Le Mans 2023: Fabio Scherer drove to victory injured 🎥
STRONG RECORD Swiss and a Swiss woman did well at the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Especially in the second division, the LMP2, the proportion of Swiss on the podium was impressive.
Sébastien Buemi (left gallery) and Toyota started the race as favorites. But nothing came of the fifth victory for the man from Vaud. Buemi and his two teammates Brendon Hartley and Rio Hirakawa had to settle for second place after the Japanese driver spun 1:45 h before the chequered flag in pursuit of the #51 and had to pit again.
Victory went - 58 years after the last success and 50 years after the last start as a works team - back to Maranello to Ferrari. Respectively to the Italians Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi and the Briton James Calado.
Nico Müller with problems
In addition to Buemi, Nico Müller (center gallery) was another Swiss driver in the hypercar class, the premier class of the World Endurance Championship. The driver from Bern was leading the race for several laps in his Peugeot 9X8 with start number 94. Mechanical problems eventually threw him back to 27th place, 30 laps behind the winner.
Nico Müller: "I think finishing the race with both cars is already a great thing. Especially the performance during the race, the team really worked extremely well, that was exceptional. We got everything we could out of the car, we were good in terms of strategy. I am very happy and congratulate the whole team, because it was a great pleasure!"
Strong performance by Fabio Scherer
Swiss drivers took all three podium places in LMP2, the second-highest prototype league. For Fabio Scherer, victory at Le Mans was his greatest triumph to date. The fact that he had achieved it under special circumstances makes it even sweeter. Scherer had been hit by a Corvette during a pit stop and finished the race with a badly damaged left foot and without a pit radio. Second place in LMP2 went to Louis Delétraz, who repeated his result from the previous year. Third place went to Neel Jani.
Rahel Frey in fourth place
There was almost a Swiss success story in GTE as well. Rahel Frey narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. The woman from Solothurn, who had taken the lead in this category five and a half hours before the end of the race, was narrowly beaten in the end together with Belgian Sarah Bovy and Dane Michele Gatting (Gallery right) in the Porsche 911 RSR of the all-female Iron Dames team.
Source: Auto Sport Switzerland
motorsport.ch
24h-lemans.com
