A Ligier JS P3-Nissan shared by John Falb and Sean Rayhall of United Autosports won the first race starting from sixth position. The M.Racing - YMR duo of Alexandre Cougnaud and Romano Ricci finished in second and RLR Msport's Alex Kapadia and Martin Rich were third. The GT3 category was won by the TF Sport pair of Ahmad Al Harthy and Tom Jackson driving an Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 after the Spirit of RaceFerrari 458 Italia GT3 of Maurizio Mediani and Christoph Ulrich was penalised for being deemed to have too short of a pit stop. The second race was won by the DKR Engineering team of Jean Glorieux and Alexander Toril over Falb and Rayhall. The M.Racing - YMR team of Erwin Creed and Yann Ehrlacher completed the overall podium in third. Al Harthy and Jackson completed a victory sweep in GT3 after the IMSA Performance team of Thierry Cornac and Raymond Narac was penalise for breaching the minimum pit stop time.
Colin Noble and Anthony Wells led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship with 25 after winning the season-opening round at Monza. They were seven points in front of the second-placed Jean Glorieux and Alexander Toril and ten ahead of the third-placed Maurizio Mediani and Claudio Sdanewitsch.[6]Phil Keen and Lee Mowle led the GT3 Drivers' Championship with 25 points after winning their class at Monza, seven ahead of Flick Haigh and Joe Osborne in second and ten ahead of Fabio Babini and Emanuele Busnelli in third.[7] The No. 79 Nielsen Racing team led the LMP3 Teams' Championship with 25 points, leading the No. 3 DKR Engineering squad by six points and the No. 55 Spirit of Race by ten points.[8] With 25 points, Lee Mowle's No. 7 squad led the GT3 Teams' Championship by seven points over the No. 75 Optimum Racing and nine points ahead of the No. 46 Ebimotors.[9]
Regulations and entrants
Entry to the race was open from 10 March to 6 April 2017.[1][2] A total of 46 cars were permitted to enter the race, an increase of four from the 2016 event. The ACO's selection committee had the discretion to prioritise invitations to the LMP3 and GT3 categories from the ACO's continental racing series, the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS), as well as the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. All current Le Mans Cup entries were automatically accepted.[1][10] Each team was required to sign at least one Bronze-rated driver and their second driver could hold either a Silver or Gold-rated licence.[11] Platinum-rated drivers were barred from participating.[10] A driver was permitted no more than 20 minutes to drive on the track.[11] According to the race's regulations, all teams had to make a mandatory pit stop lasting no less than two minutes between the 22nd and 32nd minutes of both races.[3][4] All competitors in the two categories were eligible to score championship points provided they finished anywhere from first and below. The two pole position winners in each class received one point.[11]
The entry list was published by the ACO on 10 May 2017.[12] The 49-car entry list included 33 LMP3 and 16 GT3 vehicles,[13] an increase of 12 on the previous year's race.[14] In addition to the 21 guaranteed Le Mans Cup entries, there were 12 ELMS entries, two from the ALMS while the rest of the field was filled with one-off entries only competing at Le Mans.[13] Many of the LMP3 entries came from the Le Mans Cup and all but five fielded Ligier JS P3-Nissans.[12] The five non-Ligiers were three Norma M30s and one Ginetta-Juno P3-15 and ADESS-03 each.[13][15] There were seven manufacturers (Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche) who were represented in the GT3 category.[16]Ben Barker, Richard Bradley, Christian Philippon, Michele Rugolo, and James Winslow were the five drivers and Graff, Gulf Racing UK, Larbre Compétition, Spirit of Race and United Autosports were the five teams competing in both the Road to Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[16][14]
Practice
Cars being drive around the circuit during the first free practice session
Two one-hour practice sessions were held on the evening of 14 June and morning of 15 June.[11] Noble lapped fastest overall in the first practice session with a time of 3:57.055 set in the No. 79 Nielsen Racing car. He was 1.054 seconds faster than the second-placed Alexandre Cougnaud's No. 18 M.Racing - YMR entry. The highest-placed Norma vehicle was Toril's No. 3 DKR Engineering car in third.[17][18] The GT3 category saw all seven manufacturers take the first seven places.[17] Mediani's No. 95 Spirit of Race Ferrari was fastest in class with a lap time of 4:03.821 that was good enough for 10th overall. Gulf Racing's No. 20 Porsche driven by Barker and Steeve Hiesse's No. 8 SVC Sport Management Lamborghini were second and third in class.[18] Some entries had trouble during the session. John Falb's No. 2 United Autosports Ligier suffered an engine failure after completing two laps and Mark Kvamme's No. 85 EuroInternational entry had to enter the pit lane to repair an open door.[17] Sdanewitsch crashed the No. 55 Spirit Ligier against the wall on the run into the Porsche Curves. The session was prematurely ended with seven minutes left to allow for recovery and repairs to the barrier.[17][18] Sdanewitsch complained of hand pain but was passed fit for the event.[14]
Glorieux's No. 3 DKR Ligier entry set the overall pace of the second practice session with a lap time of 3:51.935.[19] He was more than five seconds faster than the quickest first practice session lap.[20] M.Racing - YMR's No. 19 Norma car of Yann Ehrlacher was second-quickest. Ehrlacher was followed by the fastest of the Ligiers, Rugolo's third-placed No. 55 Spirit entry.[19][21] The session's six fastest cars lapped faster than Martin Brundle's 2016 pole lap.[19] Six manufacturers occupied the first six positions in the GT3 class.[19] Hiesse's No. 8 SVC Lamborghini was fastest in class with a lap time of 4:01.204 he set in the final minutes of practice.[19][21] He lapped 2.6 seconds quicker than the best category time set during the first practice session.[20]Ahmad Al Harthy's No. 97 TF Sport Aston Martin was 0.324 seconds behind in second.[20]Duncan Tappy's fastest lap set late in the session in Garage 59's No. 24 McLaren completed the top three in class. There were no incidents of note during the session.[21]
Qualifying
There were two 20-minute qualifying sessions held on the afternoon of 15 June to set the starting order for both races. The first session saw any one driver be allowed by their teams to participate to determine the starting grid for the first race and each team's Bronze-rated driver partook in the second session to set the starting order for the second race.[1][11] The first session took place in sunny weather conditions.[22] Toril went fastest overall in all three of the circuit's sectors on warm tyres to secure pole position for the first race aboard the No. 3 DKR car with a 3:50.258 lap.[23]Peter Kox qualified the No. 48 Kox Racing vehicle in second and the No. 18 M.Racing - YMR car of Cougnaud was third. Noble qualified the Nielsen car fourth and the second M.Racing - YMR entry was fifth courtesy of a lap from Ehrlacher.[24] Barker's No. 20 Gulf Porsche took pole position in GT3 with a time of 3:56.511. He was 1.3 seconds quicker than Mediani's No. 95 Spirit Ferrari in second. Osborne qualified the No. 75 Optimum Audi in third despite a puncture that restricted him to a single fast lap.[22][24]Tom Onslow-Cole's No. 5 Ram Racing Mercedes and Keen's No. 7 Lee Mowle car completed the top five in class.[23][25]
Falb's No. 2 United Autosports entry set the early pace in the second session before it was stopped with nine minutes remaining for an accident involving Alexander Talkanista Sr.'s No. 90 AT Racing Ligier car at the Porsche Curves.[23][26] Talkanista was transported to the medical centre for a checkup. Glorieux's No. 3 DKR Ligier vehicle was impeded by the stoppage but took pole position for the second race with a 3:52.563 lap set on his final timed effort to complete a qualifying sweep for DKR.[23][24] The No. 2 United Autosports car was second ahead of the two RLR Msport entries of Martin Rich and John Farano in third and fourth.[23] Alvaro Fontes's SPV MotorSport entry completed the top five in LMP3.[24] In GT3, Al Harthy set a lap of 4:00.832 on his first quick run in the TF Sport Aston Martin before the red flag stoppage to secure pole position in the category and was fifth overall. Al Harthy remained in the pit lane after the suspension was lifted. He was almost three seconds quicker than the second-placed Busnelli's No. 46 Ebimotors Lamborghini.[24][26] Haigh's No. 75 Optimum Audi took third, ahead of the two Garage 59 McLarens of Michael Benham and Alexander West in fourth and fifth in class.[26][27]
The first race commenced at 17:30 local time on 15 June.[11] It was held in sunny weather conditions of from 27.4 to 28.15°C (81.32 to 82.67°F) and a track temperature between 35.8 and 36.7°C (96.4 and 98.1°F).[31][32] 49 cars were due to take the start,[28] but the No. 90 AT Racing Ligier was withdrawn from the race due to damage to the car sustained during qualifying and the No. 50 Larbre Compétition entry was also pulled for unknown reasons.[32][33] When the race started, Toril lost the No. 3 DKR Norma entry's pole position advantage to Kox's No. 48 Kox Racing car but reclaimed the overall lead and led by 1.7 seconds by the conclusion of lap one.[32][34] The No. 20 Gulf Porsche of Alex Baker held the GT3 lead on the first lap before it was overtaken by Hiesse's SVC Lamborghini and Raymond Narac's No. 76 IMSA Performance Porsche on the following lap.[32][35][36] The second lap saw the enforcement of the slow zone procedure for the recovery of Andrew Cummings's No. 44 SPV Ligier.[32] Two laps later,[36] Narac passed Hiesse for the GT3 category lead.[32] Following the mandatory pit stops, the No. 2 United Autosports vehicle of Sean Rayhall was promoted to the race lead ahead of Rich's No. 14 RLR Msport entry after setting a series of fast lap times and overtaking the battling duo of Rich and Ricci.[32][34]
Toril had been leading by ten seconds when he was required to reduce his pace for a slow zone enforced by the recovery of Yojiro Terada's No. 91 DKR vehicle after he collided with the barrier and was hit by the second-placed car of Cougnaud, who was running at racing speed. Toril had to retire the No. 3 DKR car from the race due to suspension damage. The No. 19 M.Racing - YMR vehicle of Ehrlacher was forced to retire in the pit lane with technical issues.[32][34][35] Rayhall pulled away for the remainder of the race to claim victory for the No. 2 United Autosports team by 5.6 seconds ahead of the No. 18 M.Racing - YMR car.[34] The No. 14 RLR MSport duo of Alex Kapadia and Rich completed the podium in third, having started in 10th position.[35] The No. 95 Spirit Ferrari was the first across the start-finish line in GT3 but was penalised eight seconds on the final lap because the car's pit stop was deemed to be too short. This demoted the No. 95 Spirit Ferrari to second in the category after the No. 7 Lee Mowle was imposed a two-lap penalty for making its pit stop outside the allocated time period. The TF Sport Aston Martin was thus promoted to the class victory, making Al Harthy the first Omani driver to take a podium result at Le Mans and giving Tom Jackson a win on his GT3 race debut.[34][35]
The second race commenced at 11:30 local time on 17 June.[11] It again took place in sunny weather conditions but with the air temperature between 23 and 25.3°C (73.4 and 77.5°F) and the track temperature at 26°C (79°F).[38][39] 49 cars were due to take the start, but the No. 4 Cool Racing by GPC car failed to start for unknown reasons.[33] The No. 3 DKR car of Glorieux maintained its pole position advantage into the first turn.[39][40] Both of the EuroInternational Ligiers and the No. 66 Graff entry retired for unknown reasons on the first lap.[39] Three laps later, Glorieux spun the No. 3 DKR Norma vehicle on the run into the Dunlop chicane and dropped to fourth overall, losing the race lead to Falb's No. 2 United Autosports entry.[40][41] The TF Sport Aston Martin of Al Harthy had held the lead in GT3 for the opening four laps before he was passed by the No. 95 Spirit Ferrari of Mediani on lap five.[39][42] That same lap saw Falb lose the overall lead to Lucas Légeret's No. 11 Duqueine Engineering Ligier car.[40][42] Glorieux overtook the No. 87 RLR Msport of Farano for third overall just before the mandatory pit stops.[39][41]
Following the pit stops, the No. 3 DKR entry of Toril returned to the race lead after overtaking Rayhall's No. 2 United Autosports car and then Nicolas Melin No. 11 Duqueine entry at the Dunlop Curve.[39][40] The No. 87 RLR Msport car of Farano was forced to retire when it suffered a rear suspension failure after mounting the kerbs at the Ford Chicane. Ulrich in the No. 95 Spirit Ferrari was leading GT3 when he spun into the gravel trap at Dunlop Curve and retired after getting stuck in the gravel.[39][41] Jackson thus inherited the category lead until the IMSA Performance Porsche of Narac overtook him at the Esses on lap nine.[39][40][42] The IMSA Performance car was later imposed a three-second stop-and-hold penalty for breaching the minimum pit stop time and Narac took the penalty on the final lap.[41] Toril extended his advantage over the rest of the field and secured victory for the No. 3 DKR squad that moved him, DRK and Glorieux to the LMP3 Drivers' and Teams' Championship lead. The No. 2 United Autosports team finished 17.706 seconds behind in second.[40][43] M.Racing - YMR's No. 19 entry was third after Ehrlacher came from outside the top ten in the second half of the race.[41] This came after Noble spun and crashed the Nielsen car at Tetre Rouge while avoiding a slow Porsche. Jackson inherited the GT3 lead after Narac's penalty and clinched the class win by five seconds to complete a victory sweep at Le Mans for the GT3 Drivers' and Teams' Championship leads. The No. 24 Garage 59 team took second in class and the SVC Lamborghini was third after Hiesse moved up the order in the final laps.[40][41][43]
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