![]() ![]() The ”Garage 56″ car was fielded by Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, the winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier in NASCAR’s 75 years. NASCAR last had a presence at Le Mans in 1976 and returned this year with a version of its second-year Next Gen car. It also brought a slew of new manufacturer interest to sports car racing, which helped draw a sold-out crowd of 300,000-plus spectators to the sprawling 8.467-mile (13.626 km) track. The centenary marked the first year IMSA’s top class was granted participation at Le Mans, and the new hyperclass brought Cadillac back to both IMSA and WEC with Ganassi, same for Porsche with Roger Penske in the 86-year-old’s attempt to win one of the very few races missing on his list. It took roughly three minutes for repairs to the car, not enough time to help Chip Ganassi Racing, which carried the American flag at Le Mans for IMSA. ![]() The trio had a solid lead even before defending race winner Ryō Hirakawa locked the brakes on his Toyota and hit the wall with 1 hour, 44 minutes remaining. The trio of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi - with Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc in the garage watching - were the easy winner. Its chances were aided overnight when Kamui Kobayashi was wrecked out of the race, making it two versus one in favor of Ferrari. Ferrari in a pair of 499Ps pounced and swept the front row in qualifying and handled every challenge from Toyota. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |