24 Hours Of Le Mans – Richard Mille Partners Triumphant!

The horizon around the small French town of Le Mans once again buzzed for 24 hours this weekend as friends and partners of Richard Mille battled against the physics of velocity, human fatigue and everything the capricious La Sarthe skies could throw at them. It was the 89th edition of the world’s most iconic motor racing event. The unusually unforgiving conditions didn’t put the brakes on triumph and peak performance.

First past the legendary chequered flag was Ferrari #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 Evo in the GTE-Pro. Pier Guidi Alessandro, Calado James and Côme Ledogar hadn’t held back, making blistering pace during the night to claim victory by 41.6 seconds on the lead lap. This was a second Ferrari triumph in three years and confirms the team at top place in the constructors’ standings.

In what he later described as a ‘waking dream’, François Perrodo won the GTE-Amateur category at the wheel of the Ferrari #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 Evo. The Frenchman had been aspiring to success in Le Mans since his first participation in 2013. The 44-year-old was overjoyed: ‘We had a 90 second advance in the end. It was however touch and go all the way against the 22 other cars. There were definitely moments I didn’t believe I could do it.’

Sébastien Buemi says he was quite lucky to come runner-up in the general rankings at the wheel of the Hypercar #8 after a clash at the start. Things even got worse when he needed to stop on the track to complete a power cycle before restarting in slippery conditions. ‘At the beginning you try to be quite cautious because you are going for a 24-hour race, especially if it is wet. We had even been leading the race at some points, so to finish second was pretty impressive.’

Commiserations go to the Richard Mille Racing Team with Tatiana Calderón, Beitske Visser and Sophia Flörsch. Sheer bad luck saw their hopes cut short, finishing early despite a very promising start and very close to break into the top ten. They were however hit not once but twice forcing them to abandon in the sixth hour at 11th place in the LMP2 category. ‘It’s sad to go out, especially because it wasn’t our fault, but this will make us stronger’, concluded Sophia Flörsch. ‘We have a German saying that the third time is the lucky one!’

Richard Mille is looking forward in seeing all our friends and partners revving up again in the future!