Familiar names taste LMP2 victory at Le Mans

They say Le Mans chooses its winners, and in recent years, in LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am, it keeps choosing the same teams. Yesterday at La Sarthe, both Inter Europol Competition and Algarve Pro Racing emerged victorious yet again, adding to their trophy cabinets and their legacy in the current Gibson-powered era for the formula.

With the No. 43 of Kuba Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly winning LMP2, the Polish Inter Europol team now has three wins in the past four years. And for APR, the CrowdStrike Racing Oreca 07 driven by Alex Quinn, Laurin Heinrich and George Kurtz, it has three victories in the Pro/Am division, and a 50 per cent win rate since the category debuted in 2021.

Inter Europol’s 1-2 finish, at a glance, looked like a dominant run, but it was a hard-fought win to the end. The ‘Racing Bakers’ were pushed hard by Duqueine Team’s No. 30 crew until it retired late in the race with a brake failure, and the hard-charging Forestier by Panis car, on a comeback drive from a lap down after a spin for Rousset in the seventh hour, and the timing of the first safety car, cost the team dearly.

“I’m just extremely proud. You couldn’t ask for anything more,” Smiechowski, who won in the No. 43 and also acts as team principal, said post-race. Nick Yelloly, who celebrated signing up to Ford Racing’s Hypercar project and a Le Mans class win in the same week, added that going back-to-back with Inter Europol and his teammates at the race is something he’ll remember for the rest of his life. And Dillmann said the team’s record, after another beautifully executed race, now speaks for itself.

It was a race won with perfect pit work, fuel management and extraordinary consistency, as shown particularly by Yelloly and Dillmann in the winning car, who combined to complete 268 of the No. 43’s 361 laps.

The No. 343, driven by Porsche factory driver Nico Muller, Bijoy Garg and Reshad De Gerus, was a standout performer too and on another day could have emerged victorious. But finishing second still deserves its flowers, as the cherry on top of another historic achievement for the team, which now boasts the most Le Mans wins in LMP2 since the current era began in 2017.

"Defending the title at Le Mans is one thing, but finishing first and second with two cars is something else entirely. I am incredibly proud of the whole team and the entire Inter Europol Competition family,” team manager Sascha Fassbender said.

“The result we have achieved here at Le Mans is simply amazing. Normally, after every race, we look at what we could have done better, but standing here now after securing a one-two finish in the biggest endurance race in the world, I honestly don't know what more we could have asked for.

“The team has shown just how strong it is. The drivers performed perfectly, the crew executed flawlessly, and everyone delivered when it mattered most. It was an extraordinary effort from every single person involved.

“I am overwhelmed, incredibly proud and very grateful to be part of this achievement.”

Crowdstrike by APR added a Le Mans win to their Rolex triumph earlier this year. James Moy Photography/Getty Images

It was just as emotional in the CrowdStrike by APR garage post-race. The U.S.-flagged effort, which won the LMP2 class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona back in January to kick off the IMSA season, has added a set of LMP2 Pro/Am trophies to the cabinet just five months later.

Sam and Stewart Cox’s Algarve Pro outfit, which has racked up championship titles in IMSA, the ELMS and Asian Le Mans Series, now has three LMP2 Pro/Am wins at Le Mans, earned off the back of a dominant run in a category that featured its fair share of dramas for the other contenders.

The team ploughed through Kurtz’ Bronze stints early, laying the foundation for a run which saw Quinn and Heinrich hold the lead in the class on the hour, every hour, from the ninth hour onwards. They built a gap and cruised home comfortably, eventually winning by a lap over the AF Corse ORECA driven by Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Ben Barnicoat.

“APR has done all the heavy lifting, a fantastic job to give us a great car all week,” Kurtz, the owner of CrowdStrike Racing, said. “The line-up we brought was also first class with Alex and Laurin. We brought Laurin because he keeps winning everything, and I couldn’t be prouder of the whole team.”

For Quinn, now a Peugeot development driver alongside his LMP2 programs with Nielsen Racing and APR, said it was surreal to be in the shared LMP2, Pro/Am and LMGT3 press conference, sitting behind a table with so many current and former teammates who have been part of his journey in the sport so far.

“I’ve been teammates with five other people here. Jonny (Edgar) I’ve known since I was eight; Ben (Keating) got me into sportscars; and then there’s the comedian, Nicky (Catsburg),” he noted, before recounting the team’s impressive run.

“The night stint really changed it for us. Laurin and I did quad stints, and I think we had great pace at that point. We got a lap on all the other Pro/Am cars, and after that it was just managing it; it was relaxing and nice, because we didn’t need to take risks late in the race. My pace wasn’t great, but I didn’t have to push too much. I actually feel quite awake.”

That feeling was shared by Heinrich. The Porsche GTP standout who made it look easy in his first-ever LMP2 start, and first Le Mans start, over the weekend.

“24 hours always feels long, but when I realised I only had three laps of fuel left on my last stint, I got a bit sad. I wanted to continue,” he explained. “It’s such a legendary place and to be here in person for the first time really made me realize the meaning of the event.”