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Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winners Tom Kimber-Smith, Enzo Potolicchio and Ryan Dalziel said they had to go flat-out from start to finish to secure their victory.
The Starworks HPD drivers were chased to the flag by Mathias Beche, Christophe Tinseau and Pierre Thiriet in the #46 TDS ORECA-Nissan. The trio said that the race was even faster than 2011 – when Kimber-Smith won with the Greaves team – and that if they had encountered any problems at all they would not have won.
"This was the first year that it was a flat-out race," Kimber-Smith told AUTOSPORT. "Last year was pretty quick but you drove with something in reserve but this year we didn't, it was a purely flat-out race."
He added: "There were eight cars on the same lap for most of it and even at the end second place was very close behind."
Dalziel reckoned he had run qualifying-style laps all race.
"The equipment is built so well now that it has to be a sprint race," he said. "Other than maybe the last hour we were doing qualifying laps the whole time.
"If any of the P2 cars that finished on the podium had a problem, they wouldn't have been there."