Historic: Ferrari wins the race of the century at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Costa wins in LMP2!

It seems impossible for anyone to break Toyota’s dominance. The Japanese firm arrived at Le Mans for its sixth consecutive victory and the new cars arrived this year in the new Hypercar category were more superior. Especially, apparently poor Ferrari, on his return to the top class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a 50-year absence, can be imposed on a group that rarely makes mistakes like the Japanese, who have studied everything down to the smallest detail. The simple fact that Ferrari tried it is enough for a documentary script. But what happened at this weekend’s appointment makes for a feature film Oscar contender. This weekend will forever remain in history. Ferrari won again in the premier class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his car number 51, 58 years after his last career race victory, in 1965.

that time, Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory captured the glory with a Ferrari 330P. It was the year before in the famous 1966 edition, the GT40 of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon made Ford take revenge. after his failed attempt to buy Ferrari before ‘Il Commendatore’ Enzo Ferrari, played with his illusions of becoming the owner of the Maranello company. In 2023, after almost 6 decades, Ferrari returned to the top at La Sarthe. He took the centenary Le Mans race with ex-F1 Antonio Giovinazzi, along with Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado behind the wheel of Ferrari 499Pa much-needed victory for all of Italy after so many years without a smile in the category on which they are all focused, F1.

The #51 Ferrari prevailed over the #8 Toyota and the #2 Cadillac completed the podium. Peugeot were 7th on their return to Le Mans 12 years after leading parts of the event.

10th overall victory for Ferrari at Le Mans

It has rained heavily since the victories of the 60s. Ferrari ended up in the top class and its Le Mans success stories, and its 9 previous victories, in 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1957 and the 6 in a row -sequence from 1960 to 65 is like a legend, like stories in black and white. Nothing of this kind looms on the horizon. And for this year the stars are aligned so that one of its pillars, Antonello Coletta, head of Ferrari Attività Sportive, achieves the goal for which he has insisted so much in recent years at the company’s helm: return to Le Mans to the queen. category.

The arrival of a new regulation, the new era of Hypercars, cheaper than the previous LMP1, in a very attractive class for manufacturers, made Coletta fulfill his wish. The goal is to “return to Le Mans to win again”. What no one could have predicted was that they would succeed in their comeback year, against the massive Toyota, the one that never failed, in a 24-hour race where any mistake could turn into a nightmare. Ferrari achieved its 10th overall victory at Le Mans and claimed the event’s centenary trophy.

The race of the century: maximum equality and unpredictability

The #52 Ferrari crew did it in a pure endurance race where the key was their perseverance and their zero errors. The date had everything.

In the early morning it rained heavily and rained again as the evening began. The key is to fight. Its rivals have gradually fallen, first the Toyota 7, with a touch of low-class cars leaving. At 2 a.m., the #50 Ferrari of Spaniard Miguel Molina lost his chance to win after spending the entire first part of the race in battle, all because of a rock that damaged his car, causing him to lose of the team 6 laps in the pits

Then, the amazing Peugeot #94, which managed to take the lead after the chaos of the rain, crashed into the barriers at 3am, giving notice to his choices. In the fight for glory is the champion of four of the last five 24 Hours of Le Mans. At that time, equality was maximum and the surprise was to see Toyota without escaping as in previous appointments. Toyota 8 took the lead taking advantage of the fact that the group joined a ‘Safety Car’ due to the problem of its ‘sister’ car. Everyone expected the Japanese to write overnight to knock out their rivals. But this time, they are not superior.

Toyota Decisive Mistake #8

The give and take between the #51 Ferrari and #8 Toyota lasted throughout the rest of the test. It made all the difference that the defending champions left the wheel to their lesser quality driver, Hirakawa, to make the final runs. They always wanted a Japanese to cross the finish line, but this time, it wasn’t the best choice. WhatWhat must a driver of Sébastien Buemi’s stature think in the box when he sees they didn’t give him that chance to attack Ferrari? The Italians were not nervous despite the presence of John Elkann, Frédéric Vasseur or Charles Leclerc that in the box They continued at a great speed thanks to their best pilot, Pier Guidiand the appointment seems to be under their control in the absence of strategies or an error that marks the final outcome. But a mistake by Hirakawa, crashing into the barriers, definitely settled the balance for the #51 Ferrari with less than 2 hours remaining.

Final scare for Ferrari

Of course, Ferrari is Ferrari and victory cannot come without a final shock. With 23 minutes remaining, at the last stop, when Pier Guidi had to come out of the pits, the car was found to be unresponsive. Unable to boot. Roots are maximum. His career could end cruelly and tragically. The Italian reset the car and, after some endless tension in the Ferrari box, with everyone fearing the worst and praying to all the saints present and possible, the car started. The gap to the #7 Toyota was so wide that he was able to hold on to the lead and win.

Some hearts stopped beating again. As in all of Italy. Ferrari returns to honor its history. He won 58 years later, on his return 50 years later, in the centennial race, and possibly, the race of the century.

Albert Costa wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2

Albert Costawith his companions Smiechowski and Fabio Schererachieved victory in the silver category (LMP2) of 24 Hours of Le Mans. The crew of the number 34 Inter Europol car started from 13th place after having unlucky luck in a difficult classification. Albert Costa made it clear that they have the speed to go back and pick everyone, but in a difficult race, nothing can be taken for granted and victory seems complicated. Can’t miss them. Albert Costa was really key in his relays.

In the first stint, Albert took the car in 7th and left it in 2nd for Fabio to finish the job to put the top car. And at night, something similar happened. Between Costa and Fabio they did an impeccable job to reach the final hours with a margin between half a minute and a minute. Not a punishment to ‘Drive Through’ It was enough to snatch a victory that was more than deserved for his drive and human quality, as well as for the complications he suffered in his career when he looked at F1.