The #22 United Autosports Oreca 07 – Gibson trio of Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel have triumphed in the 92nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to take victory in LMP2.
The #22 car rose into victory contention with a horde of fellow competitors that each had a genuine claim to win LMP2’s greatest prize.
With the experienced Jarvis at the wheel, the #22 assumed the lead over the #183 of Ben Barnicoat in the AF Corse entry, who’d been a long-time leader.
From there, Jarvis drove with caution as the rain intervened across the last two hours, to ensure the #22 crew, which included two rookies in Garg and Siegel took victory.
The rain intervened on several occasions throughout the 24-hour enduro making the challenge even greater than usual, but remarkable four cars finished on the lead lap.
Jarvis crossed the line 18 seconds ahead of last year’s winners, the #34 Inter Europol team driven by Clement Novalak, Vladislav Lomko and Jakub Smiechowski.
The #28 Idec Sport entry narrowly missed out on pole position and whilst it wasn’t a regular contender throughout the majority of the race, but Reshad de Gerus had got the car into third with two hours to go and it was the privilege of his co-driver Job van Uitert to ensure the duo celebrated in a podium with fellow driver Paul Lafargue.
Van Uitert finished just under two seconds ahead of the #183 entry which fell from leading with just two hours to go to finishing fourth by the chequered flag, a victim of the final Safety Car which eroded its advantage.
Still, the trio of Barnicoat, Nicolas Varrone and Francois Perrodo led the pro/am contingent in LMP2.
Another car that had its fair share of leading was the #10 Vector sport entry of Patrick Pilet, Ryan Cullen and Stephane Richelmi, but the trio’s fortune in the final moments faded en route to a fifth-place finish.
The pole-sitting ‘Spike the Dragon’ #14 AO by TF machine was second among the pro/am contingent and sixth overall with drivers Louis Deletraz, PJ Hyett and Alex Quinn finishing a lap down on the leaders.
The #33 DKR Engineering machine had an eventful race, oft caught in spins and other incidents, even getting caught out by the class winner at one stage, but Laurents Horr, Rene Binder and Alexander Mattschull worked hard to finish in seventh.
Eighth went to the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car driven by Olli Caldwell, Roman Senna di Angelis and Matthias Kaiser.
Malthe Jakobsen, Ritomo Miyata and Lorenzo Fluxa were another trio routinely featuring at the top of the heap in the #37 Cool Racing entry but their race unravelled in the final hours.
A half-hour stint in the garage followed by a spin marred a poor final hour for the outfit and they tumbled down the order to 12th.
It was contrasting fortunes for United however, with its pro/am #23 car suffering a tumultuous race.
Well-renowned Bronze driver Ben Keating had a disastrous start to his driving duties, spinning into the gravel at the Dunlop chicane, leading to a broken alternator and a 90-minute stint in the pits.
More spins following the repairs set the tone for a race that saw the #23 finish in 13th and last of the LMP2s that made it to the end of the 24 hours.
