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User:SmackJam/sandbox/2020 AXA 4 Hours of Le Mans

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The 2020 4 Hours of Le Mans, known as the AXA 4 Hours of Le Mans for sponsorship reasons, was the fourth and final round of the 2020 Championnat AXA Alpine season. It took place at Circuit de la Sarthe on August 1st, 2020.

The Circuit de la Sarthe, where the race was held

Background

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The race date was announced, like the second and third races, on the first day of the season. This, combined with the premier status of the event, led to the most entries the series had seen at a single race so far. The race was also the first in which a traditional qualifying structure was utilized instead of the random draw that had been used for the first three races of the season. Whereas all other events had been single-day affairs, this race was spread across the entire weekend, with qualifying on Thursday and Friday, track events on Saturday, and the race on Sunday.

Entry list

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The entry list, as previously mentioned, was the largest the series had seen at a single race so far. 32 entries were registered to take part; 12 in LMP, 8 in GT, and 12 in Production. Renault added an LMP entry alongside Signatech, and the Russia-based SMP Racing made their debut in the competition. Fresh off the completion of the GT4 European Series, CMR entered two cars in the race. Last race's GT winner Compass Racing elected not to return for this round. Many local French entries returned after skipping the Montreal round, including Mountain Racing and Equipe Vitesse.

Qualifying

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For the first time in the competition's history, a traditional qualifying structure was used to determine the starting grid. However, each car would only be awarded one hot lap to register a time. LMP and GT qualified on Thursday night, with Guanyu Zhou putting the #3 Renault entry on the pole. Nicolas Lapierre was a quarter of a second back in second. Pierre-Alexandre Jean nabbed the GT class pole for CMR over Grégoire Demoustier, while the championship-leading IMSA Performance #75 had its time expunged for breaking Parc fermé. Production class qualifying was held Friday morning, with Jacques Nicolet and Sébastien Bourdais sharing the front row. The #5 JDC entry failed post-qualifying inspection and also had its qualifying time expunged.

Qualifying results

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Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold.

Pos. Class No. Entry Driver Time Gap Lead Grid
1 LMP 3 Renault DP World Team Guanyu Zhou 3:26.555 1
2 LMP 36 Signatech Alpine Nicolas Lapierre 3:26.785 +0.230 +0.230 2
3 LMP 31 Renault DP World Team Daniel Ricciardo 3:26.866 +0.311 +0.311 3
4 LMP 131 Rebellion Racing Thomas Laurent 3:27.078 +0.523 +0.523 4
5 LMP 35 Signatech Alpine Pierre Ragues 3:27.329 +0.774 +0.774 5
6 LMP 55 Multimatic Motorsports Jean-Éric Vergne 3:27.704 +1.149 +1.149 6
7 LMP 03 Renault DP World Team Carlos Sainz Jr. 3:27.872 +1.317 +1.317 7
8 LMP 113 Rebellion Racing Neel Jani 3:28.007 +1.452 +1.452 8
9 LMP 28 TDS Racing Loïc Duval 3:42.165 +15.610 +15.610 9
10 LMP 34 Signatech Alpine Nico Jamin 3:42.468 +15.913 +15.913 10
11 LMP 48 IDEC Sport Memo Rojas 3:42.556 +16.001 +16.001 11
12 LMP 17 SMP Racing Mikhail Aleshin 3:42.594 +16.039 +16.039 12
13 GT 9 CMR Pierre-Alexandre Jean 4:34.918 +1:08.363 13
14 GT 88 Team Speedcar Grégoire Demoustier 4:34.919 +0.001 +1:08.364 14
15 GT 09 CMR Eric Mouez 4:35.118 +0.200 +1:08.563 15
16 GT 18 Team Prémat Kyle Marcelli 4:35.282 +0.364 +1:08.727 16
17 GT 76 IMSA Performance Jean-Karl Vernay 4:35.309 +0.391 +1:08.754 17
18 GT 23 Panis-Barthez Compétition Will Stevens 4:35.353 +0.435 +1:08.798 18
19 GT 50 Larbre Compétition Romain Grosjean 4:35.468 +0.550 +1:08.913 19
20 GT 75 IMSA Performance Patrick Pilet DQ Expunged Expunged 20
21 PRO 25 OAK Racing Jacques Nicolet 5:40.723 +2:14.168 21
22 PRO 85 JDC MotorSports Sébastien Bourdais 5:40.790 +0.067 +2:14.235 22
23 PRO 46 Graff Racing Nicolas Minassian 5:41.017 +0.294 +2:14.462 23
24 PRO 1 Course de Dragon Sylvain Tremblay 5:41.297 +0.574 +2:14.742 24
25 PRO 67 Team Luxembourg Bruno Probst 5:41.446 +0.723 +2:14.891 25
26 PRO 52 OAK Racing Gabriel Aubry 5:41.550 +0.827 +2:14.995 26
27 PRO 99 Equipe Vitesse Renée Neri 5:53.703 +12.153 +2:26.321 27
28 PRO 7 Mécanique Alpine de Magny-Cours Benoît Delafose 5:54.050 +12.500 +2:26.668 28
29 PRO 10 Course de Dragon Noel Vernier 5:54.457 +12.907 +2:27.075 29
30 PRO 2 Mountain Racing Daniel Bruneau 7:13.385 +1:32.562 +3:46.830 30
31 PRO 98 Equipe Vitesse Davy Bonnel 7:13.586 +1:32.763 +3:46.931 31
32 PRO 5 JDC MotorSports Romain Dumas DQ Expunged Expunged 32

Race report

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Hour One

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The race began at 8:00 AM local time, and a fantastic start by the outside lane meant Zhou dropped to third by Dunlop bridge, letting Nicolas Lapierre jump into an early lead. Daniel Ricciardo jumped his teammate into second, while Thomas Laurent inherited third. The first race was relatively quiet, with the only major lead change from there on out being Grégoire Demoustier who snuck into the GT class lead. The A450 of SMP Racing struggled with an undiagnosed mechanical issue, and they sat well off the pace of the LMP field throughout the contest. Just before the hour concluded, the GT lead traded hands, giving way to Kyle Marcelli to temporarily take the class lead.

Hour Two

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Fifteen minutes into the second hour, the Signatech #35 retired with an electrical issue, officially the first retirement of the race. This capped off a relatively poor season for the duo of Ragues and Panciatici, who entered with title aspirations and left with just one podium the entire season. It would go from bad to worse for Signatech, as a failed gun nearly tripled the length of a pit stop and caused them to relinquish the lead to Rebellion Racing. Shortly thereafter, the IDEC Sport prototype suffered a horrific incident in the Porsche curves after a run-in with a Production car. After connecting front right with left rear, Chatin's car veered left into the guardrail, junking the car and flattening the Production car's tire. Chatin walked away unharmed, and all that resulted was a short safety car period.

Hour Three

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Shortly after the turn of the hour, Julien Canal took the GT class lead for Panis-Barthez, the fourth class leader of the race. Not seconds afterwards, Sergey Sirotkin was handed a drive-through penalty for constant abuse of track limits, derailing the Renault LMP's good run. He was running third at the time, but he wouldn't recover from the penalty and went on to finish sixth. The remainder of the hour was relatively calm, with lead changes in Production and LMP, taken by Graff Racing and the Renault #31 respectively, being the only noteworthy moments.

Hour Four

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The length of the race began to take its toll on both cars and drivers, with the #7 of Herve Delaunay suffering from an undisclosed mechanical failure. With 15 minutes to go, Enzo Guibbert spun coming out of Indianapolis, and was promptly slammed into by Sylvain Saunier. Guibbert was able to limp around to the pits, but Saunier wasn't so lucky. Thanks to the resulting slow zone, Lotterer got the jump on Esteban Ocon, and was able to hold onto the lead, claiming class and overall victory. The championship-leading IMSA Performance #75 team, after painstakingly working their way through the field, took the GT class victory, their third of the season. Simon Trummer reclaimed the lead from the Graff Racing car in Production with forty minutes remaining, and held that to the end of the race.

Results

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Pos Class No. Team / Entrant Drivers Chassis / Car Laps Time/Retired
Engine
1 LMP 131 Switzerland Rebellion Racing France Thomas Laurent
France Nathanaël Berthon
Germany André Lotterer
Alpine A470 69 4:01:46:581
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
2 LMP 31 France Renault DP World Team Australia Daniel Ricciardo
France Esteban Ocon
Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine A470 69 +5.575
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
3 LMP 36 France Signatech Alpine France Nicolas Lapierre
France Pierre Thiriet
France Pierre Gasly
Alpine A470 69 +17.478
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
4 LMP 113 Switzerland Rebellion Racing Switzerland Neel Jani
France Nicolas Prost
Switzerland Mathias Beche
Alpine A470 69 +24.020
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
5 LMP 55 Canada Multimatic Motorsports France Olivier Pla
France Jean-Éric Vergne
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
Alpine A470 69 +45.833
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
6 LMP 03 France Renault DP World Team Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
United Kingdom Jolyon Palmer
Germany Nico Hülkenberg
Alpine A470 69 +1:03.830
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
7 LMP 3 France Renault DP World Team China Guanyu Zhou
Russia Sergey Sirotkin
Indonesia Sean Gelael
Alpine A470 68 +1 lap
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
8 LMP 28 France TDS Racing France Loïc Duval
France François Perrodo
France Matthieu Vaxivière
Alpine A450 64 +5 laps
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
9 LMP 34 France Signatech Alpine France Nico Jamin
France David Zollinger
France Andrea Pizzitola
Alpine A450 64 +5 laps
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
10 LMP 17 Russia SMP Racing France Stéphane Sarrazin
France Tom Dillmann
Russia Mikhail Aleshin
Alpine A450 61 +8 laps
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
11 GT 75 France IMSA Performance France Patrick Pilet
France Kévin Estre
Canada Kuno Wittmer
Alpine A110 GT4 52 +17 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
12 GT 23 France Panis-Barthez Compétition France Julien Canal
United Kingdom Will Stevens
Austria René Binder
Alpine A110 GT4 52 +17 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
13 GT 76 France IMSA Performance France Jean-Karl Vernay
France Raymond Narac
France Christophe Bourret
Alpine A110 GT4 51 +18 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
14 GT 50 France Larbre Compétition France Erwin Creed
France Romano Ricci
France Romain Grosjean
Alpine A110 GT4 51 +18 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
15 GT 18 France Team Prémat France Alexandre Prémat
United States Stephen Vajda
Canada Kyle Marcelli
Alpine A110 GT4 50 +19 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
16 GT 88 France Team Speedcar France Grégoire Demoustier
France Alain Ferté
France Laurent Coubard
Alpine A110 GT4 49 +20 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
17 GT 9 France CMR France Soheil Ayari
France Guillaume Roman
France Pierre-Alexandre Jean
Alpine A110 GT4 49 +20 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
18 PRO 85 United States JDC MotorSports France Tristan Vautier
France Sébastien Bourdais
Switzerland Simon Trummer
Alpine A110 43 +26 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
19 PRO 5 United States JDC MotorSports France Romain Dumas
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Canada Alex Labbé
Alpine A110 43 +26 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
20 PRO 46 France Graff Racing France Tristan Gommendy
France Nicolas Minassian
United States Austin Cindric
Alpine A110 43 +26 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
21 PRO 25 France OAK Racing France Jacques Nicolet
France Jean-François Yvon
France Matthieu Lahaye
Alpine A110 42 +27 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
22 PRO 1 France Course de Dragon France Patrick Ponce
France Paul Girardot
Canada Sylvain Tremblay
Alpine A110 41 +28 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
23 PRO 67 Luxembourg Team Luxembourg Luxembourg Bruno Probst
Luxembourg Antoine Hansen
Luxembourg Maurice Becker
Alpine A110 41 +28 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
24 PRO 99 France Equipe Vitesse France Renée Neri
France Veronique Bourdon
France Roxane Neri
Alpine A110 1600S 39 +30 laps
Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
25 PRO 10 France Course de Dragon France Frédéric Rochette
France Christian Picard
France Noel Vernier
Alpine A110 1600S 39 +30 laps
Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
26 GT 09 France CMR Belgium Stéphane Lémeret
France Pierre Sancinéna
Monaco Eric Mouez
Alpine A110 GT4 38 +31 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
27 PRO 52 France OAK Racing France Gabriel Aubry
France Enzo Guibbert
France Simon Pagenaud
Alpine A110 37 +32 laps
Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
28
DNF
PRO 7 France Mécanique Alpine de Magny-Cours France Benoît Delafose
France Aaron Gauthier
France Hervé Delaunay
Alpine A110 1600S 33 Steering Column
Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
29 PRO 2 Monaco Mountain Racing Monaco Daniel Bruneau
Monaco Maximilien Bourcier
Monaco David Genin
Alpine A310 V6 32 +37 laps
2664cc PRV V6
30
DNF
PRO 98 France Equipe Vitesse France Dany Courtial
France Davy Bonnel
France Sylvain Saunier
Alpine A310 V6 28 Crash
2664cc PRV V6
31
DNF
LMP 48 France IDEC Sport France Paul-Loup Chatin
France Paul Lafargue
Mexico Memo Rojas
Alpine A450 27 Crash
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
32
DNF
LMP 35 France Signatech Alpine France Nelson Panciatici
France Pierre Ragues
Brazil André Negrão
Alpine A470 22 Electrical
Gibson GK428 4.2L V8