Toyota’s new-look TR010 was victorious at the end of 381 laps, defeating the factory BMW M Team WRT squad of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde.
A meagre 10 seconds split the #7 Toyota TR010 and the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 while the #8 Toyota GR010 of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa was another nine seconds back in third.
RESULTS: 24 Hours of Le Mans
It’s the second Le Mans win for Kobayashi and Conway, who combined in 2021 to win with Jose Maria Lopez.
The result ended a four-year drought for Toyota too, after three straight Ferrari wins in the Hypercar era.
It’s a major milestone in De Vries’ career since being let go by F1 team AlphaTauri mid-season in 2023.
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The Dutch driver was picked up by Toyota the following year to contest the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he won at Imola in just his second start.
Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans has vaulted De Vries, Kobayashi and Conway into the lead of the drivers’ championship.
“I am incredibly grateful, relieved and happy to win Le Mans,” said De Vries.
“This is my first time to win here, so I’m delighted. It’s been a long journey this week and during the race as well.
“We had various setbacks and challenges to overcome and, frankly speaking, at times I thought we were out of contention.
“But it just shows that you can never give up. It all came together and I’m so thankful for all the work the team has done to achieve this incredible milestone.”
Toyota was not favoured to win this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, despite taking out the season-opening 6 Hours of Imola.
Cadillac took provisional pole position until a procedural infringement denied the #38 V-Series.R top spot for the start of the race. Instead, it was the #15 BMW M Team WRT that started from first.
Experience and strategy proved powerful for the Japanese marque. An early undercut put the two Toyotas in contention, surging the #8 from 15th on the grid to the lead of the race while the #7 made headway into the top 10 from 14th.
A Safety Car with five hours to go neutralised the race. At that point, the #20 BMW led the #12 Cadillac with the #7 and #8 Toyotas behind them.
With four hours and 30 minutes remaining, Frijns brought his BMW to the pits but locked up entering the lane, skipping through the gravel.
Once BMW’s rivals pitted, it was the Cadillac that led the two Toyotas.
The ultimate pace of the Toyotas was superior to the Cadillac and, with just under three and a half hours to go, the #8 TR010 went past the #12 V-Series.R at the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight.
It wasn’t long after that the #7 TR010 followed suit, executing a block pass at the end of the Mulsanne.
A tyre advantage ultimately paid dividends for the #7 car. With just under three hours remaining they swapped positions when the #8 pitted and the #7 ran long.
It was only inside the final hour that the BMW made up its lost time, splitting the teammates when it got to second by passing the #8 Toyota.
New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley was left to rue an off-track moment in the night and penalties that took them out of the race for the win.
“It was an up and down race, as usual here,” said Hartley.
“We led for a long time and had a big gap at one point before the Safety Car. We had some good luck and some bad luck.
“Ultimately, it didn’t work out for our car. We fought really hard until the end and my team-mates did a fantastic job.
“I am genuinely happy for the whole team, for the #7 crew and the drivers. It’s an emotional moment.”
Team principal and driver Kobayashi welcomed the drought-breaking win for Toyota.
“It was very challenging for us, but we never gave up,” said Kobayashi.
“Car #7 has had a lot of second places at Le Mans but finally we got our second win. We have waited so long for this victory and it feels amazing.
“The whole week was not easy, including the race which was not smooth.
“We had a puncture early and that made it tough for us. But Mike, Nyck, our engineers and our pit crew did a great job. It was an incredible day.
“Thank you to everyone who made it happen, including all the fans who make this such a special event.”
While Hartley celebrated third, compatriots Nick Cassidy and Earl Bamber had days to forget.
Cassidy was 12th and five laps off the lead in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 with Paul Di Resta and Stoffel Vandoorne.
“These 24 hours were extremely tough,” said Cassidy.
“The team was incredible — absolutely relentless and flawless operationally.
“It only strengthens our determination to come back stronger and fight for success next year.
“We’re already looking ahead to Le Mans 2027.”
Earl Bamber failed to finish in the #38 Jota Sports Cadillac V.Series-R after being hit by power steering problems in the night.
As for the Australians, James Allen finished 10th in LMP2 and third in Pro-Am in the #99 AO by TF Oreca alongside PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron.
Jack Doohan finished last in class and 20 laps down after the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca suffered mechanical issues.
Yasser Shahin finished 13th in LMGT3 with Richard Leitz and Ricardo Pera. His #92 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R befell a tie rod failure and the finished six laps down.
Martin Berry failed to finish in the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3. He spun and hit a wall at the first of the two chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight before a suspension failure ended his race with Rui Andrade and Maxime Martin after 65 laps.
The FIA World Endurance Championship continues with the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo on July 13 (AEST).
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