Le Mans Hypercars Part 2: Who wins Le Mans (aka Electric Boogaloo)

So, I mentioned in my previous post about the Le Mans Hypercars (which can be seen here) that there would be a second LMH episode featuring a race. Well, it's here. I've used Xkoranate, an app that can be used to simulate sports results, to run a theoretical 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. I made a couple of driver changes (mainly due to my dumb error that the Audis had only two drivers, meaning I had to shuffle a few others around) so lets see what happens!

Suprisingly only half of the field finished. The first to go was Oliver Turvey in the #3 Koenigsegg who suffered a header failure on lap 10. The first safety car came out for a crash involving the #51 Ferrari driven by Sam Bird and #91 Porsche driven by Neel Jani in the Porsche-Kurves. After the safety car, the four leading cars (#5 Audi, #6 Merc, #7 Toyota and #36 Peugeot) broke away from the pack. On lap 92, the #8 Toyota driven by Kamui Kobyashi ground to a halt at the beginning of the Mulsanne Straight and retired with an engine failure. Thirteen laps later the safety car was retired for the second time when Alex Sims fired into the wall at Indianapolis in the #43 BMW.

On the restart it was the same four who pulled away headed by Aleshin in the #36. As the cars rolled on into the night, mechanical failures began to occur. Firstly, it was the #59 McLaren driven by Sergio Sette Camara that pulled into the pits with broken suspension, retiring the car. Then on lap 149, it was joined by the remaining BMW with Bruno Spengler suffering a blown engine. Another to be in the pits with dramas at this time was the #62 Aston Martin that had a steering issue after Dani Juncadella brushed the wall at Turn 2.

With twelve hours down, the #6 Mercedes that was running third joined the casualties list having shed multiple gears. Thirteen laps later, the Safety Car lit up the night after the #92 Porsche ended its day having slid into the barrier with Earl Bamber at the wheel. Following this incident the pack calmed down and there were no retirements for over 100 laps. That's not to say some cars didn't strike trouble; the #76 Aston, #54 Jag and #13 Peugeot all suffered lengthy time in the pit lane.

Within seconds of the final hour the Safety Car was called for the final time after Roy Nissany in the #9 Koenigsegg punctured in the braking zone for Arnage and spun backwards into the gravel and the wall. Off the restart, the #7 Toyota cleared the then leading Peugeot and began to pull away. With six laps to go, the #60 McLaren stopped on track but no Safety Car was required as it was pushed behind the barrier. The #7 Toyota made it four Le Mans titles in the last five years for Toyota when it crossed the finishing line well ahead of the #36 and the #5 Audi in third.