Olympic cycling legend Chris Hoy realizes dream by finishing Le Mans - MotorSportsTalk

Olympic cycling legend Chris Hoy realized a life-long dream on Sunday as he finished the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 17th place.

Hoy competed at four Olympic Games for Great Britain, culminating in London four years ago when he became the nation’s most successful Olympian by winning a sixth gold medal.

Hoy retired from cycling in 2013 and turned his attention to motorsport, joining Nissan in the British GT championship the following year with a view to racing at Le Mans in 2016.

Three years of training came to fruition earlier this year when Nissan confirmed he would be joining Algarve Pro Racing for Le Mans in the LMP2 class.

Hoy completed three stints during the 24-hour race as he and teammates Michael Munemann and Andrea Pizzitola took the No. 25 to 17th overall and 12th in class.

Given the nature of Toyota’s agonizing defeat at the front of the field, Hoy admitted he was relieved to have finished the race.

“Just when you think you’ve seen everything a race has to offer. Right at the death of the race, you see something else happen,” Hoy said.

“Incredible. The Toyota pulls over, the disappointment, heartbreaking scenes in their garage, the delight in the Porsche garage – an amazing race.

“And for us, to see Andrea crossing the line, to see everything that meant for the team was amazing.”

Hoy cast his mind back to when he took his first laps in a car during a track day at Oulton Park, a club circuit in the UK, which had led to him racing at one of motorsport’s greatest events.

“Thinking about starting out at Oulton Park doing track days, sitting for my test… the whole journey to get here,” Hoy said.

“There were times when I didn’t think it was going to happen and I thought – a bit like the Olympics, – thinking even if you don’t make it, you might get half-way and do something exciting.

“But even with this I thought I’d got to race British GT and European Le Mans series last year and test the LM P2 car last year so I’d already done something great.

“But we made it here to Le Mans – and we didn’t just make it. We finished the race – just amazing.”

Speaking to BBC Sport, Hoy admitted that while he has no firm plans to keep racing, he is desperate to return to Le Mans in the future.

“At the moment, this race brings my motorsport programme to an end,” he said.

“There’s nothing else in the calendar for the rest of the year, unfortunately, but I’ve got the Le Mans bug and I’m desperate to come back, do it again and improve my driving.

“As we know, racing costs money, but I’d love to come back and race again.”

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The final results from the Monster Energy Supercross race in Seattle suggests the season is turning into a two-rider battle as Eli Tomac scored his sixth win of the season to tie Cooper Webb for the points’ lead and Chase Sexton crashed in yet another race.

Tomac downplayed the neck strain that caused him to lose the red plate for two weeks, but without that holding him back, it would appear it might have been a bigger problem than he admitted. Despite finishing on the podium in Detroit, Tomac has not shown the late-race strength everyone has come to expect. He was in a slump after scoring a season-worst in Indianapolis and described his sixth win as a “bounce back”.

With this win, Tomac tied James Stewart for second on the all-time list with 50 career Supercross victories. Six rounds remain and there is no sign that Tomac is slowing down. Jeremy McGrath’s 72 wins remains untouchable, for the moment at least.

RESULTS: Click here for full 450 Overall Results; Click here for 250 Overall Results

Cooper Webb was disappointed with second-place, but he recognized the Supercross results at Seattle could have been much worse. He rode in fifth for the first nine laps of the race, behind Tomac and Sexton. When Sexton crashed from the lead and Tomac took the top spot, Webb knew he could not afford to give up that many points and so he dug deep and found enough points to share the red plate when the series returns in two weeks in Glendale, Arizona for a Triple Crown event.

Justin Barcia scored his third podium of the season, breaking out of a threeway tie of riders who have not been the presumed favorites to win the championship. Barcia scored the podium without drama or controversy. It was his fourth consecutive top-five and his 10th straight finish of eighth or better.

Click here for 450 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

Jason Anderson kept his perfect record of top-10s alive with a fourth-place finish. Tied for fourth in the standings and 49 out of the lead, his season has been like a death of a thousand cuts. He’s ridden exceptionally well, but the Big Three have simply been better.

Sexton rebounded from his fall to finish fifth. He entered the race 17 points out of the lead and lost another five in Seattle. Mistakes have cost Sexton 22 points in the last three races and that is precisely how far he is behind Tomac and Webb. Unless those two riders bobble, this deficit cannot overcome.

The rider who ties Anderson for fourth in the points, Ken Roczen finished just outside the top five in sixth after he battled for a podium position early in the race.

Click here for 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points

The 250 West riders got back in action after four rounds of sitting on the sideline and Jett Lawrence picked up where he left of: in Victory Lane. Lawrence now has four wins and a second-place finish in five rounds. One simply doesn’t get close to perfection than that.

Between them, the Lawrence brothers have won all but two races though 11 rounds. Jett failed to win the Anaheim Triple Crown and Hunter Lawrence failed to win the Arlington Triple Crown format in the 250 East division. In two weeks, the series has their final Triple Crown race in Glendale. When he was reminded of this from the top of the Seattle podium, Jett replied, “oof”.

Click here for 250 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

RJ Hampshire finished second in the race and is second in the points. This is fourth time in five rounds that Hampshire finished second to Lawrence. If not for a crash-induced 11th-place finish in the Arlington Triple Crown, he would be much closer in the points standings. With that poor showing, he is 23 points behind Lawrence.

Cameron McAdoo made a lot of noise in his heat. Riding aggressively beside Larwence, the two crashed in the preliminary. McAdoo could never seem to get away from Hampshire in the Main and as the two battled, the leader got away. It would have been interesting to see how they would have raced head-to-head when points were on the line.

Click here for 250 Overall results | 250 West Rider Points | 250 Combined Rider Points

The Supercross results in Seattle were kind to a couple of riders on the cusp of the top five. Enzo Lopes scored his second top-five and fourth top-10 of the season after crossing the finish line fourth in Seattle.

Tying his best finish of the season for the third time, Max Vohland kept his perfect record of top-10s alive. Vohland is seventh in the points.

2023 Results

Round 11: Eli Tomac bounces back with sixth win
Round 10: Chace Sexton wins, penalized
Round 9: Ken Roczen wins
Round 8: Eli Tomac wins 7th Daytona
Round 7: Cooper Webb wins second race
Race 6: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence win
Race 5: Webb, Hunter Lawrence win
Race 4: Tomac, H Lawrence win
Race 3: Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen win
Race 2: Tomac, J Lawrence win
Round 1: Tomac, J Lawrence win