Le Mans 24 Hours race: China’s first winner Ye Yifei says he is in dreamland
‘In China, the car industry has come a long way,’ Ye Yifei says after victory with Robert Kubica’s AF Corse team
Ye Yifei said he felt like he was dreaming after becoming China’s first winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race with Robert Kubica’s AF Corse team in France late on Sunday.
In a thrilling 93rd edition of the race, the top four were separated by just over 20 seconds going into the final 15 minutes.
Former Formula One driver Kubica of Poland and his co-drivers Ye and Britain’s Philip Hanson finished just 14.084 seconds ahead of a Porsche driven by Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor.
Victory by AF Corse’s bright yellow “privateer” Ferrari gave the Italian marque a third consecutive win in the world’s most famous endurance race.
For Ye, it helped to erase the pain of the 2021 race, when he, Kubica and Louis Deletraz led the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category before their Team WRT Oreca suffered an engine failure on the final lap.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Ye, who first arrived in Le Mans at the age of 14 on an exchange programme to try to become a professional driver.
“It’s going to take me some time to realise everything that’s happened today. Right now I feel like I’m dreaming. Maybe in two seconds I’ll wake up and none of this will exist.