McLaren driver Fernando Alonso helped guide the Toyota Gazoo team to their maiden Le Mans 24 Hours win today. The Spaniard teamed up with former F1 drivers Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima to participate in the iconic race.
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The #8 Toyota took the lead after an impressive night time stint from Alonso. From then onwards, the #8 remained unchallenged in the final six hours of the day-long race. They led a 1-2 finish for Toyota. The #7 TS050 Hybrid sister car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez finished a lap down in 2nd. The second car suffered a fuel flow problem in the closing stages of the race.
The final podium spot went to the #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Mattias Beche, Gustavo Menezes and Thomas Laurent.
Imago
Toyota Gazoo Racing
In LMP2, it was the G-Drive Racing’s Roman Rusinov, Jean-Eric Vergne and Andrea Pizzitola emerged victorious. They beat the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut car of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet.
In third place was the #39 Graff-SO24 of Tristan Gommendy and his co-drivers. The Porsche GTE teams dominated qualifying earlier in the weekend and later the race itself. Porsche’s #92 GT Team entry in GTE Pro, with the ‘Pink Pig’ 911 RSR of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor beat fellow #91 car which finished in second place in the premier GT category.
The #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA car finished in third place in GTE Pro through the services Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Sebastien Bourdais. Ford posed a threat for second in an intense battle around the 13.626km-long circuit.
In GTE Am, actor/racer Patrick Dempsey’s #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing machine was victorious, with Matt Campbell, Julien Andlauer and Christian Ried taking the chequered flag. Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flöhr that finished in second place and 29th overall.
The #85 Ferrari 488 crew of Keating Motorsports stood on the final step of the GTE Am podium, with Jeroen Bleekemolen taking the chequered flag after 24 hours having shared driving duties with Ben Keating and Luca Stolz.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the race.
He’s done it! @alo_oficial WINS the 24 Hours of Le Mans! 🏁🏆 Congratulations to him and his Toyota teammates. 👏 #LeMans24
Expecting @alo_oficial to announce his move to @IndyCar before the European season is finished #LeMans24
Congratulations to @Toyota_Hybrid and to all the drivers for a 1-2 at the #LeMans24 🎉💪🏻 you never gave up and finally get the win you deserve and first win for Toyota in the LM24! 😀 htt
C H A M P I O N 👑🏆 #LeMans24 #WEC
Damn last 30 mins of 24hr of #LeMans24 didn’t record. Congrats to Toyota it took all the other manufacturers to quit for you to win but you’ve done it!
Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi AND Fernando Alonso won the #LeMans24 Hour race today. Important to remember that
Well done @Toyota_Hybrid for finally winning the @24hoursoflemans. Fully deserved #LeMans24 @FIAWEC >>>
https://twitter.com/dom0006/status/1008355679852261376
Totally worth the wait! 🏁🏆🍾🎉 #Toyota #TS050 #LeMans24 #PushingTheLimitsForBetter
https://twitter.com/zdravkost/status/1008355402474491905
.@Toyota_Hybrid: @alo_oficial's @24hoursoflemans debut 'exceptional'. autosport.com/wec/news/13682… via @autosport #WEC #LeMans24
I don’t think @alo_oficial has ever had a car to run for 24 hours much less win a 24hr race. Lol #LeMans24
Wow, surprise surprise... The Toyota Gazoo Racing Hybrid won the 24 Hours of #LeMans24, becoming only the second Japanese manufacturer to ever do so.
Congratulations to @alo_oficial and co-drivers #Nakajima and #Buemi on their fantastic win in the #LeMans24! Well done all of you! 🏁
Alonso @alo_oficial is 100x better than @LewisHamilton #LeMans24 , what a performance. congratulations.
@alo_oficial is the second active driver to win two of the three races that makes Tripple Crown of Motorsport after @jpmontoya n he is the second active #F1 drive to win #LEMANS24 after @HulkHulkenberg. Congratulations young man! U r one of the Motorsport greats
What a massive achievement! A Formula 1 World Champion and a Le Mans winner - Huge congrats to @alo_oficial 🎉🎉👏👏 Would love to see him complete the triple crown! Ultimate respect for the guy - born a winner! #F1 #LeMans24 htt
🏁 🏆 Huge CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the 86th 24 Hours of Le Mans...@Toyota_Hybrid and the drivers of the #8 car make the History !! @Sebastien_buemi Kazuki Nakajima @kazuki_info and Fernando Alonso @alo_oficial #LEMANS24 #WEC @FIAWEC
Congrats to @Sebastien_buemi & the @Toyota_Hybrid Team! #WEC #LeMans24 #Toyota #ToyotaHybrid #ToyotaGazooRacing 🇫🇷
Congratulations @alo_oficial and the Toyota crew for winning Le Mans 👌❤️ Well deserved win you guys! Now sit back, and make sure you all get some well deserved rest! #LeMans24 #Toyota #FernandoAlonso
@alo_oficial is a #LeMans24 winner 👏👏👏🏆
https://twitter.com/Danielvdhoek_/status/1008359586431209472