A year ago, Nicklas Nielsen and his teammates in the Ferrari #50 crew had bad luck: the brake cooling radiator was pierced by a stone, forcing them to spend quite a bit of time in the pits. While repairs were underway, the leaders managed to complete six laps and the battle for victory could be forgotten.
This is not to say that everything went completely smoothly this year, but nevertheless the difficulties were much less severe, and Nielsen saw the checkered flag 14 seconds ahead of Jose Maria Lopez, the Toyota driver who took second place today. True, the Japanese hypercar began to have problems with the power plant, which somewhat simplified Ferrari’s task.
And yet victory at Le Mans is never easy, as Niklas confirmed immediately after the triumphant finish, because in the end he had to drive in the most economical mode so that there would be enough fuel until the end of the race.
“Actually, the hardest part was towards the end, when we had to slow down, because that’s when mistakes happen, you know? – shared Niklas, who was still overwhelmed with emotions. – The last lap seemed very long to me. The team continuously informed me of the size of our lead, and it was my job to keep this lead under control.
Overall, the last part of the distance, and especially the last lap, was somehow endless. But we still won, and this is a well-deserved success!”
“The race was very difficult,” continued Miguel Molina, Nielsen’s teammate. – We understood that we had a very good chance, because we had been waiting since last year to return to Le Mans, because we wanted to win again. In general, I have no words…”
“The victory was a very pleasant experience! – added Antonio Fuoco. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a whole year and now we’ve won Le Mans, so now I’m just on cloud nine!” The whole team worked great throughout the race, but now it’s time to enjoy the success!”
It remains to add some statistics: the crew of Ferrari No. 50 completed 311 laps during the 24-hour marathon, which took place in the most difficult conditions, with the best result being a result of 3:29.208 and the maximum speed of one point in the race was 343.4 km/h.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
