In a shock announcement this evening, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the organisers of the 24 Heures du Mans, said in a statement that the LMP2 class winning #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 07 Gibson has been disqualified and stripped of its win.
Apparently, according to the announcement, a post-race inspection revealed an added part that had been inserted into the ‘dead-man’s handle’ element of the #26 car’s refuelling rig.
Race scrutineers decided that this additional part had been used to modify the ACO mandated fuel fill restrictor which they believed meant that both the G-Drive (#26) and the sister #28 TDS car of Perrado, Vaxivière and Duval could be refuelled faster than their competitors in the same class.
It is also reported that both teams did not contest the inclusion of the additional part but instead contended that there was no specific exclusion of any additional parts for the refuelling rig in the ACO’s race regulations.
This explanation was not accepted by the race stewards who, after receiving the scrutineers’ reports immediately excluded both cars from the results.
“Stewards’ Decision No.74 – G-Drive Racing; Stewards Decision No.75 – TDS Racing: Breach of Appendix A of the Technical Regulations for 2018 for LMP2; Breach of Article 2.1.1 of the Technical Regulations for 2018 for LMP2; Breach of Article 12.1.1 of the International Sporting Code.”
Therefore LMP2 winners Roman Rusinov, Andrea Pizzitola and Jean-Eric Vergne have lost their win to the #36 Signatech Alpine A470 Gibson of Nicholas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet. Moving into provisional second place is the #39 Graff SO24 ORECA 07 Gibson of Vincent Capillaire, Jonathan Hirschi and Tristan Gommendy and inheriting third is the #32 United Autosports Ligier JS P217 of Will Owen, Hugo de Sadeleer and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Both teams have announced their intention to appeal the decision, as is their right, and therefore the race results, at least for LMP2, remain provisional!
