LE MANS.- Ferrari won for the second year in a row, beating Toyota, in the weather-affected 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday with the trio of Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina crossing the line in the No. 50 car, 14 seconds ahead of the No. 7 of Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López.
The No. 51 Ferrari driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi completed the top three in the latest edition of the world’s most iconic sports car race.
Former world football star, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, waved the flag to start the race on Saturday afternoon and it quickly became clear that this year’s edition of the event would be hotly contested: Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche and Cadillac would fight for classification under gray skies.
Rain and fog brought out the safety car for almost four hours early in the morning, with Ferrari competing with Toyota and Porsche for first place. But at dawn, the race resumed under a green flag with five teams still in competition and separated by less than a minute.
With less than six hours to go, the No. 50 Ferrari made its move just before more rain fell and Fuoco moved up the grid. Nielsen then survived more late drama when a swinging door forced the car to make an unscheduled pit stop, but managed to hold on for the win in the treacherous wet conditions.
Objective achieved:
“Fantastic! “It really is a dream come true,” Nielsen said. “The victory seemed very difficult for us during part of the race, even at the end, when we had a problem with the door. But then everything turned out well.”
It was Ferrari’s 11th victory at Le Mans in the 101st edition of the endurance event.
Source: AP
