Toyota have finally reigned victorious at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018. The Toyota Gazoo racing team finally managed to score a victory at the legendary 24 Hour race. The team had raced at Le Mans since 2012 with a very competitive car, yet had never managed to score an outright victory.

The win was achieved by Toyota’s number 8 car piloted by the experienced duo of Kazuki Nakajima, and Sébastien Buemi together with newcomer Fernando Alonso who scores outright victory in the race at the first time of asking!

The result was never really in any doubt as the number 8 car qualified on pole and led the race from the outset.

The number 7 car was always out of reach. It suffered several setbacks during the race including a scare in the final few hours when it slowed for a few minutes with what looked like a fuel problem. It later turnout out that Kamui Kobayashi had simply forgotten to pit and was asked to conserve fuel to make it through the lap. It finished second behind the sister car giving Toyota a 1-2 finish.

Further down the field, the LPM2 class was fiercely fought, although GDrive Racing’s number 26 car eventually built an unassailable lead over the rest of the field. GTE Pro saw Porsche back on form with a win for the number 92 911, while GTE Am also saw a Porsche, the Dempsey-Proton Racing car, come out on top.

Toyota’s win is made all the more special after the team came within a lap of victory in 2016 only to have it taken away from them by reliability issues. The difference this year is that the field is less hotly contested with Porsche and Audi having stepped aside in recent years.