24 Hours of Le Mans again proves to be one of the toughest tests in racing

By Stephen Edelstein Published December 22, 2017

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the toughest tests in motor sports, and this year’s race proved it. After 24 hours of drama, those with a reason to celebrate were teams from Porsche, Aston Martin … and Jackie Chan.

Like 2016, the 2017 race was a heartbreaker for Toyota, which came in with high hopes of achieving its first Le Mans victory, but went away disappointed. Porsche scored its 19th win in the legendary endurance race while, due to high attrition in the top LMP1 class, one of Jackie Chan DC Racing’s lower-level LMP2 cars scored a podium. Aston Martin took the win in the GTE class, the top class for production-based cars.

Recommended Videos

With Audi out of top-level endurance racing, Le Mans was set to be a straight duel between Porsche and Toyota. The Japanese automaker came into the race strong, setting a lap record in qualifying. But the No. 7 TS050 Hybrid that set that record developed clutch problems about 10 hours into the race, and later dropped out. Shortly after, a second Toyota, No. 9, retired. That left just car No. 8, which was taken out of the running due to a long pit stop.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

In a testament to the difficulty of just completing Le Mans, the No. 8 Toyota and the winning No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid were the only two of the five LMP1 cars to finish. The No. 1 Porsche developed an enormous lead, but conked out with only three hours to go. The No. 2 Porsche pulled into the lead, giving drivers Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber, and Brendon Hartley the win.

The LMP1 attrition created spots for the slower LMP2 cars on the podium, something that doesn’t normally happen. The No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07 of Oliver Jarvis, Ho-Pin Tung, and Thomas Laurent came home second overall, and won its class.

While purpose-built LMP prototypes vied for the overall win, the GTE Pro class for production-based cars featured fierce battles as well. The big question was whether Ford could pull off a second class win with its GT to follow up last year’s victory. Rule changes ultimately put Ford at a disadvantage, and the win went to the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage of Jonny Adam, Darren Turner, and Daniel Serra. The best Ford could muster was second in class.

The end of the race turned into a straight fight between the No. 97 Aston and the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, which went off the track and gave Aston the win. Finally, GTE Am, the lower class for production-based cars, was a Ferrari 1-2-3. British outfit JMW Motorsport scored the class win, with drivers Rob Smith, Dries Vanthoor, and Will Stevens in the No. 84 Ferrari 488.

Topics

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

Mini’s infotainment system is very charming, but still needs work

Main screen of the Mini infotainment system

When you think Mini, you probably don’t think of infotainment. Personally, I think of the British flag taillights, the distinct exterior, and the surprising room on the inside. But after driving the Mini John Cooper Works Countryman over the past week, infotainment might well be something I think of more often when it comes to Mini. It’s charming.

It also, however, suffers from all the traps that other legacy automakers fall into when it comes to software design. Mini has something on its hands here — but it still needs some work.
Bringing the charm
The first thing that stood out to me about the system when I got in the car was how fun it was. That all starts with the display. It’s round! No, it’s not curved — the screen is a big, round display sits in at 9.4 inches, and I found it plenty large enough for day-to-day use.

Cars

Plug-in hybrids are becoming more popular. Why? And will it continue?

Kia Niro EV Charging Port

There's a lot of talk about the idea that the growth in electric car sales has kind of slowed a little. It's not all that surprising -- EVs are still expensive, early adopters all have one by now, and they're still new enough to where there aren't too many ultra-affordable used EVs available. But plenty of people still want a greener vehicle, and that has given rise to an explosion in hybrid vehicle sales.

That's especially true of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can be charged like an EV and driven in all-electric mode for short distances, and have a gas engine as a backup for longer distances or to be used in combination with electric mode for more efficient driving.

Cars

EV drivers are not going back to gas cars, global survey says

ev drivers are not going back to gas cars global survey says screenshot

Nearly all current owners of electric vehicles (EVs) are either satisfied or very satisfied with the experience, and 92% of them plan to buy another EV, according to a survey by the Global EV Drivers Alliance.

The survey of 23,000 EV drivers worldwide found that only 1% would return to a petrol or diesel car, while 4% would opt for a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) if they had to replace their car.