Eastwood third at Le Mans 24 Hours with Corvette

Third place secured a third Le Mans podium in six attempts for Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood

Northern Ireland's Charlie Eastwood has claimed a podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race by finishing third in the LMGT3 class.

Eastwood, who won the famous race in 2020, was third in his TF Sport run Corvette with team-mates Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy.

The number #81 crew finished the 24-hour race 71 seconds off the race-winning LMGT3 #92 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 of Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera.

Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera were second in the #21 AF Course Ferrari.

Eastwood, Andrade and van Rompuy started in sixth place and ran on the fringes of the top 10 in the first half of the race.

However, as night fell over the Circuit de la Sarthe, the team moved into podium contention as Eastwood put in a charge.

They consolidated third place in the morning, and Eastwood took the chequered flag in the Corvette after holding off a late challenge from Heart of Racing's Mattia Drudi.

It is a third Le Mans podium for Eastwood, who described it as his "dream" race, after his victory in 2020 and a second-place finish two years ago.

The #83 Ferrari Hypercar of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yeifei Ye claimed overall victory, ahead of the #6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Matt Campbell and Laurens Vanthoor, while the Ferrari of James Colado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi was third.