Estonian driver finishes 11th in category in Le Mans 24 Hours
Martin Rump, who became the first Estonian ever to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finished 11th out of 23 teams in the LMGTE Am class, with his team Hardpoint Motorsport.
Hardpoint stayed in the top three after the night sessions, but, right at the end of the Estonian's last shift in the car, Rump's Porsche had a problem with the rear suspension. The three and a half minutes lost while necessary repairs were made, meant Hardpoint dropped back to fifth place.
For the final three hours of the race, Hardpoint's driving duties were shared between Rump's teammates Alessio Picariello and Andrew Haryanto. However, after spending a large part of the race in the top five, the team's final result was significantly impacted by Haryanto's forced retirement during the penultimate hour. In the end, Haryanto took Hardpoint over the line in 11th place, with 338 laps completed.
Rump drove a total of seven hours, 45 minutes and 24 seconds in the first 24 Hours of Le Mans of his career, covering 114 laps or around 1,500 kilometers. The Estonian's best lap time over the 13.6-kilometre circuit was 3:52.990.
The eventual winner in the LMGTE Am class was TF Sport. The team, comprising of Ben Keating (USA), Henrique Chaves (Portugal) and Marco Sörensen (Denmark), completed 343 laps during the race.
In the Hypercar class, Toyota's team of Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland, Brendon Hartley of Australia and Ryo Hirakawa of Japan claimed victory, completing 380 laps over the day.
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Editor: Michael Cole
