Alonso, Buemi, Nakajima claim WEC title at Le Mans

Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima have clinched the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers’ title after finishing winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid crew entered the season finale requiring a top-seven finish to wrap up the title ahead of the rival #7 Toyota car shared by Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi.

The trio wrapped up the championship in dramatic fashion after claiming a late victory at Le Mans, passing the #7 Toyota with one hour to go after a sensor failure caused the team to change the wrong tyre on the car following a puncture.

Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima took five victories across the course of the WEC super season, including both runnings of Le Mans, and finish the year 41 points clear in the final standings.

It marks Alonso’s first FIA world title since he won his most recent Formula 1 championship with Renault in 2006.

Buemi becomes a two-time WEC drivers’ champion following his success alongside Anthony Davidson in 2014, while Nakajima clinches his maiden crown.

There was world championship success for Porsche drivers Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre in GTE-Pro despite their race being hampered by an exhaust change through the night that dropped them down the order.

The #92 Porsche 911 RSR duo could only finish 10th in class, but it was enough to secure the title as the rival #91 Porsche pair of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz could only finish second, failing to make up the points gap.

In LMP2, the Signatech Alpine Matmut trio of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet sealed their class title in style by taking victory at Le Mans in the #36 Alpine A470 Gibson.

The trio defended their victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe from 2018 after a fight with G-Drive Racing was ended by an issue for the #26 Aurus 01 Gibson, leaving the Signatech crew a lap ahead of the field.

The GTE-Am title was also secured by Team Project 1 as Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti ended the race P2 overall, clinching a sixth podium of the season in the #56 Porsche 911 RSR.