Yelloly's speed was almost Inter Europol's undoing at Le Mans

Nick Yelloly's speed behind the wheel of an ORECA 07-Gibson was a contributing factor in Inter Europol Competition's second Le Mans LMP2 win in three years.

But his speed was also nearly the team's downfall in the final hour, in a way.

On what should have been the No. 43 Inter Europol ORECA's penultimate pit stop, Yelloly went four kilometers per hour over the pit lane speed limit and was given a drive-through penalty while holding a narrow lead over the second-place No. 48 VDS Panis Racing car.

"I knew I'd made a mistake," Yelloly recalled after the race. "I locked the rear going to the pit lane, just trying to make a little bit more time so we were safer with our fuel numbers. And yeah, obviously I was pretty annoyed at myself. I won't repeat what I said in the helmet, but it was quite angry."

It was the second pit lane error of consequence for the No. 43 car while Yelloly was at the wheel. Just a little over five hours into the race, Yelloly missed his pit box and pulled into the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage's stall, two places ahead of where he should have been.

The incident cost him over a minute and handed the lead to the No. 48 VDS Panis car, though a safety car later that night would help put Yelloly, Tom Dillmann, and Jakub Smiechowski in position to retake the lead, seemingly for good, until the drive-through was served with 25 minutes to go.

Unbelievably, after VDS Panis Racing's Esteban Masson took the lead, the No. 48 car suffered a left-front suspension problem with 20 minutes to go, and his pace rapidly fell off, allowing Yelloly to catch and pass him with ease.

"Unfortunately for them, they, I think they had some suspension issue. I could see them almost selecting reverse and coming back to me," he explained.

It was a terrible break for one side, and unbelievable fortune for another. And while Inter Europol's first win at Le Mans in 2023 was seen as a massive shock, this year, the No. 43 team that led two-thirds of the race perhaps cemented the famous "racing bakers of Poland" as an elite team in LMP2 racing, both in Europe, and now in North America via IMSA.

As Yelloly put it afterwards: "This time, Le Mans chose us, and I'm obviously very happy and fortunate for that to be the case this time. And I'm looking forward very much to coming back again."