Postcard from the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans

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The 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans was exciting in more ways than one.  The overall podium looked like it might have an LMP2 competitor on the top step as all of the manufacturer LMP1 cars hit trouble with three retiring and the other two spending long periods in the garage before rejoining the track well down the order.

 The eventual winner was the no2 Porsche of Brendon Hartley (pictured above), Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, which had rejoined the track in 54th place overall and 20+ laps behind after the front axle of the car had to be replaced.  The German-New Zealander trio fought their way back up the order to take the lead with just one hour left on the clock.

There were two LMP2 cars on the overall podium with Jackie Chan DC Racing finishing 1st (no38 car pictured above) and 3rd (no37 car) in the P2 class, with the 3rd placed car promoted to 2nd (and 3rd overall) when the no13 Vaillant Rebellion was disqualified for cutting a hole in the bodywork to access the starter solenoid.

The battle between the GT Manufacturers was even more instense.  The race was decided on the very last lap of the 24 hour race when Aston Martin's Jonny Adam overtook the leading Corvette on the last corner to begin the last lap of the race.  The podium was Aston Martin, Ford and Chevrolet - brilliant stuff.

 The LMGTE Am class was equally exciting and it was a fairytale win for the JMW Motorsport team.  Last year they didn't receive an invitation to Le Mans for the first time in many years.  The British team received an automatic invitation for the 2017 race after they finished as Vice Champions in the 2016 European Le Mans Series.  

They won the ELMS race in Monza last month in their old Ferrari F458 in the cars last race before taking delivery of a new Ferrari 488 which would make its debut at Le Mans.  Not only did the team get the car set up and sorted in quick time, it ran quickly and without any problems so that JMW Motorsport took the chequered flag.

Le Mans is an endurance race for everyone involved and as the FIA Media Delegate and the Photo Delegate for the event I was working flat out all week, clocking up 107 hours at the track or in town at the scutineering during the eight days.  


The majority of the image used on this page were taken on the Fujifilm X-T2 but I was also using the Fujifilm GFX50S medium format camera and I will be doing more on this test in the near future.

 Le Mans is unique and very special; I wouldn't want to miss it for anything.  

 Roll on June 2018!



































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Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE


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