Toyota Wins 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours; Fernando Alonso Wins On Debut

Toyota has finally taken its first-ever win at the Le Mans 24 Hours with the No. 8 race car. The Le Mans 24 Hours win eluded Toyota several times in the past, especially the last lap debacle in 2016, but the team managed to get it right this time with a 1-2 finish. The No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid came in second with both cars dominating the race right from the start over the other LMP1 rivals. The No. 8 Toyota was driven by Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, and also marks Alonso's debut win at Le Mans. The No. 7 Toyota was driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez.

(No. 8 Toyota drivers Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Buemi)

Both the Toyota TS050 Hybrids led the race right from the start and were quick to distance themselves from the remainder of the grid. The battle largely brewed between the two Toyotas through the race, but the No. 8 machine took the lead in the 16th hour and held on to the lead. It also helped that Alonso's pulled a fast night stint that compensated for the 60 seconds stop-and-go penalty earned by Buemi for speeding in a slow zone. The No. 8 Toyota further received an advantage when Jose Maria Lopez spun on the Dunlop chicane with little over three hours left in the race.

(No. 7 Toyota TS050 finish laps behind their sister car)

Things went further wrong for the No. 7 Toyota in the final hours when the Kobayashi missed his lap to pit for fuel, which led to the car receiving more penalties for exceeding the mandated 11-lap stint. This meant that Nakajima crossed the finish line with a lead of two laps over Kobayashi, taking Toyota's first-ever win at Le Mans.

Meanwhile, Rebellion Racing's R-13 Gibsons went on to finish third and fourth respectively, emerging as the strongest privateers in the LMP1 class. The No. 3 Rebellion was driven by Gustavo Menezes, Thomas Laurent and Mathias Beche and lead the race over its sister car. The No. 1 Rebellion, on the other hand, was driven by Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna, and lost precious time after a door came loose in the closing stages, followed by penalties for exceeding stint length. The finished a distant 3-4, by a gap of 12 and 13 laps respectively over the leading Toyota.

(The No. 11 SMP Racing LMP1 car retired with just 50 minutes to go and with Jenson Button at the wheel)

The Ginetta G60-LT-P1 piloted by Leo Roussel, Michael Simpson and Charles Robertson was the only other LMP1 finisher, as both the SMP Racing BR1 cars, No. 10 DragonSpeed BR1, the No. 6 Ginetta and the No. 4 ByKolles retired before completing the race. The second BR1 driven by Mikhail Aleshin, Vitaly Petrov, and Jenson Button retired with just 50 minutes left, after spending some time in the garage.

Finishing fifth was the No. 26 Oreca 07 piloted by Jean-Eric Vergne, Andrea Pizzitola and Romain Rusinov and lead the race in LMP2 class. The No. 26 Oreca dropped down to sixth in the opening hour but managed to lead the race after the first round of pitstops, and played safe through the 24-hour stint with no breakdowns, unscheduled stops on mishaps. Finishing sixth, two laps later was the No. 36 Signatech-Alpine driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet.

Porsche took a 1-2 finish in the GTE Pro Class at Le Mans 24 Hours 2018)

In the GTE Pro class, Porsceh claimed the win with the 911 RSRs claiming a 1-2 finish. The No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor had led the race by over a minute over the sister car and was comfortably ahead of its rivals for most of the race finishing by a gap of over 2 minutes. The No. 68 Ford GT finished third, ahead of the No. 67 Ford GT and No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C7R.

In the GTE Am class, the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche crew of Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried and Matt Campbell won this year, with a lead over under two minutes over the No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari. The No. 77 Porsche positioned itself in the lead in the early parts of the race, with the Ferraris at the back. The No. 85 Risi/Keating Ferrari did pose a threat to the Porsche in the morning hours, but the car slid off into the Mulsanne corner in the 22nd hour ending its run. The incident promoted the Spirit of Race Ferrari driven by Giancarlo Fisichella, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci to second.