Le Mans 24h: Toyota beats BMW, Cadillac for first win in four years

Toyota outgunned LMDh rivals BMW and Cadillac with its radically overhauled TR010 Hybrid to score an emphatic victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway claimed the top spot in the #7 Toyota at the end of a tense if low-drama race, with the sister car driven by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi finishing third.

The two Toyotas were separated by the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, as the German manufacturer enjoyed its most competitive run at Le Mans since its return in 2024.

Although Toyota did not enter the 94th edition of the French endurance classic as one of the favourites, it remained a contender for victory through all 24 hours.

The Japanese manufacturer rolled the dice just 30 minutes into the race, bringing both its hypercars into the pits for early stops and short-fuelling them to undercut the competition. When the other cars in the class came in for routine service at the end of the opening hour, the #8 Toyota took that had started 15th moved into the lead, while the #7 TR010 also vaulted into the top 10.

During the night, the #8 car remained Toyota’s lead contender, despite an off for Hartley after the first safety car restart and a drive-through penalty for a FCY infringement.

 But when the #8 Toyota lost time in the morning due to a brake drum mounting change, the #7 car moved ahead, albeit by a tiny margin as the safety car neutralised the field. 

As the race resumed, four cars representing three manufacturers emerged as clear contenders for victory. The #20 BMW led the race from #12 Cadillac V-Series, which had previously lost ground due to a drive-through for a FCY infringement. The #7 Toyota initially led the sister car in third, before Hartley surged ahead with a quicker stop.

As the #20 BMW lost the lead due to a scruffy in-lap from Robin Frijns, the two Toyotas charged to the front, with both Hartley and de Vries passing the Cadillac of Norman Nato.

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Robin Frijns, Rene Rast, Sheldon Van Der Linde

Photo by: James Moy Photography via Getty Images

An intense battle was brewing between the two Toyotas when an incident for an LMP2 car triggered the FCY. Hartley had already been into the pits before the caution, while de Vries came in for emergency service during the FCY before returning to the pits again for a full pitstop.

When the race resumed, the #7 Toyota was comfortably in the front, leaving the #8 Toyota in its wake. Although de Vries was investigated for cutting the track in the penultimate hour, he was eventually cleared by the stewards, with Kobayashi bringing the car home with a victory margin of 11 seconds.

The result marked Toyota’s first victory at Le Mans since 2022, as well as sixth in total. Both Conway and Kobayashi registered their second wins, while de Vries celebrated his first overall triumph.

The #8 Toyota was trailing the sister car heading into the final hour, but Frijns recovered from his earlier off-track excursion and passed Buemi at the Porsche Curves, elevating the #20 BMW he shared with Rast and van der Linde into second place.

The #12 Cadillac that led various chunks of the race lacked the speed to fight for a podium position in the final hours, as the FCY that compromised the #8 Toyota also left it out of the victory battle. Nato, Will Stevens and Louis Deletraz ultimately finished the race 32s down in fourth place.

Cadillac was effectively down to one runner by the break of dawn after the sister #38 car entered by the factory Jota team ran into power steering issues just after 4am local time. After multiple attempts to fix the problem, the car shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Jack Aitken was eventually retired. The #38 Caddy had been in the thick of the lead battle until then.

Read Also:

Ferrari suffered its first defeat at Le Mans since it returned to the top class of sportscar racing, with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi finished fifth in the factory #51 499P. The Italian manufacturer lacked the pace to fight at the front, while Pier Guidi was also involved in a collision with the #9 Proton in the fifth hour – an incident for which the Italian was given a drive-through penalty.

The #50 Ferrari retired from the race on Sunday morning with mechanical issues, having already dropped out of contention during the night. 

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Alpine showed flashes of pace during the night, but could only muster a best finish of sixth with the #35 A424 crewed by Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Antonio Felix da Costa. The #35 car lost several laps due to a front anti-roll bar link failure, with Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki and Victor Martins eventually finishing 10th.

Reigning champions Ye Yifei, Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson finished seventh in the satellite AF Corse Ferrari after coming into the pits in the final 15 minutes for a splash and dash.

It was a low-key sophomore outing for Aston Martin in the Hypercar class, as Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble and Ross Gunn finished eighth in the #007 Valkyrie LMH. The British manufacturer’s other car was wheeled into the garage with just over an hour to go, eventually finishing 14th and last after repairs.

Wayne Taylor Racing’s #101 Cadillac shared by Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor wound up ninth after suffering several penalties for FCY infringements.

As expected, Peugeot languished at the bottom of the Hypercar pack for the entire race, despite the French manufacturer again delivering a reliable car over the 24 hours.

The #94 Peugeot 9X8 driven by Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Theo Pourchaire finished four laps down in 11th, while Paul Di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick Cassidy guided the sister #93 car to 12th position.

Genesis managed to bring one car to the finish on its Le Mans debut, with the #19 GMR-001 shared by Mathieu Jaminet, Paul Loup Chatin and Daniel Juncadella registering a 13th-place result. The V8-powered car stopped twice during the night with mechanical issues, but was able to get going again to take the finish.

The Hyundai marque lost its #17 entry on Sunday morning when Mathys Jaubert ground to a halt with a right-front suspension failure while running on the cusp of a top-10 finish.

Inter Europol claims LMP2 win, heartbreak for Duqueine

#43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson: Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann, Nick Yelloly

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Inter Europol defended its LMP2 class win at Le Mans, with the Polish squad claiming a dominant 1-2 finish.

The #43 Oreca shared by Jakub Smiechowski, Nick Yelloly and Tom Dillmann took the chequered flag with a winning margin of almost 30 seconds over the sister #434 car crewed by Bijoy Garg, Reshad de Gerus and Nico Mueller.

The two Inter Europol cars traded positions in the final two hours of the race, with Dillmann repassing Mueller in the final hour before escaping into the distance.

The Inter Europol drivers were left to battle among themselves after the #30 Duqueine Oreca retired due to brake troubles with three-and-a-half remaining.

Julien Andlauer, Richard Verschoor and Doriane Pin had led through much of the night, and Verschoor was still running in a strong second place when the Dutchman stopped on track with plumes coming out of the front-left section of the car.

With the Duqueine Oreca retiring, Esteban Masson, Louis Rousset and Oliver Gray completed the podium in the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca.

 Corvette claims LMGT3 honours

#33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R: Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

TF Sport claimed a convincing victory in the LMGT3 class, with Jonny Edgar, Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg taking the top spot in the #33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Although Aston Martin and Lexus emerged as the early favourites in the race, the #33 Corvette surged to the front during the night thanks to some charging stints by factory driver Catsburg.

The second safety car wiped out Corvette’s two-minute lead, with the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage even jumping to the front with three hours remaining.

However, the TF Sport trio surged back in front in the final stages to register Corvette’s first Le Mans win in the LMGT3 era.

Jack Hawksworth, Hadrien David and Tom Van Rompuy took the runner-up spot in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 following some impressive late stints from David and Hawksworth, while the #23 Aston shared by Gray Newell, Jonny Adam and Eduardo Barrichello eventually finished third.

The sister #27 Aston that claimed pole by a second in the hands of factory driver Mattia Drudi retired from the race with under three hours to run.

Manthey’s unbeaten run in the LMGT3 class at Le Mans came to an end, with both its Porsche 911 GT3 Rs encountering problems. The #92 Porsche shared by Yasser Shahin, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz dropped out of contention in the second hour with a broken tie rod and could never really recover from that setback, finishing 13th in class.

James Cottingham, Timur Boguslavskiy and Ayhancan Guven were enjoying a much stronger run in the sister Porsche until Guven crashed into the barriers exiting the first chicane on Sunday morning with suspected steering issues.

All Stats

1		7		Toyota TR010 Hybrid	0
2	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20		BMW M Hybrid V8	0
3		8		Toyota TR010 Hybrid	0
4	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	12		Cadillac V-Series.R	0
5	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51		Ferrari 499P	0
6	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35		Alpine A424	0
7		83		Ferrari 499P	0
8	Aston Martin THOR Team HYPERCAR	007		Aston Martin Valkyrie	0
9	Cadillac WTR HYPERCAR	101		Cadillac V-Series.R	0
10	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36		Alpine A424	0
11	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94		Peugeot 9X8	0
12	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93		Peugeot 9X8	0
13	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	19		Genesis GMR-001	0
14	Aston Martin THOR Team HYPERCAR	009		Aston Martin Valkyrie	0
15	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION LMP2	43		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
16	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION LMP2	343		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
17	Forestier Racing by Panis LMP2	29	L. Rousset E. Masson O. Gray	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
18	VECTOR SPORT LMP2	26		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
19	CLX Motorsport LMP2	37	A. Closmenil I. Aguilera T. Jensen	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
20	IDEC SPORT LMP2	28	V. Rinicella	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
21	Crowdstrike Racing by APR LMP2	4	A. Quinn	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
22		22		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
23		183		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
24	AO by TF LMP2	99		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
25		9	H. King	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
26		25	M. Jensen	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
27		14		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
28		44	H. Felbermayr L. Fluxá	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
29		222		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
30	RD Limited LMP2	48		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
31	DKR Engineering LMP2	3		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
32	NIELSEN RACING LMP2	24	E. Pearson	Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
33		33		Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	0
34	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	H. David	Lexus RC F GT3	0
35	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	23	G. Newell	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	0
36	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	R. Umbrarescu	Lexus RC F GT3	0
37	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	21		Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	0
38	Racing Team Turkey by TF LMGT3	34	P. Dempsey	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	0
39	TEAM WRT LMGT3	32		BMW M4 GT3 Evo	0
40	RICHARD MILLE AF CORSE LMGT3	150	R. Agostini	Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	0
41	Kessel Racing LMGT3	74	D. Blattner	Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	0
42	Kessel Racing LMGT3	57	C. Laursen	Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	0
43	Racing Spirit of Leman LMGT3	59	M. Fossard	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	0
44	Garage 59 LMGT3	10	A. Au T. Fleming	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	0
45	The Bend Manthey LMGT3	92		Porsche 911 GT3 R	0
46		2	J. Ibrahim L. Nicolas Hanafin B. Green	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	0
47	Garage 59 LMGT3	58	B. Goethe	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	0
48	Team Qatar by Iron Lynx LMGT3	62	A. Ali Al-Khelaifi	Mercedes AMG GT3	0
49		88		Ford Mustang GT3	0
50	DUQUEINE TEAM LMP2	30		Oreca 07 – Gibson	0
51	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27		Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	0
52	TEAM WRT LMGT3	69	D. Harper	BMW M4 GT3 Evo	0
53	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50		Ferrari 499P	0
54	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15		BMW M Hybrid V8	0
55	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	17	M. Jaubert	Genesis GMR-001	0
56	Manthey DK Engineering LMGT3	91	J. Cottingham	Porsche 911 GT3 R	0
57		77	S. Priaulx	Ford Mustang GT3	0
58	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	38		Cadillac V-Series.R	0
59	IRON LYNX LMGT3	79	J. Zelger	Mercedes AMG GT3	0
60	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54		Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo	0
61	IRON LYNX LMGT3	61		Mercedes AMG GT3	0
62	13 Autosport LMGT3	13		Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	0