The 21 Best Moments From The Epic Le Mans 24 Hours 2016
The Le Mans race got underway in a rather low-key manner, with rain and wet weather meaning that the cars pulled away from the grid behind the safety car. After 54 minutes of waiting it officially started and the two Porsche cars led away.
It may have only been one hour in, but the top three cars were separated by just a few seconds, with some great battling and jostling for position.
3. Quite a view
The camera view from the rear of the No.69 Ford GT made for some brilliant onboard footage!
These helicopter/LMP1 slow-motion shots at the Esses were also pretty damn cool!
5. Shake up at the front
The No.7 Audi LMP1 car hit trouble early on, which took a major potential race winner out of contention from the very beginning.
The No.89 Porsche dropped it at the first corner, hitting the wall with a fair amount of force, which resulted in retirement.
The race was made official when Tracy Krohn spun his Ligier LMP2 car off at one of the chicanes. Classic Krohn.
The No.28 Morgan went off several times in quick succession, and that would continue as the race progressed…
9. P1 for me
Things got pretty heated as the sun started to set…
Undoubtedly the best part of Le Mans is the night racing!
The No.6 Toyota and No.2 Porsche battled closely for first place as night fell, with Neel Jani moving ahead with 15 hours to go.
The safety car was deployed after the No.91 Porsche blew up and spilled fluid onto the Porsche Curves!
The No.67 Ford GT collided with one of the prototypes during the night, going for a spin but continuing.
The No.38 Jota Sport Gibson car went off at the final chicane and just tapped the wall; not a good way to start the morning.
Following the No.91 Porsche’s off on the previous day, the No.64 Corvette tried to go one better and did so with a heavy hit with the barriers at the first corner. Fortunately the driver was okay.
Several other cars hit trouble over the next few hours, including the No.35 Signatech Alpine LMP2 machine, the ByKolles LMP1 privateer and the No.50 Corvette.
17. In one shot
After such a long stint of the race, the top three drivers - the two Toyotas and the No.2 Porsche - were still right with each other and separated by just a few seconds. Not bad!
In close succession, Kamui Kobayashi spun the No.6 Toyota and Matt Rao crashed in the Manor after the front bodywork folded under the car.
19. Toyota slows
Having held the lead for quite some time, Kazuki Nakajima’s No.5 Toyota suddenly started to slow with just five minutes left on the clock.
Heartbreakingly the car ground to a halt on the main straight. He got it going again but failed to finish. Truly staggering stuff after well over 23 hours of on-track action.
The No.2 Porsche of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas went on to claim the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours win, ahead of the No.6 Toyota and No.8 Audi.
In LMP2 the No.36 Signatech Alpine was victorious, while the No.68 Ford GT brought the manufacturer back to the top step of the podium, finishing first in GTE Pro. The GTE Am win went to the No.62 Ferrari.
21. Garage 56 makes the finish
The Garage 56 entry is for cars displaying new technologies. After a year absence it returned with the No.84 Morgan, a modified LMP2 car with a quadruple amputee as one of its drivers.
Frédéric Sausset used a braking and throttle system controlled by his thighs via paddles on the seat and steered by attaching the prosthetic on his right arm to the steering column.
Despite an infection causing him to lose his forearms and legs, Sausset refused to give up racing and his story is undoubtedly the most inspiring at Le Mans. The car finished the race in 38th place, a truly brilliant achievement by the entire team and driver line-up.
What was your favourite moment? Let us know below!
Comments
Toyota right now.
It was the most tragic thing
i feel so bad for them… the faces in their garage were depressing :/
Safety Car Slide?
That was in quali and we already gave it a well deserved standalone piece :)
I’m supporting Porsche, but I feel really bad for Toyota, they really deserved this win…
Yeah me too. They’ve tried over and over again to win the race, yet it was their 5th 2nd place finish in history. Absolutely gutted. I really feel sorry for them. :(
But I guess this is what happens when you make Prius. 😂
I supported Ford and Toyota in this race. Sad scenes. I really wouldn’t be suprised if Toyota shelf their LMP1 effort after this. In my opinion if they didn’t win this year, they never will.
This is le mans. They broke down so they did not deserve the win. In the same manner a couple of years back the Peugeot’s were much faster than the Audi’s but broke down on the last half hour, why was that any different.
Not to be that guy, but it’s called endurance racing and if your car breaks before the time is up you did not deserve the win
P.S it was really sad seeing the toyota break :)
I was busy watching the BTCC. :I Shame about Toyota but I really wanted Mazda to remain the only Japanese manufacturer to have won Le Mans
If there was to be driver of the race, I’d pick Frédéric Sausset. A quadruple amputee with so much passion to race… you can only have just so much respect for the guy. Hats off to his brave effort for racing. 😃
Also, no mentioning of the Ford GT victory?
Commentators talking about everything but Le Mans at the end. They were talking about fart machines, former F1 driver making business from vibrat… That was sick :D
What???
Seriously, the battle between Ford and Ferrari. It was great to see old rivals tearing up the track together!
That .91 Porsche marking the Porsche teritory, uh… curves with oil. What an animal xD
I’m just devastated that Toyota lost. I was really rooting for them.
5 minutes before the end…
Why, just why?
Motorsport can be so cruel
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