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How Porsche won a race everyone lost

A Porsche Le Mans 24 Hours victory, with Toyota suffering yet more heartbreak, had an all-too familiar feel. But a bizarre 2017 race shared nothing else with last year's

Gary Watkins Jun 19, 2017, 10:12 AM

Toyota had the faster car and Porsche won the race, but that's where the similarities between the Le Mans 24 Hours this year and last end.

This was a race that was as bizarre as it was dramatic. Witness the hour or so lost to repairs by the the winning LMP1 prototype shared by Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.