No. 2's improbable comeback scores Porsche's 19th LM24 win

The No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley claimed the victory in the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In a race of attrition, all five factory Hybrids hit major trouble in the searing heat, with three of them retiring.

It culminated in a chase to the flag, the No. 2 driving from 52nd overall to first throughout the race. The comeback came after an early loss of drive from a front-axle problem four hours into the race, to take the win from the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA 07 Gibson of Thomas Laurent, Oliver Jarvis and Ho-Pin Tung in Hour 23.

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For the other factory hybrids, the race was a disaster. Toyota had a stranglehold on the race in the opening hours, running 1-2 for most of the run to darkness, with the No. 7 eventually emerging as the leader as the car quickest over a single lap.

A fuel cut sent Nicolas Lapierre into a violent spin into Turn 1, wiping out the No. 25 Manor ORECA on its trip to the gravel. The damage to the left-rear corner was severe, and like his teammate, Lapierre was unable to make it back either.

To make matters worse, Toyota's third car was already out of running by that point, the car having to make an early hybrid system change costing it over an hour in the pits. Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima managed to finish the race, and second in LMP1, but it was a small consolation for what was another missed opportunity for the team.

The No. 1 Porsche suffered a similar fate to that of the aforementioned Toyotas. Heading into the second half of the race, Andre Lotterer, Nick Tandy and Neel Jani held an enormous lead, as the only LMP1 Hybrid which didn't hit trouble in the opening hours.

Its lead eventually grew to 13 laps toward the end of the race, the LMP2 runners from second place downward, leaving it with little competition. But drama would strike again, forcing the car into retirement after Andre Lotterer lost power with just over three hours to go, eventually grinding to a halt down the Mulsanne Straight.

It left the No. 2 with a mountain to climb, but it managed to take the win, handing Brendon Hartley his first Le Mans victory and Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard their second.

"It's unreal," Hartley told FOX Sports. "It was a roller coaster of a race. Obviously we had a problem early on, we didn't really dream of coming back, but we fought so hard, so did the mechanics to get it back out there. It's an event I'm going to remember forever, with Earl, Timo and the whole Porsche family. I'm kind of at a loss for words at the moment!"

Jackie Chan DC powers to historic LMP2 victory

The LMP2 race was a roller coaster, with the eventual winners in the No. 38 in with a chance of winning the race outright after the LMP1 dramas. Instead though, they became the first winners in the new LMP2 era at Le Mans, and the first ever LMP2 team to lead the race outright.

Behind, the No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion ORECA 07 finished second, Nelson Piquet Jr., David Heinemeier Hansson and Mathias Beche having a challenging run to the finish. The trio led throughout the first half of the race, before multiple small issues and a penalty for a pit stop infraction cost them valuable time, and a chance of winning the race.

Bart Hayden's crew did look set for a third-place finish with the race winding down, though, after the No. 35 Signatech Alpine took a firm grasp on second as a result of the No. 13's delays. But a huge error by Andre Negrao at Arnage in the final hour caused the Brazilian to go off into the barriers and dropped them to fourth in the class. It promoted the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA of Alex Brundle, Tristan Gommendy and David Cheng to third.

Rounding out the top five behind the Alpine was the best of the non-ORECA runners – the United Autosports Ligier JS P217 – which had a near faultless run, but lacked the pace to be able to take advantage of the misfortunes of those ahead. It was nevertheless a strong finish for the Ligier, against much faster equipment.

Of the other teams that were in the running early on, the pole-sitting G-Drive Racing ORECA crashed out in the first hour after an erratic move by Roman Rusinov, slamming into the No. 88 Proton Porsche. The No. 24 Manor ORECA also ran well, but finished seventh in LMP2 after late dramas in the pits.

Next page: GT classes and event results.

Incredible GTE Pro victory for Aston Martin Racing

Aston Martin Racing scored its first GTE Pro win at Le Mans, and the first top GT class win since 2008. The No. 97 Vantage of Jonny Adam, Darren Turner and Daniel Serra kept in the fight throughout, and won a showdown against the No. 63 Corvette Racing C7.R in the final hour.

It was a dramatic duel between the No. 63 and No. 97 Aston right to the line after the final round of stops. Jordan Taylor in the No. 63 initially proved untouchable, Jonny Adam in the trailing Aston making multiple attempts to take the lead, including a dive into Arnage on the penultimate lap. But he couldn't get past.

The Aston win was instead sealed by a mistake into the second Mulsanne Chicane by Taylor which caused a slow puncture on the car. Adam then got by at the Ford Chicanes at the start of the final lap.

In the end the Corvette finished third, the No. 67 Ford of Harry Tincknell on a late charge nabbing second at the end of the final lap. The C.7R limped across the line, the ninth class win for the American marque denied at the last moment.

"It's always great to win, but you can't feel bad about having a great race like that and having it come down to the last lap in a 24-hour race," Corvette's Gary Pratt told FOX. "It's just fantastic racing and hats off to those guys [Aston Martin], they did a good job...and we were one lap shy, man!"

It was an incredible fight for the entire 24 Hours in Pro. The Le Mans-specific BoP proving to keep all five factories in the hunt. At various points, each manufacturer led, leading to a frantic end to the race with surprise contenders.

Off the podium was the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR, which faded in the final hours and finished a lap off the lead, ahead of the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488.

Of the contenders that hit trouble, the Risi Ferrari was rudely shoved into a barrier in the opening hours by the TDS Racing ORECA, the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari lost multiple laps due to damage repairs and the No. 95 Aston Martin suffered a violent puncture, an off at Mulsanne corner and later a loss of power which snatched any chances of victory from the Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Richie Stanaway's grasp.

Rookies win GTE Am for JMW

JMW Motorsport enjoyed a fairytale win in GTE Am after a year away from racing at Le Mans. The British team, in its first race with the Ferrari 488, and with three rookie drivers – Rob Smith, Dries Vanthoor and Will Stevens – dominated the second half of the race, finishing two laps ahead of the other runners.

JMW's win headlined a 1-2-3 for Ferrari in the class, with the No. 55 Spirit of Race Ferrari second and the No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of IMSA regulars Townsend Bell, Bill Sweedler and Cooper MacNeil third.

It was the most drama-free class, though multiple contenders faultered. The No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage had a costly puncture from the lead which cost it valuable time in its pit box for repairs. The TF Sport Aston Martin also featured in the top three but an off by Turk Salih Yoluc dropped the British team down the order.

Just shy of a trip to the rostrum was the Beechdean AMR Aston in fourth, and the No. 61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari, which took home 50 WEC points by beating all its full-season rivals.

The 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours was a memorable one, for so many reasons. The heat, the heartbreak, the battles in GTE, and the attrition in prototypes all made for an astonishing day of racing at La Sarthe.

Click on results brief to view full race results in PDF format.