Up until now, only one Japanese producer has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. That automaker was Mazda exactly 25 years ago with the famous, rotary-engined 787B.
Now, Toyota was surprisingly close to winning with their TS 050 car, piloted by Kazuki Nakajima, and everything ended in tears on the last lap. The Toyota ran efficiently for practically 24 hours, but to lose power and stall on the pit straight with five minutes to go, which seemed shocking. Still, the # 5 car had the ability to be restarted and limped throughout the surface line for 45th place. Toyota’s # 6 vehicle had its own set of issues, as the car got bodywork damage as well as veered off track in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi. Driven to 2nd place, the Toyota # 6 crossed the finish line driven by Stéphane Sarrazin.
For Porsche, the victory with the # 2 919 Hybrid was the 18th constructor title at Le Mans 24 Hours. The car was driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, and it proved to be more trusted than the # 1 919 with Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley behind the wheel. The # 2 Porsche and the # 5 Toyota fought for the lead throughout the day. Had the Toyota not broken down, Audi would have missed a podium finish for the very first time in 18 years, an excellent run was ruined this year by turbo trouble in the # 7 R18 e-tron Quattro driven by Lotterer-Treluyer-Fassler, and the 3rd spot was obtained by the # 8 Audi with Lucas Di Grassi driving.
