Le Mans 2015

Porsche have won Le Mans... Again. So apart from how to be excited whilst getting very exhausted, what have we learned over the those glorious 24 hours? Well, we learned that Toyota were further off the pace than anybody expected, and are even discussing changing their hybrid system for next year. We learned that Audi can be beaten, even when they come into the race as favourites. We learned that Mark Webber is actually capable of finishing Le Mans, a feat he'd never achieved before yesterday. We learned that Earl Bamber, Nico Hulkenberg and Nick Tandy can drive.

The Winning Porsche (credit: David Vincent)

The number 19 Porsche drove an almost perfect race, avoiding trouble at every turn. That was what won Le Mans this year, a clean trouble free run. That isn't to say that the drivers were in any way inferior, they all have Le Mans wins to their name now, so they must have talent!

The other talking point of the weekend was Nissan, who failed to live up to the hype surrounding their return to top level endurance racing. Their car was down on power, mainly due to the fact that the hybrid system simply wasn't working. 

Nissan GTR-LM (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Hopefully we'll see some improvement from them over the coming months, and they can have a real attack on the championship next year, though we need to keep in mind that the car is a Le Mans special, and may not be good anywhere else in the world.

I worry that the days of the Le Mans special are over, however, as the chicanes on the Mulsanne mean that outright top speed, which the Nissan certainly has, cannot dominate the race. Cornering has become more and more important at Le Mans, and that's where the Nissan GTR-LM lost out.