Toyota win 24 Hours of Le mans for the sixth time

Credit: Toyota

A final hour showdown has concluded with the No.7 achieving Toyota's sixth Le Mans win - their first since 2022. Inter Europol dominated the LMP2 class with a one-two finish led by the No.43 car and the No.33 TF Sport Corvette topped the LMGT3 class.

As it happened

After the 18 hour mark, the race was marked by another safety car intervention, as a loss of steering caused Ayhancan Güven to crash the No.91 Manthey Porsche heavily at the first Mulsanne chicane bringing out the Safety Car.

A short while later the leading the No.50 Ferrari's race was also over, as Miguel Molina was forced to stop at Tertre Rouge, putting an end to a valiant effort which would have resulted in a good points finish.

Credit: Alpine

The No.36 Alpine was also wheeled into the garage for repairs, losing a lap in the process before heading back out to rejoin the queue. The race resumed shortly after the 19 hour mark, with the No.20 BMW leading the way from the No.12 Cadillac and the two Toyotas.

That was up until the BMW's next pit stop, with it ending up fourth afterwards and losing time to the Cadillac and the two Toyotas.

Around and after the 20 hour mark, the on track battle for the lead heated up, as the leading No.12 Cadillac was being pressured by the two Toyota cars, the No.8 ahead of the No.7, with the No.20 BMW around 10 seconds behind the trio.

All four cars were on relatively similar fuel loads, which made things a lot more exciting. As interest at the front peaked, there was also some for the LMP2 class, where the leading No.30 Duqueine was leading, although only 4.5 seconds ahead of the No.343 Inter Europol car, which in turn was pressured by the sister No.43 car for second.

The No.8 Toyota and the No.20 BMW were the first to bail into the pits after the end of lap 319, with Ryo Hirakawa and Robin Frijns giving their place to Brendon Hartley and Sheldon van der Linde respectively, as the two other leaders entered at the end of the very next lap.

Interestingly the No.12 Cadillac did not change tyres or drivers at that point, with Norman Nato remaining aboard and Nyck de Vries took over the No.7 Toyota from Kamui Kobayashi.

At that same point the No.343 Inter Europol LMP2 of Reshad de Gerus dived past the No.30 Duqueine of Richard Verschoor to get the class lead, in what was still a pretty exciting three-way battle after so many hours.

The No.30 Duqueine's win chances later evaporated, as Verschoor stopped on the Mulsanne, with the Dutchman saying through radio that his brakes ''exploded''. This meant an Inter Europol Competition 1-2 was theirs to lose, with a Full Course Yellow called for the stranded Oreca.

Hartley executed the return to green flag condition to perfection, grabbing the lead off of Nato seconds after the end of the FCY, with the Toyota's fresher tyres surely giving a helping hand. Nato subsequently fell victim to the second Toyota of De Vries, after a perfectly executed overtake into the Mulsanne corner.

The two Toyotas then rapidly started dropping the No.12 Cadillac of Nato, who was over three seconds behind. There was some intra-team discussions at this point, as a car swap did not materialise on track, De Vries being told instead to wait until the next pit stop cycle to jump Hartley, who needed to take fresh tyres.

Credit: WEC

Surely enough, the No.8 Toyota pit for fuel and tyres, alongside the fourth placed No.20 BMW, with luck intervening, as at the same point, the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin stopped with a drivetrain issue.

Yellow flags turned into a short FCY, which threw a wrench in the No.7 Toyota and the No.12 Cadillac's races, with the pair having to come in for a second stop, as per the rules they could not put more than eight seconds worth of fuel under these conditions.

By that stage the No.20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde had jumped the No.8 Toyota of Hartley and all of a sudden was back into contention, although the No.7 Toyota was still leading by 22 seconds after the pitstops, with the No.12 Cadillac coming off worse, as it was now fourth after changing drivers, with Will Stevens taking over from Nato.

For the following two hours a fascinating battle of strategy ensued between the top four cars, each capable of snatching victory, with the No.12 Cadillac being on an relative offset strategy, although the two Toyotas and the No.20 BMW were on the same fuel loads.

The situation slightly changed when the No.8 Toyota of - now - Buemi and the BMW complained of braking problems, with the leading No.7 Toyota of De Vries having a little moment off the road on pit entry.

With the final hour approaching, the No.7 Toyota was still leading, although under investigation for violating track limits at the pit entry, with the sister car around 14 seconds behind, as the No.20 BMW was closing in on fresher rubber and the No.12 Cadillac was in fourth, with more fuel onboard.

Trouble hit the No.009 Aston Martin around that time, with a suspected suspension failure meaning Alex Riberas had to slowly try and crawl back to the pits.

The LMP2 battle for the lead was still ongoing between the two Inter Europol cars at that point, with the No.29 Forestier Racing of Esteban Masson also closing in, making for a stunning finale for the class.

Eventually, Inter Europol swapped the cars, putting the No.43 ahead. Soon after, the No.29 overtook the No.343 and started its chase on the No.43, the No.343 re took second place in the next set of pit stops.

The No.20 BMW with Frijns behind the wheel struggled to get past the Toyota of Buemi despite his tyre advantage. With three quarters of an hour to go, Frijns finally managed to get alongside, and past Buemi on the outside of the Porsche curves.

Credit: Toyota

A lap later each of the top three came into the pits, the No.7 with a 22 second advantage to the No.20 in second place. The No.12 Cadillac used its offset strategy to pit two laps later and pick up a full tank of fuel. The jeopardy now was who could make the end of the race; the No.7 was taking huge lift and coats while the No.20 pushed on to try catch the leader.

The No.20 worked the gap down to 10 seconds, but was unable to get any closer. Kamui Kobayashi held onto the lead with the No.7 Toyota, taking a historic Le Mans victory alongside his teammates: Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway. The No.20 BMW finished second, and the No.8 completed Toyota's double podium.

Meanwhile the No.43 led an Inter Europol one-two in the LMP2 class, driven by Jakub Śmiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nick Yelloly while Johnny Edgar bought the No.33 TF Sport Corvette, that he shared with Nick Catsburg and Ben Keating, home as the LMGT3 winner.

Final order

Hypercar

1st No.7 Toyota

2nd No.20 BMW

3rd No.8 Toyota

4th No.12 Cadillac

5th No.51 Ferrari

LMP2

1st No.43 Inter Europol

2nd No.343 Inter Europol

3rd No.29 Forestier Racing by Panis

LMGT3

1st No.33 Corvette

2nd No.78 Lexus

3rd No.23 Aston Martin