Porsche wins Le Mans 24 hours

24 hours of Le Mans is one of the most prestigious trophies in automotive racing and Porsche has won it for the 19th time. The number 2 Porsche emerged as the overall winner followed by Toyota in a distant second place. Aston Martin claimed the GT title after a fierce battle with the Chevrolet Corvettes.

After a blistering qualifying, the Toyota TSO50 Hybrids began strongly dominating the field, initially. The #1 Porsche managed to split the leading Toyotas later in the first quarter while the #2 Porsche struggled with mechanical issues. At the mid-way point, the LMP1, two of the Toyotas had already retired with mechanical issues along with the #1 Porsche handing the lead to LMP2 cars.

The #2 Porsche was also lagging behind in the field, but with its mechanical issues put behind, it led the German carmakers on a lone charge for the podium. With two hours to go, the #2 Porsche was one lap behind the race leader, #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing, an LMP2 competitor. The Vaillante Rebellion LMP2 team that took the lead after the leading LMP1s retired, tried hard to stave off the #37 and #38 of the Jackie Chans resulting in a three way fight.

The #2 Porsche, with its higher pace, managed to get up close and overtake the LMP2s in the last hour to take the overall win with just minutes to go. The 2017 Le Mans has been the most successful for LMP2 cars with the #38 claiming overall second and the #13 Vaillante Rebellion claiming overall third. The #8 Toyota LMP1 finished second in the LMP1 class, but managed only the ninth position overall. Karun Chandhok, the Indian car racer of Formula 1 repute, managed to finish 12th overall with his 10th position finish in the LMP2 category.

The GT class also saw nail-biting action with the Aston Martin snatching the lead from the Corvette in the final minutes as the car lost control due to faded tyres. The #67 Ford GT secured the second place as the #63 Corvette limped to the finish line with a puncture.

The AM class results were dominated by Ferrari with all three podiums in their kitty after a long battle with the RSR 911 Porsches and the Aston Martins.