Toyota wins Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time

- Toyota Gazoo Racing celebrates its first win with a 1-2 finish

- Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima are all ex-F1 drivers

After years of valiant efforts and daring attempts, Toyota has finally broken the barrier to register its first comprehensive win at the legendary Le Mans 24 hours WEC challenge. Toyota managed a 1-2 finish competing in the LMP1 category of the World Endurance Championship.

Toyota has been gracious in its win, saying that it was a ‘shame’ that its former rivals and multiple Le Mans winners Porsche and Audi weren’t competing. Back in 2016, Toyota lost the win with the TS050 developing technical issues that resulted in a crash with just six minutes to go for the chequered flag.

Toyota has been vying for the Le Mans crown from the 90s and their first win was registered with celebrated F1 driver Fernando Alonso charging through the night to claw back the 60 seconds of penalty that Nakajima had incurred earlier in the race. The #7 car had conceded the lead to the #8 Toyota driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez before Nakajima edged past in the wee hours of the next morning.

The LMP2 class was won by G-Drive Racing’s Oreca while the GTE Pro class was won by the Porsche wearing the ‘Pink Pig’ racing livery from 1971 Le Mans.