Following the 2021 race, where clerk of the course Patrick Morrisseau was almost struck by an approaching car at the finish line, the ACO allowed Morrisseau to wave the checkered flag from a footbridge in the event of a close finish for safety reasons.[6] For the first time, all entries used Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile-compliant renewable fuel produced by TotalEnergies from wine residue to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.[7]
A section of the Mulsanne Straight from the Antares roundabout to the first chicane was resurfaced to make it more suitable for public and motor racing use after an inspection discovered that there were signs that the tarmac surface was becoming fatigued as well as damage to the asphalt covering the shoulders.[8]
Entries
Entry to the race was initially open from 6 December 2021 to 28 February 2022.[9] In response to the Russian G-Drive Racing team's suspension of its racing programme and measures imposed on Russian drivers and entries by international sporting bodies after the country's invasion of Ukraine, the ACO selection committee invited new applicants to apply for entry to the race from 7 to 9 March 2022.[10] The committee issued 62 invitations, and entries were placed into the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) classes.[9]Peugeot Sport withdrew their planned entries so they could continue testing their 9X8 Hypercars before homologation.[11]
Automatic entries
Teams which won their class in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans or won championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the Michelin Le Mans Cup (MLMC), received automatic entry invitations. The second-place finishers in the 2021 ELMS in LMP2 and LMGTE championships also received an automatic invitation. Two participants from the IMSA SportsCar Championship (WTSC) were chosen by the ACO as automatic entries, regardless of performance or category. Teams earning automatic entries in LMP2 were allowed to change their cars from the previous year. ELMS LMGTE and ALMS GT teams earning automatic entries were allowed to use them in LMGTE Pro or LMGTE Am. The European and Asian LMP3 (Le Mans Prototype 3) champion was required to field an entry in LMP2, and the Michelin Le Mans Cup Group GT3 (GT3) champion was limited to the LMGTE Am category.[9][12] The ACO announced the final list of automatic entries on 28 February 2022.[13]
Automatic entries for the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans[12][14]
The ACO was scheduled to announce the 62-car list on 28 February but due to "administrative reasons", the announcement was delayed;[15] it was published on 10 March. In addition to the 38 guaranteed WEC entries, 14 came from the ELMS, four each from IMSA and the ALMS, and three were one-off Le Mans entries. In addition to the 62 entries invited to the race, six (three each from LMP2 and LMGTE Am) were placed on a reserve list to replace withdrawn or unaccepted invitations. Reserve entries were ordered, with the first replacing the first withdrawal from the race regardless of class. Entries were selected for their sporting and technical quality, fan, media and public interest and commitment, and loyalty to other ACO-administered series.[9][16]
After publication of the entry list, Racing Team Nederland withdrew its TDS Racing-run Oreca 07 entry from third in the reserve list to enable to team to focus on the IMSA endurance races.[17] On 31 May, Hardpoint Motorsport (which received an automatic invitation through the IMSA for driver Rob Ferriol, who received the 2021 Akin Award as the highest-placed bronze-ranked IMSA entrant) withdrew their LMGTE Am-category Porsche 911 RSR-19 and relinquished the entry to Proton Competition. Proton gave it to the Absolute Racing customer squad, which raced under the Hardpoint Motorsport name in accordance with ACO regulations.[18]Josh Pierson (driving the United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson) was 16 years and 117 days old when he competed at Le Mans, beating the record set by Matt McMurry in 2014.[19]
Pre-race balance of performance changes
In the balance of performance adjustments, the Alpine A480-Gibson received a performance increase with an extra 13 hp (9.7 kW) of power and weight; the Toyota GR010 Hybrid and the Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH cars remained unchanged from the preceding 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The LMGTE Pro-class Chevrolet Corvette C8.R had its performance slowed by an 0.8-millimetre (0.031 in) engine-air-restrictor diameter reduction. The Ferrari 488 GTE Evo was equipped with a revised power curve it had since the WEC season began, and the Porsche 911 RSR-19 received a 3-litre (0.66 imp gal; 0.79 US gal) fuel-capacity increase in both LMGTE categories. Aston Martin's LMGTE Am-category Vantage AMR had its fuel capacity decreased by 1 L (0.22 imp gal; 0.26 US gal).[20][21]
Testing
All entrants participated in eight hours of mandatory testing on 5 June, divided into two sessions.[9] The testing took place in mainly-dry weather, with a brief period of light rain. Driver Paul di Resta helped Pierson in one of the United Autosports Oreca cars, while the team waited for Alex Lynn and Oliver Jarvis to arrive at Le Mans from Detroit.[22]
José María López set the pace of both sessions of testing in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
The morning session was led by Toyota with a 3:31.626 lap from José María López's No. 7 entry with 17 minutes left,[23] demoting Dumas' No. 708 Glickenhaus entry to second.[24] Hartley made the No. 8 Toyota third-quickest, with Franck Mailleux's sister Glickenhaus No. 709 car fourth and the No. 36 Alpine of Vaxivière fifth. In LMP2, Jota's No. 38 car driven by Will Stevens lapped fastest at 3:33.964 during the third hour; United Autosport USA's No. 22 entry of Phil Hanson was second.[23][25] The quickest Pro/Am sub-class entry was Mathias Beche's No. 13 TDS Racing car in third,[23][25] and Alex Brundle's No. 34 Inter Europol Competition car was fourth in class.[23][24] Corvette were first and second in LMGTE Pro, with Milner's No. 64 car faster than Nicky Catsburg's No. 63 sister entry by almost two-tenths of a second. The highest-placed Porsche was Gianmaria Bruni's No. 91 car in third, with the best Ferrari the privateer Riley Motorsports entry of Felipe Fraga placing fourth.[24][25]Michelle Gatting's No. 85 Iron Dames Ferrari led in LMGTE Am ahead of the No. 52 AF Corse, LMGTE Pro's slowest entry.[25] Some cars went off the track during the session, sustaining damage; it was stopped after ten minutes when the No. 65 Panis car of Julien Canal lost a wheel at the Daytona chicane on the Mulsanne Straight and was returned to the pit lane.[23][25]
Dumas set the early pace in the second test session before López improved to a 3:29.986 lap with almost 90 minutes left to go. Hirakawa's No. 8 Toyota was third, and Mailleux was fourth in Glickenhaus' No. 709 car. Late in the session, López briefly went off the circuit during a car-safety procedure at Mulsanne Corner and forced the testing to end early. Filipe Albuquerque improved the fastest LMP2 lap to a 3:32.099 in the No. 22 United Autosports USA entry, and was fifth overall. The No. 38 Jota car of António Félix da Costa fell to second, and Lynn placed third in United Autosports' No. 23 sister vehicle. Alexander Sims improved the No. 64 Corvette's quickest lap to top LMGTE Pro, ahead of Davide Rigon's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and Frédéric Makowiecki's No. 91 Porsche. Ferrari were first and second in LMGTE Am, with Kessel Racing's No. 57 car of Mikkel Jensen leading JMW Motorsport's Renger van der Zande by four-tenths of a second.[26][27]Safety cars were required for Charlie Fagg's stopped No. 777 D'station Racing Aston Martin at the pit lane exit into turn one due to a sensor fault, and the No. 88 Dempsey Proton Porsche driven by Jan Heylen was beached in the gravel entering the Porsche Curves with punctured front tyres.[26][27][28]
After testing
After testing, the ACO and FIA again altered the LMGTE balance of performance.[29] The LMGTE Ferrari 488 GTE Evo received a 0.07-bar (7.0 kPa) decrease in turbocharger boost pressure curve across all revolutions, a 3-litre (0.66 imp gal; 0.79 US gal) fuel-capacity reduction from 87 litres (19 imp gal; 23 US gal) to 84 litres (18 imp gal; 22 US gal), and minimum rear-wing angle changes to decrease performance. The Porsche 911 RSR-19 received a minimum rear-wing angle change to increase performance. The Pro-class Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and the Am-category Aston Martin Vantage AMR had no performance changes.[30]
Practice
The first three-hour practice session was held on the afternoon of 8 June.[31] Quick laps were initially disregarded as teams tried to conduct race simulations.[32] Light rain had fallen on the circuit, and the session was declared wet before cars on slick tyres removed water.[33] Hartley's No. 8 Toyota lapped fastest at 3:29.441 in the last 20 minutes. Mailleux's No. 709 Glickenhaus was second. Glickenhaus' No. 708 sister entry of Pipo Derani was third, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota.[34] Lynn's No. 23 United Autosports car was quickest in LMP2 and fourth overall at 3:30.238 in the session's final minutes. Félix da Costa put the No. 38 Jota car second just before practice ended, with Prema Orlen Team's No. 9 entry of Robert Kubica third.[35][36] In LMGTE Pro, Corvette maintained its test-day pace with the No. 63 entry fastest after a lap by Antonio García demoted teammate Milner (in the No. 64 vehicle) to second. Porsche led in LMGTE Am, with the fastest class lap coming from the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing car driven by Julien Andlauer; brand mate Ben Barker's No. 86 GR Racing car was second.[34][36] Several cars went off the track during the session. The full-course yellow procedure was deployed for Ryan Cullen's No. 10 Vector Sport car, which stopped in the Tertre Rouge S-curves. The session ended early when Steven Thomas damaged the No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing car's front left corner on the left tyre wall entering the Ford chicane.[32][33]
Algarve Pro installed a new chassis on the No. 45 car, which missed qualifying.[37] Dumas's No. 708 Glickenhaus car set the day's fastest time of 3:28.900 24 minutes into the second, two-hour evening session, 0.348 seconds faster than Kobayashi's second-place No. 7 Toyota.[31][38] Toyota's No. 8 sister car was third after a lap by Hartley, and Ryan Briscoe's No. 709 Glickenhaus was fourth-quickest.[39]René Rast recorded the quickest LMP2 lap at 3:33.119 in the No. 31 WRT vehicle, with Albuquerque's No. 22 United Autosports USA entry second. Dries Vanthoor was third with a late lap in Team WRT's No. 32 car.[38][40]Fabio Scherer stopped the No. 43 Inter Europol car on the start-finish straight with right front suspension damage from mounting the sausage kerbs at the Ford chicane;[40] a flatbed truck returned the car to the pit lane.[41] Catsburg kept Corvette first in LMGTE Pro, as Makowiecki moved the No. 91 Porsche to second. LMGTE Am was led by Mikkel O. Pedersen's No. 46 Project 1 Racing Porsche with a lap set with five minutes remaining, leading Heylen's No. 88 Dempsey-Proton car.[38]
Before the third practice session, a balance of performance adjustment gave the Alpine A480-Gibson 7 kW (9.4 hp) more power and 11 MJ (3.1 kWh) more energy per stint for a total power output of 427 kW (573 hp). The Toyota GR010 Hybrid and Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH had no performance changes.[42]
The third practice session, for three hours on the afternoon of 9 June, saw Kobayashi lap fastest early in the No. 7 Toyota; Hartley's No. 8 car was second.[31][43] Both Glickenhaus cars were third and fourth, with Pla's No. 708 entry ahead of Briscoe's No. 709 sister car. Hirakawa stopped between the Indianapolis and Arnage corners with a hybrid problem, but slowly returned to the pit lane for a half-hour of repairs. LMP2 was led by Albuquerque's No. 22 United Autosports USA car, which was less than one-tenth of a second faster than teammate Lynn's No. 23 vehicle. They were followed by WRT's No. 31 car, driven by Robin Frijns. Tandy's No. 64 Corvette led LMGTE Pro, and Richard Lietz's No. 91 Porsche remained second in class.[44][45] Pedersen kept the No. 46 Project 1 Porsche atop LMGTE Am, with the No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin driven by Henrique Chaves slower by two-tenths of a second.[46] Accidents by Philippe Cimadomo's No. 13 TDS Racing entry (against the right concrete barrier at the Porsche Curves from contact with Sean Gelael's No. 31 WRT car), the No. 39 Graff Racing car driven by Sebastien Page (spinning into the barrier exiting the Indianapolis turn) and Alexander West's No. 59 Inception Racing Ferrari (which struck the Ford Chicane tyre wall) disrupted the session.[43][44][45]
The final two-hour practice session took place on the night of 9 June.[31] Toyota led from the start with López's No. 7 entry going fastest overall at 3:28.322, 0.362 seconds quicker than Buemi's No. 8 sister car. The Glickenhaus team followed in third and fourth, with Derani's No. 708 entry faster than teammate Richard Westbrook's No. 708 car. Lynn's No. 23 United Autosport car led in LMP2 at 3:32.226, ahead of Panis Racing's Job van Uitert and Jonathan Aberdein's No. 28 Jota entry.[47][48] Graff driver David Droux, in their No. 39 car, went across the gravel and crashed lightly against the tyre barrier at Mulsanne corner. Félix da Costa's No. 38 Jota car and Alexandre Cougnaud's No. 3 DKR Engineering entry collided at the Ford chicane, sending Cougnaud sideways into the tyre wall. Cougnaud drove across the circuit to the pit lane for repairs.[47][49] Corvette continued their fast pace, with Catsburg lapping quickest in the No. 63 car in LMGTE Pro; the No. 64 sister C8R driven by Milner was second by 0.021 seconds. Dempsey-Proton led LMGTE Am with Harry Tincknell's No. 77 Porsche ahead of teammate Heylen in the second-place No. 88 entry.[47][48]
Qualifying
Divided into two sessions, the first one-hour qualifying session set the race's starting order except for the fastest six vehicles in each class; they qualified for a half-hour shootout, "Le Mans Hyperpole", which determined pole position in all four classes. Cars were placed in starting order by category, with every Hypercar at the front of the field regardless of lap time, followed by LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am. The vehicles were placed with the six qualifying Hyperpole cars ordered by fastest Hyperpole-session lap time first, followed by the remaining non-qualifying class vehicles by fastest lap time set during the first qualifying session.[9]
Each of the five entries in the Hypercar category progressed to Hyperpole, with the fastest lap a 3:27.247 recorded by Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota early before light rain fell during the second half of the session. In LMP2, the qualifiers were Frijns' No. 31 WRT car with entries from Jota's Félix da Costa, Norman Nato for RealTeam by WRT, the United Autosports pair of Lynn and Albuquerque and Prema's Louis Delétraz. LMGTE Pro saw the six factory entrants advance to Hyperpole. The No. 92 Porsche driven by Laurens Vanthoor was fastest, ahead of García's No. 63 Corvette, Porsche's No. 91 car driven by Makowiecki, the No. 64 sister Corvette of Tandy and the AF Corse Ferrari entries driven by Calado (No. 51) and Antonio Fuoco (No. 52). LMGTE Am saw Nicki Thiim's No. 98 NorthWest AMR, Jensen's Kessel Racing Ferrari, the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Nick Cassidy, Rahel Frey's No. 85 Iron Dames Ferrari, Dempsey-Proton Racing's Tincknell in its No. 77 Porsche and the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Vincent Abril.[50][51] Actor Michael Fassbender lost control of the rear of Proton Competition's No. 93 Porsche braking for the first Mulsanne chicane due to a front puncture, and struck the Armco barrier with the front.[51][52] Fassbender was unhurt, and the session was stopped for about 12 minutes to recover the damaged car.[50][53] The crash resulted in the Proton Competition mechanics replacing the chassis on the No. 93 Porsche.[54]
In Hyperpole, Hartley set the fastest lap (3:24.408) in the No. 8 Toyota for Toyota's sixth consecutive pole position at Le Mans late in the session on worn tyres after being slowed by traffic in the Porsche Curves earlier on. Kobayashi qualified the No. 7 sister Toyota second after his fastest lap was deleted, reinstated and then invalidated again for a track-limits infringement at the Tertre Rouge corner.[55][56] The No. 36 Alpine qualified third after a lap by Lapierre, and the Glickenhaus entries of Briscoe (No. 709) and Pla (No. 708) were fourth and fifth.[55] The LMP2 pole position was taken by Frjins' No. 31 WRT entry, with a time of 3:28.394. Nato's No. 41 Realteam entry was second, holding the category pole until Frijns' lap. Following in third to sixth were the lead United Autosports car of Albuquerque, the Jota entry of Félix da Costa, Delétraz's Prema car and Lynn's sister United Autosports car (after one of Lynn's laps was invalidated). Corvette Racing took the first two positions in LMGTE Pro with Tandy's No. 63 entry on category pole, with the only sub-3:50 class lap from his teammate García's No. 64 car. The two Porsches were third and fourth, with Makowiecki's No. 91 car faster than Laurens Vanthoor's No. 92 vehicle. Abril took pole position in LMGTE Am in AF Corse's No. 61 Ferrari early in the session from Jensen's No. 57 Kessel entry and Tincknell's Dempsey-Proton Porsche after a lap by Frey in Iron Dames' No. 85 vehicle was invalidated for violating track limits.[57][58]
After qualifying, stewards barred Cimadomo from racing at race director Eduardo Freitas's recommendation for his and other entrants' safety due to his "not driving to the standard required to safely participate in the remainder of the event" after his involvement in three incidents during free practice.[a][59] Cimadomo was replaced by Formula E champion Nyck de Vries, and TDS' No. 13 car was moved from the LMP2 Pro/Am subclass to the main LMP2 category because De Vries held a platinum racing licence.[60] The FIA and ACO revised the balance of performance, increasing the LMGTE Ferrari 488 GTE Evo's turbocharger boost pressure and decreasing the A480's engine power by 13 hp (9.7 kW) and a loss of 32 MJ (8.9 kWh) of energy allowance per stint.[61][62]
A 15-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of 11 June,[31] and a number of drivers did not have a fast lap due to incidents during the session. The No. 7 Toyota of Mike Conway lapped fastest at 3:31.236 seconds, ahead of the fastest LMP2 entry (driven by Rast) in WRT's No. 31 car; Buemi's No. 8 sister Toyota was 2.313 seconds slower in third, and second in Hypercar. The fastest LMGTE Pro lap was 3:54.788, set by Garcia in the No. 63 Corvette, and Toni Vilander's No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari paced LMGTE Am.[65] Mailleux appeared to lose control of the No. 709 Glickenhaus leaving the Mulsanne turn due to a malfunctioning traction-control sensor before stopping on the right hand side of the circuit. A driveline fault slowed Tandy's No. 64 Corvette between the Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners, necessitating a pit stop. Nico Müller beaching the No. 10 Vector Sport car in the gravel at the Indianapolis corner and Laurents Hörr losing control of the No. 3 DKR entry at the Dunlop Chicane prompted a full-course-yellow period.[65][66]
Race
Start and early hours
United Autosports USA's No. 22 Oreca was involved in a first-lap accident with both WRT entries.
The weather was dry at the start, with an air temperature of 13 to 26 °C (55 to 79 °F) and a track temperature of 17.5 to 57.5 °C (63.5 to 135.5 °F).[67] There were 244,200 spectators in attendance.[68] The French tricolour was waved at 16:00 CEST by TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné to begin the race,[69] which was led by the pole-sitting Buemi.[70]Will Owen's No. 22 United Autosports USA Oreca, pinched between the WRT cars of Ferdinand Habsburg and LMP2-class pole-sitter Rast at the first corner, was sent into the gravel trap. Owen required recovery by crane to return to the pit lane for repairs (which cost him two laps), and Habsburg's No. 41 car sustained front-end damage and a right rear puncture.[71][72] The stewards deemed Rast responsible for the accident, and imposed a one-minute stop-and-go penalty.[71][73] This moved Kubica's No. 9 Prema entry on the inside from fifth to the LMP2 lead.[74] In LMGTE Am, Abril was unable to retain the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari's class lead; Tincknell used the end of a slow zone at turn one to overtake Jensen and Abril in Dempsey's No. 77 Porsche.[71][73]
The race's first hour ended with Alessio Picariello's No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche taking the LMGTE Am lead from Project 1's No. 46 car, driven by Matteo Cairoli.[71][73] Félix da Costa's No. 38 Jota entry became the new LMP2 leader after passing Prema's No. 9 Prema during the first pit-stop cycle.[75] Buemi could not build up a large-enough lead over his teammate Conway due to an oversteer, and relinquished his overall lead to the No. 7 sister car after their pit stops; Conway's stop was faster.[70][73] Tandy had trouble downshifting for the Mulsanne corner and drove across the roundabout to rejoin the circuit, but forfeited the No. 64 Corvette's hold on the LMGTE Pro lead to García's No. 63 sister Corvette.[76] The LMGTE Am class became a battle between the No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche and the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche, and Andlauer took the category lead by passing Picariello on the inside at the Indianapolis corner.[70][75] Glickenhaus' No. 709 car, driven by Mailleux, was forced to the garage for three minutes for mechanics to replace a faulty engine sensor which was detected by telemetry just before the start of the third hour and fell to 10th place.[75][77][78]
Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr brought the No. 5 Team Penske Oreca car from ninth to second in LMP2 by the end of the third hour, ahead of Lorenzo Colombo's third-place No. 9 Prema car which drew to within a second of Nasr.[79] Lapierre was observed speeding in a slow zone, and the No. 36 Alpine received a drive-through penalty which dropped the car from the lead lap.[76] Team Project's No. 46 Porsche, driven by Nicolas Leutwiler, was beached in the Mulsanne Corner gravel and required extraction to get to the pit lane before the car was retired with irreparable ride height damage.[80][81] The No. 7 Toyota lost the overall race lead to its No. 8 sister car when López went across the gravel at the second Mulsanne chicane on an out-lap. Vaxivière later brought the Alpine into the garage to repair an electronic clutch fault; the 13+1⁄2 minutes of clutch bleeding dropped the car out of contention.[80][82] Porsche began closing on the Corvette LMGTE Pro leaders – who were lapping faster in the cooler conditions[77][80] – and overtook the No. 64 Corvette, which had downshifting problems after Tandy locked its brakes at the Mulsanne turn.[83][84]
Sims brought the No. 64 Corvette back to second in LMGTE Pro, passing Laurens Vanthoor's No. 92 Porsche on the inside at the second Mulsanne chicane.[70][75] In the sixth hour, Nasr's No. 5 Penske car lost its hold on second in LMP2 to Ricky Taylor's No. 37 Cool Racing vehicle when debris caused left-front-tyre delamination which damaged the car's left front corner. An unscheduled two-minute, 15-second pit stop dropped the car to third in LMP2 after brake-duct and front-end replacements.[85][86][87] The No. 8 Toyota lost the overall lead to Kobayashi's No. 7 sister Toyota when Hirakawa was impeded by a GT car after exiting the pit lane.[86] Corvette lost their hold on the top two places in LMGTE Pro when Tandy brought the No. 64 car into the garage for unscheduled brake repairs and García's No. 63 entry was forced slowly into the garage for a left rear suspension replacement.[75][87] This promoted Christensen's No. 92 Porsche to the LMGTE Pro lead and Bruni's No. 91 sister car to second.[88]
Night to morning
As night fell, Pla lost control of the third-place No. 708 Glickenhaus and damaged its left rear suspension on the right guardrail leaving the Tertre Rouge corner after he struck the kerb. Pla drove the vehicle slowly to the pit lane for repairs, relinquishing the car's hold on third to Mailleux's sister Glickenhaus. The No. 7 Toyota had a slow pit stop for a tyre change and driver switch (from Kobayashi to Conway), and Buemi's No. 8 Toyota retook the lead. Conway then reclaimed the lead, passing Buemi into the Daytona Chicane on the Mulsanne Straight.[89][90] Buemi returned the No. 8 Toyota to the overall lead ahead of Conway's No. 7 entry to begin the ninth hour, extending the car's lead to half a minute when a slow zone was imposed to dry a coolant spill between the Tertre Rouge turn and the first Mulsanne Straight chicane.[75] The No. 709 LMGTE Am-class D'station Racing Aston Martin of Charlie Fagg retired with chassis and wishbone damage.[91] The category became a two-car battle for the lead between the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche and the No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin, driven by Marco Sørensen, after Sørensen lapped faster than Paul Dalla Lana's No. 98 NorthWest AMR entry.[92][93]
The No. 31 WRT Oreca recovered from its early stop-and-go penalty to move to second in LMP2 after a quick stint by Frijns before Delétraz's No. 9 Prema passed Frijns' co-driver Gelael on the main straight by forcing Gelael towards the pit-lane barrier. Hirakawa's No. 8 Toyota led López's No. 7 car by almost 19 seconds at half distance, and both cars were two laps ahead of Briscoe's third-place No. 709 Glickenhaus. Jota's No. 38 Oreca, driven by Félix da Costa, still led LMP2 with a one-lap advantage over Prema's No. 9 entry of Delétraz due to the No. 38 team's fast pace and slow zones. Porsche's No. 92 team led the No. 64 Corvette by 100 seconds in LMGTE Pro.[94][95] TF Sport's No. 33 Aston Martin, driven by Chaves, took the LMGTE Am lead from WeatherTech's No. 79 Porsche when driver Cooper MacNeil lost a minute in one lap for a pit stop just before half distance.[95][96] The No. 8 Toyota lost the lead it had held for 86 laps[92] when a slow zone was deployed to recover West's retired LMGTE Am-category No. 59 Inception Ferrari from the Mulsanne Straight, catching Buemi off-guard and allowing Conway's No. 7 car to pass during a pit-stop cycle.[97][98] Porsche brought the No. 92 car into the garage for routine brake disc and pad switches, and lost the LMGTE Pro lead it had held for 104 laps to Pier Guidi's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari.[92][98]
LMGTE Pro became a close battle between Milner's No. 64 Corvette and Pier Guidi's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari, with both drivers close for multiple laps with Porsche's No. 92 RSR (driven by Christensen). Milner drafted past Pier Guidi on the Mulsanne Straight and the outside of the Daytona chicane to return to the category lead.[98][99] The No. 92 Porsche left the battle for the class lead when Christensen understeered into the gravel at the Mulsanne corner. Christensen had a right-front puncture when he built up speed on the approach to the Indianapolis corner, and heavy damage to the car's front required him to drive slowly to the pit lane for repairs. This moved Sims' No. 64 Corvette back into the category lead, with Daniel Serra's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari second.[100] Before the 16th hour ended, López stopped the No. 7 Toyota at the exit of the right-hand Arnage corner with a front-axle motor–generator issue that made him perform a power cycle to restart the car and return to the pit lane for further troubleshooting; he lost a lap and the lead to Hartley's No. 8 sister Toyota.[101]Brendan Iribe was caught off-guard under braking for the Daytona chicane and struck the left-side Armco barrier with the front of the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche hard enough to retire the car, which was third in LMGTE Am. Iribe was unhurt and extricated himself from the car.[100][102]
The No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R retired from the LMGTE Pro lead after being sent into the barrier by the No. 83 AF Corse LMP2 car.
In the 18th hour, just after the No. 63 Corvette was retired with rear-end mechanical damage, François Perrodo's No. 83 AF Corse Oreca was sandwiched between Sims' No. 64 Corvette and John Falb's No. 47 Algarve Pro Oreca on the Mulsanne Straight after the first chicane when he veered left. Perrodo made slight left-side contact with Sims, who was sent into the left-side barrier at high speed; the damaged No. 64 Corvette was retired. Perrodo, who received a three-minute stop-and-go penalty for causing the crash, slowly entered the pit lane for rear-suspension repairs; Calado's No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari took the LMGTE Pro lead, with Makowiecki's No. 91 Porsche second.[100][103] Frijns lost control of the No. 31 WRT Oreca, going onto the gravel at the exit of Indianapolis turn and crashing into the left-side Armco barrier. Since the blue impact light came on, Frijns was transported to the medical centre; he was unhurt. The accident forced the No. 31 car's retirement and the safety car's only deployment, to enable repairs to the Armco wall.[104][105] The safety cars were recalled after fifteen minutes,[75] and the first two cars in LMGTE Pro were together; Pier Guidi lost the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari's advantage to Makowiecki's No. 91 Porsche. Pier Guidi had a right-rear puncture entering the Porsche Curves which forced an unscheduled pit stop, promoting the No. 91 Porsche to the LMGTE Pro lead.[105][106] The safety-car period reduced the LMP2-leading No. 38 Jota Oreca's gap from one lap to a half-lap, because it had to remain in the pit lane and wait for the nearest safety car.[107]
Afternoon to finish
Claudio Schiavoni, in the No. 85 Iron Lynx Ferrari, collided with an LMP2 entry and struck the left tyre barrier leaving the Porsche Curves with four minutes left in the 21st hour. Schiavoni was unhurt, but the Ferrari was retired.[105][108] The second-place No. 9 Prema car of Colombo and (later) Kubica in LMP2 closed the gap to Roberto González's class-leading No. 38 Jota car, while the No. 28 sister Jota entry of Aberdein in third made an unscheduled pit stop to repair a slow puncture. Sebastian Priaulx brought the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche into the pit lane from third in LMGTE Am to repair a failed lower front wishbone, losing his position to David Pittard's No. 98 Aston Martin. Thomas Merrill miscalculated entering the Porsche Curves in WeatherTech's No. 79 Porsche and entered the gravel trap; he avoided striking the barriers, and continued without relinquishing his car's hold on second in LMGTE Am.[109][110]
Brendon Hartley driving the race-winning No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to the pit lane for the podium ceremony
Hartley maintained the overall lead his No. 8 Toyota had held for the previous 125 laps, and finished first after 380 laps; it was Buemi's fourth Le Mans victory, Hartley's third, Hirakawa's first and Toyota's fifth in succession.[92][111] They finished two minutes and 1.222 seconds ahead of No. 7 sister Toyota; Glickenhaus made the overall Le Mans podium for the first time in third, with its No. 709 car five laps down.[111][112] Jota's No. 38 Oreca won LMP2, leading for all but 15 laps,[92] to finish two minutes and 21 seconds ahead of the debuting second-place No. 9 Prema car. It was Jota's third category victory (their first since 2017) and the maiden LMP2 Le Mans win for Félix da Costa, González and Stevens. The No. 28 sister Jota car completed the LMP2 podium in third.[113][114] The No. 45 Algarve Pro team of James Allen, René Binder and Thomas won the LMP2 Pro/Am subclass by one lap over the No. 24 Nielsen Racing car driven by Matt Bell, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales.[115] In the final LMGTE Pro race at Le Mans, Porsche had their first class victory since 2018 with the No. 91 RSR leading the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari by 42.684 seconds.[116] Aston Martin won LMGTE Am, with the No. 33 TF Sport car leading for the final 105 laps in the first category victory for Chaves, Ben Keating and Sørensen.[92] WeatherTech Racing placed second in the class, 44.446 seconds behind.[116] A record 53 of the 62 starting cars finished the race.[113][117]
Post-race
The post-race podium ceremony, with the overall top three teams
The top three teams in each of the four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at individual press conferences.[9] Hirakawa said that he did not expect to win the race in his first year with Toyota, and his next objective was to win as many as possible.[118] Hartley admitted being emotional about winning and said it was an "amazing race because we were pushing each other so hard. We were giving it everything: there was nothing left on the table because it was so evenly matched."[119] López said that making a car run perfectly was difficult.[113] Toyota's technical director, Pascal Vasselon, called the speed of the Glickenhaus cars "remarkable" given the team's inexperience.[120] Briscoe called Glickenhaus' podium finish "a massive accomplishment", but was disappointed at not matching Toyota's pace.[121] Westbrook said that finishing third felt like a victory, and Mailleux described a podium result as "so unreal".[113]
Félix da Costa said about the LMP2 win, "The win is special, but the way to get there takes a lot. It's a collective victory."[113] González said it was Jota's dream to win, something they had prepared for during the previous three years.[113] Bruni said that luck was a factor in winning LMGTE Pro when the Corvette and the No. 92 Porsche encountered issues: "This is part of racing. Sometimes it works well, other times it works bad. For sure they were not lucky, Corvette was unlucky. In the end Le Mans chooses [whether] you win or not. This is the special thing of Le Mans. Sometimes she recognises you, other times not."[122] Lietz said a lot of misfortune and difficulty in the preceding two years prevented Porsche from achieving a decent result and that it felt good for them to be lucky again.[123] Keating said that his LMGTE Am win gave him a "little bit of vindication" after a 2019 post-race fuel disqualification from first place:[124] "Somebody asked me what it feels like to win Le Mans, I told them this is my second! Everyone knows we won it in 2019, the difference is this one will be in the record books. There's something special about that".[125]
Perrodo and AF Corse team principal Amato Ferrari visited Corvette Racing's garage to apologise for the accident which caused the No. 64 car's retirement.[126] Perrodo said that he had no excuse: "I made a terrible mistake. It's like a small movement with huge consequences. So I had to apologise to Corvette. It's the least I can do. I know that nothing will make them feel better at this stage. It's horrible. It's horrible for me, for them, but of course particularly for them."[127] Sims said, "It's never nice when things happen outside of your control, but we're on track with 60 other cars and people make mistakes. I'm sure Perrodo didn't plan it, we were just in the wrong place, wrong time."[128] Owen believed that Rast was overly aggressive on the first lap: "That's how you cause accidents, honestly. I couldn't even react fast enough before I hit the blue car on my left and was just in the gravel. Of course, it took five or six minutes to get the car unstuck. That was quite a setback."[129] Rast thought that the cars behind him jumped the start, and he followed the race director's instructions: "Everybody who knows me knows that I'm a fair and hard driver, but I'm not taking somebody out on purpose. So yeah, it was the drivers behind me just jumping the start and I got the penalty for it."[74]
The result kept Lapierre, Negrão and Vaxivière atop the Hypercar Drivers' Championship with 81 points; race winners Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa moved from third to second, three points behind. With 69 points, Dumas and Pla fell from second to third. Bruni's and Lietz's LMGTE Pro win placed them atop the GTE Drivers' Championship with 84 points, ahead of teammates Christensen and Estre by three points. Toyota and Porsche left Le Mans as the Hypercar and GTE Manufacturers' Championship leaders, respectively, with three rounds of the season left.[5]
Race results
The minimum number of laps for classification at the finish (70 per cent of the overall race winner's distance) was 266 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold and with ‡.[130]
^De Vries was drafted in as a late replacement for Philippe Cimadomo, who was prohibited from competing after causing multiple incidents in free practice. The change meant the entry was no longer part of the LMP2 Pro-Am subclass.[60][131]
^Cimadomo was involved in an incident with the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Dunlop Chicane during the first practice session, and almost caused an accident at the pit-lane exit during the session.[59]
^Augustyn, Adam; C. Shepherd, Melinda; Chauhan, Yamini; Levy, Michael; Lotha, Gloria; Tikkanen, Amy (17 June 2019). "24 Hours of Le Mans". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
^Goodwin, Graham; Little, Martin; Fernandez, Mat (7 June 2022). "Le Mans Paddock Notebook". DailySportsCar. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
^Lloyd, Daniel; Euwena, Davey (5 June 2022). "Le Mans Sunday Notebook". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
^Lloyd, Daniel; Euwema, Davey (8 June 2022). "Le Mans Wednesday Notebook". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
^"Vorzeitige Ausfälle Kosten Siegchancen in Le Mans" [Premature Refreshments Kill the Chances of Victory at Le Mans] (Press release) (in German). Project 1 Racing. 12 June 2022. Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^Dagys, John; Lloyd, Daniel; Euwema, Davey (13 June 2022). "Le Mans Post-Race Notebook". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
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