2010 24 Hours of Le Mans
Peugeot's third trio of Nicolas Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin led the following 144 laps before the engine failed due to connecting rod failure.
Strakka Racing's HPD ARX-01C car, driven by Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts, won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category after leading the final 267 laps.
The class order and podium was completed by David Hart, Stéphan Grégoire, Jérôme Policand sharing Luc Alphand Aventures' Chevrolet Corvette C6.R and the Young Driver AMR's Tomáš Enge, Peter Kox and Christoffer Nygaard in an Aston Martin DBR9.
A Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 GT3-RSR won the Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2) category with drivers Wolf Henzler, Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz.
[1][2] The race began in 1923 when automotive journalist Charles Faroux, Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability.
[4][5] In the event of an accident, there would now be three safety cars deployed rather than two as observed in LMS rounds, and illuminated number panels were mandated for night conditions.
[5][7] The ACO Selection Committee received 84 entry requests between the opening on 21 December 2009 and the deadline on 20 January 2010, with priority given to manufacturer and full-time teams in one or more Le Mans-based championships such as the 2009 LMS, the 2009 ALMS and the 2009 ASLMS.
[8][9] It initially planned to grant 55 entries divided between the LMP1, Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), LMGT1 and Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2) categories,[10][11] but the ACO thought of increasing the pit lane capacity to 56 cars with the intention of enabling teams to enter "a specific and innovative project" in future years and thus took steps to ensure the additional pit was operational on 4 June.
[14] Because entries were pre-selected to teams, they were limited to a maximum of two cars and were not permitted to change their vehicles or category from one year to the next or their automatic invitation would be revoked.
[11][13] During its yearly press conference, which was broadcast live on the internet on the afternoon of February 4, 2010, the ACO announced the full 55-car list for Le Mans, plus ten reserves.
[9] Dome withdrew its Dome-Judd S102 LMP1 coupe on April 5, 2010, after its partnership with French partner OAK Racing ended, possibly due to budget constraints.
[23] That same month, PK Carsport withdrew its Chevrolet Corvette C6.R due to the car catching fire at the FIA GT1 World Championship meeting at Silverstone Circuit, stopping the team from having adequate preparation and resources for Le Mans.
4 Oreca Peugeot with a 3 minute, 21.192 second lap until a fuel pick-up issue forced him to stop at Arnage corner, effectively ending his crew's running.
82 Risi Competizione Ferrari on provisional pole in LMGT2 despite a broken gearbox output shaft requiring the attention of mechanics in the garage for most of the session.
25 RML entry at Tertre Rouge turn and a collision between Jacques Nicolet and Stephane Salini on the inside at the Ford chicane, the session was not halted.
[46] Enge's first session lap in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin was unopposed in LMGT1, giving him his sixth category pole position in eight years.
[47] Scrutineers failed the car's inspection because the gurney flap on the rear wing was 2 mm (0.079 in) too low, demoting the vehicle to the back of the LMGT2 starting order.
[52][55] At 15:00 local time on 12 June, in front of 238,150 spectators, Rolex CEO Bruno Meier and triple Olympic skiing champion Jean-Claude Killy waved the French tricolour to start the race.
80 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche sustained a left-rear puncture after going over a screw, overshooting the Dunlop Chicane, and mounting the kerbs;[59][60] the car's bodywork was undamaged.
5 Beechdean Motorsport Ginetta Zytek at high speed into the barriers between Mulsanne and Indianapolis turns due to a slow left-rear puncture that the team failed to detect because that part of the circuit was not covered by telemetry.
Over the next four hours, Bruni and Beretta traded the lead several times because of the Risi Ferrari's superior ability to conserve fuel over the Corvette.
[76] Da Rocha's car was thrown into the outside barrier and sustained irreparable damage to its rear end and transmission, forcing it to retire to the garage.
4 Oreca Peugeot into the garage for 15 minutes due to repairable right-hand side driveshaft failure and other technical issues, dropping the car to sixth overall.
[63][74][100] The Peugeot was abandoned on the Mulsanne Straight because Montagny could not return to the pit lane, ceding the overall lead the car had held for 144 successive laps to Bernhard's No.
[80][107] The accident necessitated the race's fourth safety car intervention, which lasted nine minutes and allowed marshals to clear debris from the circuit and repair the damaged Armco barrier in the Porsche Curves.
64 Corvette on the Mulsanne corner exit with smoke billowing from the left-hand exhaust, a lasting legacy of Collard's earlier collision with Davidson.
[111] Wurz had unlapped the lead Audi before retiring in the pit lane with white smoke billowing from the engine compartment's right-hand side turn due to connecting rod failure.
4 Oreca Peugeot and pulled within ten seconds of Rinaldo Capello's third-placed Audi when Duval retired with flames shooting out of his car's right-hand underside into Indianapolis corner due to a major oil fire.
[15] Dumas felt that despite some of the French press's predictions to the contrary, he believed he could win, adding: "We knew we had reliability, and that was very important I think – and we had no problems on the car.
"[126] Priaulx admitted he was disappointed to have been a contributing factor in the accident, commenting, "It wasn't like a last minute thing that I decided to go left, but he had committed.
