Inter Europol Takes LMP2 Le Mans Honors Amidst Late Drama

Inter Europol Competition took LMP2 honors in the 24 Hours of Le Mans after Nick Yelloly charged out of the pits following a late drive-through penalty to secure the class win alongside Jakub Smiechowski and Tom Dillmann.

After starting the race from second on the grid, Inter Europol’s No. 43 Oreca 07 Gibson found itself at the head of the class before the end of the first hour, when the class pole-sitting No. 29 TDS Racing entry lost ground after Mathias Beche was swapped out of the car following an impressive opening stint.

With Esteban Masson and Franck Perera climbing up the order early from 11th on the grid, VDS Panis Racing joined Inter Europol as the race’s primary protagonists.

The two entries swapped the lead throughout the evening and into the morning hours before the No. 43 Oreca looked set to control a gap to the checkered flag.

However, Yelloly was issued a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane, which initially saw the VDS Panis machine of Masson retake the lead before suddenly losing significant pace.

Having served his penalty, Yelloly charged out of the pits on fresh tires and made the pass for the eventual class win in the final 20 minutes, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of the wounded VDS Panis machine.

Inter Europol endured a mostly undramatic race on its end, except for a front nose change after a mid-race trip through the gravel from Smiechowski.

It marked the Polish squad’s second LMP2 Le Mans class victory in three years.

AO by TF not only finished on the final step of the overall LMP2 podium, but also claimed a dominant Pro-Am class victory in the process for PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron, and Louis Deletraz.

After starting the race third in Pro-Am and eighth overall, the Hyett ran behind RLR M Sport’s of Patrick Pilet before the then class-leaders were involved in an early race collision with Algarve Pro Racing, promoting the ‘Spike the Dragon’ liveried Oreca to the class lead, where it would remain for the vast majority of the rest of the race.

Despite a late drive-through penalty for track limits, the No. 9 Iron Lynx-Proton entry of Jonas Ried, Maceo Capietto, and Reshad De Gerus drove back to a fourth-place finish in LMP2 ahead of the No. 29 TDS Oreca, who rounded out the top five and finished second amongst the Pro-Am competitors.

Proton Competition’s No. 11 entry rounded out the Pro-Am podium, sixth overall in class.

The LMP2 class was relatively stable across the race, with only occasional incidents and relatively minimal attrition.

However, the once-leading RLR M Sport entry was taken out of contention when it was hit early on by Algarve Pro Racing’s No. 25 machine with Matthias Kaiser at the wheel.

IDEC Sport suffered an unfortunate run after both its Nos. 18 and 28 entries separately retired for wheels becoming detached on track.

Nielsen Racing driver Cem Bolukbasi triggered the race’s only safety car period after a mid-race crash at Tertre Rouge overnight, in an event which saw an unprecedented amount of green flag running.

RESULTS: 24 Hours of Le Mans