The 2018 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a historic one for a number of reasons, chief among which being Toyota's first-ever outright victory in a race the Japanese automaker had been trying to conquer for some three-and-a-half decades.

But, lower down the order, it was the GTE-Pro battle that kept us on the edge of our seats as for the first time in a long time no less than six manufacturers battled for glory in a 17-strong field that featured no weak driver pairing. Now, someone recreated that entire field in small-scale Lego models for all of us to enjoy.

Le Mans 24 Hours Models Are Always A Treat

The 2018 edition of the much-celebrated 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 86th running of what's widely considered to be the world's top sports car endurance race. Over a quarter of a million people gathered to watch a record-breaking 60-car field race twice-around-the-clock and we're sure many of those focused on the GTE-Pro fights rather than the battle for overall honors where Toyota Gazoo Racing, running as the only OEM fielding a hybrid LMP1 car, were the pre-event favorites with a certain Mr. Alonso in its roster to bolster the media frenzy if nothing else.

So, why was GTE-Pro considered as a hot spot for action? Well, because, while only one factory-backed team was running in LMP1, there were effectively six present in GTE-Pro (Ferrari backed AF Corse as per usual since it never enters cars under its own name in anything other than Formula 1). As the name of the class suggests, all of the cars were driven by professional drivers meaning you could never doubt whether or not the guy you're seeing in either of the 17 GTs sporting green number plates is giving his all or not.

Ford had won the race in 2016 and it was Aston Martin that came in as defending champions after coming out of a thrilling duel with Corvette Racing on top. But the Britons had moved on from the ancient N/A Vantage and were now running a new, unproven Vantage that proved to be painfully slow in the race. Then there was BMW, series newcomers with a car big enough to start a meme frenzy. The M8 was also slow besides being the size of the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit which meant only Ford, Ferrari, Porsche, and Chevrolet were realistically in it to win it.

In the end, though, the GTE-Pro class didn't deliver on its promise as Porsche's retro-looking 911 RSRs (one sporting the Rothmans livery from the '80s and the other in full Pink Pig attire) romped away into the lead only to be subsequently split by a safety car intervention that effectively gave the victory to the pink example on a silver platter courtesy of an unassailable two-minute advantage (check our report of the race, link above, to see how that happened).

Nevertheless, the 17 cars that raced at Le Mans two years ago were a joy to watch and, happily, we got to do it all over again in 2019 as the FIA WEC's 'Super-Season' included two Le Mans 24 Hours races. The GTE-Pro cars from 2018 were custom made in Lego form by Lasse Deleuran who was also kind enough to leave building instructions for those of you keen to give it a go at having your very own Lego 2018 Le Mans GTE-Pro field.

While Lego officially released a set featuring the modern Ford GT GTE race car back in late 2016 - a story we covered here - Deleuran's Ford GT is different and the other cars are unique too (the Porsches, for instance, have nothing to do with the much bigger Lego Technic model from 2019).

"The doors do not open and there are no moving details. The windscreens are black because LEGO does not make that many parts in transparent, and I wanted to create a unified look across all models. The level of detail is as high as I could possibly make it. This is at the expense of sturdiness, so the cars are not intended for children to play with." That last bit may sound frustrating for your little one but they do make for a great conversation piece when lined up all together.