Ferrari takes historic 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in front of sell-out crowd
The Centenary year of 24 Hours of Le Mans – round four of FIA WEC – saw an epic victory for Ferrari as the Prancing Horse took an emphatic win in its Ferrari 499P Hypercar in front of a sell-out crowd of 325,000 people.
It was the Italian manufacturer’s first appearance in the top class at Le Mans since 1973 and marked Ferrari’s first overall victory since 1965. The winning trio of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi secured 50 FIA WEC championship points and sees Ferrari close on Toyota with just 18 points separating the two manufacturers with three rounds remaining.
Meanwhile, in LMP2, Inter Europol Competition took a famous and highly popular debut WEC victory at Le Mans with Jakub Smiechowski, Fabio Scherer and Albert Costa. The team had claimed their first ever WEC podium at Spa last month and used that momentum to enjoy an impressive race where they made few mistakes, came through the pack and led for most of the race from dawn onwards.
The points leading No.33 Corvette Racing squad of Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone and Nicky Catsburg took their third WEC victory of the season with a hard-earned win in the final LMGTE Am category race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The victory sealed Corvette’s eighth WEC win and the first at Le Mans since they won the LMGTE Pro category in 2015. They also became the first GTE Am polesitter to finish on the LM GTE Am podium.