LE MANS, France (AP) — Toyota bested BMW and Cadillac in a close, race-long fight to win the Le Mans 24-hour race for the sixth time Sunday in global endurance racing's showpiece event.
The No. 7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries had been a distant fourth Sunday morning but Kobayashi seized his chance when the safety car bunched up the field with six hours remaining.
Kobayashi delivered a series of fast laps to surge into the lead and the team controlled the pace after that for Toyota’s first win since a run of five in a row ended in 2022.
“Even in the first couple of hours we thought it wasn’t looking good,” Conway said before joining De Vries and Kobayashi for celebrations atop the car. “We just stuck in there.”
Ferrari had won the last three Le Mans 24-hour races but didn't come close this year, with its best car fifth.
The BMW team of Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns and Rene Rast was second, missing out on what would have been the German manufacturer's first win since 1999.
The No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa led through Saturday evening before dropping back in the night, and placed third.
Cadillac was in the fight for a first win through to Sunday morning. It eventually had to settle for fourth for its No. 12 crew of Louis Deletraz, Will Stevens and Norman Nato after Cadillac's other two entries hit trouble overnight.
The Inter Europol team of Tom Dillmann, Jakub Smiechowski and Nick Yelloly won the LMP2 class, while Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating won the GT3 class in a Corvette.
Former F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin was in the lead of the LMP2 class Sunday morning and on course for a landmark win for a female driver, alongside teammates Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor, but a brake failure ended her team’s challenge later in the day.
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The Associated Press
