Toyota finishes 2nd at centenary Le Mans race

Toyota Gazoo Racing finished second at the recently concluded Le Mans endurance race after an epic battle in the centenary edition of the legendary French race.

For the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Toyota fielded the GR010 Hybrid, which competed alongside cars from Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot, and Porsche.

“In the 100th anniversary year, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC (World Endurance Championship) team gave it their all in a Le Mans 24 Hours that created incredible challenges for them to win their sixth straight victory. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who supported us,” commented Toyota Motor President Koji Sato.

Toyota started the campaign with two GR010 Hybrid cars, numbered 7 and 8.

The number 7 car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and José María López suffered a DNF (did not finish) after it got hit from behind. The damage proved to be grave and caused the three-man team to retire.

On the other hand, the number 8 car shared by last year’s winners Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa crossed the finish line after 342 laps and 24 relentless hours of racing. They clocked in one minute and 21.793 seconds behind the race winner, Ferrari’s 499P race car.

The next race, the 6 Hours of Monza, takes place in four weeks, on July 9.

“Unfortunately, the centenary Le Mans was not our race. We had bad luck on car #7 when I was driving. It’s hard to believe what happened. During a slow zone procedure, a car ahead braked and I reacted to avoid a penalty, but I was hit from behind. It damaged the car and there was no solution to get back to the garage. That was tough for us because I think we had done a strong job up to then. Car #8 fought as hard as possible until the end and finished second. As a team we did everything we could, we got the maximum performance from the car and the drivers gave everything. We really fought hard to win this centenary Le Mans and everyone enjoyed working together to try to get the victory. We need to come back stronger; that’s how we deal with disappointments. Thank you to everyone who has supported. We will fight again together soon,” stated Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Principal and Driver Kamui Kobayashi.

Photos from Toyota

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