Success Breeds Success

Xtrac’s most successful visit to the famous Circuit de la Sarthe for the 88th running of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans resulted in an incredible haul of positions for its customers in all categories.

In addition to filling the first 17 positions, Xtrac transmissions helped customers win first place in all four categories. Toyota Gazoo Racing with their third overall Le Mans victory in succession, United Autosports triumphed in the LMP2 category while in GT, Aston Martin Racing won the LMGTE Pro class and TF Sport’s Aston Martin took the honours in LMGTE Am.

There was even further success, as 11 out of the 12 podium positions on offer were also taken by Xtrac customers.

This record achievement of supplying not only the top 17 places, but also 46 of the 59 cars taking the starters flag, was an emphatic endorsement of the ACO and IMSA’s decision to select Xtrac’s P1359 hybrid gearbox to be the sole gearbox supplier for the newly announced LMDh category, which begins testing in 2021.

Xtrac’s entire 2020 Le Mans preparation, including the track support operation, was led by Senior Business Manager Natalie Stevenson; “our aim is to provide the best possible support to our customers and despite the change in the race date and the additional complexity of dealing with the changes the pandemic has brought, in the build-up to this year’s race we carried out all of the pre-event gearbox servicing in Thatcham, and provided all of the required spare parts on time so that our customers could start the race knowing they had with the most reliable product available.”

Though underrepresented in motorsport, women have played, and continue to play an important role in Le Mans history. The six female drivers competing in the 2020 race in the LMP2 and GTE Am classes, were all racing with Xtrac P1159 and P1529 gearboxes respectively and crossed the finish line in 9th position in class in the Richard Mille Oreca LMP2 (13th overall) and 9th position in class in the Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 Evo (34th overall).

Xtrac would like to congratulate all of their customers for the fantastic achievements at Le Mans despite the challenges posed by the current pandemic and wish them all the best of luck for the WEC season finale at Bahrain in November.

Next year will usher in a brand-new era for the FIA World Endurance Championship as it makes way for the new-for-2021 Hypercar category. Three constructors have all confirmed they will compete in next year’s Hypercar class with another set to join the grid from 2022.