At its 20th attempt, Toyota Gazoo Racing made an historic first win at the 86th Le Mans 24 Hours.
Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Fernando Alonso in the #8 TS050 HYBRID started from pole position and took the chequered flag after 388 tense and often dramatic laps at the Circuit de La Sarthe to extend their lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and José María López, led for long periods in the #7 TS050 HYBRID, spurring a perfect result for TOYOTA with second place in front of 256,900 fans.
Toyota—which had entered 47 cars at Le Mans prior to this weekend’s race and finished on the podium six times—became the only second Japanese manufacturer to win at La Sarthe, while Kazuki is the first Japanese driver to win in a Japanese car.
“Thank you for driving all out! Please let me direct these words to our drivers, who drove our cars for the longest distance at Le Mans, finally in our 20th challenge,” said Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation. “At the same time, I would like to say the same to our cars, completing 388 laps, approximately 5,300km. And thank you very much for letting us and our drivers drive all out!”
With their enhanced hybrid-electric technology, Toyota Gazoo Racing colleagues from Higashi-Fuji and Cologne won this weekend’s race using 35 percent less fuel than in 2012, when it returned to endurance racing.
The two TS050 HYBRIDs were evenly matched throughout the 5,286km and swapped places several times during a race which featured its share of drama for the leaders.
Two stop-go penalties for the #8 car, compared to one for the sister car, required an impressive night time stint from Fernando to come back into contention on a day when all drivers performed exceptionally in a high-pressure environment.
A late fuel issue dropped the #7 car off the lead lap so Kazuki took the chequered flag for the #8 with a lead of two laps. The #3 Rebellion finished third, 12 laps behind.
After a nine-week break, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will return to action on August 17-19 with the six hours of Silverstone—the third round of the 2018-2019 WEC season.
Le Mans 24 Hours result:
1st #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 388 laps
2nd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +2 laps
3rd #3 Rebellion Racing (Laurent/Beche/Menezes) +12 laps
4th #1 Rebellion Racing (Lotterer/Jani/Senna) +13 laps
5th #26 G-Drive Racing (Rusinov/Vergne/Pizzitola) +19 laps
6th #36 Signatech Alpine (Lapierre/Negrão/Thiriet) +21 laps
