Together with Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg, Oliver Jarvis won the LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the conditions demanded everything from the experienced driver
Triumph under the most difficult conditions: Together with his young teammates Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg, Oliver Jarvis won the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend in the United Autosport Oreca 22. For the 40-year-old Briton, who has already finished on the overall podium four times at Le Mans, it was his second class victory in LMP2 after 2017.
Jarvis said that 2024 was the toughest race he had ever contested due to the constantly changing weather conditions. “I must have almost wrecked the car ten times,” said the Brit in an interview with Autosport,
“The track changed with every lap,” said Jarvis. “It was dry, then it rained and we were on slicks. It was cold and you couldn’t get the tires up to temperature.” In these very difficult conditions, even the experienced driver was not immune to mistakes and briefly lost control of his car in a chicane during his final stint.
“You’re only ever one small mistake away from putting the car into the wall, so I was relieved when I saw the chequered flag,” he says. “There were moments when I wasn’t sure if we were going to win or end up in the wall.”
Jarvis praised his team United Autosports for their strategy during the race and his inexperienced teammates: “They came here as rookies and left us as winners.”
Siegel also admitted that he was “so glad” that Jarvis took over from him in the final two hours and that he preferred “standing on the sidelines rather than sitting in the car”. For the American, the Le Mans class victory paid off immediately, as he was promoted by McLaren to full-time driver in the IndyCar Series in those days.
Garg experienced a special kind of baptism of fire on Saturday evening when he had to complete his first laps at Le Mans in the wet and in the dark. “I was definitely thinking: ‘Why do I have to learn this? “But I’m glad I made it, stayed on the track and kept a good position. “
