Porsche wins Le Mans 2015! Despite a 1-2-3 qualifying lockout, who saw that coming? And it didn't luck into the win either: current F1 star and perennial 'will he ever get the front-running seat he deserves' titleholder Nico Hulkenberg took the lead at the ninth hour after passing Mark Webber, and pretty much didn't look back from there.
Still nothing like Le Mans for a racing spectacle
For those of us following the race from the UK, it certainly delayed bedtime, and meant we leapt straight to the laptop/smartphone/TV first thing Sunday morning to check once more. Sure enough, the dream result remained until the chequered flag. Three drivers with a total of two Le Mans 24 Hours between them broke the Audi 13-out-of-16 stranglehold to become blue riband motorsport event victors. What a stunning achievement.
Despite the inexcusable lack of mainstream coverage, it was an added good news story here in Britain, for Northamptonshire's Nick Tandy was part of the winning crew. Nick's one of the most unassuming stars around, who's brilliantly set his career into the stratosphere by quietly getting on with driving very fast. His LM24 drive in the night-time, extending the lead over the Audis, was particularly praiseworthy: even Webber was impressed enough to comment on this.
And the third victorious Porsche driver? That's Earl Bamber, a Kiwi who won last year's Porsche Supercup and is now firmly part of the Porsche Motorsport works driver squad. The 24-year-old is mates with fellow Porsche works driver Brendon Hartley and now also seems set for a career of stardom in top-level sportscars.
The victory was Porsche's first since 1998, and its 17th in total - 45 years to the day since clocking up its first. The second place by Timo Bernhard, Hartley and Webber confirmed the lockout (and made for THE classic finishing shot - plus a tense final lap as Nico slowed to let the #17 car catch up...). At the end, Hulkenberg added: "I didn't think I would come here and rock 'n' roll this race, this would be silly because there are so many challenges in that race. However, we did it and we did it together".
Yes, you did: and it's one of the most popular feel-good victories in a long time.
Says a lot when third is disappointing!
So what happened to the Audis that many expected to come through on top? A combination of crashes, surprising unreliability and bad luck. Sure, the #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer was third at the finish, but that was scant consolation after earlier battling with the lead Porsches.
The #9 Audi also had a lengthy front driveshaft change, while the #8 car dramatically crashed early in the race after getting caught out by a slow zone. It happened so early in the race, Loic Duval's embarrassment was continually compounded on multiple replays throughout the consecutive TV coverage...
Really though, Audi simply didn't have the pace, meaning petrol once again beat diesel at Le Mans. Props to Audi Motorsport team boss Dr. Ullrich for conceding victory and congratulating the Porsche team before the end of the race (maybe he was hoping to tempt fate?) but you can be sure this will hurt Audi. The determination to come back fighting - combined with reigning WEC champion Toyota's embarrassment at being so plain slow this year - means we're potentially in for a superb LM24 2016...
Certainly one to watch in 2016...
Nissan GT-R LM NISMO: one finished...
Nissan had a fraught Le Mans with the radical front-wheel drive GT-R LM NISMO. But the #22 car still made it to the end, which the team considers a result in itself (remember it's a brand-new concept just eight months in development - at this stage last year, Porsche already had almost double that...).
Making the best of a flawed concept? Not at all: remember, this isn't the definitive car by any means, thanks to suppliers not matching design genius Ben Bowlby's admirable ambition. Getting it to the finish will provide Nissan with no end of useful data for 2016's machine - we haven't heard the last of this by any means.
The other classes
Le Mans isn't just about LMP1, but in LMP2 there was much less unpredictability: the KCMG ORECA 05 of Nicolas Lapierre, Richard Bradley and Matt Howson led from pole almost throughout the race, to the pain of G-Drive OAK Racing, Jota Sport and Strakka. Not so in GTE Pro, where Aston Martin Racing's heartbreak at a double retirement saw the sole Corvette C7.R of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor triumph. There wasn't even any consolation for Aston in GTE Am: the #98 Vantage was on for victory until Paul Dalla Lana binned it in the final hour. Enter the #72 Ferrari 458 Italia of Victor Shaitar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov.