#0676 'Les Hunaudieres'

24 Hours of Le Mans 2017

Porsche 919 #2
Drivers: Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber
1st place overall, 1st place in LMP1

Porsche 919 #2
Drivers: Neel Jani, Nick Tandy, André Lotterer
DNF

What Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber did with the Porsche team and their 919 LMP1 in 2017 only seems possible in a 24-hour race: to go from 55th to first place. But first things first: Toyota is a full three seconds faster than the Porsche with a 3:18.067. Will it be the first Toyota victory after all the long 30 (Leidens) years in which the Japanese sent exceptionally fast racing cars to the Sarthe? Not yet. All four of the filigree hybrid vehicles fail – at least temporarily – due to their high technology or other typical Le Mans difficulties. The luck of the Porsche trio with starting number 2 was that their hybrid unit (electric drive on the front axle) was changed very early in the race. Lotterer and Co. in the sister car rolled out powerless on the Hunaudières – in the lead. The Toyota with the same technology fared no better. The Jackie Chan LMP2 then led the race for several hours, but the 919 charged in and nibbled ten seconds off the lead, lap after lap. The long-awaited Le Mans victory in a Porsche finally came true for Timo Bernhard.