BMW PROMISE, ASTON MARTIN DISASTER

There were contrasting fortunes for the two cars racing for the first time at Le Mans in the GTE Pro division: the BMW M8 GTE and the Aston Martin Vantage GTE. One looked like a genuine threat at times; the other was, to put it mildly, pitifully off the pace.

Qualifying was nothing to write home about for BMW, whose MTEK-RUN cars rolled off from 12th and 13th in class. But with the help of a 10kg weight drop post-qualifying and a bit of luck with safety cars, the Bavarian marque was up there in the mix for a podium by the time darkness fell.

Nicky Catsburg, Martin Tomczyk and Philipp Eng were holding their own in battle against the #91 and #93 Porsches until their M8 (above) needed a damper change, and a 20-minute spell in the garage to replace a radiator after it was damaged by debris in the morning dropped the lead trio all the way down to

11th at the finish.

The sister

#82 car was eliminated when Alexander Sims shunted at the Porsche Curves.

Aston Martin at least had the satisfaction of getting both of its cars to the finish, albeit not without dramas. But the Vantages were sorely lacking in straightline speed, and a last-minute power boost and weight break in the post-qualifying BOP didn’t change much.

The two cars qualified last and secondlast, quickly losing touch with the group ahead in the early exchanges of the race, but a solid run for the #95 car (below) shared by Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Darren Turner allowed it to climb to eighth by the finish, five laps down.

“THE ASTON MARTINS WERE SORELY LACKING IN STRAIGHTLINE SPEED”