lace 24 Hours of Le Mans It’s a race that usually takes no prisoners, but sometimes Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen -the three musketeers of the Ferrari #50– I owed him one. Last year they were the best car in the race and he cruelly deprived them of their reward: a stone got stuck in the radiator of the ERS of the fabulous hybrid prototype, now two-time champion, leaving it useless. Something similar happened to the mood of the Italian, the Spanish and the Dane. They had a thorn in their side and they wanted to remove it. But this at Le Mans is never easy, because the race may not present you with the option.
And, in fact, it seemed that fate had prepared another trick for them when the door to #50 opened on the track as soon as Nicklas Nielsen got on the last relay… when was a leader. The youngest of the Italian trident, who has gone through all the steps that Ferrari offers in competition, from customer races to the fabulous racing program. Hypercarhad to deal with a critical situation: two hours with rain guaranteed, just a handful of seconds (27) ahead of Toyota #7, which came like a shot, and few more about the sister car (the one that already ‘lifted’ them the victory in 2023), the impossibility of making a mistake or the eight wolves that were behind them at less than 36 seconds were ready to eat them. And, in all this, the unimaginable happens: the door on the right opens, like a move of destiny, which wants to show you the doors of sports hell itself.
Attempts to close it
Nielsen He tried to reach out and close it, but it was impossible. (the options to move between the HANS and the belts are equal to zero) and the race director forced him to enter the pits when it was not necessary to solve the problem. But it was only about leaving one to get into another because there was an hour and three quarters left… and it seemed difficult to save the situation only with one more stop (the Ferrari stopped every 12-13 laps). From the outside, everything seemed lost because it was still raining and we had to run to keep the #7 Toyota away (Pechito Lopez did his part with a couple of driving errors) but, at the same time conserving fuel.
Save as you can
“In the box we soon saw that, saving energy“We could save it with one more stop,” Molina explained afterwards. A detail that, if it had been public, would have benefited the heart health of the Spanish fans, who had dreamed of victory since midday (with three hours left Palou was leader and Molina second, each leading a different strategy), but they noted that they would escape if the #50 needed a final ‘splash’ of gasoline. He also discovered another that would have had the opposite effect – putting fear in the body – of. having known before starting: “In the pre-grill We had to change the accelerator sensor. We didn’t know if it was going to work or not even. But it seems that it has been our lucky charm.” Luck is always needed at Le Mans, but also endurance and, as the nine-time Le Mans winner said, Tom Kristensen, in television broadcasting, “you don’t have to give in to pressure.” And that’s what Molina and his two companions did during the 22 hours in which the Ferrari’s doors were tightly closed: gritting their teeth, facing the bad moments (the night was very hard for the Italian car, which suffers from the low track temperatures ) and hold on to the race.
In tears
In the little time he shared with the Spanish press, with his laurels on his shoulders and his sweat camouflaged by the aroma of champagne, tears ended up appearing, as the rain did before on the asphalt. Tears of a lifetime fighting to return the great opportunity that Ferrari has offered him (before he managed to unlock the achievement of victories in the prestigious German DTM for our country). That’s why he clung to the winner’s trophy, and even more so, to the mythical Rolex Daytona that only those who conquer the Everest of motorsports can wear.
When you have more time to accept it, you will realize that Now he eats at the table of Marc Gené and Fernando Alonso, the only two Spaniards who achieved it before him (the Asturian twice). And that he is even more special for having achieved it with Ferrarithe iconic brand of world motorsport, which Before winning F1 titles, he already had several endurance world championships. And in one of the most epic editions in memory: with 23 Hypercars (candidates, at least half, for victory), four brands with options fighting with everything until the end (in addition to Ferrari, which also put the #51 in the podium, Toyota -second with #7-, porschewhich despite having six cars in the running had to settle for fourth place and cadillacwho touched glory with the car Alex Palou until the last relay). The door did not show hell, but the paradise of Le Mans.
