Toyota secured its second victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans dominating the endurance race with a 1-2 finish. The manufacturer's No. 8 T...
Toyota secured its second victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans dominating the endurance race with a 1-2 finish. The manufacturer's No. 8 TS050 piloted by Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima drove the car to victory after taking the lead from sister car No. 7 with drivers Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi with just an hour of the race remaining. The No. 7 did lead for most of the 24 hour race, but suffered two punctures that dropped the car to second place in the closing stages. In addition to the 24 Hour Le Mans win, the No. 8 car crew have also been crowned world endurance champions with Nakajima driving the final stint and has become the first Japanese to win the title.
The No. 8 Toyota was in second place until the final hour gaff on No. 7 catapulted this one to the top
The No. 7 TS050 Toyota Hybrid seemed to have an edge over the No. 7 car for most of the race and had the chequered flag in site with a consistent lead. However, problems started once the clock hit the final hour. With a gap of two minutes over car No. 7, the No. 8's steering wheel pointed out that Lopez had a puncture prompting him to pit to replace the suspected front-right tyre. However, it turned out to be the rear-right tyre that needed a replacement, which forced a second pitstop with minutes left in the 24 hour race. The No. 7 Toyota lost the lead over its sister car, only to rejoin behind No. 8 with a gap of 50s. The car No. 7 eventually finished 16s behind the car No. 8 after the latter made its final pitstop driven by Nakajima with 20 minutes to go.
Coming in third were Stoffel Vandoorne, Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin in the No. 11 SMP Racing BR Engineering car, finishing six laps behind the No. 8 Toyota. The SMP Racing car had a trouble free run to P3, ensuring the team managed to beat the other non-hybrid cars in the LMP1 class, beating its main rival - Rebellion racing - which suffered issues with both the R-13 cars.
Results:
LMP-1 Class:
1 - Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid - Sebastien Buemi / Kazuki Nakajima / Fernando Alonso
2 - Toyota Gazoo Racing No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid - Mike Conway / Kamui Kobayashi / Jose Maria Lopez
3 - BR Engineering BR1-AER No. 3 SMP RACING - Mikhail Aleshin / Stoffel Vandoorne / Vitaly Petrov
from NDTV CarAndBike - Latest News http://bit.ly/2IjtUMZ
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