How Inter Europol won dramatic Le Mans LMP2 battle despite pitlane speeding penalty in final hour

Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 class winner Nick Yelloly described this year’s edition as featuring “more ups and downs than I’ve ever seen” after a roller-coaster final hour.

Yelloly’s #43 Inter Europol ORECA-Gibson 07 he shared with Tom Dillmann and 2023 class winner Jakub Smiechowski had been in an incredibly close battle with the #48 VDS Panis Racing crew of Esteban Masson, Oliver Gray and Franck Perera for much of the race.

The #43 machine regularly enjoyed an advantage of just a few seconds but the Inter Europol racers’ efforts looked set to be in vain when Yelloly was handed a penalty for speeding in the pitlane with just over 30 minutes remaining.

However, there was to be one further twist as the #48 car suddenly slowed with a suspension problem and Le Mans debutant Yelloly blasted clear to the tune of almost two minutes by the chequered flag.

“We had, as per any 24 hour-race, ups and downs but this was more ups and downs than I’ve ever seen in a 24-hour race for both cars – with mistakes and little penalties and everything,” Yelloly, winner of the 2020 Nurburgring 24 Hours, told Autosport.

“Obviously I’ve been around a little while and I’ve won some quite good races so I was pretty pissed off with myself that I’d made a silly error, particularly at such a crucial point.

“I did think our race was over and thought we were going to finish second.

“But then they told me the gap’s coming down from 12 seconds I think it was to nine seconds in one sector. I was pushing flat out anyway because, with traffic, you never know how you’re going to catch people.

“And then, when I saw them, I saw something dragging occasionally when they were at high speed.”

Masson was devastated to miss out after what was suspected to be a front-right toe-link problem.

“I had to push to put on pressure, they got a drive-through because of this – it was the plan,” he told Autosport.

“They deserved the win as much as we did today, I think. It was a good fight and, unfortunately, it did not go our way today but we will come back.”