Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa won the 90th running in front of 244,200 spectators, with Glickenhaus on the podium for the first time.
The 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 90th running of the race, held on 11 and 12 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa won in a Toyota GR010 Hybrid after 380 laps, finishing 2 minutes and 1.222 seconds ahead of their sister car.
The 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans was held on 11 and 12 June 2022, and it was the first race at the circuit to host a full crowd in June since the COVID-19 restrictions. Toyota's Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa won, finishing ahead of their sister car, while Glickenhaus took its first overall podium. The race was also the last LMGTE Pro contest at the event.
Why was the 2022 race a milestone?
The race drew 244,200 spectators, a return to a full crowd after the restrictions of the previous year. It was also the third round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship. The event has run since 1923 and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious motor races in the world.
A test day was held on 5 June, the week before the race, and every entrant took part in it.
A fifth straight Toyota win, a first Glickenhaus podium and a full crowd made the 2022 Le Mans a race of recovery.
What changes applied to the 2022 event?
Every entry ran renewable fuel produced by TotalEnergies from wine residue, which was a first for the event. After the previous year's near miss, when the clerk of the course was almost struck by a car, the ACO allowed the chequered flag to be waved from a footbridge in a close finish, for safety reasons.
Work on the Mulsanne Straight, between the Antares roundabout and the first chicane, followed an inspection that found fatigue in the tarmac and damage to the asphalt shoulders.
Who entered, and who was left out?
The ACO issued 62 invitations, which were split across the Hypercar, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes. Entries had opened on 6 December 2021 and closed on 28 February 2022, but the Russian G-Drive team suspended its programme after Ukraine's invasion, which led to new applicants being invited from 7 to 9 March 2022.
Peugeot Sport withdrew its planned entries so that it could keep testing its Hypercar before homologation. Racing Team Nederland withdrew its reserve entry to focus on the IMSA endurance races, and Hardpoint Motorsport withdrew its GT Am Porsche, and Proton handed the entry to the Absolute Racing customer squad.
Josh Pierson, who was 16 years and 117 days old at the race, beat the record set by Matt McMurry for the youngest competitor at Le Mans. He competed in the United Autosports Oreca, with Paul di Resta helping during testing.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Hartley took Toyota's pole in the Hypercar Hyperpole session with a lap of 3:24.408, the sixth consecutive pole for the marque at Le Mans. Kobayashi was second after his fastest lap was deleted, reinstated and then invalidated for a track-limits infringement at the Tertre Rouge corner.
The LMP2 pole went to Frijns in the WRT entry with a time of 3:28.394. In LMGTE Pro, a Corvette took the class pole. In LMGTE Am, Abril put AF Corse's Ferrari on pole early in the session.
Qualifying was not without drama. Actor Michael Fassbender lost the rear of his Porsche while braking for the first Mulsanne chicane, which hit the Armco barrier and stopped the session. The incident meant the car needed a new chassis before the race.
The stewards also acted on Cimadomo's driving. After qualifying, they barred him from racing on the advice of race director Eduardo Freitas, because of his involvement in three incidents during free practice. Nyck de Vries replaced him in the TDS car, and the entry moved into the main LMP2 category.
How did the race start?
The race started at 16:00 CEST, when TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne waved the tricolour. The track was dry, and the early laps were tense because cars were squeezed together at the first corner. Owen's car was pinched by two WRT cars and ended up in the gravel.
At the first corner, Owen's United car was pinched between the two WRT cars of Habsburg and Rast, and it went into the gravel trap. Owen needed a crane to return to the pit lane, which cost him laps, and the stewards blamed Rast for the contact. Rast received a one-minute stop-and-go penalty, and that promoted Kubica's Prema car into the LMP2 lead.
Buemi's Toyota led from pole, but the car was not able to build a lead over its teammate Conway because of oversteer. Conway's pit stop was faster, and the lead went to Conway's car after the first stops. The early fight among the Hypercar pair set the tone for the whole race.
How did the race unfold through the afternoon?
Tandy had difficulty downshifting for the Mulsanne corner, and his Corvette had to drive round the roundabout to rejoin the circuit. Garcia's Corvette took the LMGTE Pro lead from Milner's sister car, while Porsche began to close on the Corvette leaders as the conditions cooled.
Other drivers had costly moments. Lopez went across the gravel at the second Mulsanne chicane, and that handed the overall lead to his Toyota teammate. Vaxiviere's Alpine lost 13 and a half minutes bleeding clutch systems, which dropped it out of contention. Mailleux's Glickenhaus was forced to the garage to replace a faulty engine sensor.
Porsche then passed the Corvette cars after Tandy locked his brakes at the Mulsanne turn. The Corvette lost its top two places in LMGTE Pro when Tandy went to the garage for unscheduled brake repairs, and Garcia's car also had to go to the pits for a rear suspension replacement.
The afternoon also brought changes further down the order. The Penske LMP2 car of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr climbed to second in class, but debris later caused tyre damage, and an unscheduled pit stop dropped it behind Ricky Taylor's Cool Racing car. Lapierre was caught speeding in a slow zone, and the Alpine's drive-through penalty took it off the lead lap.
Team Project's Porsche, driven by Nicolas Leutwiler, was beached in the gravel at Mulsanne corner and had to be extracted. The car was retired with irreparable ride height damage, which ended a difficult afternoon for the team.
What happened during the night?
At night the Toyota leaders traded places several times, and the race came down to a battle of tyres and fuel. Buemi's car briefly regained the lead, then Conway passed him into the Daytona chicane. Buemi then retook the lead, and a slow zone to dry a coolant spill helped him extend it.
The Glickenhaus of Pla was damaged after he hit a kerb leaving Tertre Rouge, and he drove slowly to the pit lane. The third place then passed to Mailleux's sister Glickenhaus. Later, a Ferrari was retired after a collision at the Porsche Curves.
LMGTE Pro became a close duel between Milner's Corvette and Pier Guidi's Ferrari, and then Calado's Ferrari took the lead after the Corvette of Sims was retired. Perrodo veered left after the first Mulsanne chicane and touched Sims, who was sent into the barrier at high speed. Perrodo was given a three-minute stop-and-go penalty.
Later, Brendan Iribe was caught out under braking for the Daytona chicane and struck the left-side Armco with the front of his Team Project 1 Porsche. The impact was hard enough to retire the car, which had been third in LMGTE Am. Iribe was unhurt and climbed out of the car himself.
How was the overall winner decided?
The Toyota of Hartley kept the lead it had held for 125 laps and finished first after 380 laps. Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa won by 2 minutes and 1.222 seconds, which gave Hirakawa his first Le Mans victory. Hartley took his third, and Buemi his fourth.
Glickenhaus claimed its first overall Le Mans podium with the third-place car, five laps down. Toyota's win was its fifth in succession at Le Mans, A record 53 of the 62 starting cars finished the race.
Frijns crashed into the Armco at the Indianapolis corner in the later stages, which brought a safety car while the barrier was repaired. Schiavoni had also crashed out in the 21st hour.
What were the class results?
The table shows the class winners and the margin of each victory. Jota won LMP2 after leading all but 15 laps, and Porsche won LMGTE Pro in its first class victory since 2018. The LMGTE Am result went to a TF Sport Aston Martin.
| Class | Winning car | Winning drivers | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hypercar | Toyota GR010 Hybrid | Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa | 2 minutes and 1.222 seconds |
| LMP2 | Jota | Gonzalez, Felix da Costa, Stevens | 2 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Prema |
| LMGTE Pro | Porsche RSR | Bruni, Lietz, Makowiecki | 42.684 seconds ahead of Ferrari |
| LMGTE Am | Aston Martin Vantage, TF Sport | Chaves, Keating, Sorensen | 44.446 seconds ahead of Porsche |
The minimum distance for classification was 266 laps, so only cars that completed a large share of the winner's distance were classified.
What did the result mean for the championships?
The Alpine trio of Negrao, Lapierre and Vaxiviere stayed top of the Hypercar Drivers' Championship with 81 points. The winning trio climbed from third to second, three points adrift of the Alpine team. Dumas and Pla dropped to third on 69 points.
In the GTE Drivers' Championship, Bruni and Lietz took the lead with 84 points, three ahead of Christensen and Estre. Toyota and Porsche headed the manufacturer standings in their classes, and three rounds of the season remained.
How did the drivers react after the race?
Winners and runners-up spoke of a race that had been decided in the final hours. Hirakawa said he had not expected to win in his first year with Toyota, while Hartley was emotional about the victory and said the race had been evenly matched.
Lopez said that making a car run perfectly was difficult, and Toyota's technical director said the speed of the Glickenhaus cars was remarkable given the team's inexperience. Briscoe called the Glickenhaus podium a massive accomplishment, while Westbrook said third place felt like a victory.
In LMP2, Felix da Costa said the win was special but a collective achievement. Gonzalez said it was Jota's dream to win, and Bruni said luck had been a factor in the LMGTE Pro result, and Lietz said it felt good for Porsche to be lucky again. Perrodo apologised to Corvette for the collision that had ended the Corvette's race.
Owen believed Rast had been overly aggressive on the first lap, and Rast said the cars behind him had jumped the start. Perrodo, who had been penalised for the collision with Sims, visited the Corvette garage with the AF Corse team principal to apologise. He said he had made a terrible mistake and that nothing would make things better for Corvette at that stage.
Sims said that it was never nice when things happened outside a driver's control. He added that people make mistakes in a field of 62 cars, and that Perrodo had not planned the incident. Both sides of the first-lap and night-time incidents were aired in the post-race interviews.
