Nielsen steers Ferrari to back to back Le Mans, Shahin wins class
Nicklas Nielsen has helped Ferrari conquer Le Mans for a second year in a row, while Aussie Yasser Shahin won LMGT3 in the rain.
The #50 Ferrari AF Course 499P Nielsen/Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina won the 92nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours by 14s over the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez/Nyck de Vries.
It is the 11th overall win and 40th including class success at Le Mans for the “Prancing Horse” and the Italian brand’s first repeat win since the famous five-peat in the early 1960s.
To complete the celebrations the #51 499P of James Calado/Antonio Giovinazza/Alessandro Pier Guidi rounded out the podium by fending off the #6 Porsche.
Australia’s Matt Campbell steered the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 to the finish and came home sixth.
But another Aussie stood on the top step of the podium with Shahin part of the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche that dominated LMGT3.
Shahin, plus Richard Lietz and Morris Schuring won the class by 42s having led the way for the majority of another wild marathon around Circuit de la Sarthe that contained wet weather and massive safety car disruptions.
Nielsen’s win was set-up by a special penultimate stint where he pushed his 499P to the edge of the virtual energy tank pack and built a big 50s lead.
The Dane pitted for the final time with 51 minutes to go and despite the track being wet, Ferrari took a gamble by only taking fuel in the lane and not changing tyres.
There was a nervous moment when Nielsen went off at Dunlop Chicane as he now faced a delicate balancing act of maintaining enough energy to make it to the finish, but being fast enough to stay in front.
The #7 Toyota was now in front and pitted from the lead with 23s up its sleeve.
Just like Ferrari, Toyota did not change tyres and Lopez rejoined 31s back and lost track position to teammate Buemi.
Sitting 12s behind the Toyotas was Campbell until he made his final stop with 28 minutes left and dropped to sixth.
Buemi pushed hard and gained 10s on Nielsen to come within 26s but ran out of juice and had to box with 24 minutes left and fell to fifth.
This ensured Nielsen enjoyed a 36s advantage over Lopez for the run home.
Campbell’s hopes of getting into the top five were affected by an off track moment, while the sister Porsche of Vanthoor was all over the back of Pier Guidi in the fight for third.
Vanthoor pushed hard all the way but could not quite get close enough as it was Ferrari’s day.
Nielsen was perfect in the final hour in tricky conditions and rode the “Prancing Horse” to a famous victory.
2024 Le Mans 24 Hours results
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