news: Toyota eases to victory as Aussie ace snags podium

Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pic: PSP Images

Toyota has dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans while Australian James Allen stole third place in LMP2 class almost in sight of the flag.

Save for a few minor scares during the course of the encounter, the #7 entry of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez controlled the race throughout.

They headed home the sister entry of Kazuki Nakajimi, Brendon Hartley, and Sebastien Buemi by two laps with the Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao, and Matthieu Vaxiviere rounding out the outright podium.

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Victory for the #7 put to rest the ghosts that have haunted that entry in recent seasons, surviving fuel pickup problems to enjoy an otherwise straight forward win.

The #8 Toyota also suffered pickup problems, along with an eventful opening few laps for Buemi that left it on the backfoot almost from the outset.

Clouted at the first corner by the #708 Glickenhaus and turned around, the car then ground to a halt on the Mulsanne.

Refired, Buemi then ran long at Mulsanne Corner before working his way back through the field to rise to second.

Team WRT claimed honours in LMP2, the #31 entry seeing the flag first after late drama befell the sister car just metres from the finish.

Ryan Briscoe was fifth for Glickenhaus, the last of the five Hypercars to the flag, one spot back from the sister car.

Leading at the time, by failing to reach the flag the #41 WRT is officially classified as a retirement, promoting the #28 JOTA entry to second and the #65 Panis Racing car of Australian ace James Allen to third in class and eighth outright.

Yifei Ye lead the class as he began the final lap of the race in the #41, however, the Chinese driver seemingly ran out of fuel as his car rolled to a halt.

WRT had commanded the class throughout the night, the #31 in charge before being overhauled by the sister-car on Sunday afternoon.

The squad looked set for a one-two finish before Ye struck drama.

It meant that, even though the Panis Racing entry of Allen, Will Stevens, and Julian Canal had completed less laps than the #41, the trio made the podium since the WRT car failed to see the chequered flag.

Ferrari was victorious in the LMGTE Pro class courtesy of the #51 AF Corse entry, followed home by the #63 Corvette Racing effort and #92 Porsche 911 RSR.

Earl Bamber, the only Antipodean in the class, failed to reach the flag, the #79 entry stopping around mid-distance when co-driver Cooper MacNeil crashed heavily during the night.

AF Corse was also victorious in LMGTE Am, with the #83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo heading the Aston Martin Vantage AMR of TF Sport, and the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari in third.

Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans, aided by Christian Ried, were fifth in class, five laps down on the race winners.

Scott Andrews, who piloted the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, failed to see the flag, completing 128 laps to be one of nine LMGTE Am retirements.

Results: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Pos	Num	Class	Team	Car	Laps
1	7	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	371
2	8	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	369
3	36	Hypercar	ALPINE ELF MATMUT	Alpine A480 – Gibson	367
4	708	Hypercar	GLICKENHAUS RACING	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	367
5	709	Hypercar	GLICKENHAUS RACING	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	364
6	31	LM P2	TEAM WRT	Oreca 07 – Gibson	363
7	28	LM P2	JOTA	Oreca 07 – Gibson	363
8	65	LM P2	PANIS RACING	Oreca 07 – Gibson	362
9	23	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Oreca 07 – Gibson	361
10	34	LM P2	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION	Oreca 07 – Gibson	360
11	48	LM P2	IDEC SPORT	Oreca 07 – Gibson	359
12	26	LM P2	G-DRIVE RACING	Aurus 01 – Gibson	358
13	38	LM P2	JOTA	Oreca 07 – Gibson	358
14	30	LM P2	DUQUEINE TEAM	Oreca 07 – Gibson	357
15	21	LM P2 P/A	DRAGONSPEED USA	Oreca 07 – Gibson	356
16	29	LM P2 P/A	RACING TEAM NEDERLAND	Oreca 07 – Gibson	356
17	70	LM P2 P/A	REALTEAM RACING	Oreca 07 – Gibson	356
18	20	LM P2 P/A	HIGH CLASS RACING	Oreca 07 – Gibson	353
19	39	LM P2 P/A	SO24-DIROB BY GRAFF	Oreca 07 – Gibson	352
20	51	LM GTE Pro	AF CORSE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	345
21	63	LM GTE Pro	CORVETTE RACING	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	345
22	92	LM GTE Pro	PORSCHE GT TEAM	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	344
23	91	LM GTE Pro	PORSCHE GT TEAM	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	343
24	44	LM P2 P/A	ARC BRATISLAVA	Oreca 07 – Gibson	342
25	83	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	340
26	33	LM GTE Am	TF SPORT	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	339
27	80	LM GTE Am	IRON LYNX	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	338
28	74	LM P2 P/A	RACING TEAM INDIA EURASIA	Ligier JSP217 – Gibson	338
29	49	LM P2 P/A	HIGH CLASS RACING	Oreca 07 – Gibson	336
30	60	LM GTE Am	IRON LYNX	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	335
31	77	LM GTE Am	DEMPSEY – PROTON RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	335
32	84	CDNT	ASSOCIATION SRT41	Oreca 07 – Gibson	334
33	777	LM GTE Am	D’STATION RACING	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	333
34	18	LM GTE Am	ABSOLUTE RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	332
35	95	LM GTE Am	TF SPORT	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	332
36	85	LM GTE Am	IRON LYNX	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	332
37	52	LM GTE Pro	AF CORSE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	331
38	69	LM GTE Am	HERBERTH MOTORSPORT	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	330
39	54	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	329
40	22	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	Oreca 07 – Gibson	328
41	71	LM GTE Am	INCEPTION RACING	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	327
42	88	LM GTE Am	DEMPSEY – PROTON RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	327
43	86	LM GTE Am	GR RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	322
44	64	LM GTE Pro	CORVETTE RACING	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	313
45	41	LM P2	TEAM WRT	Oreca 07 – Gibson	362
46	82	LM P2	RISI COMPETIZIONE	Oreca 07 – Gibson	275
47	388	LM GTE Am	RINALDI RACING	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	271
48	24	LM P2 P/A	PR1 MOTORSPORTS MATHIASEN	Oreca 07 – Gibson	261
49	72	LM GTE Pro	HUB AUTO RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	227
50	79	LM GTE Pro	WEATHERTECH RACING	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	139
51	46	LM GTE Am	TEAM PROJECT 1	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	138
52	57	LM GTE Am	KESSEL RACING	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	128
53	66	LM GTE Am	JMW MOTORSPORT	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	117
54	55	LM GTE Am	SPIRIT OF RACE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	109
55	25	LM P2 P/A	G-DRIVE RACING	Aurus 01 – Gibson	108
56	47	LM GTE Am	CETILAR RACING	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	90
57	56	LM GTE Am	TEAM PROJECT 1	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	84
58	32	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Oreca 07 – Gibson	75
59	1	LM P2	RICHARD MILLE RACING TEAM	Oreca 07 – Gibson	74
60	99	LM GTE Am	PROTON COMPETITION	Porsche 911 RSR – 19	66
61	98	LM GTE Am	ASTON MARTIN RACING	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	45