FIA court upholds G-Drive, TDS Racing Le Mans disqualifications

Both the #26 G-Drive Oreca and the #28 TDS Racing Oreca have lost its appeals at the FIA International Court of Appeal from being disqualified from the official 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours results.

The #26 G-Drive Oreca of Roman Rusinov, Andrea Pizzitola and Jean-Eric Vergne initially claimed victory in LMP2, and finished fifth in the overall classification, at Circuit de la Sarthe leading all but 10 laps of the 24 hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the LMP2 class.

But following a review of the car after the race by the technical delegates, it was deemed that the team had breached the technical regulations as "an additional machined part not featuring in the drawing is inserted into the flow restrictor, changing the wetter restrictor surface described by the regulatory drawing."

The #28 TDS Racing Oreca was also disqualified on the same grounds which led to both teams lodging official appeals to the FIA International Court of Appeal.

Following the review, the decisions have been upheld meaning the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine entry clinches LMP2 victory, with the #39 SO24-Graff car in second ahead of United Autosport's #32 Ligier.

The official 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours results have been finalised and published today (2 October), three-and-a-half months on from the race taking place on 16-17 June.