The cruellest finish in the 24 hours of Le Mans: Robert Kubica’s car loses the victory on the last lap

The 89th edition of the 24 hours of Le Mans, marked by the debut of ‘hypercars’ technology, once again demonstrated that maxim that the historic Jacky Ickx: the circuit is who chooses its winner.

Fernando Alonso makes history at Le Mans: the first time a Formula 1 takes a lap on the complete circuit

This date has resulted in the end of the curse that haunted the trio of Toyota 7. After losing two victories in the last five (one due to an engine breakdown on the last lap and another due to a puncture, which led to Fernando Alonso will achieve his second victory here). Kamui Kobayashi, José María López and Mike conwayVictims of bad fortune in previous years, they achieved a prestigious victory ahead of their Toyota 8 teammates (Buemi, Nakajima and Hartley) and the Alpine 36, in a race that started with water and the team’s debutants Glikenhaus as great protagonists: they took the 8 ahead in the first bars of the race.

In an all-day test, the logic suggests that it should be relatively predictable to meet the winners of the four categories (Hypercars, LMP2, GTEPro and GTEAm) with a margin time.

But Le Mans is a special race and those who have experienced it in the first person are the ones who were going to be the winners of the silver category. Team WRT, in their first participation in the 24 hours, was one lap (there are more than 360) from consummating a memorable double, but fortune and mechanics eluded them. Yifei Ye, partner of Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz, he was thrown when he was already in the last corners of the race. Literally, he lost a sung victory.

This cruel end for them allowed their teammates in car 31 to inherit the victory. Among the three pilots of this prototype is Ferdinand of Habsburg, son of Archduke of Austria and heir of all the dynastic rights of one of the noble houses of greater ancestry in Europe.

Antonio García’s heartfelt tribute to Adrián Campos, his mentor

Three Spaniards started the 24 hours of Le Mans, but only one finished on the podium. Roberto Merhi, a former F1 driver who competed in LMP2, left due to an ugly accident by one of his teammates as he faced the early morning at the La Sarthe circuit. The man from Castellón was going to get into the car next.

The other two were in the GTEPro category. Miguel MolinaAt the wheel of the Ferrari 52, they were knocked out due to a suspension failure that caused them to lose more than half an hour. Everything was left to the veteran Antonio Garcia, former partner of Fernando Alonso in the early days and a great friend of the Asturian.

The Madrid driver fought for victory until the last hours at the wheel of the new Corvette C8.R, but had to settle for second place. On the podium, yes, he remembered someone very special: the late Adrián Campos, who was his first mentor and a great friend. During this race, he raced with a helmet in his honor.