Kiwis on the Podium at Le Mans, Giltrap and van der Drift win in Adelaide and Paddon wins Rally Barbados. Your week in motorsport.

Hartley and Bamber on the Le Mans Podium

Kiwis Brendan Hartley and Earl Bamber have made the podium at the 100^th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, Hartly in second for Toyota Gazoo Racing and Bamber, third with Cadillac Racing. Unfortunately for the New Zealand fans, their respective Hypercar teams just couldn’t catch the Ferrari #51 car in an incident-packed race.

The first 12 hours of the race saw the lead change hands numerous times and at many of the 16 Hypercars on the starting grid led the field at some point. The race was affected by two heavy rain showers and ultimately a spate of accidents and race incidents, yellow flags kept the field tight up the front and the second half was a very tense dual between Ferrari and Toyota, with the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R not far behind.

Brendon Hartley drove an outstanding quadruple stint to keep the pressure on the Ferrari, unfortunately, Hartley’s less experienced teammate, Ryō Hirakawa, spun off into the barrier at Arnage with less than two hours to go.

Toyota Gazoo racing did well to repair the car in just two-minutes but the gap to the leader stretched to over three minutes. Heartbreak for the Toyota team who looked very much in contention in the latter stages.

The Cadillac Racing Hypercars finished in third and fourth places after a solid, consistent race. The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R clinched the final podium spot for Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook.

Fellow Kiwi, Scott Dixon, also driving a Cadillac V Series. R came in fourth, with teammates Sebastien Bourdais and Renger Van Der Zande.

Also racing as part of the Le Mans weekend’s schedule was Brendan Leitch in supporting 2023 Michelin Le Mans Cup category. Leitch and teammate Gerhard Watzinger were piloting in the GT3 category in the #70 Crowdstrike Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.

The pair were penalised with a drive through in the opening race and the race was concluded ahead of time, under Safety Car after a late accident. Leitch and Watzinger would finish in 12^th.

In the second race, the pairing were P15 on the starting grid, but set to work, Watzinger made his way to 12^th staying out of trouble and keeping with the main pack, giving Leitch the opportunity to battle his way to fifth. The net result was a strong points haul in the championship as not all cars ahead of Leitch were contesting the which gave us some good points for the overall Michelin Le Mans Cup as a couple of cars that finished ahead were not contesting the championship.

Giltrap and van der Drift win in Adelaide

Marco Giltrap and Chris van der Drift claimed a win in Race one of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia series from The Bend circuit in South Australia.

It was a win with some controversy as the Kiwi pair crossed the line in second behind Pole-setter and solo driver, Jonathan Cecotto. Cecotto however was penalised 30 seconds and was relegated down the order.

Defending Champion, van der Drift qualified in third and started the race, maintain a position within the front pack before handing over to Giltrap. A safety car was called right as Giltrap and Cecotto were exiting the pits putting Giltrap in striking distance and the two cars would put a gap between them and the chasing pack.

Another race incident saw the race finish under Yellow, and Cecotto took the top step of the podium, only to have a 30 second penalty handed down post race elevating Giltrap and van der Drift to first.

Cecotto would get redemption in race 2 to claim the victory. Marco Giltrap started in P3 and maintained position before handing over to van der Drift who briefly led during the compulsory pit stop cycle but Cecotto was on a mission and couldn’t be caught, finishing nearly 13 seconds ahead of van der Drift who crossed the line in second.

Hayden Paddon Provisional Winner of Rally Barbados

Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard have fought hard to win the Rally of Barbados, despite a valiant charge by locals Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew. and finished day 2 with the overall lead, but the margin is very tight as locals, Dane Skeete and Tyler Mayhew are just 14.8 seconds behind the Kiwi.

Paddon won the first 9 stages of the rally, but lead by only 14 seconds and the local team seemed faster today, winning several stages in what played out as a game of cat and mouse between Paddon and Skeete. Ultimately Paddon has claimed provisional first with the rally finishing just moments before writing.