The Le Mans 24 Hours provided another tour de force in the LMGTE Pro and Am classes, with Aston Martin and Corvette proving too quick for the AF Corse Ferrari 458’s until the aforementioned scored a few own goals with on-track altercations.
Just as 2014 victors AF Corse were picking up the pieces both Ferrari and Asto Martin struck their own turn of misfortune during the final two hours, instead, handing a well-deserved victory to the No.64 Corvette Racing entry of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor in GTE Pro.
Gavin, who celebrated his 5th Le Mans class victory, the trio battled with current GTE World Champions, AF Corse Ferrari, throughout the race. With less than two hours to run the No.51 Ferrari 458 Italia of Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella lost 30 minutes in the pits due to a gearbox problem and in the end they were forced to settle for third place behind their AF Corse team mates in the No.71 – Davide Rigon, James Calado and Olivier Beretta.
The double points on offer were enough to ensure that Ferrari, AF Corse and its drivers remain at the top of the GT title chase.
SMP Racing’s No.72 Ferrari 458 of Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksei Basov benefit edfrom Aston Martin's woes in GTE Am, taking victory a full lap ahead of the No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried. The Scuderia Corse Ferrari of Segal, Bell and Sweedler was third – all three Americans making their debut at Le Mans in 2015.
Image: GT Spirit