A dream comes true for United Autosports at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans with the ORECA 07
After a flawless race, the United Autosports team has claimed the top step on the podium for its first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with an ORECA 07. The trio Filipe Albuquerque/Paul di Resta/Philip Hanson at the wheel of the #22 ORECA 07 won this particularly intense 88th running of the race. The team was joined on the podium by two other ORECA 07s fielded by JOTA Sport and Panis Racing.
For the sixth consecutive year, an ORECA chassis has crossed the finish line at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in first place for a total of two wins for the ORECA 05 and four for the ORECA 07!
United Autosports
Though the British team’s two ORECA 07s took control of the race overnight, the #32, credited with the fastest lap in LMP2 this year, saw an oil leak dash its hopes at 06:20. The #22 then began a stunning duel with JOTA Sport’s #38. After several hours in the lead, the British team made a final pit stop less than 10 minutes from the chequered flag and won the race, as a thrilled Zak Brown looked on. Twenty-four hours after its start from the pole and with 5,040.79 km in the rearview mirror, the trio Filipe Albuquerque/Paul di Resta/Philip Hanson crossed the finish line at the wheel of the #22 ORECA 07 with only 32 seconds to spare on JOTA Sport’s #38. Opinions were unanimous, the action in the LMP2 class offered a stunning end to this year’s race!
JOTA Sport
JOTA Sport gave its all to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including outstanding consistency and tenacity. All the way to the final minutes, Anthony Davidson, António Félix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez battled hard and even attempted a daring strategy: let it be thought they could make it to the chequered flag without refuelling, only to do precisely that five minutes from the end. They reached the second step on the podium. Their #37 sister car was forced to retire during the night.
Panis Racing
In the wake of a long battle with Graff Racing’s #39 ORECA 07 and G-Drive Racing’s Aurus 01 for third place, Panis Racing’s #31 rounded out the podium. The three flat tyres the French team incurred did not affect the team’s consistency and so Matthieu Vaxivière, Nicolas Jamin and local driver Julien Canal finished in third place.
Signatech Elf Alpine
The French team lost eight minutes at the start of the race with a water leak. Determined to make up time, the team never gave up and managed a remarkable climb during the 24 hours of racing. The effort made by Thomas Laurent, André Negrão and Pierre Ragues put the Alpine A470 squarely back in the top 10 by mid-race and led it to finish at the foot of the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans podium.
IDEC SPORT Racing
Though the weekend had kicked off like a nightmare, the IDEC SPORT Racing team pulled off a superhuman feat and managed to get its cars on the track for the race. Despite starting a lap down to comply with the regulations, the two driver line-ups fought throughout the night and the #28 finished in sixth place! The #17 made it to the chequered flag just shy of the top 10 with a convincing debut in LMP2 for official Porsche driver Patrick Pilet.
Note:
In the fight for a podium finish and a front-runner for several hours, the #39 ORECA 07 fielded by SO24-Has Graff was forced to retire after a shocking incident at the Karting turn 40 minutes from the chequered flag.
G-Drive, with the Aurus 01 designed and constructed by ORECA Technology, was also in the running for the podium thanks to an impressive top speed with the #26 of G-Drive Racing. Unfortunately, the trio Rusinov/Jensen/Vergne experienced a mechanical failure in the final lap of the race.
For its first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Richard Mille Racing Team’s all-female driver line-up executed a smooth and error-free race. Tatiana Calderon, Sophia Flörsch and Beitske Visser finished the race in a very respectable ninth place!
Anthony Megevand, Customer Racing Service Manager: For many reasons, this running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was special and will remain so for its sporting spirit. It was a particularly open and passionate race with big battles and many leader changes. The first goal was to see an ORECA 07 win, and it did. It is truly satisfying to win the LMP2 class for the sixth time in a row. The second mission was to see as many ORECA 07s as possible cross the finish line. Out of 20, 14 made it to the chequered flag, and several retirements were regrettably caused by racing circumstances. It always pushes us to do better. In general, it is an incredibly good thing to see so many high caliber teams be so competitive. Congratulations to United Autosports for this solid win against tough opposition like JOTA Sport and Panis Racing, also on the podium. Thank you to all the teams who demonstrate the qualities of the ORECA 07 each race and write outstanding chapters in its story year after year.