Antonio Fuoco on Ferrari triumphs at the 24 hours of Le Mans. The 28-year-old driver, originally from Cariati, wins the 2024 edition of the legendary endurance race in France. The Dane Nielsen and the Spaniard Molina also took turns driving with him. Fuoco’s Ferrari no. 50 preceded the Toyota no. 7 and the other Ferrari, the no. 51, which won last year. All the crews are part of the official Ferrari-Af Corse team.
The Ferrari wins with the car n. 50 Of Antonio Fuoco/Nicklas Nielsen/Miguel Molina there 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans defeating the competition in the final Toyota no. 7 by Kamui Kobayashi/Nick De Vries/José Maria Lopez. The Maranello brand confirms itself, obtaining the 11th victory in its history, after perfect fuel management down to the last metre.
The restart, after a very long yellow flag due to bad weather, shuffled the cards and sparked a spectacular brawl for the victory between Earl Bamber (Cadillac Racing No. 2), at the top ahead of Fred Mako (Porsche Penske Motorsport no. 5), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari n. 50) e Robert Shwartzman (AF Corse Ferrari n. 83) e Sebastien Buemi (Toyota GR no. 8). The aforementioned drivers began to duel, the first and second competing for success despite a different strategy.
Cadillac continued to undertake a different program to the competition, the Ferrari no. 50 began chasing the General Motors prototype after having outwitted the 499P no. on the track. 83 by AF Corse. Slightly later, however, Porsche no. 5, slowed down by a penalty for breaking the rules in a Slow Zone.
Ferrari showed with its strategy that it can withstand the duel against Toyota and at the same time put pressure on Cadillac. The Red Army took command of the operations three hours from the end, However, the Maranello brand has simultaneously lost private car no. 83 AF Corse due to an electrical problem.
With two hours to go everything was turned upside down again with yet another return of the rain. There Ferrari no. 50 left the pit lane with the door open, while the twin n. 51 Of Alessandro Pier Guidi took second place after contact with the Toyota no. 8 Of Brendon Hartley.
The race direction forced the Ferrari no. 50 to stop in the pits to close the doorthe dynamics allowed the Toyota no. 7 to find the leadership after a comeback that began on Saturday afternoon from the last position on the grid. She didn’t fare much better than twin No. 51, penalized 5 seconds for touching the Toyota n. 8.
The finale was incandescent, with Ferrari no. 50 who tried to save a stop on the competition by extending the penultimate stint as much as possible. The men from Maranello tried everything, skipping the stop, a seemingly impossible mission.
However, Nielsen and Fuoco managed every drop of fuel as best they could and skipped the hypothetical final top-up in the pit road. Ferrari no. 50 then controlled the return of the #5 Toyota. 7, a simply historic result after a day full of twists and turns. Excellent performance by Nicklas Nielsen/Miguel Molina/Antonio Fuoco. The Dane, the Spaniard and the Calabrian stood out by recovering from a disadvantage created by a problem with the door of 499P n. 50, a tiny situation that could have ruined an entire year’s work.
Kamui Kobayashi/Nick De Vries/José Maria Lopez (Toyota no. 7) stop in second position in front of the Ferrari 499P n. 51 by Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi. Fourth position for Porsche Penske Motorsport n. 6, ahead of Toyota GR n. 8, Porsche Penske Motorsport no. 5, Cadillac Racing no. 2 and Hertz JOTA Porsche no. 12.
