The 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans is now officially on the books, with this year seeing all the drama and history-making moments you’d expect given the prestigious event’s 82 runnings. Taking overall victory in the premiere LMP1 class was the #19 2015 Porsche Hybrid 919, which put an end to Audi’s->ke14 five-year winning streak in convincing fashion. In LMP2, the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan squeaked by for a hotly contested first-in-class finish, while the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R took victory in the GTE-Pro class and the #72 SMP Ferrari 458 Italia->ke3479 won in GTE-Am.

This year saw a good deal of extremely close competition throughout the twice-around-the-clock time period, with the rain only beginning to fall in the final minutes of the race.

This also meant speeds were as high as ever, with the average velocity of the winning LMP1 team calculated at 153.5 mph. The cars also managed to eclipse the 300-km/h (186-mph) mark five times per lap, reaching a top speed of 211 mph down the straights. When the checkered finally fell, the winning Porsche->ke1 had completed 395 laps, a distance of 3,345 miles.

Pilots in the winning car saw three-hour stints behind the wheel, averaging a pit stop every 45 minutes for fuel and tire changes every three hours.

The next race on the World Endurance Championship calendar is the 6 Hours of Nurburgring->ke999 at the end of August.

Continue reading for the full story.

Safety Car Periods

The first safety car period was seen when the #92 GTE-Pro Porsche off-loaded its oil at the entry of the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight, causing several spins. One of those caught out was the #13 LMP1 Rebellion of Alex Imperatori. Despite damage to the front of the car, Imperatori managed to get the #13 back to the pits for repairs and continued.

Not long afterward, before the three-hour mark, a yellow caution at the approach to Indianapolis created a traffic bottleneck, resulting in the #8 LMP1 Audi juking around the slower cars, colliding with a Ferrari,->ke252 and spinning into a barrier, heavily damaging the front and rear. Luckily, the car made it back to the pits and remerged just four minutes later, bodywork repaired (duct tape fixes all). Meanwhile, a 45-minute safety car period was required to mend the barriers.

The safety cars were once again put into service when the #96 GTE-Am Aston Martin->ke13 had a big crash at the exit of the Porsche curves. Driver Roald Goethe was conscious after the impact, but was put under medical observation as a precaution.

LMP1

Porsche’s victory at this year’s 24 HOLM is a momentous occasion for the automaker. It’s Porsche’s first outright win at Le Mans since 1998, for a record 17 wins total. What’s more, 2015 is only the second year since the automaker’s return to the sport, with Porsche failing to finish in even the top 10 in 2014.

Bringing home the win behind the wheel of the #19 car were Earl Bamber and Formula 1->ke190 Force India-driver Nico Hulkenberg, both Le Mans->ke1591 rookies. Joining them was Nick Tandy, who has two previous Le Mans outings in lower classes on his resume.

“I enjoyed every moment, these cars are great fun to drive and then to be on a huge track like this one,” said Hulkenberg, “The pace was really high, and not what you would expect from endurance racing. Especially at night when the temperatures came down a bit, the car was fantastic to drive. Of course, I didn’t think I would come here and rock ’n’ roll this race, this would be silly because there are so many challenges in that race. However, we did it and we did it together.”

Finishing a lap down in second place was another Porsche – the #17 car driven by Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard, and Former F1-star Mark Webber. The second place is Webber’s best finish in four starts at Le Mans.

Despite an early charge from Audi, the #17 Porsche stayed in front for most of Saturday. However, after a third of the race was complete, the #17 was forced to drop back after Hartley mistakenly overtook a car under a yellow caution, incurring a one-minute penalty and allowing the #19 car to slip into the lead. Once out front, the #19 didn’t budge.

“The guys in the number 19 car did a great job,” said Webber. “All three of them were exceptional for 24 hours. Especially at night, the number 19 was quick. It is a big day for Porsche. We have had a smooth race, but in the end weren’t quick enough. Brendon and Timo did a great job. We are very proud for Porsche. If we can’t win we obviously want it to be within the team.”

Finishing two laps behind the winning Porsche was the #7 Audi, driven by last year’s winning roster of Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer, and Marcel Fassler. Audi won all but three 24 HOLM races since 2000, making this year’s results an outlier with a third, fourth, and seventh place finish. The #7 car experienced a string of bad luck, including multiple trips to the pits with just a few hours left in the race.

"We were very competitive yesterday, it went well for us on Saturday but things changed overnight," said Audi director Wolfgang Ullrich. "We had a problem with our bonnets, which never happened to us before. It's something we'll have to study and rectify back home."

The championship-defending Toyotas->ke88 finished sixth and eighth.

The unusual FWD Nissans->ke62 had a particularly rough outing, with only one of the three entries managing to cross the checkered in 40th after completing only 242 laps. After failing to complete a qualifying lap within 110 percent of the pole sitter, the cars were forced to start the race from the back over safety concerns regarding pace. Then came further setbacks, with the #23 car delayed due to clutch problems and the first retirement coming at the 10-hour mark when the #21 car lost a wheel. The #23 car then retired with suspension problems. The #22 car wasn’t without issue either, hitting debris entering the Indianapolis Corner at 211 mph, forcing a return to the pits before reentering the race. However, Nissan says it’s happy it was able to get at least a single car to finish with this extremely fresh team and car.

LMP2

The 19-car LMP2 class finished in spectacular fashion, with all three podium spots clinched on the same lap. At the top was the pole-sitting #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan driven by Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley and Nicolas Lapierre. Only 48 seconds behind was a second-place finish from the #38 JOTA Sport Gibson 015S-Nissan driven by Oliver Turvey, Simon Dolan, and Mitch Evans, with the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2-Nissan coming in third.

The #47 team had a few scares along the way, including an off with the #23 LMP1 Nissan in hour 19, and an overshoot of Indianapolis in hour 22. However, each time the car resumed without incident.

The win is the team’s fourth in the WEC, with the last coming last year in Brazil. It’s also the first win at Le Mans by a Hong Kong-entered team.

GTE-Pro

Four hours into the race, the pro touring car class saw a four-way battle for first, offering a good deal of excitement along the way. Out front was the pole-sitting #99 and #97 Aston Martins, both of which looked comfortable in the lead.

However, the Brits didn’t stay there forever, eventually seeing retirement when the #99 car sustained contact damage and the #97 car ran into mechanical issues.

This opened up a spot for the #64 Corvette->ke1280 driven by Jordan Taylor, Olivier Gavin, and Tommy Milner. The #64’s sister car, #63, pulled out after a heavy crash in qualifying, making the #64 the only C7.R on track.

The ‘Vette traded frequently with the hard-charging 458 Italias, but in the end managed to clinch victory with a five lap lead over the Italians, bringing home the first class win for Corvette since 2011.

In second was the #71 AF Corse Ferrari driven by James Calado, Davide Rigon, and Olivier Beretta, which managed to leap ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari after gearbox issues dropped #51 to third.

GTE-Am

The #98 Aston Martin looked poised to clinch victory in GTE-Am, dominating most of the race until driver Paul Dalla Lana had an off at the Mulsanne Corner in the final hour, ending their effort. This allowed the #72 SMP Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Voctor Shaytar, Anrea Bertolini, and Aleksei Basov to take a class win after a flawless set of stints. Following the Ferrari in second was the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 2013 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Patrick Long, Marco Seefried, and Patrick Dempsey, a first Le Mans podium finish for both Seefried and Dempsey. Finally, the #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia finished third, with Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler and Jeff Segal also enjoying their first podium at Le Mans.