Nissan Says Sayonara To Le Mans LMP2 With A Shutout As Heartbreak Hits LMP1

Image credit: Nissan

There won't be the usual post from me this weekend as I've spent it mostly freaking out over things my R32 needs and catching up on the 24 Hours of Le Mans (and finishing off my Platinum trophy in Valkyria Chronicles Remastered during whatever time's been left over lol).

Speaking of Le Mans, Nissan maintained its dominance in LMP2 with the #36 Signatech Alpine Nissan taking the win with the also Nissan-powered #26 and #37 cars rounding out the podium. This will be the final running of LMP2 in its current format as next year they switch to a spec engine for all cars provided by British engine firm Gibson. Despite the disappointing performance and eventual cancellation last year of its ambitious LMP1 program Nissan can at least look back on years of being the dominant engine supplier for LMP2.

Unfortunately for their rival company Toyota they can't take much consolation from this year's results despite looking destined to take the overall win. Their LMP1 cars had speed to match their rivals at Porsche and Audi and seemed to have the efficiency edge too in terms of fuel consumption. Audi had a nightmare race while Porsche's defending champion #1 car also ran into mechanical gremlins. The #5 Toyota had been trouble free and its closest rival, the #2 Porsche 919, was behind by a comfortable gap due to it needing a last-minute pit stop. 

Sadly Toyota seemed to be cursed as the #5 suddenly and inexplicably rolled to a stop on the front straight with just three and half minutes left to run in the 24 hour race.  It wasn't able to get back into motion soon enough to prevent the Porsche from overtaking it and claiming the victory.

The USA had cause to celebrate however as Ford's new GT took the GTE-Pro honors over Ferrari in a win reminiscent of their bitter rivalry in the '60s. Post-race protests threatened to ruin the American car's win but ultimately both the first-place Ford and the second-place Ferrari got hit with time penalties that didn't affect the order.

Overall, another dramatic Le Mans for the record books. Hopefully next year will be just as awesome and I'll actually have time to properly watch it instead of fretting over my cars lol.