WEC
Frijns: "Everything went wrong" before shock LMP2 win
WRT's LMP2 driver Robin Frijns revealed his Le Mans winning effort nearly unravelled at the end due to various issues, before taking the class win in a dramatic turnaround.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Feb 11, 2022, 5:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Frijns, who shared the winning #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson with Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi on the Belgian team's first Le Mans outing, came out of the night with a 45-second lead over the #41 sister car of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Louis Deletraz.
But on Sunday the #41 car steadily closed the gap and took a commanding lead, only for Yifei to grind to a halt on the final lap of the race with a broken throttle sensor.
That handed a shock win to Frijns, who narrowly managed to keep the #28 JOTA car of Tom Blomqvist at bay at the line.
Afterwards Frijns explained his car faced several issues in the final hours, which explains why its pace dropped off so dramatically compared to its rivals, as Blomqvist had been catching the Dutchman hand over fist.
"I think the team did an amazing job by basically leading both cars into the night and come out unscratched," Frijns said. "The cars were both working really amazing, we had really good pace, a bit quicker than JOTA was my feeling, but then the last time I jumped in we suffered a big issue suddenly, the air jack died so we couldn't change the tyres.
"I had like new tyres in the front, old in the rear and vice versa again. So basically, everything went wrong in the last two hours. And I had no pace anymore because I think something broke on the car as well."
#31 Team WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson LMP2, Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
With Frijns struggling to bring his car to the finish, he said he was just trying his best to safeguard the team's sensational 1-2 win on its Le Mans debut.
Going into the final lap, his battle against Blomqvist suddenly became a fight for victory as he blew past the stricken sister car.
"The JOTA was catching very quickly, I think four or five seconds a lap," Frijns explains.
"I was securing my P2 because I was struggling with the car. But then heading into the last lap I heard on the radio that the sister car is basically breaking down and stopping and meanwhile, you're still fighting the car to secure your P2 but suddenly you're fighting for P1.
"So, it's a bit of a different load on your shoulders then, I have to say!"
Read Also:
- Buemi: #8 Toyota was “quite lucky” in Le Mans 24h start clash
- Conway "crying like a little girl" after overdue Le Mans win
Frijns only just managed to keep Blomqvist behind at the line, while the pair caught up with Toyotas' celebrating Hypercars and several slowing GT cars, which produced a hairy moment as Frijns had to swerve to avoid the flagman.
"I think the finish was as close as it gets in all ways," he added. "Obviously, the two Toyotas were in front of me, and they were slowing down before the finish line for their photo.
"But the three, four cars behind them were all slowing down and I was still fighting for the win.
"I was trying to find my way around them, and I saw the chequered flag guy a bit late but luckily everything went well..."
On the other side of the WRT garage, Deletraz said he was lost for words and "crying" after being robbed of a Le Mans win with three minutes left.
"I have no words, I'm crying," he shared on social media. "Why us, why on the last lap after 23h58min.
"We had a big lead, we had the win, and the car stopped. I can't believe it.
"Winning Le Mans has been a dream of mine since I'm a kid... this one hurts but I will come back stronger."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article ACO extends deal with FIA to promote WEC
Next article Cadillac announces WEC, IMSA programmes with new LMDh contender
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
4 h
F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes pole with George Russell sixth
More from
Robin Frijns
Title battles and bittersweet farewells headline packed 54-car Petit Le Mans grid
IMSA
IMSA
Petit Le Mans
Title battles and bittersweet farewells headline packed 54-car Petit Le Mans grid
Robin Frijns relieved after BMW's Hypercar win in WEC: “This was a race we had to win”
WEC
WEC
Spa
Robin Frijns relieved after BMW's Hypercar win in WEC: “This was a race we had to win”
Robin Frijns admits BMW’s struggles in WEC: “We don’t fully understand the car yet”
WEC
WEC
Imola
Robin Frijns admits BMW’s struggles in WEC: “We don’t fully understand the car yet”
Latest news
MotoGP's Australian GP delayed due to bad weather
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
24 min
MotoGP's Australian GP delayed due to bad weather
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
38 min
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
There will be even less drag in Cup cars at Talladega on Sunday
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
41 min
There will be even less drag in Cup cars at Talladega on Sunday
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
Kimi Antonelli delivers Austin surprise pole in tricky Mercedes: "Finally we're seeing the results"
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe