Multiple wins at Le Mans Classic for Olly Bryant 3rd July 2022

Despite having raced on the Le Mans circuit on numerous occasions over the years, including twice in the Le Mans 24 Hours (2016 & 2017), 2022 was Olly’s first participation in the Le Mans Classic as a competitor in the main grids. An appearance with Historika in the last running of the event (pre CV-19) at the helm of their 1964 901 yielded a strong finish in the Porsche 70th Anniversary Race. For this year’s event, Olly was again driving for Historika in the Porsche Classic race, this time, at the wheel of their 1971 911 ST, a famous car once driven by Gerrard Larousse. Olly finished a credible 10th overall in the 80 car field, 2nd in class and first car on treaded tyres. The car ran faultlessly and Olly would like to thank Historika for the opportunity to drive such a wonderful car. 

Olly also competed in the Endurance Racing Legends race, qualifying first in class and 8th overall in the strong 65 car grid. The lap time of 3m59.991 set by Olly in qualifying 2, was very impressive given that the 1995 Roush powered Mustang was the old car inside the top 10 and second fastest GT car in the session behind a Maserati MC12. Olly finished an impressive 10th overall , retaining the class lead, in the 45 minute race where tyre wear hampered the Mustang’s performance. 

For the main event, Olly drove the family Lotus 15 in grid 3 (plateau 3). Olly recorded the best ever lap time for a Lotus 15 at Le Mans to line up 4th on the grid with a time of 4.48.824s. In night practice, Olly put his experience of racing at Le Mans to good use and was quickest in the session. Races 1 and 2 , took place in darkness, and Olly was triumphant in both, winning by 32 seconds over Harrison Newey’s in Joe Macari’s D Type Jaguar in race 1, and by 3.4 seconds from the Hallusa Ferrari 250 “Breadvan” in race 2. With this comfortable margin after the first two legs, Olly could afford to take it more steadily in the final race and preserve the car, this final encounter was won by James Cottingham and Max Girardo in the Ecurie Ecosse Tojiero Jaguar. Olly finished 2nd on the road, beating all other rivals to claim overall plateau 3 honours over 1 minute from Newey, with Cottingham and Girardo a further 65 seconds back. In this final race, Olly bettered the Lotus 15 lap record by recording a time of 4m45.805s. Thanks to Clive, Shane and Sam for their efforts in preparing and supporting the car throughout this gruelling event.