at Le Mans. But what we have gone through over the past 24 hours, you could not imagine in your wildest dreams.

“This 24-hour race just pushed everything and everyone to the limit. It is unbelievable what you can achieve in a focussed team effort.

“Sometimes it is not the fastest car but the best team performance that makes the difference. This team is the best of all and made today’s success possible. The reaction from everywhere is overwhelming – from Porsche employees and also around the world.

“I can only say thank you to Porsche for putting me in the position to set up such a great programme and thanks to every single team member for the total support and the great team spirit.”

Andreas Seidl, Porsche LMP1 team principal: “It’s hard to find words for what happened. The drivers and the entire team have done an amazing job.

“We can put two tough weeks behind us that provided some highs and lows but we fought with typical Porsche spirit. It will take some time for what we have achieved today to sink in.

“Toyota was a very strong competitor. They pushed us to the limits and beyond and we both paid the price. It is a sad that Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Nick Tandy [in the other 919 Hybrid] retired from the race because they controlled it for a long time. But Earl Bamber, Brendon Hartley and especially Timo Bernhard deserved to take the race win.

“Timo was the development driver right from the beginning of the program.”

And the view from the vanquished Toyota’s chief
Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda: “Normally, it would be proper to start off with words of appreciation for the support provided to us by our fans. However, for this time at Le Mans, I think I must first direct my opening words to our drivers.

“To me, at Le Mans for the first time, our drivers said, ‘We want you up together with us at the centre of the podium’, ‘For that, we definitely don’t want to lose’, and ‘So fight together with us.’

“In return, I said: ‘Drive all out. Trust the cars the mechanics readied for you. Enjoy Le Mans’… Despite telling them such, I was not able to allow them to drive all out. This, I truly regret. Even though our drivers drove believing in our cars, I can only say how sorry and how full of regret I am.

“I believe that the Toyota engineers, mechanics and parts suppliers, who built our cars for this battle, all feel the same. Therefore, bearing the burden as a representative of all such people, please let me say once again: ‘Sorry we weren't able to let you drive all out.’

“Also, to all the people related to the Toyota team, including our nine drivers, I would like to share two things on my mind at this moment.

“The first is for our fans… To all the fans who supported us believing in victory for Toyota, I am truly sorry that we were not able to meet your expectations… And for believing in us and giving us your passionate support for 24 hours all the way to the end, I want to express my deepest appreciation. Thank you. Thank you all so very much.

“Once again, Toyota will strive for the day on which we can, together, have smiles on our faces.

“The second is for the Porsche team... After last year's battle, I happily received many comments from people at Porsche recognising us as a rival. To live up to having been called a ‘rival’, I had thought that what we needed to do this year was to again put up a brilliant fight that would captivate the fans. That is why the team was able to take up bold challenges that resulted in new technologies and skills.

“To the Porsche team, I say congratulations. And I also say thank you very much. In the end, however, Toyota was not able to put up the kind of fight that could captivate the fans, like it did last year.

“This time, both Porsche and we, Toyota, were not able to complete without incident 24 hours of driving in the hybrid cars that we put to the challenge on the roads of Le Mans. Both even winning car #2 and our car # 8, which completed the race, were forced to undergo time-consuming, trouble-caused repairs, before struggling to cross the finish line.

“While the hybrid technology that has advanced through competition in the FIA World Endurance Championship puts its abilities on display in six-hour races, it might be that it is not yet ready for the long distance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“The power of electricity is absolutely necessary for cars take on a more-emotional presence. Le Mans is a precious laboratory in which we can continue to take up the challenges related to the technologies involved, putting such technologies to the test in an extreme environment.

“We will hone our technologies even further and ripen them to provide our customers with technologies that will truly make them smile. And we, Toyota, will go on making effort after effort so that we can continue making ever-better cars.

“We invite you to look forward to what we will be able to achieve.”