The 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is hotting up to be an instant classic, as Motorsport Week previews the must-watch race on the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar.
If all 23 cars in the Hypercar class alone make the start of the race, that’s the most cars racing for the overall win that we’ve seen for over a decade at the world’s foremost and greatest endurance race. And that’s not including the 16 cars in LMP2 and 23 in LMGT3.
Out of the nine manufacturers in Hypercar, it’s probably fair to say that the top contenders are Porsche, Ferrari, and Toyota.
Porsche look to be in a very good place coming into Le Mans. Porsche cars have won two out of three races in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, with the factory Penske-run effort winning in Qatar and the JOTA customer team taking the spoils at Spa.
And in Imola, the Penske-run factory #6 car which won in Qatar was second, with Kevin Estre failing to overtake Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi at the end of the race.
That was Toyota’s only win this year, as their rivals have upped the pace considerably for this year, after a year of learning about their new cars in 2023.
The Imola win was a surprise and it was won on strategy, not outright pace. At Qatar the Japanese-German team were lacking pace, while at Spa they weren’t off the pace but similarly were lacking the ultimate pace to fight Ferrari and Porsche for the win.
Le Mans is a different beast, though, and Toyota know how to win this race.
Ferrari do too, though. They won last year overall and AF Corse, which runs the Ferrari factory team, has many wins in the GT classes under its belt.
However, so far this year they have been frustrated by poor pace, poor strategy, and poor luck, with one of each at the first three races. The Italian team is and will be desperate to set the record straight with a win in France, defending its win from last year.
Like Porsche, they have three cars, beating out Toyota who once again have just two. And we know that if Le Mans bites and you only have two cars, “you’re down to one leg on your tripod”, to quote Allan McNish.
Cadillac, meanwhile, will have three factory cars from two teams.
The Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing teams have brought over their IMSA cars to race in the French endurance classic, adding to the regular CGR-run car which we see normally in WEC.
Cadillac has had a troubled year so far, with a disqualification in Qatar, struggling for pace in Imola, and Earl Bamber’s large crash in Spa. The American squad will be hoping for better at Le Mans. The V-Series.R is a strong car with good pace — it just needs to be harnessed, which so far hasn’t truly happened in WEC, either last year or this year.
Peugeot have got a new car this year with the new 9X8. It might look similar to the old 9X8 with the addition of a rear wing, but make no mistake: it’s a new car. With this in mind it’s hard to assess how Peugeot will do at Le Mans this year. In 2023 the old 9X8 was relatively competitive at Le Mans, even leading for considerable amounts of time through the race. And with the new car having better driveability than the old car… well, Peugeot are hoping for big things.
And then we come to the new boys: Alpine, BMW, Lamborghini, and Isotta Fraschini.
Alpine and BMW have both had decent starts to the year. Alpine have scored a best of seventh, at Qatar, while BMW have gone one better with sixth at Imola. Alpine struggled Italy with both cars well out of the points, but they scored more points at Spa, finishing ninth.
Accordingly, Alpine currently have two more points compared to BMW in the standings, 23 to 21.
Lamborghini, meanwhile, have struggled so far this year with the new SC63. They’ve only got one car, so they’re gathering less data than most other LMDh manufacturers, plus they’re the only team running a Ligier chassis. However, like Alpine and BMW’s full season efforts, the Italian squad will have two cars at Le Mans, as they’re bringing over the IMSA Endurance Cup machine.
Finally, Isotta Fraschini: the WEC’s only ‘boutique’ manufacturer this year. Despite what it looks like, the team has done well this year, with a brand new car, a new team to WEC, and new drivers to the series. While they didn’t finish on their debut in Qatar, and Imola was a struggle in the mixed conditions, they improved significantly at Spa, only finishing three laps down after six hours. They’ll likely be hoping just to finish the race this year, which will probably feel like a win.
The return of LMP2
In other news: LMP2 is back!
The class, which as in recent years is essentially a spec class with all 16 entrants using the Oreca 07-Gibson combination, offers close racing in amongst its two subclasses, divided by driver rating and ability.
There are eight ‘Pro’ cars, and eight ‘Pro/Am’ cars. Last year’s winners, Inter Europol Competition, have returned to defend their crown. That said, they have a two-thirds new driver lineup this year; Vladislav Lomko and Clement Novalak will join team regular Jakub Smiechowski.
Likewise in LMP2 Pro/Am, the winner returns: George Kurtz’s Crowdstrike Racing by APR. The ‘APR’ bit is Algarve Pro Racing, who have competed at Le Mans for quite a while now and credibly could be considered ‘veterans’.
In the Pro class, the COOL Racing entry looks strong, with Peugeot Hypercar reserve Malthe Jakobsen joining Toyota Hypercar reserve driver Ritomo Miyata and Lorenzo Fluxa at the wheel.
That puts the average age of the car at 21 — but don’t let that count them out. Jakobsen is very quick, having won the ELMS LMP3 and LMP2 Pro/Am championships for the past two years, while Miyata has proven very fast in Super GT competition over in Japan.
Back in LMP2 Pro/Am, Ben Keating returns. The bronze-rated gentleman driver is often described as one of the best amateur racing drivers in the world, and this year he’s teamed up with United Autosports, one of the top LMP2 teams. He’ll race alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Ben Hanley, making an incredibly strong lineup in the Pro/Am class.
LMGT3 cars debut at Le Mans
It’s been a long time coming, but this is the first year we’ll see GT3 cars racing in the 24 hours. As you might have expected, the LMGT3 class looks a lot healthier than the now-retired GTE class did; nine manufacturers have signed up to race GT3 machinery, with many of those having an accompanying Hypercar programme as well.
All the big names are present, then. We’ve got GT regulars Porsche, Aston Martin, and Ferrari, with Corvette also here with two cars run by TF Sport. BMW are back after their ill-fated GTE programme a few years ago, with the GT3 cars essentially a customer-run factory operation, with partners Team WRT behind the show.
Importantly the #46 BMW will have none other than MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi at the wheel. He’s swapped two wheels for four in recent years and, as you’d expect, is hugely ambitious and eager to prove his worth to both BMW and WRT.
McLaren have chosen to return to Le Mans, 29 years after their first and so far only overall victory in 1995, with the McLaren F1. Le Mans veterans United Autosports are running the cars, making them a potent threat in this year’s race.
Italian manufacturer Lamborghini has partnered with Iron Lynx to bring two Huracan GT3 EVO2s to the party, joining the Hypercar operation. One car will have Claudio Schiavoni at the wheel, while the other pink car will have the now-familiar trio of Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy, and Rahel Frey — the ‘Iron Dames’ — in it. The Dames are hungry for success and only get better and better every year.
Ford have also chosen this year to return to Le Mans, although not with a Ford GT like before. Instead, this year they’ve developed a GT3 version of the Mustang to race in both the US and in Europe.
The European partner team for the WEC programme is Proton Competition, who have raced Porsche GT cars for what seems like forever. They’ve got three cars in France, and while they’ve struggled with niggles and little issues so far this year, they’ll be strong throughout the race.
Toyota-owned brand Lexus will also make their Le Mans debut.
The duo of RC F GT3s will be run by Akkodis ASP, a team which has raced Mercedes-AMG machinery for many years. The RC F GT3, however, is an aging car now, and ASP have struggled somewhat in the opening races of the WEC. It’ll be interesting to see how they do at the biggest race of them all.
One thing to note is they’ve had to lose one of their star drivers, Jose Maria Lopez. The Argentinian used to race for Toyota in Hypercar until this year, but unfortunately former teammate Mike Conway has injured himself while cycling.
This has meant Lopez has been recalled to Toyota, leaving ASP to find a driver.
No matter, though: They’ve recruited Jack Hawksworth, who drives a Lexus for Vasser Sullivan in the IMSA championship. The Brit knows the RC F GT3 inside out so he’s both a fast and safe pair of hands. What more could you want?
Whatever happens at Le Mans this year, with three classes and 62 cars, one thing is for sure: it’s bound to be fantastic.
