The 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 89e 24 Heures du Mans) was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each entering Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars held between 21 and 22 August 2021, at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close to Le Mans, France, before 50,000 spectators. It was the event's 89th edition, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. The event, the fourth round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, was postponed from June to August to increase the likelihood of admitting spectators to the race amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in France. A test day was held a week prior to the event on 15 August.
The race was the first Le Mans event to feature the new Le Mans Hypercar regulations as its highest class, replacing the LMP1 class. A Toyota GR010 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López began from pole position after Kobayashi set the overall fastest lap time in the Hyperpole session. The trio led for most of the race to achieve their first Le Mans victories and Toyota's fourth in succession. Their teammates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima finished two laps behind in second; Alpine's Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxivière, who shared an Alpine A480-Gibson car, completed the overall podium.
The debuting Team WRT squad of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class by 0.727 seconds over Jota Sport's Tom Blomqvist, Sean Gelael and Stoffel Vandoorne after the second WRT crew of Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye failed to complete the final lap because of a throttle sensor problem stopping their class-leading Oreca 07 entry. Ferrari won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) class with an AF Corse-fielded Ferrari 488 GTE Evo shared by James Calado, Côme Ledogar and Alessandro Pier Guidi beating Corvette Racing's Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor in a Chevrolet Corvette C8.R by 41.686 seconds. The Italian marque also won the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) category for the first time with AF Corse's Nicklas Nielsen, François Perrodo and Alessio Rovera ahead of TF Sport's Felipe Fraga, Ben Keating and Dylan Pereira in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
Conway, Kobayashi and López's victory promoted them atop the Hypercar Drivers' Championship by nine points over their teammates, Buemi, Hartley and Nakajima, whose second-place finish demoted them to second. Alpine's Lapierre, Negrão and Vaxivière maintained their hold on third position. Calado and Pier Guidi, with 124 points, overtook Porsche's Kévin Estre and Neel Jani for the GTE Drivers' Championship. Toyota and Ferrari left Le Mans as the respective Hypercar World Endurance and GTE Manufacturers' Championship leaders with two races left in the season.
Background
Pre-race, Toyota trio Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima led the Hypercar Drivers' Championship with 75 points, over their teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López with 69 points. With 60 points, Alpine's Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxivière were third, with Glickenhaus' Romain Dumas and Richard Westbrook fourth. In the GTE Drivers' Championship, Porsche's Kévin Estre and Neel Jani led with 76 points ahead of AF Corse's James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in second, and their third-placed teammates Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra. Toyota led Alpine in the Hypercar World Endurance Championship, and Ferrari led Porsche in the GTE Manufacturers' Championship.
The 2021 event, the 89th running of the race, was to be staged at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le Mans, France, between 12 and 13 June; because of the COVID-19 pandemic in France, the ACO postponed it to 21 and 22 August to increase the likelihood of admitting spectators pending easing of global travel restrictions based on local vaccine administration rates. It was made the fourth, not the third round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship. The ACO confirmed it would admit a maximum of about 50,000 spectators to the circuit, approximately 20 percent of its normal 250,000 attendance. Attendees had to present a French Government health passport proving full vaccination, a negative COVID-19 lateral flow test taken within 48 hours, or provide proof of a previous COVID infection between fifteen days to six months and be deemed immune. Face masks had to be worn; the paddock was separated from each of the fan sections.
Regulation change A new Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) class, with regulations intended to reduce costs and improve competition created jointly by the ACO and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), replaced the ageing and more expensive Le Mans Prototype LMP1 category. Manufacturers were allowed to construct either specifications of road-going cars or specifically designed prototype vehicles powered by either a hybrid or a non-hybrid system. The minimum weight and maximum power output of LMH class cars were capped.
Entries Entries for the race were open from 4 December 2020 to 23 February 2021. The ACO granted 62 invitations and entries were divided between the LMH, Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Professional (LMGTE Pro) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Amateur (LMGTE Am) classes.
Automatic entries Teams that won their class in the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, or won championships in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS), and the Michelin Le Mans Cup (MLMC) earned automatic entry invitations. The second-place finishers in the 2020 ELMS in LMP2 and LMGTE championships each earned an automatic invitation. Two participants from the IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA) were chosen by the ACO to be automatic entries, regardless of their performance or category. As teams were granted invitations, they were allowed to change their cars from the previous year but not their category. The 2020 European and 2021 Asian LMP3 (Le Mans Prototype 3) champion was required to field an entry in LMP2. The 2020 MLMC Group GT3 (GT3) champion was limited to the LMGTE Am category.
The ACO announced the final list of automatic entries on 5 March 2021. GPX Racing chose to forgo its automatic invitation because the team did not believe they had the equipment necessary to compete at Le Mans.
+Automatic entries for the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans Reason invited LMP2 LMGTE Am 1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans United Autosports TF Sport 1st in the European Le Mans Series (LMP2 and LMGTE) Proton Competition 2nd in the European Le Mans Series (LMP2 and LMGTE) Kessel Racing 1st in the European Le Mans Series (LMP3)IMSA SportsCar Championship at-large entries Patrick Kelly Ryan Hardwick 1st in the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP2 and GT) G-Drive Racing Precote Herberth Motorsport 1st in the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP3) United Autosports 2nd in the Asian Le Mans Series (GT) GPX Racing 3rd in the Asian Le Mans Series (GT) Rinaldi Racing 4th in the Asian Le Mans Series (GT) Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsport 1st in the Michelin Le Mans Cup (GT3) Iron Lynx
Entry list and reserves
The ACO announced the full 62 car entry list on 9 March. In addition to the 33 guaranteed WEC entries, 14 came from the ELMS, five from IMSA, seven from the ALMS and two one-off Le Mans entries. There were 30 cars in the two LMP classes, 31 in each of the two LMGTE categories and one innovative entry. In addition to the 62 entries given invitations for the race, four were put on a reserve list to replace any withdrawn or ungranted invitations. Reserve entries were ordered with the first replacing the first withdrawal from the race, regardless of the class and entry. They were chosen based on their sporting and technical quality, fan, media and public interest and commitment, and loyalty to other ACO-administered series.
Garage 56 The Garage 56 concept to test new technologies at Le Mans returned after a half-decade absence. The ACO granted the innovative spot to Frédéric Sausset's La Filière by SRT41 team, who had deferred their planned entry from the 2020 event to the following year's race because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It entered the Graff-prepared 84 Oreca 07-Gibson car converted to an adapted automobile fitted with a braking, clutch and throttle system controlled by paraplegic drivers Takuma Aoki and Nigel Bailly from a hand-controlled steering wheel. Their non-disabled co-driver Matthieu Lahaye could drive the vehicle normally. The team participated in the four-hour ELMS rounds in France and Spain as a precursor to the longer race at Le Mans.
Pre-race balance of performance changes The FIA and ACO imposed a balance of performance to maintain a separation between the Hypercar and LMP2 categories. The Alpine A480-Gibson car received a maximum stint energy allowance of , a reduction from or eight per cent from the preceding 6 Hours of Monza. The Glickenhaus SCG 007 LMH and Toyota GR010 Hybrid vehicles had no performance changes. In LMGTE Pro, of weight was removed from the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo for easier handling, and its fuel capacity was raised by . The Porsche 911 RSR-19 received weight, fuel capacity, and air restrictor diameter increases. The LMGTE Am minimum weights were shared by each team per manufacturer, with the Ferraris and Porsches heavier than their Pro equivalents and the Aston Martin Vantage AMR lighter at .
Testing A test day held on 15 August, one week prior to the race, required all entrants to participate in eight hours of driving divided into two sessions. A majority of signed drivers were involved as well as actor Michael Fassbender driving the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche; Emmanuel Collard was the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari's test driver; Laurents Hörr shared the Duqueine Team Oreca 07-Gibson; Gustavo Menezes was nominated to drive both of the Glickenhaus entries, and Pierre Sancinéna joined SRT41's team for test day. Only 11 drivers were granted dispensation to miss testing because they were entered in Formula E's season-ending Berlin ePrix.
Toyota led the first session with a 3:31.263-minute lap by Hartley in the No. 8 Toyota. Lapierre was a quarter of a second slower in the grandfathered LMP1 No. 36 Alpine A480 car; Conway's No. 7 Toyota recorded the third-quickest lap. Olivier Pla put the No. 709 Glickenhaus fourth overall. Paul di Resta set the fastest LMP2 lap time with a 3:33.429 driving the No. 23 United Autosports Oreca, ahead of Phil Hanson's No. 22 sister car, Yifei Ye's debuting No. 41 Team WRT entry and Oliver Jarvis' No. 82 Risi Competizione vehicle. Porsche were first and second in LMGTE Pro with Estre's No. 92 car ahead of the No. 91 sister team of Gianmaria Bruni. The highest-placed Ferrari was Calado's third-placed No. 51 AF Corse entry. Marcos Gomes' No. 98 Aston Martin led LMGTE Am from Alessio Picariello's No. 18 Absolute Racing and Julien Andlauer's No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Porsches. Separate accidents by Satori Hoshino's No. 777 D'Station Racing Aston Martin at the Porsche Curves, Tom Gamble's GR Racing No. 86 Porsche and John Hartstone under braking for the first Mulsanne chicane in Aston Martin's No. 95 entry on the Mulsanne Straight led to stoppages during the session.