WHAT IS LE MANS?
Le Mans is a historic city situated in the heart of France and is a place of scenic beauty, medieval churches, cobbled streets and half-timbered houses but the city is more known for its automotive connections.
Back in 1923 a very different category of race kick started at this place called Le Mans 24 Hour Race and as the name suggests it is a twenty four hour event of non-stop racing.
Every year major giants including Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, Aston Martin, and Toyota assemble in this picturesque town to compete against each other to test the competence of their cars and drivers in this endurance test.
The 83rd edition of the event, Le Mans 2015 started on 13th June and just finished earlier this evening, so we thought of doing a one station pit stop for all your Le Mans questions and the result of this year’s race.
CATEGORIES IN LE MANS
There are three basic categories in Le Mans racing as follows.
LMP1 – LM P1 stands for Le Mans Prototype which is inclined towards the car manufacturers. Manufacturers can come with hybrid or non-hybrid cars to race against one another and prove their dominance over other manufacturers. This category enjoys the most attention due to its direct connection with the big league players.
LMP2 – Prototype2 category is destined to particular teams independent of manufacturers and engines.
LM GTE Pro and Am – Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance is category meant for 2 door, 4 seater road legal cars racing among themselves in the professional and amateur class.
No driver can drive the car constantly for 24 hours so teams are allowed to have three drivers and change them when the car comes for pit stop.
STARTING GRID OF 2015 RACE
LMP1
| Position | Drivers | Team | Car | Qual. Time |
| 1 | Jani/Lieb/Dumas | Porsche | 919 Hybrid | 3m 16.887s |
| 2 | Webber/Hartley/Bernhard | Porsche | 919 Hybrid | 3m 17.767s |
| 3 | Hulkenberg/Tandy/Bamber | Porsche | 919 Hybrid | 3m 18.862s |
| 4 | Duval/di Grassi/Jarvis | Audi Sport Team | R18 e-tron | 3m 19.866s |
| 5 | Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer | Audi Sport Team | R18 e-tron | 3m 20.561s |
LMP2
| Position | Drivers | Team | Car | Qual. Time |
| 1 | Howson/Lapierre/Bradley | KCMG | Oreca – Nissan | 3m 38.032s |
| 2 | Rusinov/Canal/Bird | G-Drive | Ligier-Nissan | 3m 38.939s |
| 3 | Lancaster/Paletou/Hirsch | Greaves | Gibson-Nissan | 3m 38.958s |
| 4 | Turvey/Evans/Dolan | Jota | Gibson-Nissan | 3m 39.004s |
| 5 | Panciatici/Chatin/Cappillaire | Signatech | Alpine Nissan | 3m 39.609s |
LM GTE PRO & AM
| Position | Drivers | Team | Car | Qual. Time | Category |
| 1 | MacDowall/Stanaway/Rees | Aston Martin Racing | Vantage GTE | 3m 54.928s | GTE Pro |
| 2 | Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella | ITA AF Corse | Ferrari 458 Italia | 3m 55.028s | GTE Pro |
| 3 | Lamy/Lauda/Dalla Lana | Aston Martin Racing | Vantage GTE | 3m 55.102s | GTE Am |
| 4 | Turner/Mucke/Bell | Aston Martin Racing | Vantage GTE | 3m 55.466s | GTE Pro |
| 5 | Sorensen/Thiim/Nygaard | Aston Martin Racing | Vantage GTE | 3m 55.783s | GTE Pro |
FINAL RESULT
Audi-Porsche tussle this year stole the limelight of the race. We saw some great racing from racers coming from different categories like Formula 1 drivers (Nico Hulkenberg, Mark Webber), Formula-E (Lucas Di Grassi, Buemi, Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost, Daniel Abt, Sam Bird and Karun Chandok) and Le Mans drivers (Max Chilton, Oliver Jarvis etc.) but eventually Porsche finished one-two.
Number 19 Porsche driven by Nico, Earl and Nick emerged as the winner followed by number 17 of Webber, Tino and Brendon. Audi’s defending champs Lotterer, Treluyer and Faessler finished last on the podium of P1.
In LMP2 category, KCMG took first slot, JOTA Sport took P2 away whereas G-Drive finised third.
GTE category saw a great contest but the last hour Aston Martin’s crash in Am proved fatal from them. In GTE-Pro category, Corvette finished first followed by two AF Corses. In GTE-Am SMP Racing took position before Dempsey Porsche and Scuderia Corsa Ferrari finished third in the league.
