Malaysian trio finish 10th overall in Le Mans

Great show: The all-Malaysian lineup of Weiron Tan, Jazeman Jaafar and Nabil Jeffri finished finish sixth in the LMP2 class and 10th overall in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

PETALING JAYA: The all-Malaysian line-up of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri made a remarkable comeback to finish sixth in their LMP2 class and 10th overall in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France.

If not for an engine temperature issue at the very start of the race, the trio could have had a better finish.

Lead driver Jazeman was forced to pit at the end of the second lap to resolve the issue and found himself down by four laps and in last place from the field of 60 cars when he rejoined the race.

But to their credit, the trio, who drove the No. 37 car for Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota, fought hard and moved up to 27th overall and 19th in the LMP2 class at the five-hour mark.

The trio continued to push on throughout the night and moved up to 17th overall (13th LMP2) at the 12-hour mark.

Eventually, they reached 10th overall and sixth in the LMP2 class.

Their position remained the same until the end of the race with Jazeman taking the last shift at the wheel.

“It's been one hell of a ride. We had some issues at the start and we fell off the grid,” said Jaze­man.

“It was one experience to cherish. The remarkable effort put in by everyone for a top 10 finish is ama­zing.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing car No. 8 led by former Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain won the overall title in the LMP1 class. Alonso won two F1 titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006.

The Spaniard shared the number eight TS050 hybrid with Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi and Japan’s Kazuki Naka­jima, who had taken pole position on Thursday and drove the final stint to the chequered flag.

G-Drive Racing's car No. 26 led by former Formula 1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne emerged the LMP2 winners.

Jazeman, Weiron and Nabil, who are part of the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) Driver Talent Develo­pment Programme, will next race at the Six Hours of Silverstone on Aug 19, which is also the third round of the World Endurance Cham­pionships.