The 92nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans took place on 15-16 June 2024. The Circuit de La Sarthe played host to the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and attracted 390,000 spectators, who enjoyed one of the greatest annual motor racing events on the global calendar. This year 167 drivers and 62 cars took part.
Aston Martin was represented by two teams in the LMGT3 category. This was the debut year at Le Mans for the new Vantage LMGT3. The #27 car, The Heart of Racing Team, was driven by Ian James (team owner and bronze driver), Daniel Mancinelli (silver driver) and Alex Riberas (gold driver). The #777, D’Station Racing, was driven by Satoshi Hoshino (team owner and bronze driver), Erwan Bastard (silver driver) and Marco Sorensen (platinum driver). Both teams received significant on-track support from AMR throughout the week and subsequently qualified for Hyperpole on the third row in class with the #27 fifth and #777 sixth.
Throughout the race rain showers rendered the track slippery, resulting in timing and choice of tyre becoming critical. A prolonged spell of heavy rain during the night caused a four-hour safety car period, which proved challenging for the drivers.
Racing resumed as dawn broke, the #27 had good pace and was holding a strong fourth place in class. However, with six and a half hours remaining the #27 car moved wide at Indianapolis corner, lost control, and spun back-end first into the tyre barriers. The resulting impact flipped the car onto its roof and out of the race. Thankfully, the driver (Mancinelli) was unhurt but he and the whole team were hugely disappointed at losing out on a potential podium place.
The #777, despite suffering an early setback, gave a solid performance throughout the 24 hours with stoic driving from all three drivers including Hoshino who drove his last race at Le Mans this year. Throughout his career he has been a great ambassador for Aston Martin. The car finally finished the race ninth in class.
LMGT3 class was won by the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche. The overall race winner was the #50 AF Corse Ferrari Hypercar. The racing was close and exciting and the #50 finished just 14 seconds ahead of the second place Toyota, with the Ferrari having just 2 per cent of available energy remaining.
Next year will see the return of Aston Martin at the highest level with two Valkyries competing in the Hypercar class. The normally-aspirated V12 (in hybrid form) will be returning to Le Mans! We will bring you further updates over the coming year.
In the second of the supporting Road to Le Mans races the Blackthorn GT3 car picked up a valuable win.
Huge thanks to Simon Strang of AMR for his generous time, insight, and behind the scenes pit access, and to Simon Rose (Feathers Motorsport and AMOC Member) for the introduction. We very much look forward to working with both of them to bring you interesting GT racing content in future months.
The following weekend of 21-23 June saw the British GT series make its annual trip to Spa for round five. The Astons had a frustrating weekend with the Blackthorn GT3 driven by Jonny Adam retiring from a secure second place with a gearbox issue, just six minutes from the end of the race. The Beechdean GT3 was retired after an early collision.
In GT4 the Forsetti team picked up some valuable points with a Silver Cup win and P2 and P3 overall. They remain top of the GT4 standings in the championship. In the GT Cup Championship Forsetti have an impressive ten class wins out of 12 races in the series so far.
Following their Le Mans disappointment, The Heart of Racing Team picked up their first win in America for the new Vantage GT3 with a well-deserved class victory in the IMSA 6 Hours of Watkins Glen on 23 June. Congratulations to Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas.
This year marked the centenary of the 24 Hours of Spa run on 29-30 June. Aston Martin took a brilliant victory with the #007 Vantage GT3 entered by the Belgium team Comtoyou Racing. It was the first overall win for Aston in this race since 1948 and the first British manufacturer victory in 40 years. Much of the race was run in wet and challenging conditions. The Astons had great pace with good traction and are becoming increasingly competitive as the season progresses. More on this excellent result next month.