18 June 2017
Le Mans, 18 June 2017 – The 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans brought Ferrari a clean sweep of the podium, a fifth place and two disappointments in the two GT classes.
GTE-Am. Victory for the third consecutive year came in the GTE-Am class where the 488 GTE literally dominated. The car of JMW Motorsport won with a lap's advantage over everyone. The British team was making its debut with the new berlinetta, driven by Robert Smith, Dries Vanthoor and Will Stevens. Marco Cioci, Duncan Cameron and Aaron Scott came second with the 488 GTE no. 55 of Spirit of Race, while third place went to the 2016 winners, Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, along with Cooper MacNeil in the 488 GTE of Scuderia Corsa.
GTE-Pro. Things went less well in the GTE-Pro class where only the 488 GTE no. 71 of AF Corse, driven by Davide Rigon, Sam Bird and Miguel Molina, finished in the points. However, James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Michele Rugolo in car no. 51 were entirely out of luck, knocked out due to a misunderstanding with a lapped car that destroyed a radiator. The same held for the 488 no. 82 of Risi Competizione driven by Toni Vilander, Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer, which was struck and put out of action due to a crazy manoeuvre by Mathieu Vaxiviere in the Oreca of TDS Racing. The class win went to the Aston Martin of Turner-Adam-Serra, while the overall laurels were taken by the Porsche no. 2 of Bernhard-Bamberg-Hartley.