WINNERS AND LOSERS AT LE MANS
The ANZAC effort in 2022 produced vastly different results
Brendon scored his third win at Le Mans with Toyota and Ryan Briscoe stood on the podium with Glickenhaus, but others from down under were not so lucky at the French sports car classic.
Shane van Gisbergen was the final finisher in the GTE Pro class and 32nd overall in his first start at Le Mans, while former class winner Matt Campbell was never a contender with Porsche, and trailed home in 51st place, largely as a result of mistakes and miscues by his star co-driver, actor Michael Fassbender.
Another Australian James Allen came from the back of the grid to win the Pro Am LMP2 class.
Another Kiwi, Nick Cassidy, only managed sixth in his class.
So, the Anzac effort was distinctly mixed, but Hartley did the job as the New Zealander took pole position for the sports car classic and then drove hard and fast to the flag.
“Taking the car over the line today was a very special feeling,” says Hartley.
“I’m a small piece of the puzzle; all of my teammates are part of this victory. I broke down in tears after the race as my wife and six-month-old daughter are here.”
Former IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe finished on the outright podium
Briscoe was also pumped with third outright after many previous GT visits to Le Mans.
His Glickenhaus Hypercar prototype was helped by the misfortune of others, but that’s always the way at the biggest sports car contest of the year.
“Le Mans podium, yeah,” Briscoe posted. “Car was fun to drive and absolute blast.”
Briscoe was making his second start with the Scuderia Glickenhaus team, run by eccentric American sports car maker Jim Glickenhaus out of New York.
“Thank you to Jim, my team mates, and everyone involved. I’m honoured and grateful for the opportunity.”
On his Le Mans debut Shane van Gisbergen finished fifth in the GTE Pro class
Van Gisbergen was never likely to star as a Le Mans rookie in the only privateer car in the factory-dominated GTE-Pro category, a Ferrari 488 from Riley Motorsports running as Bee Safe Racing.
They were out-run for speed, missing the Hyperpole shootout, and only moved up to fifth in class – and 32rd overall – following the retirement of both factory Chevrolet Corvettes.
“Thanks Bee Safe Racing for the opportunity, great experience,” van Gisbergen posted.
Aussie James Allen won the LMP2 Pro Am class
For up-and-coming endurance ace Allen the LMP2 Pro Am class win was something special and comes just a year after he finished on the outright LMP2 podium last year.
“24 HOURS OF LE MANS CLASS WINNERS!,” Allen wrote on social media. “Fought hard from the very back of the grid behind the GTE AM class all the way to win in LMP2 Pro/Am.
“I’m so incredibly proud of everything this team has accomplished this year and couldn’t be more grateful to the guys and girls at the Algarve Pro Team for all their hard work, not just during the race but leading up to and during the week including a total rebuild of the car.
“To both my team mates Rene Binder and to Steven I could not thank you enough for what a great race you delivered!”
For the extensive report of the French classic purchase the next edition of Auto Action on sale Thursday.
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