24 HOURS OF LE MANS – REACTIONS FROM THE 2019 LMGTE PRO CLASS WINNERS
James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra tell us about their race and their LMGTE Pro win in the AF Corse #51 Ferrari 488 GTE.
Read the article24h Le Mans
Ben Keating clinches Ford its first LMGTE Am win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Pecking order in the LMGTE Am class shaped up early on Saturday evening with little change thereafter. Dempsey-Proton Racing’s #77 and #88 Porsche 911 RSRs swooped into the top spot in the early laps. The #88 soon dropped back, however, after a collision with the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R fielded by Corvette Racing, leaving the #77 alone up ahead. At 20:00, Team Project 1’s #56 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Jörg Bergmeister and Keating Motorsports #85 driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen were hot on each other’s heels, with the #90 Aston Martin Vantage driven by Euan Hankey for TF Sport coming up behind.
Mid-morning saw the Keating Motorsports #85 widen the gap and storm ahead, gaining a lap over the #56, Team Project 1’s Porsche 911 RSR. The advantage was short-lived, though, when the Ford GT was smacked with a penalty for a wheelspin in the pits. But the victory on the horizon had Ford’s name on it. The win heralds the US manufacturer’s first LMGTE Am title and the second for its GT model at Le Mans, after claiming first place in the LMGTE Pro class in 2016.
1 - #85 Ford GT - Keating Motorsports - Jeroen Bleekemolen / Ben Keating / Felipe Fraga
2 - #56 Porsche 911 RSR - Team Project 1 - Jörg Bergmeister / Patrick Lindsey / Egidio Perfetti
3 - #84 Ferrari 488 GTE - JMW Motorsport - Jeffrey Segal / Rodrigo Baptista / Wei Lu
PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 16 JUNE 2019. Keating Motorsports' #85 Ford GT spent much of the race in the lead before clinching Ford its first LMGTE Am win.