Toyota takes Le Mans victory, Alonso wins on debut

Toyota clinched its long-awaited maiden victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in style by storming to a one-two finish, led by the #8 TS050 Hybrid shared by Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso.

Two years on from its last-lap heartbreak and in its 20th overall appearance at Le Mans, Toyota finally broke its hoodoo at the Circuit de la Sarthe as it faced little opposition from the non-hybrid LMP1 rivals, finishing with a 12-lap buffer at the front of the field.

Toyota's pace advantage was such that the battle for victory boiled down to its two cars, with the race swinging in favour of the #7 car shared by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez as night fell when the #8 crew was hit with a stop/go penalty for going too quickly during a slow-zone period.

On his Le Mans debut, two-time F1 world champion Alonso produced one of the stand-out stints of the race as he cut a two-minute gap down to just 30 seconds through the night, before handing over to Nakajima, who took the lead of the race as dawn broke.

Buemi was then able to pull out an advantage through his stint, with Alonso then consolidating the lead at around 90 seconds before a fuel shortage after a miscommunication forced the #7 Toyota to slow, causing it to drop a lap down.

Penalties for exceeding the permitted amount of fuel and the allowed number of laps in a stint added insult to injury for the #7 crew, leaving Nakajima to ease through the closing stages of race before crossing the line to take Toyota's long-awaited first win at Le Mans.

The result marked Nakajima and Buemi's first victory at Le Mans, coming as redemption following their agonising defeat in the closing minutes of the 2016 race.

For Alonso, it saw him become the first active F1 driver to win Le Mans since Nico Hulkenberg's victory with Porsche in 2015, as well as completing the second leg of his 'triple crown of motorsport' on debut. The Spaniard joins Juan Pablo Montoya as the only other active driver to have completed two parts of the triple crown, requiring victory at the Indianapolis 500 to emulate Graham Hill.

Rebellion Racing finished as the leading non-hybrid privateer in LMP1, claiming an overall podium finish with the #3 Rebellion R13 shared by Gustavo Menezes, Thomas Laurent and Mathias Beche in P3. The sister #1 Rebellion finished fourth overall as the remainder of the LMP1 field hit serious trouble, with the next-highest car finishing down in 43rd position.

Jenson Button's Le Mans debut offered little in the way of success as an early sensor problem left the #SMP Racing entry in the garage through the early hours before returning to the track. Button's race ended in the final hour due to an engine failure, forcing him to park up at the side of the track.

Jean-Eric Vergne led G-Drive Racing to a dominant victory in the LMP2 class as the #26 Oreca 07 Gibson finished two laps clear of its rivals, teaming up with Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola. A mighty first stint from Vergne saw him take the lead at the first round of pit stops before lapping two-to-three seconds per lap faster than the rest of the LMP2s, creating an advantage that never wavered before the chequered flag. Signatech Alpine Matmut finished second in class with the #36 Alpine A470, with Graff-SO24 completing the class podium in P3.

Porsche celebrated its 70th anniversary in style by sweeping to a one-two finish in GTE-Pro, led by the #92 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. After an early battle with the sister #91 Porsche, a fortunate early Safety Car created a lead for the pink-liveried #92 Porsche that was never overturned, with the difference being almost one minute at the flag.

Frederic Makowiecki, Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni managed to take second after a tense battle with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing in the final quarter of the race, eventually holding on for P2 ahead of the #68 Ford GT, with Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Müller and Joey Hand completing the class podium.

Porsche also tasted success in GTE-Am courtesy of its Dempsey-Proton Racing customer team as Matt Campbell, Christian Ried and Julien Andlauer dominated proceedings in the #77 Porsche 911 RSR to finish one lap clear of the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE. Keating Motorsports completed the class podium with the #85 Ferrari, having lost P2 in class in the final two hours after a mistake at Mulsanne.

The next round of the FIA World Endurance Championship 'super season' takes place at Silverstone on August 19.