24 Heures du Mans - 2022 - LMP2 - 24 Hours of Le Mans

 

The LMP2 winning JOTA No.38 Oreca enters the pit straight on Sunday morning.

The LMP2 class at Le Mans was virtually a one make class with 26 Oreca 07s and 1 Ligier competing.  All had identical 4.2 Litre Gibson motors.  Photos of all these cars and commentary on how their race went appears below.  There may not be much variety in this class but I have at least taken the shots from different points at different times of day! 

Without LMP2 we would have a lack of prototype cars and they did provide a good level of competition even if the No.38 JOTA car led a lot of the way after a first lap incident.  In the end the Prema No.9 car, that had led only on, finished over 2 minutes behind.   Well done to the whole JOTA team including Da Costa, Stevens and Gonzalez!

Seen here early in the race at Tertre Rouge, the No.31 WRT Oreca car took LMP2 hyperpole driven by Robin Frijns.  In the end a penalty and a crash as it tried to catch-up put an end to its hopes.

THE RESULTS (of the LMP2 class):

1st No.38 JOTA Oraca (Roberto Gonzalez / Antonio Felix Da Costa / William Stevens) 369 laps

The LMP2 winning JOTA Oreca No.38 entering the Esses on Sunday morning.  Da Costa had done the first stint and took the lead before the first two hours were up. After that they dominated the race in LMP2 and finished fifth overall in the race after the 4 hypercars.

2nd No.9 Prema Oreca (Robert Kubica / Louis Deletraz / Lorenzo Colombo) 2 mintues 369 laps, 21.9 seconds behind the winner

Early on Sunday morning the Prema Oreca is in second place as it enters the start finish straight. Kubica had made a great start to lead the class early on but they eventually had to settle for second.

3rd No.28 JOTA Oreca (Oliver Rasmussen / Edward Jones / Jonathan Aberdein)  368 laps

Bumping over the Motul Chican kerbs on early Sunday morning, the JOTA Oreca is in third place and gives JOTA two out of three podium positions.

4th No.13 TDS Racing x Vaillante Oreca (Nyck de Vries / Mathias Beche / Tijmen van der Helm) 368 laps

The TDS Racing Oreca in Tertre Rouge on Saturday afternoon.  Nyck de Vries was drafted in after practice and obviously did a great job.

5th No.5 Team Penske Oreca (Dane Cameron / Emmanuel Collard / Felipe Nasr) 368 laps

The Team Penske Oreca leads a JOTA car into the Esses.

6th No.23 United Autosports Oreca (Alexander Lynn / Oliver Jarvis / Joshua Pierson) 368 laps

The United Autosports Oreca leads a group through the Esses on Saturday evening.  It had recovered from an extra pitsop due to tyre issues early on and then a drive through for overtaking in the slow zone  and then an off into the gravel.  They were certainly trying!.   Josh Pierson at 16 is the youngest driver ever in the 24LM.

7th No.37 Winter Tournament Oreca (Yifei Ye / Ricky Taylor / Niklas Krütten) 367 laps

The No.37 Oreca entering the Esses on Sunday morning.

8th No.48 IDEC Sport Oreca (Paul Lafargue / Paul Loup Chatin / Patrick Pilet) 366 laps

The IDEC Sport Oreca in the Dunlop Chicane on Saturday evening.  Earlier it had had a tyre come off whilst on track.

9th No.1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca (Lilou Wadoux / Sebastien Ogier / Charles Milesi) 366 laps

The Richard Mille Racing Oreca in the Dunlop Chicane.  Eight times World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier was amongst the drivers and it was his first 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

10th  No.22 United Autosports Oreca (Philip Hanson / Filipe Albuquerque / William Owen) 366 laps

The No.22 United Autosports Oreca leading a group of LMP2 cars in the Esses on Saturday afternoon.  for this car it was a race of recovery as they were in the gravel just after the start and thus a top ten finish was far from a disaster . They also stopped on track briefly on Sunday morning,

11th   No.32 WRT Oreca (Rolf Ineichen / Mirko Bortolotti / Dries Vanthoor) 366 laps

The WRT Oreca in the Dunlop Chican on Saturday evening.

12th  No.65 Panis Racing Oreca (Julien Canal / Nicolas Jamin / Job Van Uitert) 366 laps

The Panis Racing Oreca leading another LMP2 car through the Esses.  On Sunday they suffered a penalty for causing a collision.

13th  No.34 Inter Europol Tournament Oreca (Jakub Smiechowski / Alex Brundle / Esteban Gutierrez) 365 laps

The No.34 cars leads a group including its other team car through the Esses on Saturday afternoon.

14th  No.43 Inter Europol Tournament Oreca (David Heinemeier-Hansson / Fabio Scherer / Pietro Fittipaldi) 364 laps

The Other Inter Europol car leading a Porsche up to the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

15th  No.45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca  (James Allen / Rene Binder / Steven Thomas) 363 laps

The Algarve Pro Oreca No.45 leads its other team car through the Esses on Saturday evening.  On Sunday it had a trip through the gravel but continued.  This car took the LMP2 Pro-Am victory.

16th  No.24 Nielsen Racing Oreca (Rodrigo Sales / Matt Bell / Ben Hanley) 362 laps

The Nielsen Racing Oreca leads another Oreca as they lap some GTE Am cars in the Esses.

17th  No.41 Real and WRT Team Oreca  (Rui Andrade / Ferdinand Habsburg / Norman Nato) 362 laps

The No.41 Oreca entering the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

18th  No.3 DKR Engineering Oreca (Laurents Hörr / Jean Glorieux / Alexandre Cougnaud) 362 laps

The DKR Oreca in the Esses on Sunday morning.

19th  No.83 AF Corse Oreca (Francois Perrodo / Nicklas Nielsen / Alessio Rovera) 361 laps

The No..83 car at night at Tertre Rouge.  On Sunday morning it touched the No.64 Corvette, putting the Chevrolet out.

20th  No.47 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca (John Falb / Sophia Floersch / Jack Aitken) 361 laps

The Algarve Pro car No.47 exiting the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning. They had a bad start and an early pit stop that didn't help their cause.

21st  No.44 ARC Bratislava Oreca (Miroslav Konopka / Bent Viscaal / Tristan Vautier) 360 laps

The ARC No.44 Oreca entering the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

22nd  No.10 Vector Sport Oreca (Nico Muller / Ryan Cullen / Sebastien Bourdais) 357 laps

The Vector Sport Oreca No.10 at Tertre Rouge early in the race. Later it hit the barrier but continued.

23rd  No.39 Graff Racing Oreca (Eric Trouillet / Sebastien Page / David Droux) 344 laps

The Graff Racing Oreca No.39 in the Esses on Sunday  morning.

24th  No.35 Last Oreca (Jean Baptiste Lahaye / Matthieu Lahaye / Francois Heriau) 335 laps

With about 20 minutes of the race gone, the No.35 Oreca enters the Esses.  Later it was to be penalized for passing under the yellow flag.

25th  No.27 CD Sport Ligier (Christophe Cresp / Michael Jensen / Steven Palette) 333 laps

The only Ligier JSP217 in this LMP2 race full of Orecas was the No.27 car.  With 3 debutant drivers of which two were Bronze, this car had a tough challenge.

26th  No.30 Duqueine Oreca (Richard Bradley / Guillermo Rojas / Reshad de Gerus) 326 laps

The Duqueine Oreca leads another LMP2 car in the Esses.

DNF  No.31 WRT  Oracle (Sean Gelael / Robin Frijns / Rene Rast)

The No.31 was still going late on Sunday morning as we see it cut the first apex of the Esses, but eventually it became the only LMP2 car not to finish when Frijns went into the barrier.  It had taken hyperpole and was running second early in the race but was given a one minute stop and go penalty for being involved in the first lap collision  with car 22.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The No.24 Oreca heads into one the chicanes at the end of the lap.

24 Heures du Mans - 2022 - LMGTE Pro - 24 Hours of Le Mans

The LMGTE Pro winning Porsche 911 RSR-19 exiting the Dunlop Chicane on Sunday morning.

It was great to be back at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.  I always look forward to the LMGTE Pro battles and I was excited to be seeing the mid-engined Corvettes for the first time.  There were 3 manufacturers entered this year with 2 Corvettes vs 2 Porsches and 3 Ferraris.  Thus Corvette Racing vs AF Corse vs Porsche GT Team vs Riley Motors Sports (the only privateer team).

There were the usual complaints about the BOP (Balance of Performance) from some of the teams, especially Ferrari.  The qualifying showed that the Corvettes had the ultimate pace but the Porsches were not far behind.   However, the race was also about reliability and luck.  The Corvettes were not lucky and lost the No.63 car on  Sunday morning with various issues and then shortly after their No.64 car was unintentionally touched by the LMP2 car of Francois Perrodo, as 3 cars were side by side, and it went crashing into the barrier.  Thus within a few minutes Corvette went from leading the race to having both cars retire.  Francois, always the gentleman, went to apologise to the Corvette team but it was heartbreak for the Chevrolet management, drivers and engineers.  Ferrari and Porsche then battled it out but Porsche had the pace and luck to take the win.

This was the last Le Mans for the LMGTE Pro category, as there is not enough interest from the manufacturers, and thus the new GT3 Premium class will replace it in 2024.  Factory teams will not be allowed in this class so it looks like we won't see the factory Corvettes at Le Mans in the future - a great shame as I have really enjoyed seeing the factory Corvettes at Le Mans.

All of the cars in the last LMGTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans are featured below in the pictures and commentary.

Results :

1st in Class and 28th Overall.  No.91.  Porsche 911 RSR.  Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz, Frédéric Makowiecki. 350 laps.

On Saturday evening the No.91 Porsche enters the Dunlop Chicane.  At this time he was running fourth behind the two Corvettes and his team mate.  But with over 19 hours to go there was plenty of time for things to change.

2nd in Class and 29th Overall.  No.51.  Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.  Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Daniel Serra. 350 laps, 43 seconds behind class winner.

On Sunday morning the No.51 Ferrari enters the Dunlop Chicane in third place.  During the next couple of hours that was to become second with the bad luck that hit the lead Corvette.

3rd in Class and 30th Overall.  No.52.  Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.  Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco, Davide Rigon. 349 laps.

It is a little after 10pm on Saturday night and the No.52 Ferrari is running fourth in class as it cuts the apex at Tertre Rouge. At this point he was running a little ahead of the eventual class winner.  

4th in Class and 31st overall.  No.92. Porsche 911 RSR.  Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor.  348 laps.

The No.92 Porsche cuts the apex at Tertre Rouge during the second hour of the race whilst running third.

5th in class and 32nd overall. No.74.  Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.  Felipe Fraga, Sam Bird, Shane van Gisbergen.  347 laps.  

The No.74 Riley Motorsports Ferrari early in the race, entering the Esses.

DNF. No.64. Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.  Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy, Alexander Sims.  260 laps. 

The Corvette No.64 was doing well when we got up on Sunday morning but by 11am it had been taken out of the race accidentally by one of the LMP2 cars.

DNF.  No.63.  Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.  Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Nick Catsburg. 214 laps.

The No.63 Corvette was leading after four hours when this photo was taken at the Dunlop Chicane. However, it later had a rear suspension failure and knock-on issues..

How the race for the LMGTE Pro class unfolded:

Hyperpole for the LMGTE pro cars was won by Nick Tandy in the No.64 Corvette.

 

At the start the two Corvette led from the two Porsches and the three Ferraris.  This is lap 1 at the Dunlop Bridge.  The cars were pretty much in the same order after the first hour.  Car No.64 is leading here.

For the first quarter of the race the lead was mainly held by Corvette No.63.

As night fell the No.92 Porsche was in second place but by 11pm it was in the lead and was in the lead most of the night.

By 7am on Sunday morning the No.64 had retaken the lead and control of the GTE Pro class.  This lead would last until, cruelly, a three abreast incident with some LMP2 cars put the No.64 Corvette into the barrier and out of the race.  This was shortly after the other Corvette had also retired.

With the Corvettes both out, the Ferrari No.51 now had the lead.

A close battle between the No.51 Ferrari and the No.91 Porsche ensued but the Ferrari had a puncture which didn't help its cause and in any case the Porsche looked a little faster.  Thus the Porsche ended up the winner.   Here it is at the entry to the Esses and about to be pounced upon by the Hypercar winning Toyota.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The No.52 Ferrari in the Dunlop Chicane.

It is early on Sunday morning and we follow the Ferrari and Covette into the Motul Chicane.

On Saturday evening there was  a good battle going on for second place in GTE Pro between the No.64 Corvette and the No.92 Porsche.  Here there are at the Esses.

24 Heures du Mans - 2022 - Hypercars - 24 Hours of Le Mans

 

Romain Dumas takes the Glickenhaus 007 LMH through the Dunlop Chicane.  A veteran of Le Mans with 21 starts he has won overall twice but this year finished fourth with the new Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus team.  This photo shows how you can get excellent shots even when firing through the wire net fencing.  You need a long lens which stops you focusing on the fencing.  This was taken at f/11, 1/2000th of a second at 360mm on a Canon 100-400 zoom with a minimum focusing distance of 3 metres. .

It was great to be back at the Le Mans 24 hour race for the first time since 2018.  This was my first time seeing the relatively new Hypercars and this blogpost concentrates entirely on that class.  There were only five cars in this class with Toyota the favourites, Alpine a challenger after their Sebring 1000 miles win and Glickenhaus also hoping to challenge with their two car line up.   Everyone was happy to have the crowds back after a two year hiatus and the lovely sunny weather got everyone in good spirits.   I was taking shots from the public areas between 4pm and 22.30pm on Saturday and then started again at 5.40am on Sunday and continued until just 11am when I decided to leave for the long drive home.  By that time it was fairly clear who was going to win unless a surprise happened, so I said goodbye to Gareth who had been great company all weekend.

Further posts on LM P2, LM GTE Pro and LM GTE Am will be coming soon.

All of the Hypercars and most of the good amateur photo locations are featured below:

Results:

1st Overall and in class.   No.8.  Toyota GR010 Hybrid.  Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa. 380 laps.

The winning Toyota in the Dunlop Chicane on Saturday afternoon.  It was on its way to taking Buemi to his fourth LM24 overall win, Hartley to his third win and Hirakawa to his first win.  After years of failing to win Le Mans, Toyota has now won the last five and is now the sixth most successful manufacturer at le Mans ahead of Ford, Matra and Peugeot.  The Toyotas were the only manufacturer running hybrid engines at Le Mans this year, it being a 3.5 litre V8 twin turbo hybrid.

A little after sunrise on Sunday morning Toyota No.8 is in second place to its sister car as it bumps over the curves of Virage du raccordement Motul (renamed for the race in honour of the French oil company). The No.8 car was either in the lead or in second place the entire race.

2nd Overall and in class.  No.7.  Toyota GR010 Hybrid.  Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez.  380 laps (2 minutes behind).

The second placed Toyota on Sunday morning overtaking a backmarker Porsche as it enters the Esses. Although it only finished second, the No.7 car driven by Jose Maria Lopez did take fastest lap at 3 minutes 27.749 seconds about 30 minutes from the end of the race.

The second placed Toyota, also early on Sunday morning in the Motul Chicane.  This shot was taken from a quick opportunistic visit to the T22 Bob Wollek grandstand. 

3rd Overall and in class.  No.709.  Glickenhaus 007 LMH.  Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, Franck Mailleux.  375 laps.

On Saturday evening the No.709 Glickenhaus makes its way through the Esses, in front of an LMP2 car, on its way to a podium finish.  It was good to see supercar manufacturer Glickenhaus win a podium at Le Mans at their second attempt.  Their cars are powered by a 3.5 litre twin turbo engine made by Pipo Moteurs in France.

4th Overall and in class.  No.708.  Glickenhaus 007 LMH.  Olivier Pla, Romain Dumas, Pipo Durani.  370 laps.

The fourth placed Glickenhaus at Tertre Rouge early in the race.

23rd overall and 5th in class.  No.36.  Alpine A480.  Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu, Vaxivierre.  362 laps.

The Alpine team didn't have a lucky Le Mans.  Here their single car entry is in the Esses on Sunday morning.  Their cars are powered by a Gibson 4.5 litre normally aspirated V8.

Saturday and Sunday Hypercar Chronology.

Between 10.30 and 10.45 on Saturday morning we saw the Warm-Up.  Here is the pole sitting Toyota entering the Esses during the warm-up.  Brendon Hartley had taken the hyperpole with a time of 3 minutes 24.408 seconds on this 8.5 mile circuit.

Just before the start, La Patrouille de France gave us a fly past.

A photo taken of the beside the track TV screen as Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman & CEO of Total Energies, drops the flag to start the race.

After a 4pm start, the Hypercars lead the rest of the cars on the first lap at the Dunlop Bridge.  Buemi takes an early lead in the No.8 Toyota.

With a quicker first pit stop, Mike Conway leads in the No.7 Toyota with one hour gone and 23 remaining.  Here he is at the Esses.  Second is the other Toyota then the two Glickenhaus cars and the Alpine.

The Goodyear blimp showing how clear the sky was on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

After the second round of stops, Buemi retakes the lead in Toyota No.8.  Here he is at Tertre Rouge.

The No.709 Glickenhaus has an unexpected pitstop before two hours to change a broken sensor and drops to fifth overall.  Here it is entering the Esses.

In the evening the Alpine had a long pitstop after it failed to get going again, and fell out of contention having fallen 4 laps behind after 4 hours.

As the sun gets low in the sky the No.8 Toyota is back in second place as the lead see-sawed between the two Toyotas.

As I headed for some sleep at about 10.30pm the No.7 Toyota was in the lead.  Here it is at the Esses. However, shortly after the No.8 car led again and was leading at the seven hour mark.

Even at midnight this 24 hour race is only one third complete!  A long way to go.

As sunrise approaches, the big wheel keeps on turning.

At 6.07am Mike Conway in the lead No.7 Toyota exits the chicane onto the pit straight.  His pit board shows him in the lead by 24.5 seconds.  However, it wasn't going to last as the No.7 car stopped on track and had to go through a reset routine and thus lose the lead.

During the night the No.708 Glickenhaus has had some issues and fallen out of the top three.  Here it is early in the morning in the Virage Ford Chicane.

At 7am the Alpine is still going but a couple of hours later it is in the gravel for a second time and is now totally out of contention.  

As the morning develops it become clear that barring the unexpected, the No.8 Toyota will win.  Which of course it did!

A photographic lap of Le Mans with the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus:

There are a huge variety of shots an amateur photographer can take at the 24 Hours of le Mans outside of the grandstands with just standard access and a standard ticket.  You just need a good DSLR camera, a long lens and some steps.

From the inside of the circuit we see the No.708 Glickenhausen approach the Dunlop Chicane.

From the outside of the circuit we see the No.709 Glickenhaus make the entry into the Dunlop Chicane.

Same place on the track and same car but different time of day and taken from the inside of the track.  Note how the Glickenhaus uses all of the kerb!

Let's stick with the same car but see it in the middle of the Dunlop chicane as seen from the outside of the circuit.

Now attacking the second part of the Dunlop Chicane, the No.709 Glickenhaus is illuminated by the early Sunday morning light.  It then accelerates up under the Dunlop Bridge.

The No.709 Glickenhaus reappears into our view as it takes the bend just after the Dunlop Bridge.

The No.709 Glickenhaus then enters the Esses as we take our picture from the inside of the circuit on Sunday morning..

We now switch to the other team car No.708 for the standard Saturday evening Esses shot taken from the outside of the circuit.

Earlier in the day the No.709 Glickenhaus is seen leading the Alpine at the Esses.

We now go under the tunnel to inside of the circuit to take a picture of the No.709 Glickenhaus in the Esses but taken from the inside of the circuit.

A little further along the inside of the circuit we see the No.709 Glickenhaus cutting the apex at Tertre Rouge.   This picture was taken on a fixed focal length 135mm lens.

We can't go any further than Tertre Rouge so we now rejoin the cars at the Ford Chicane.

Early on Sunday morning and the Glickenhaus No.708 is bumping over the Ford Chicane.  taken from the outside of the circuit.

A little later on Sunday morning and the No.708 Glickenhaus is exiting the Chicane onto the pit straight.

A view from the same spot but showing the full start finish straight as one of the Glickenhaus cars finishes another lap.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.\

The Alpine A480 on Sunday morning entering the pit straight.