Ferrari took the Le Mans 24 Hours limelight with a stunning victory on its return to the Circuit de la Sarthe but the real fairytale of the legendary race came in the LMP2 category. Minnow outfit Inter Europol Competition from Poland had never won a race in the World Endurance Championship until crossing the finish line on Sunday, with the driver line-up of Fabio Scherer, Jakub Smiechowski and Albert Costa guiding the #34 to victory. Scherer, in particular, wrote his name into Le Mans folklore with a heroic effort whilst injured. The Swiss was the standout performer for the team, despite his braking foot becoming injured in a bizarre incident. The pit lane was just able to cram 62 cars into its confines for the Centenary edition of the race, but the lack of space proved costly when Scherer's foot was run over by the #33 Corvette Racing entry during the early stages. Yet Scherer battled on to eventually take the chequered flag for the #34 crew and he told Eurosport in the aftermath: "The adrenaline is so high that I don't feel anything. But for sure it will be not good. "I prefer that and winning the race than the opposite way around. "It is unbelievable. It was so hard fighting until the last second and for a private team from Poland, they have won their first race now, it is unbelievable."
'You need to have some luck'
The drama didn't stop with Scherer's foot injury as the team battled a door issue that impacted driver changes at pit stops, as well as a radio communication blackout in the final hour of running. This was all whilst the team was under investigation for multiple alleged infractions by race control, though no action was taken. On the radio troubles, Scherer explained: "For sure, it didn't help, but at the end, I said I just need to go flat out. "There was nothing else. We spoke about it before in the box and we were not even sure if we could change drivers because the door wouldn't open properly. "But at Le Mans, sometimes, you need to have some luck. "It was hard work, more or less one year flat out working. Last year, we built up the team a bit different with new people around Le Mans and now we have won it, it is unbelievable."
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