The final hours were all about endurance for the Yokohama ADVAN GT2 teams still in the running. Having run for seven hours without third gear, a selection problem halted the Seikel Motorsports car on the track just after the Mulsanne corner. After agonizing minutes driver Dominik Farnbacher was able to find a gear and get the car back to the pits. The lead was lost and the last 50 minutes were spent keeping the car moving to ensure a podium finish. Having led the race for 19 of the 24 hours it was a big blow for the Seikel squad to be settling for second but with thirty minutes to go and a gap of two minutes it would be impossible to regain the lead without a problem for the Panoz. It was more like a sprint and an extraordinary end to an endurance race. Both Yokohama Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs had been in the top six for 20 hours of the race – a true test of endurance and competition.

In LMP1 the no. 13 Courage Competition car retired early in the race with a gearbox problem and the no. 12 sister car was forced to retire in the 18th hour with mechanical problems. Race pace had been good with both cars and the drivers were all very happy with the choice of ADVAN tyres for all of the various conditions that Yokohama provided.

Peter Goebel, Team Manager, Seikel Motorsport “I have been speaking to Yokohama for some time after I heard of very favourable testing in the USA of the motorsport tyres. Once we knew that Yokohama could supply us with the tyres for the car we were very happy to come with them to Le Mans. The Yokohama tyres were a fundamental part of the plan to double stint the tyres as well as the drivers. We knew that we could save 15 to 20 seconds per pit stop so Yokohama was critical to our success in the race.”

Kunihiko Ito, Brand Manager, ADVAN “Le Mans is a big part of our activities for raising the profile of the ADVAN brand. To be such a strong competitor in the greatest race in the world on such a high profile car brand as Porsche is helping us to spread the word. Le Mans is a very important motorsport event for us and it is an excellent way to raise our brand image.”