Review: "24 Heures du Mans 2020"

2020 24 Hours of Le Mans photo book. The furious pandemic of Covid-19 kneeled sport in general and motorsport in particular, hitting the traditional French and world motorsport. The La Sarthe circuit, designed with a mix between the permanent circuit and the public roads, was closed in June after the announcement that hurt the hearts of the fans: the 24 Hours of Le Mans would not be held in June!Le Mans kneeled, but was not thrown to the ground and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) regrouped and avoided canceling for the 11th time the Gallic race (in 1936 and between 1940 and 1948), marking the big race for September. Unfortunately, the pandemic remains faster than an LMP1 and the public cannot be on the stands, in short, offering the other show within the grand spectacle that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans.Decidedly, tradition was not what it was in this 2020 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, however, it will be an edition that will remain in everyone’s memory, first for its realization in the middle of the puddle created by Covid-19, then for the grandiose victory of Filipe Albuquerque in the LMP2 category in a direct fight with another Portuguese of enormous merit, António Félix da Costa.The victory of the United Autosports driver was celebrated throughout Portugal, leaving mouth water for the future, looking like Filipe Albuquerque ready to receive the testimony of Pedro Lamy as the great national hero of Portuguese motor sport.The 2020 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans saw Toyota’s third victory in 22 participations, joining the brand of the rising sun to Matra Simca (1972, 1973 and 1974) and Peugeot (1992, 1993 and 2009), with responsible for Toyota taking the winning TS050 and the trophy to Cologne for having won three consecutive times (2018, 2019, 2020). The winning car left 3rd position on the starting grid, being the second time that a car leaving that place won: Klaus Ludwig, Bill Whittington and Don Whittington won the famous 1979 victory at the wheel of a Kremer Racing Porsche 935 K3, while in 2015 and also behind the wheel of a Porsche, in this case a 919 Hybrid, Nico Hulkenberg, Earl bamber and Nick Tandy, won from third place on the starting grid.Interestingly, it was Brendon Hartley’s second victory (after winning with Porsche in 2017) and the third for Sebastien Buemi and Kazuyki Nakajima, who thus join Woolf Barnato, Luigi Chinetti, Dindo Capello, Hurely Haywood, Marco Werner, Phil Hill, Al Holbert, Klaus Ludwig, André Lotterer, Allan McNish and Benoît Tréluyer.Japan achieved its fourth victory with Toyota joining Mazda, the country’s first manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the screamer 787B piloted by Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot. For Toyota it was the sixth “pole position” after 1999, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.The winning Toyota TS050 with the number 8 and it was the seventh time that number won: 1924 (Bentley), 1932 (Alfa Romeo) Audi (2000 and 2006) and Toyota (2018 and 2019), with the Japanese house doing the “ hat trick ”in 2020.Another milestone in this very special edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was the return of Goodyear and its airship to the great endurance race. However, Michelin did not lose the lead and registered the 23rd consecutive victory (series started in 1998 with the Porsche 911 GT1) out of a total of 29 victories.For all these reasons, the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be recorded in bold lines in international and national history books. And with this book sprinkled with the beautiful photos of José Bispo, you will have a testimony of one of the most atypical and less traditional editions of the great French race.