Hour 24:00: Toyota officially wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans! Their #8 of Fernando Alonso, Bruno Senna, and Kazuki Nakajima takes the overall win ahead of their #7, driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez, and Mike Conway. The top LMP1 privateer is the #3 Rebellion in third, piloted by Thomas Laurent, Mathias Beche, and Gustavo Menezes. GTE-Pro goes to the #92 Porsche, the "Pink Pig," of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor. The #91 Porsche and #68 Ford GT complete that podium. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche takes GTE-Am, while the #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca takes LMP2. All four won through varying levels of dominance in what was notably a significantly less competitive 24 hour classic than that of the past few years. Hour 23:57: Final lap. That position looks unlikely to change hands in LMP2. Hour 23:51: The battle for the last spot on the LMP2 podium is now down to just a few seconds on track, with the Graff-SO24 entry of Tristan Gommendy leading the TDS Racing car of Loic Duval. The more proven Duval will have about three laps to try to gain the position. Hour 23:16: SMP Racing confirms an engine failure on their #11 LMP1 entry. Hour 23:08: The #11 SMP Racing Prototype parks at Indianapolis after it suddenly emits smoke. That looks to be a heartbreaking 24th hour retirement for the LMP1 debut of both SMP Racing and Jenson Button. Hour 23:00: One hour remains. Hour 22:45: AF Corse Ferrari #51 goes into the garage unexpectedly from sixth in GTE-Pro. The reason is unclear. Hour 22:37: Toyota confirms that the #7 simply missed the pit entrance at the end of its previous stint. The #90 GTE-Am Aston Martin takes an excursion into the gravel and brings out a slow zone, which is removed after a quick recovery. Hour 22:29: The #7 Toyota's issue was, reportedly, something as simple as not having enough fuel to complete the lap. If that is the case, it went into limp-home mode to ensure that it could finish the stint without stopping on track, and there is no issue with the car itself. Hour 22:25: The #7 resumes at full speed with a few corners to go in its limp-home lap, but still makes an unscheduled stop. The team refuels, fiddles with a few thing on the side of the car, and the #7 Toyota returns to the track, now a lap off the lead but still comfortably in second overall. Hour 22:21: The #7 Toyota has an issue! It slows along the Mulsanne from second overall with just over 90 minutes left in the race. The car will limp home in an attempt to see if it can be fixed, and, with its 12 lap lead on third, that leaves Toyota just over 30 minutes to repair the car and retain its 1-2 finish. Hour 22:15: The gap from second to third in GTE-Pro, still the best battle on track, is now sitting at six seconds, with the #92 Porsche still leading the #68 Ford GT. The #32 United Autosport car, currently running in fourth, has a puncture at the end of the Mulsanne. That will derail that car's outside shot at a podium in class. Hour 21:40: Fernando Alonso exits the #8 Toyota with it in the race lead. Whatever happens next is beyond his control. Hour 21:35: The #48 IDEC Racing LMP2 entry, which had run second in class just 75 minutes ago, has been retired. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. 🚨 ABANDON DE L’ORECA #48 Après 21h de course où nous avons donner le meilleur de nous-même, c’est une casse mécanique qui nous oblige à baisser les armes et signer un abandon à 3H du drapeau à damier. #LEMANS24 @24heuresdumans — IDEC SPORT Racing (@IDECSportRacing) June 17, 2018 Hour 21:28: The #85 Keating Motorsports Ferrari, running second in GTE-Am, has spun into the sand in Mulsanne corner. A quick slow zone is declared as the car is de-beached, but the salvage effort takes long enough that the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari has moved into second in class. The #85 is also now in danger of losing its final podium spot in class to the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche, running just under a minute behind in fourth. In GTE-Pro, the gap that grew to 20 seconds after the #68 Ford's driver change has become just eight seconds after the #91 Porsche, still in control of the second position in class, made a change of their own. The off-strategy #67 Ford is again splitting the two, third in class. Hour 21:05: The #91 Porsche, still driven by Makowiecki, has built his hold on the second position in GTE-Pro to seventeen seconds over the #68 Ford GT. Hour 20:45: The full quotes from Bourdais on Makowiecki and on officiating throughout the weekend: This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. . @BourdaisOnTrack on @FredMako1: “For me this is not racing. It’s extremely dangerous and exposes the complete unfairness of the BoP. If this is the way the governing body wants us to be on track… then I probably shouldn’t be here because I’m not OK with it.” #LeMans24 — John Dagys (@johndagys) June 17, 2018 This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Bourdais to @RadioLeMans: "I don’t think you want to know what I think. For me this is not racing. It’s extremely dangerous. It exposes the unfairness of the BoP. It shows how the governing body wants us to be on power on weight." (1/2) #lemans24 — Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) June 17, 2018 This content is imported from Twitter.<doc-sep>The grid is set for this weekend’s running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and if you hear the faint sounds of mumbling from Northern France, it’s the prayers being said by most teams to Fuelinjecticus, the patron saint of Balance of Performance. Of the 60 cars that will take the start on Saturday, the vast majority have been subjected to dreadfully inaccurate BoP settings enforced by the event’s organizers, and with that in mind, three of the four classes could have runaway winners unless changes are made before the parade laps. We’ll come back to this in a moment. Outside of the technical talk, Le Mans has its most compelling field of super star drivers in ages. In LMP1, Formula 1 double world champion Fernando Alonso and 2009 F1 title winner Jenson Button will make their 24 Hour debuts. And in the second-tier LMP2 category, two-time Indy 500 winner Juan Montoya is also preparing to make his first Le Mans start driving for the team owned by Alonso’s McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown. Alonso will be driving the polesitting number 8 Toyota Getty Images To think how folks swooned over the talented (but winless) F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg when he dropped in to drive during the 2015 race, and now, with the trio of Alonso, Button, and Montoya in mind, the pre-race attention has gone into overdrive. Le Mans finally has true giants to draw new fans into endurance racing. The cars of Le Mans have traditionally held the most interest for those looking in, but after Audi and Porsche, two of its biggest supporters—and spenders—moved on, the shift towards famous international drivers has come at a crucial time. Dating back to 2007, Le Mans has featured at least two big factory LMP1 protagonists to fight for the overall win, and in the greatest mental adjustment required for the 2018 race, Toyota is the last manufacturer standing. Toyota is the last factory team in LMP1 Getty Images Audi withdrew at the end of 2016, and sister brand Porsche followed the Four Rings out the door after it completed its dominant mission in 2017, leaving Toyota to play among a downsized class filled with privateers using non-hybrid LMP1s. It means that after crushing failures for Toyota in consecutive years—snatching proverbial defeat from the jaws of victory—against its biggest rivals, the Japanese auto giant is effectively racing against itself in the quest to earn its first Le Mans win. If, by chance, Toyota’s TS050 Hybrids falter once again (Alonso is sharing the polesitting car, which brings unparalleled attention to its plight), Toyota Gazoo Racing might be forced to change its name to the Cleveland Browns. Getty Images Looking at how qualifying played out, the 4.072-second gap between the leading Toyota and the best non-factory car is alarming. It’s hardly the topic anyone wants to discuss, but in applying artificial measures to balance the performance between different models to make them equally competitive, small errors can ruin the quality of a race like Le Mans. Take away too much power from one brand…give too much to its rival…saddle one with extra weight…allow another to go on a diet...and the stop watch will report a confusing state of affairs. The ACO/FIA’s approach to LMP1 is a bit different than the normal application of BoP. It’s stated goal is to allow different technologies to exist while massaging the rules to keep everyone in the hunt. Le Mans has a long history of missing the mark when asking the factory and non-factory prototypes to mingle, and the story is the same in 2018. Jenson Button in the BR1 LMP1 car for SMP Racing Getty Images The final point of interest in LMP1 is the unproven reliability of the seven all-new non-hybrids. They don't appear fast enough on raw pace to trouble the Toyotas (without the ACO/FIA intervening before the race), and even if they do get a boost in performance, there’s no guarantee the BR1s, Ginettas, and Rebellions will make it to the finish line. Granted, with back-to-back epic collapses on its record, Toyota should be just as worried as its low-buck rivals. The pro-am LMP2 class, as we’ve come to expect, is where the real knockdown action will happen. It's 20 cars, separated by tiny margins, in a swirling pack of doom. The one Le Mans class where BoP isn’t used just happens to be the closest on the stopwatch. Food for thought. In the GT categories, Porsche’s 911 RSR model delivered a stomping to the Pro and Amateur entries. Getty Images GTE-Pro, where the Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, and Porsche factories compete for class honors, is most ripe for pre-race BoP adjustments. Without them, the 911 RSRs are set for a lonely event as the 1.677s qualifying gap to the other marques is further evidence of widespread imbalance. (And don't blame Porsche. Ford was the lucky recipient in 2016 and clobbered the opposition. Aston Martin was handed the baton last year and won with relative ease. Using recent history as our guide, when it comes to GTE-Pro, we've come to expect one 'have' and a grumpy group of 'have nots.') Some of the best sports car drivers on the planet ply their trade in GTE-Pro. The desire to see those aces locked in gripping duels is a big part of Le Mans’ allure. But when the technical regulations cast favor in one direction and dampen the ability for other models to perform at a similar level, driving talent becomes an afterthought. Getty Images It’s the trickiest aspect of BoP. When the technical regulators nail their sums, the six GTE-Pro brands have a legitimate chance to win. And when they’re off, the manufacturers on the wrong side of the equation are left to pray for miracles to erase the extra seconds and tenths found in their lap times. GTE-Am is no different. In the hands of pro-am teams, Porsche’s 911 RSR went 1.228s faster than the other brands in qualifying, and the same prayers for BoP relief (or Porsche misfortune in the race) will be needed.<doc-sep>The 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours has not yet begun, but eyes were already turning to 2020 on Friday when the sport’s future plans were laid out. In a class that will be named by fans at a future date, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest [ACO] announced that a “remarkable, competitive, innovative and affordable” class will be introduced from 2020 for the next five seasons, with the aim of providing competitive top-tier racing at a quarter of the current price while producing aesthetically pleasing cars in what felt like an obvious snipe at Formula One. It was an interesting development on Le Mans’ off-day, with no racing taking place on Friday as the pits is opened up to the fans and teams go through their final preparations before the real action. But come 15:00 local time on Saturday, all attentions will be firmly on the 2018 instalment that, given what is at stake, could be the departure of Toyota. The Japanese manufacturer has been nailed down to the 2018/19 World Endurance Championship ‘Super Series’ that spans the entirety of this year straight through to next year’s Le Mans in June, but few are in doubt if they fail to finally break their duck around the Circuit de la Sarthe this weekend, their return next year will be unlikely. Plenty has been made of Fernando Alonso’s long-awaited arrival at Le Mans – and rightly so given the increase in attention that the two-time Formula One world champion’s presence will bring – but Toyota’s future is of much more importance. After the departures of Porsche and Audi in the last two years, a third withdrawal of a major manufacturer would be a very painful blow for such an iconic event. The presence of Porsche, Ferrari, Ford, BMW, Aston Martin and Chevrolet in GTE does at least show a future commitment – as well as the new addition of Ginetta with Manor Endurance Racing – but the loss of three big names in motoring does nothing for the race’s image. That’s why the presence of Alonso, and Jenson Button and even Juan Pablo Montoya, is so important this year. These are names that have been at the forefront of motorsport for more than a decade, capable of intruding living rooms of those households that do not regularly show motorsport on their televisions, and for a sport that always struggles for standout broadcasting beyond F1, all efforts must be made to capitalise on this opportunity. But Toyota will at least draw the line somewhere. They claimed ahead of final qualifying on Thursday that the No 8 car containing Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi – both ex-grand prix drivers in their own right – will not receive preferential treatment when compared to the sister No 7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez even if the decision has to be taken whether to soak up the undoubted attention that will come with an Alonso victory. DC Jackie Chan Racing with Jota Sport came within two hours of winning outright in 2017 (Getty) Should that dilemma arise on Sunday afternoon, will Toyota stick to their claim? As recently as the Six Hours of Spa last month, Toyota took the decision to keep the No 7 behind Alonso in the latter stages to secure a one-two finish and bring both cars home safely. As they know only too well, that is much, much harder to achieve at Le Mans, and has led many to wonder whether they are in fact cursed at the classic track. The heartbreaking scenes in 2016 when Kobayashi’s Toyota ground to a halt at the start of the final lap – costing them certain victory to rivals Porsche – remains one of the most dramatic moments witnessed in Le Mans history. Last year, Toyota’s three-prong attack was decimated by mechanical failures and collisions, and if they fail to triumph this time around in the 10-car LMP1 category without Audi or Porsche on the grid, the embarrassment will be unbearable. Form suggests that the two Toyotas should be able to control the race as long as they remain issue-free, with the pair of Rebellions their closest rivals four seconds-a-lap slower than the pole time. That could yet be affected by fuel consumption regulations over long runs, but the smart money is on Toyota joining Mazda as just the second Japanese manufacturer to win the iconic race. In truth, the real battles to watch will be behind them. LMP2 has long been the class to watch for action-packed racing, yet it fails to receive the recognition it deserves. Last year DC Jackie Chan Racing with Jota Sport came within a whisker of winning the race outright, having become the first second-tier prototype to lead at Le Mans when Toyota and Porsche’s ranks crumbled. This time around the top six cars in the class were separated by less than a second with Idec Sport Racing leading the way, and that remarkably doesn’t include Signatech Alpine, G-Drive, United Autosports and last year’s class victors. Porsche are likely to be pegged back by the Balance of Performance changes (Getty) Then there’s the GTE battle, and despite dominating both Pro and Am this week, Porsche are likely to be reeled back in by a late change in the Balance of Performance restrictions that has seen both the German outfit and Ford being given weight increases. With accusations of sandbagging from other teams to hide their true pace, anything is possible in the GTE classes – and given they tend to get caught up in more scrapes and crashes than their prototype counterparts any type of lead if vulnerable at all times. When so many manufacturers are pulling out at the top, it’s warming to see Porsche commit their 911 programme and BMW make a welcome return to the grid this year, adding that little bit more competition to an already unpredictable category. With so much uncertainty running through LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am, and the Toyota ‘curse’ hanging over LMP1, this could prove to be one of the most fascinating yet important Le Mans 24 Hours yet.<doc-sep>We’re a few days away from the start of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans, so if you haven’t gotten yourselves up-to-date with this year’s race, we have a spotter’s guide that’s going to save you a lot of time catching up on what to expect ahead of this weekend’s race. The guide is as comprehensive as it gets, and it comes straight from WeatherTech and Andy Blackmore, the man behind all of the best spotter’s guides you’ve seen. Anything and everything you need to know about this weekend’s race is in here There are 60 different cars competing this weekend, spread across four different categories The 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans spotter’s guide has you covered on what you need to know about the race, including a number of useful details on the cars that are going to compete in this year’s 24-hour race. There are 60 different cars competing this weekend, spread across four different categories. You can see all of them, in detail, with this spotter’s guide. This year, Andy Blackmore took it to another level. There’s a significant amount of information on each car and the drivers who will be racing them this weekend. You can even learn about the team, car number, garage number, grid location, tire manufacturer, and even things like social media handles and specific explanations of each team’s livery. Blackmore even created graphic depictions of each car; complete with small details that could change in the days leading up to the race. Some teams even have back stories on the kind of liveries they’re going to use in the race. Would you believe that Porsche is going old school with some of its liveries, bringing back iconic looks like the Rothmans and the Pink Pig? You’ll find all the information you need on Blackmore’s excellently detailed spotter’s guide. Cars competing in the top-flight LMP1 series are all grouped together To keep you from getting confused, all 60 cars are broken down by class. Cars competing in the top-flight LMP1 series are all grouped together. It’s the same thing with cars competing in the LMP2, GTE-Pro, and GTE-Am series. The guide can also be updated regularly as the weekend progresses, including after qualifying, where the guide will be updated to reflect the grid positions. It’s an excellent guide to learn everything about the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Considering how exciting and memorable last year’s race was - Porsche won the race, but LMP2 race cars dominated the Top 10 - we expect nothing less for the 2018 staging of the world’s most famous endurance race. Thankfully, we have this spotters guide to help us learn everything we need to know to get us ready for the big day. Further reading Read more Le Mans news.<doc-sep>
The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 car. Photo : WEC There are a few sporting events throughout the year that attract even the most casual of fans, just because they’re so big and so important. Like the Indy 500, Daytona 500 or Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is one. If you’ve committed to watching cars for 24 hours straight this weekend, here’s what you should know. A Basic Breakdown Of The 24 Hours Of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the race, even if everyone becomes a sleep-deprived weirdo 16 hours into it. Just getting to compete in Le Mans is a big deal, which is why drivers from all sorts of racing disciplines show up to have a go at it every year. Winning it is bigger. The race is part of the World Endurance Championship, an FIA-governed series that holds races between six and 24 hours long in different parts of the globe during the year. But more than just WEC drivers show up. The French 8.5-mile racing circuit made up of a full-time race track and big sections of temporarily closed public roads. The race has four different classes running all at the same time and the speeds vary significantly throughout the field, meaning that cars are lapping and passing each other like it’s Mario Kart. The race also spans across an entire day, meaning visibility and weather conditions change throughout the course of the event. One driver doesn’t stay in the car for the entire 24 hours, because that would be absurd and unsafe. Three drivers typically trade off in a race car, running stints throughout the day and night. Photo : Kurt Bradley Le Mans might sound long and therefore not worth the effort to watch, but 24-hour sports-car races are some of the best shows around. Just last year, the Aston Martin leading the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur, or LMGTE Am, class had a tire explode like a firework, Toyota’s two top Le Mans Prototype 1 cars retired within the same hour, every car in the top LMP1 class broke, and the No. 2 car on the Porsche LMP1 team came back from 56th place overall to win the race after getting stuck in the garage for more than an hour. That all happened in one Le Mans race, and let’s not even get started on one of the other big 24-hour races, IMSA’s Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. This stuff is quality entertainment, whether you can hang for the entire 24 hours or not. Either way, here’s how to know what’s on your screen. The Cars Of Le Mans High-tech prototypes and sports cars—everybody’s out there all at once. The free-for-all and variety is a big part of what makes WEC and Le Mans so fun. While the cars compete in different classes, they share the track and run the race at far different speeds from one another. It makes for a real show. The four Le Mans classes are separated into two main groups: prototypes and sports cars. There are certain regulations that file them into separate classes, and while two classes may look alike, you can tell which class a car is in by the color of the box painted around its car number. Here’s a guide to the reasons behind those different colors, and there’s a much more detailed spotter guide for cars and drivers in this year’s Le Mans race here. Le Mans Prototype 1 TheNo. 3 LMP1 car of Rebellion racing, a privateer team, during practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Photo : Ker Robertson ( Getty Images The Le Mans Prototype 1 class, or LMP1, is the class with the red box around its car numbers. Both LMP1 and LMP2 cars look like alien spaceships that also fly like spaceships on occasion—in a bad, accidental way. LMP1 is the fastest class in WEC, with a decent amount of freedom in what teams and manufacturers can do with the cars. There are different engine configurations, along with hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles. Manufacturer teams run the hybrids, and Toyota is the only manufacturer team around right now. LMP1 also has driver restrictions based on rankings by WEC’s governing body, the FIA. The FIA ranks drivers as Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze to denote experience level, and amateur Bronze drivers aren’t allowed in an LMP1 car.