The 93rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a gruelling race for all 62 entries, as 14 cars failed to finish at the checkered flag.
With no wet weather this year to test the teams during the night, drivers faced the greater challenge of fatigue from behind the wheel.
On the other hand, the cars in the Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 categories pushed the limits of mechanical and electronic reliability during the racing action.
Here, we list the retirements, non-classifications and the single disqualification – in chronological order – from the fourth FIA World Endurance Championship round.
Car – Laps / Racing time completed – Reason as applicable:
Note: racing time continued running for some despite being in the garage*
- #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 – 46 laps / 3 hours, 11 minutes, 36.30 seconds – Broken rear-left wheel nut caused the wheel to detach before the Ford’s spin into the Tertre Rouge tyre barrier.
- #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 – 57 laps / 6 hours 5 minutes 02.685 seconds – Retired in the garage after a broken alternator belt damaged the oil line.
- #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo – 80 laps / 5 hours, 35 minutes, 58.499 seconds – Stopped behind the barrier on Mulsanne straight due to drivetrain-related mechanical failure impacting fuel delivery.
- #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo – 156 laps / 11 hours, 2 minutes, 28.095 seconds – Technical issue affected the power and therefore power steering.
- #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo – 168 laps / 13 hours, 17 minutes, 27.884 seconds – Hit a rabbit during the night-time.
- #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 LMP2 – 170 laps / 11 hours, 10 minutes, 29.565 seconds – Cem Bolukbasi crashed at Tertre Rouge (and released from the medical centre).
- #101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar – 189 laps / 11 hours, 55 minutes, 38.240 seconds – Filipe Albuquerque parked at the second Mulsanne chicane following engine failure (the car had a new engine fitted in FP2).
Halfway point at Le Mans – 12 hours
- #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 – 192 laps / 14 hours, 4 minutes, 56.647 seconds – Cause unknown as of yet, though the car did not suffer a collision or overtly showcase physical signs of mechanical/electronic failure.
- #18 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 LMP2 – 206 laps / 13 hours, 34 minutes, 12.511 seconds – Andre Lotterer stopped after the right-rear wheel detached into the second Mulsanne chicane on an outlap after a pit stop.
- #311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar – 247 laps / 16 hours, 0 minutes, 31.169 seconds – Frederick Vesti lost power and retired, cause set to be investigated.
- #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 – 268 laps / 19 hours, 2 minutes, 41.151 seconds – Finn Gehristz lost the rear at the Porsche Curves entry point, making rear-left contact with the barrier before driving back to the pits.
- # 28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 LMP2 – 308 laps / 20 hours, 18 minutes, 29.995 seconds – Job van Uitert went off at the Forest Esses and beached in gravel and retired, possibly due to further reliability woes preventing his continuation.
- #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo – 314 laps / 22 hours, 52 minutes, 42.255 seconds – They faced an alternator issue earlier on, but Gregoire Saucy’s car seemingly stopped working on the stretch after the Mulsanne Corner. They were non-classified after completing a minimum 75 per cent race distance of the winner.
- #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar – 387 laps – Post-race disqualification (see here)
