Nick Jones and Sven Müller put on a star performance at Le Mans last weekend, coming out on top of a three-car fight on the final lap to score their first podium of the season in the second Michelin Le Mans Cup race.
Despite starting back in 15th after the cancellation of qualifying, the SD Team-backed pair put on a show for the huge crowds just hours before the start of the world’s biggest endurance race, with Müller snatching third place on the final lap in the High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, and in doing so scoring Jones one of the biggest results of his career.
The twin 55-minute Road to Le Mans races at the Circuit de la Sarthe brought many challenges for Jones and new team-mate Müller, but the pair showed frontrunning pace throughout the week, even if circumstances beyond their control masked that during some of the sessions.
Müller and Jones were within the top 10 during practice on Wednesday around the 8.5-mile circuit, before Jones focused on refining the Porsche’s setup during the second practice session, which would become a lot more important later on.
Qualifying on Thursday was the first of the heavily disrupted sessions. Müller took the wheel for the first segment which would set the grid for Thursday’s opening race, with Jones set to drive for the second half. Müller recorded the fifth fastest time and was set to improve to put the #18 Porsche on the front row when a red flag stoppage denied him and brought the session to an early close. Jones took over for Q2, but never even got a lap after the entire session was halted when another competitor went off on their out-lap. With no times set, the race two grid would be decided by the times set in second practice, leaving the SD Porsche 15th.
It looked like Jones and Müller’s best chance of success would come from Thursday’s first race but, due to a cocktail of caution periods and a red flag wiping out the final quarter, it essentially became a write-off. Jones took the start and held a spot within the top eight as the string of safety cars came and went thanks to incidents up and down the LMP3 field. Jones pitted for Müller but he never got the chance to improve as the red flags flew following a huge accident for an LMP3 runner at Indianapolis that destroyed the barrier. The race was finished early, with just a single lap of green flag running being completed. Due to the muddled pitstops, and the result being counted back a lap from the red flag, ninth was the limit for the disappointed pair.
But if race one was ruined, race two was a thriller, with Jones and Müller putting on a superb charge up the order. Jones again took the start and made excellent progress across the first half, keeping things clean and consistent as once again those around him hit trouble, and each other. Jones immediately made progress at the start timing his moves superbly to rise to 12th before the safety car’s first appearance. When racing resumed, Jones passed Andrew Gilbert’s Ferrari and then benefitted when two of the leading Ferraris collided up ahead, damaging and delaying both.
A second safety car was needed, and Jones pitted from eighth to hand to Müller with the race at reduced speed. A slick stop from the High Class Racing team got Müller back out in sixth, but with the leading pack running as one.
Müller then pressed on, fighting his way up to fifth by the start of the last lap, and then pulling an incredible move to draft past both Valentin Hasse-Clot’s Aston Martin and Anthony Bartone’s Mercedes-AMG to snatch the final podium place into Mulsanne Corner, holding off the rapid Aston for the final half-a-lap. The achievement marks a milestone result in Jones’ career, with both drivers jubilant on the main Le Mans podium afterwards.
The result also moves Jones up to fifth in the Michelin Le Mans Cup Drivers’ Championship, well within striking distance of the top three with three rounds still to run this season.
Nick Jones said: “What an incredible weekend! When we woke up on Saturday morning we never thought there was a chance of getting on the podium from P15 and in a field this tight. I think that’s probably the biggest result of my entire racing career… it’s unbelievable. At the start of race two I just kept things clean, picked my moments to pass when I could and concentrated on not making mistakes. Then watching Sven on that final lap was so stressful. We were fourth, then fifth and we thought the podium had gone, then BANG… he’s back to P3! Standing on the podium at Le Mans is an indescribable feeling, seeing all the fans. It’ll take a while to come down from the ceiling after this.”
Sven Müller said: “That was such an incredible way to finish the weekend, especially after the way things started. Race one we couldn’t do anything and then starting so far back for race two after qualifying was cancelled made it a real fight. Nick did a brilliant job at the start, bringing us back into it with good pace and consistency, then when I got in I knew I had to go for it. I was fifth at the start of that final lap and our straight-line speed was not the best, but I got behind the Aston and the Mercedes and got a huge tow from a couple of LMP3 cars, running 10cm from the barrier at 290kph… it was wild! I decided to go for the move into Mulsanne and it paid off. It was perhaps the most exciting lap of my career, and an incredible way to start my partnership with Nick and the team.”
The next round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup takes place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on August 24/25.
