Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 at Circuit de la Sarthe. The #50 Ferrari 499P of Ferrari AF Corse covered 311 laps over 24 hours, a race distance of 4,238 km. The winning crew: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. The margin to second place was 14.2 s, close enough to keep the result open late. The quickest manufacturer over one lap was Toyota — but the win went to Ferrari. Pace and result do not always match.
How the Lead Was Won
Across the race we counted 6 lead changes among 5 different cars in the HYPERCAR class. At the closest point, first and second were only 0.7 s apart. For 20 of 23 measured hours the gap stayed under 30 seconds.
That is a real head-to-head fight, not a comfortable lead.
Figure 1 shows how that gap moved over the distance.
Manufacturer Pace
We rank pace by the average of each manufacturer’s fastest lap. That measures real speed over the distance instead of one lucky lap. The order at the top: Toyota (234.7 km/h), Ferrari (234.3 km/h), Cadillac (233.6 km/h).
Between the fastest and the slowest manufacturer in the HYPERCAR class lie 4.2 km/h. That is a wide spread. At this track, the concept differences show clearly.
Figure 2 sets the pace order side by side.
Reliability by Class
16 of 62 cars did not make the finish — an overall retirement rate of 26%. The heaviest toll fell on HYPERCAR with 30%, while LMP2 came through best at 19%.
Over this distance, reliability is a result in itself. A car that stops scores nothing, no matter how fast it was.
Figure 3 compares the classes directly.
Efficiency Over the Distance
Our efficiency score multiplies average lap speed by laps completed and compares that to the class average. It rewards cars that were fast and stayed out of trouble. A value of 1.000 is exactly class average.
The top score goes to #7 Toyota with 1.219. The winner, #50, is not on top here. Track position and strategy turned into a result that raw efficiency alone does not explain.
Figure 4 ranks the cars by that score.
Night Versus Day
Top-class cars averaged 232.9 km/h in daylight and 233.0 km/h at night. The difference is 0.08 km/h — faster after dark.
In other words: no measurable night effect. Darkness costs concentration and makes traffic harder to read, but it does not slow modern prototypes down.
Figure 5 puts both phases next to each other.
The Closing Phase
In the final hour, 95% of the field held position within ±1 place (n = 62). The race was settled well before the flag. The biggest single move came from #311 Cadillac, 9 places forward.
Figure 6 shows how settled the finish really was.
Fastest Lap and Class Gaps
The fastest single lap of the race belongs to #7 Toyota (Toyota Gazoo Racing): 3:28.756 at 235.0 km/h. Crew: Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.
Between HYPERCAR and LMP2 sits a pace gap of 8.6 s per lap. That number decides how much traffic the leaders have to work through.
Class winners — HYPERCAR: #50 Ferrari (Ferrari AF Corse), LMP2: #22 Oreca (United Autosports), LMGT3: #91 Porsche (Manthey).
Putting the Race in Context
The winner averaged 176.3 km/h across 4,238 km. On a 13.626 km lap, that is the pace the whole strategy had to sustain.
We calculate the same metrics for every race in the archive: pace order, reliability by class, lead changes, winning margin, closing stability and efficiency. That makes this race directly comparable with every other round of the 2024 season — and with the seasons before it.
All figures are derived from the full classification of every race hour and are recalculated with each build.
