Great job iron dames! Crazy!! ELMS win was the first, but a WEC win, and the LAST GTE! They've been let down so many times...
The eternal tragedy of endurance racing: Le Mans gets too much attention. So who is going to spend millions in a car that is only useful a week per year.
It's because Le Mans has such prestige that it completely overshadows the other events. Winning Le Mans is more important than winning the championship: it's the cherry on the cake ! Le Mans could be a stand alone race, and it was at some point in its history ( with its own rules too). I remember Matra and Alpine competing only at Le Mans some years. The tragedy is that Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona are not in the same championship. I blame BOTH the ACO and IMSA for that !!!
Then a lapped amateur driver ruins the investment of the whole year. All in a race that normal people doesn´t watch on TV because the average viewer barely tolerates the 2 hours of a F1 race, much less 24. It´s not a surprise that accountants are not eager to fund that. A championship with Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring would be a lot easier to sell, but unfortunately, the European and American ways of understanding motorsport are different.
Like most endurance events Le Mans brings cars of different categories and drivers of different skills in the same race. That's the attraction, and participants must accept the risks, keep their nerves and navigate their way through these obstacles. There are endurance fans who follow the race, believe it or not.
If Ferrari lost Le Mans but won the championship, that would be pretty cool too. So yeah, perhaps it's a draw. But maybe it's sweeter winning Le Mans. That was epic. One for the history books. Enzo must be proud. I know I'm proud. Couldn't be happier.
Definitely !!! A win at Le Mans has more value than the championship. There is historical continuity since 1923 at Le Mans. It's like Indianapolis: a star event: the cherry on the cake. People remember Le Mans winners ( makes and drivers) when championship winners fade into obscurity. The championship is relatively new, and apart Le Mans, most locations have been changed. Iconic circuits have been abandoned: no more Mille Miglia, no more Targa Forio, no more Nurburgring-Nordschleife, no Daytona, on the calendar anymore. Who cares about Qatar, or Bahrain ? Ferrari won the endurance race that was important. Kudos to them !!!
We are going back to the 50s and 60s, when the Scuderia was more famous for its sportscar success than in monoposto. It's Le Mans, Sebring, Mille Miglia and Targa Florio wins that made the Ferrari name famous.
