24h Le Mans
Every year for the past 100 years, a single car and a single team have their hard work rewarded with overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only a select handful of drivers get to revel in glory, while others leave licking their wounds.
Le Mans can bring out the best in a driver, just as it can put them through the wringer. Isn’t it said that the 24 Hours chooses its winner?
Many of the drivers on the grid this year are likely to be hankering after revenge. Starting with André Lotterer.
With three wins under his belt, secured in 2011, 2012 and 2014, the champion knows he’s among the lucky few. “Le Mans changed my life. It’s a race that has brought me a lot, that has propelled me to the forefront of motorsport.” Since his first participation, when he put up his own money to race in an Audi R10 entered by Colin Kolles’ team, Lotterer has become a standard bearer in the advent of the hybrid era, respected for his consistency and drive. He makes no bones about it – he wants to win with Porsche, a marque he has loved since childhood. Porsches are his thing and his own collection includes a rare Carrera GT.
“I could have made it into the closed circle of four-time winners of the race, but we retired with two hours to go in 2017. Winning with Porsche was my dream. Porsche cars generally don’t have reliability issues. It’s true that it hurt. But the page has been turned, it’s the future that counts. Lots of other drivers have encountered the same fate. It’s great to be back here with them this year. I’m going to try to make up for it,” he grins.
Sébastien Bourdais has come tantalisingly close to victory. The local boy from Le Mans has finished second on three occasions. His 2009 and 2011 finishes with Peugeot kindled a desire for revenge after crossing the chequered flag. “In 2009, we were denied victory. When the last Audi in the running had problems in the night, the decision was made to lock the positions. We were faster [with Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin] but the order was given not to take any more risks. I told my team manager that he was simply denying us victory.”
In 2011, Bourdais lost out to Audi after a fierce battle. Just 13.854s behind the R18 driven by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, the four-time ChampCar champion suffered another setback. “It was a different story in 2011. We were just slower. And then there was the choice of tyres on the Sunday morning. Based on the information we had, it wasn’t expected to rain before midday. That’s what I based my decision on, and went with medium tyres. But it started to rain at 10:30, so the tyres I’d chosen ended up being unsuitable. I lost 50 seconds to the R18 over the course of my stint. We missed out by 13 seconds on the finish line”. After going on to win in LMGTE Pro with a Ford GT in 2016, Sébastien Bourdais is in with strong chance of shining at this year’s race. Could 2023 be the year of Cadillac’s first victory?
Le Mans can be lost through a moment of carelessness, veering off-track, an error in the pits or a poor strategic decision. Le Mans can be lost through poor pacing or subpar performance. And Le Mans can choose its winner by pot luck, right up until the last lap! That’s exactly what happened in 2021. As Yifei Ye was leading the LMP2 class, he was forced to stop on the track when an electrical problem caused the car to shut down. It never restarted, depriving the Chinese driver and his teammates Robert Kubica and Louis Delétraz of a thoroughly merited victory. “We obviously have a feeling of revenge. We should have won in 2021. It’s horrible, we think about it every day. Losing Le Mans on the last lap is something you never get over,” says Hypercar hopeful Louis Delétraz, who looked on helplessly from the pits.
Sometimes, an unfinished chapter can turn into an epic saga. That’s what happened to Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. The pair were left in the lurch at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans as their Toyota lost the race going into the final lap. Kazuki Nakajima, now Vice-President of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, commented on the disappointment shortly after the race: “The positive thing is that we have gained even more fans than if we’d actually won the race! So I think that this is the start of a good story and it will go on until we win the race. And I’m sure we will achieve that one day”. He went on to win the race in 2018, 2019 and 2020, as did Sébastien Buemi, who chalked up a further win in 2022. Only Anthony Davidson, the third driver of the ill-fated trio, has not clinched a victory.
