Le Mans 2016 (Hours 19 to 24): Heartbreak with four minutes left

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With just four minutes to go, it looked like Sébastien Buemi would win the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours, with team-mate Kazuki Nakajima looking good for the win. But utter heartbreak followed as the car broke down, allowing the Porsche of Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas to swoop for the overall win.

After fantastic stints from Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Nakajima in the #5, the Japanese manufacturer looked set for overall victory before it was snatched away in the cruelest of fashions after 23 hours and 56 minutes. This allowed the Porsche trio of Jani, Lieb and Dumas to take victory after a hard-fought race. The #5 crew was not even able to salvage second place, as Nakajima crept over the line on his last lap slower than the required six minute time.

Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway were also competing for the win in their #6 Toyota, until team-mate Kamui Kobayashi spun into the gravel with a few hours left, damaging the car and leading to a long stop in which the #6 crew lost three laps. They were then running third overall until being promoted to P2 following Nakajima’s issues. Meanwhile after a disappointing race filled with problems, Loïc Duval and Lucas di Grassi in the #8 Audi managed to come home 3rd overall, salvaging a podium after a tough day. Rounding out the Formula E interest in the LMP1 class was the Rebellion Racing trio of Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nicolas Prost in the #12 machine. After a race full of issues, all three drivers did a great job to rise to 29th overall (6th in LMP1) by the end of the race.

In the LMP2 category, Mahindra Racing’s Bruno Senna finished the race in the RGR Sport by Morand #43 car he shared with Filipe Albuquerque and Ricardo Gonzalez, battling back from P16 in class earlier in the day to P10 by the end. René Rast showed fantastic pace all day in the #26 G-Drive Racing car, finishing P2 in class alongside Will Stevens and Roman Rusinov.

Former Team Aguri racer Nathanaël Berthon (#41 Greaves Motorsport) finished 6th in class for Greaves Motorsport, while Ho-Pin Tung (#35 Baxi DC Racing Alpine) unfortunately had to retire from the race.

Finally in GTE Pro, DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird retired from the race earlier after team-mate Davide Rigon suffered a wheel rim failure while at the wheel of the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. And former NEXTEV TCR racer Antonio García finished 7th in class alongside Jan Magnussen and Ricky Taylor, as the #63 Corvette recovered from a poor start to the race.

Laurence Thorn and Renate Jungert | e-racing.net

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Images courtesy of Rajan Jangda

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