By Abby Dowsett
Photos by Abby Dowsett and Dylan Osborne
“You have to trust and have confidence
in your teammates”
Being the most prestigious, famous and difficult endurance race in the
world, it goes without saying that Lemans will never be a boring spectacle,
and this year was no different. The 2024 edition of Lemans broke multiple
records, the most prominent being the longest safety car to ever be used in
motorsports history, with a total length of nearly seven hours. Never an easy race to begin with, this year posed multiple threats to it’s competitors:
extreme weather, extreme crashes and extreme drama, which resulted in
one of the most exciting races to date.
Until 2023, Ferrari had had a poor time in endurance racing, with their last
Le Mans being in 1964. But after their explosive and theatrical return to the top place podium at the centenary year last year, all eyes were on them in testing and qualifying in 2024 to see if they could replicate this win, or whether it would be a one time thing.
The Road to My Ride attended the Ferrari press conference pre-race, where
drivers Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Neilsen gave their
thoughts about the challenge that laid before them. Since 2020, Fuoco has
been a member of Scuderia Ferrari’s F1 development team.
“Coming from an F1 background, I believe I can bring performance and pace to the race” Fuoco stated. “But I am having to get used to the difference in partnership between F1 and endurance, more teamwork is required.”
This is of course true, to drive in Lemans, a degree of selflessness is needed
that is often not found in other racing categories.
“Yes.” Teammate Miguel Molina agreed. “You have to have trust and
confidence in your teammates and their overall skillsets to deal with the
difficult conditions and terrain.”
Fuoco went on to detail the higher amount of challenges drivers faced in
Le Mans than in single seater racing, overtaking and qualifying being the main two things he struggles with.
Indeed, qualifying for Ferrari would prove difficult as they were beaten out of the park both by Porsche and Cadillac, finally lining up 4th and 5th on the grid.
Going into the race, it was difficult to say who would come out on top. Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari all showed potential, but underdogs like Cadillac and Alpine were also promising. Indeed, it was going to be a dog-fight right up until the end of the race, with a record breaking nine cars all finishing on the leading lap. But, as ever in Le Mans, nothing is to be predicted. Both Alpines suffered critical engine failures early on, coming into the pits with enough smoke to see from the other side of the paddock, Porsche incurred penalties, and Ferrari had struggles of its own, battling the incredibly wet, foggy and dangerous weather.
At the halfway mark, it was Toyota that seemed to be doing the best. After
incurring strong penalties, both cars had started low, qualifying 11th and 23rd respectively, but over the course of twelve hours, they’d fought their way back up to the top.
The final three hours of a race was a full slug out between the Ferrari 50 car and Toyota, with multiple contact points being made as the cars slipped and slide about on the wet track. The end of the race was particularly difficult for Ferrari, as their door refused to close properly after the final pit stop, and Neilsen, who was driving at the time, had to continuously attempt to manually slam it while driving or face a forced penalty that would surely loose them the race. But, in the end, they managed to fix it, and just managed to get over the finishing line before a re-fuel was required, a full thirteen seconds ahead of Toyota.
“After the issue with the door I thought everything was lost but then I knew the pace was good in the wet by the end. It was a long last sting and a very long last lap.” Nielson commented in the press conference after the race, very much exhausted.
This is Ferrari’s eleventh win overall at Le Mans, and while it wasn’t an easy race for them, it was certainly very much deserved.
“I thought everything was lost, but I knew the pace was good.”