It is by no means, an easy task to accomplish. You can be a big team with massive factory support, but the 24 Hours of Le Mans does not discriminate and sometimes you do need a bit of luck to cross the finish line. The stars had definitely lined up for the trio of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima as after 24 hours of racing, the #8 Toyota claims the brand’s third consecutive Le Mans victory.
LMP1
With a 5-lap difference from the #1 Rebellion Racing LMP1 driven by Gustavo Mendes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna, the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid cruised comfortably to the finish line with a definite win in their hands. It was also a moment of celebration for the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez as they placed another Toyota on the sacred podium of Le Mans.
LMP2
Down in the LMP2 class, United Autosport’s #22 of Filipe Albuquerque, Philip Hanson and Paul di Resta did not only take the class win, but they had also sealed the WEC championship with another round to go. Coming in second was the #38 Jota of Antonio Felix da Costa, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez. The #31 Panis Racing of Julien Canal, Nico Jamin and Matthieu Vaxiviere took the final LMP2 podium spot.
LMGTE Pro
Facing stiff competition, it was a huge moment of celebration for Aston Martin Racing as they secured a 1-3 finish after their #97 Vantage had beaten the likes of Ferrari and Porsche to the finish line. The #97 of Alex Lynn, Maxime Martin and Harry Tincknell fought off AF Corse’s #51 of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Daniel Serra to clinch the LMGTE Pro win.
Aston’s #95 Vantage of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Richard Westbrook finished a couple of laps behind the top two cars to take third place. The #71 AF Corse almost took the fourth place finish but they failed to finish the race after running out of fuel on the final lap.
LMGTE Am
Aston Martin also showed their strength and speed in the LMGTE Am as the #90 TF Sport of Jonathan Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc emerged victorious. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell, Riccardo Pera and Christian Ried took seconds place after fending off the #83 AF Corse Ferrari piloted by Emmanuel Collard, Nicklas Nielsen and Francois Perrodo who had finished just 3 seconds behind them.
24 Heures du Mans
