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Sir Chris Hoy finishes 17th at 24 Hours of Le Mans (+ videos)

Six-times Olympic track cycling champion fulfills his motorsport dream

Sir Chris Hoy has completed this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans  race, fulfilling the ambition he set himself two years ago when it was announced that he was being fast-tracked through Nissan’s advanced driver development programme.

The 40-year-old was competing in the LMP2 class at the event in the Loire region, where along with Michael Munemann and Andrea Pizzitola he was one of three drivers of Algarve Pro Racing’s Ligier JS P2 – Nissan

The trio – like their support crew, all new to the event – finished 17th of the 60 starters.

There was late drama at the head of the field when with just five minutes left, the car that looked set to take victory – a Toyota, looking to become just the second Japanese manufacturer to win the race – suffered a power failure, the win going instead to the Porsche that had been trailing it by 90 seconds.

Before the race, Hoy said: “I'm excited, nervous, everything rolled into one."

Here’s a video of Hoy talking about his preparations for one of the most gruelling challenges in motorsport, while you can find a full album following him and his team mates at Le Mans on Flickr.

Hoy is Great Britain’s most successful ever Olympian with six gold medals to his name, the last of those coming in the keirin at London 2012.

Coincidentally, the winner of the women’s keirin four years ago, Victoria Pendleton, has also switched sports and earlier this year competed in the Foxhunters’ Chase at horse racing’s Cheltenham Festival, finishing a very creditable fifth.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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6 comments

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Wookie | 7 years ago
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Must admit I wanted Webber or Toyota to win and got neither 

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Leviathan | 7 years ago
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Make it a Biathlon with the cycling event and he is sure to win.

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bobbinogs | 7 years ago
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Is this anything to do with cycling?

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Danger Dicko replied to bobbinogs | 7 years ago
2 likes
Bobbinogs wrote:

Is this anything to do with cycling?

There's always one.

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therevokid | 7 years ago
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felt sorry for Kazuki and Hughes ... talk about kick in the B4lls after 23:57 of flat

out racing ... Chapeau to Chris and his team though.

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Yorkshire wallet | 7 years ago
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At least he finished!

I couldn't believe that Toyota disaster. Some serious Japanese poker faces in the garage there.

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