Toyota wins Le Mans with historic Hypercar one-two

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez have taken victory in the 2021 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The race started behind the safety car after a rain shower and once it got fully underway there was instant drama when Sebastien Buemi was hit into a spin by Glickenhaus’ Olivier Pla.

In the mayhem, the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid escaped unharmed and started building a lead that it would not relinquish for the remainder of the race, even as both Toyotas began suffering from identical fuel flow problems that briefly saw the #8 car come to a halt with Buemi behind the wheel on Sunday morning.

The #7 car, however, maintained its lead and managed the issue to take its first win and Toyota’s fourth consecutive overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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For Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez, it finally gives them the overall Le Mans win that eluded the trio in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

It also gives Toyota the historic first Le Mans victory in the Hypercar era

Buemi, Nakajima and Hartley finished second after a strong opening stint from Buemi followed the opening lap contact allowed the #8 car to charge back up the order and find its position behind the sister car.

Alpine Elf Matmut’s Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere had a fairly straightforward run to an overall podium, with the only notable moment being a spin for Vaxiviere during the night, but the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson definitively laid claim on the final podium spot on Sunday morning.

Glickenhaus exceeded expectations by getting both 007 LMHs to the finish in two trouble-free runs. The #708 007 LMH of Pipo Derani, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Pla finished fourth with Pla recovering after the opening lap contact.

Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Romain Dumas completed the top five in the #709 007 LMH.

Heartbreak and victory for Team WRT

Team WRT claimed a remarkable LMP2 win on the Le Mans debut for the Belgian powerhouse outfit after a dramatic denouement.

The early running in LMP2 was the domain of the #38 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson, which was remarkably fast in the opening stint thanks to Antonio Felix da Costa.

However, the team’s challenge came to an end when Anthony Davidson spun into the gravel at Dunlop Chicanes, with a piece of gravel eventually puncturing the oil filter.

With United Autosports’ challenge faltering thanks in no small part to a major inter-team collision between Paul di Resta and Manuel Maldonado, Team WRT seized the lead of the race in the early evening and cemented it throughout the night when the third and final United Autosports car, the #22 ORECA, suffered an alternator failure.

The team then ran one-two throughout the night with the #31 ORECA leading the way, but its victory bid fell away on Sunday afternoon when the car encountered an air jack failure.

The complications allowed the #41 ORECA of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yifei Ye to capture the lead of the race. They looked set for the win until the car came to a halt on the final lap of the race with Ye behind the wheel.

Instead, Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi inherited the win, with the #28 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson of Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist finishing just seven-tenths of a second behind in second place.

That race to the finish line caused a frightening moment when the #31 jinked to avoid GT cars, who were behind the Toyota cars that were running a formation finish, and almost collided with the official waving the chequered flag.

Panis Racing finished third with the #65 ORECA of Julien Canal, Will Stevens and James Allen classifying ahead of the #23 United Autosports ORECA of Paul di Resta, Alex Lynn and Wayne Boyd, which finished fourth after fighting back following the crash on Saturday night.

AF Corse take first GTE Pro win since 2019

Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Come Ledogar have taken victory in GTE Pro.

After the chaotic race start, the various Porsche runners fell away, leaving Ferrari and Corvette free to fight over the lead in class.

While Corvette had the upper hand initially, Ferrari captured the race lead in the second hour of the race. The two cars ran one-two initially, but the #51 car laid claim to the class lead in the early evening with the #63 Corvette C8.R slotting in behind.

The #52 Ferrari then saw its podium hopes dashed with suspension troubles and later a puncture for Sam Bird.

The #51 Ferrari, meanwhile maintained its lead and kept a gap to the Corvette to win, taking its first GTE Pro win since 2019 and a second major sportscar win in a span of weeks after already winning the Spa 24 Hours.

Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nick Catsburg finished second in the #63 Corvette, with the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen recovering after a difficult opening stint to finish third.

The #91 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Fred Makowiecki finished fourth, with the #52 Ferrari of Daniel Serra, Miguel Molina and Sam Bird finishing 52nd overall.

The #64 Corvette finished as the last of the overall runners, with the #72 HubAuto Racing and #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 retiring with transmission failure and crash damage respectively.

AF Corse completes sweep with GTE Am win

Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera have also taken top honours for AF Corse in GTE Am.

The #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo made its way to the front of the class in the early hours of the race before definitely laying stake on the lead in the eighth hour and staid there throughout the night and daylight running on Sunday.

The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga finished second in class, with third place going to the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Le Mans debutant Callum Ilott.

The #60 sister car of Claudio Schiavoni, Paulo Ruberti and Raffaele Gianmaria made it two cars for the Italian squad in the top five, with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Christian Ried, Jaxon Evans and Matt Campbell completing the top five.