Le Mans June 12 (BUS): Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the classic endurance race for the fifth time in a row, with the No. 8 car finishing seventh in another dominant performance on Sunday.
New Zealander Brendan Hartley had grabbed the pole position and was driving as the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo finished the race in sunny and warm conditions, with teammates Sebastian Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa watching from the team garage.
Swiss driver Buemi has won the race four times while Hartley took his third and second victory for Toyota after winning his first with Porsche in 2017. Both had mediocre F1 careers. Dane Tom Kristensen holds the record with nine wins.
Hirakawa took his first win to join fellow Japanese Kazuki Nakajima (3 wins) and Kamui Kobayashi (1) as winners of the famous race, which was first held in 1923.
Jose Maria Lopez of Argentina followed two minutes behind Toyota’s No. 7 at Circuit de la Sarthe in northwest France, reports the Associated Press.
He joined forces with Lopez Kobayashi, British driver Mike Conway and his teammates when he won seventh place last year to underline how Toyota broke the dominance of Audi and Porsche.
After a quiet night, Toyota suffered a rare surprise when the #8 with Buemi smashed into the steering wheel at about 7:30 a.m. and 15 minutes later Lopez stalled and needed an electrical reset, at a cost of one lap.
Ryan Briscoe finished the race as Glickenhaus 007 finished third, five laps behind the winners.
American Josh Pearson became the youngest driver to participate at the age of 16 years and 188 days – making him slightly younger than teammate 16-year-old Matt McMurray in 2014.
Pearson drove 97 laps on assignments for Team United Autosports USA driving the Oreca 07 with Oliver Jarvis and Alex Lane, and finished sixth in the LM P2 class.
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