Gimmi Bruni finally holds his victory at Le Mans with Porsche

His « transfer » from Ferrari to Porsche at the start of the 2017 season had caused a lot of ink to flow but the marriage was expected between Gianmaria Bruni and Weissach.

It was still necessary to concretize it on the biggest race in the world, the one that matters the most, and on which the Bruni – Porsche tandem had not experienced success and the best performance since 2018-2019, despite two podiums in 2018- 2019 (2nd) and 2021 (3rd).

In addition, the statistical lines, in IMSA as in WEC, undoubtedly did not present the relief hoped for by the native of Rome (two victories in WEC at Sebring in 2018-2019 and at Silverstone in 2019-2020).

This year, the planets have finally aligned for « Gimmi » Bruni. If in terms of pure performance, the Porsche 911 RSR-19 was probably not the fastest against the Corvette C8.R, the German GTE flanked by the n°91 was able to avoid the pitfalls that hit the competition ( puncture for the Porsche n°92, accident of the Corvette C8.R n°64 and broken suspension for the n°63) to place themselves as the best opponent to the Ferrari 488 – AF Corse.

If the n°91 was slowed down for a while by a drive-through following Frédéric Makowiecki’s overrunning the limits of the track, it never really dropped out of the leading pack. The combination of reliability and speed of the trio, with a « Mako » among the three time masters in the GTE Pro category (3’49″060), then did its job.

Gimmi Bruni took full command of the race on lap 283, after the No. 51 Ferrari gave way once and for all after a slow puncture.

From then on, the Porsche only had to unwind, and Bruni savored what was his fourth Le Mans victory, the third in GTE Pro (two with Ferrari in 2012 and 2014) after that already obtained in GT2 with Ferrari and AF Corse. in 2008. And a victory with a particular flavor also for Porsche.

“After two second places, we finally brought this beautiful swan song to the 911, the Italian tells us after the podium.

We were with Richard behind the wheel of the car in his first Silverstone win for his debut race, and bring him the latest success for a GTE Pro at Le Mans. Couldn’t ask for more.

We came so close twice, we deserve it. It was also my dream and my goal to win at Le Mans with Porsche. »