24 Hours of Le Mans: Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima win ahead of sister Toyota car

The #8 Toyota driven by Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Toyota dominated proceedings at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

The #8 crew have become FIA World Endurance champions, as it only needed to finish seventh overall, meaning Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima have emerged victorious from the 2019/20 superseason. 

The second Toyota suffered heartbreak in the final hour, as it was hit with a puncture after leading for much of the 24 hours.

Before the issues, the #7 car had a gap of over two minutes to the other Toyota, however its issues saw it being passed when it pitted for the second time with its problems.

Both cars pitted again within the last half hour, but the gap was too large for Jose Maria Lopez to close down, as Nakajima brought the car home for the second consecutive Toyota win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The #7 car that started from pole position streaked away from the #8 Toyota at the opening stint of the race, and was seemingly untouchable. However, a couple of safety car periods allowed the second Toyota to close up as darkness started to fall.

The two cars swapped for the lead for a number of hours as they made their respective pit tops, while there was a costly mistake for the #7 car, which ran wide when night was falling and into the gravel, which allowed the #8 car to take the lead.

The #7 car seemingly had the upper hand for most of the event before the late-race issues, as the #8 struggled for pace all week.

The #8 car struggled through the night, as Alonso later revealed that the team had an aerodynamic issue, caused by a problem with one of its doors.

However, it was able to capitalise on the issues that hit its sister car towards the end to take a second Le Mans victory, having won the race that started the 2018/19 superseason.

 Behind the two Toyotas, SMP Racing came out on top in the battle against Rebellion Racing, as Stoffel Vandoorne drove the #11 car to the line, three laps ahead of the #1 Rebellion, while the #3 car was a further six laps down.

The second SMP Racing car retired from the race with problems, as did the other two LMP1 entries of DragonSpeed and ByKolles Racing.

LMP2

In the LMP2 class, it was success for Signatech Alpine Matmut, who finishes the race one lap in front of the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing and two laps in front of the TDS Racing car, with the latter two the highest classified Dunlop runners.

While DragonSpeed had trouble in the LMP1, it was the same story for the LMP2 entry as Pastor Maldonado crashed early on in the morning.

Racing Team Nederland also had its troubles during the 24 hours, with a puncture before nightfall and a heavy crash for Nyck de Vries in the morning.

Despite one Jackie Chan DC Racing car finishing on the LMP2 podium, the #37 retired from the event.

GTE  

Despite qualifying in a lowly 12th in the GTE Pro class, the #51 AF Course Ferrari car managed to cross the line at the head of the class ahead of the #91 and #93 Porsche cars.

It was pain for Corvette, who was held at the end of the pit lane following the crash for de Vries in the LMP2 crash. It got worse for the team when Jan Magnussen crashed, putting the team a number of laps down.

Two Fords followed in fourth and fifth, as Chip Ganassi's USA outfit got the better of its UK counterparts.

In the GTE AM class, Keating Motorsports survived late drama when it picked up a stop-go penalty. The penalty diminished the lead it had at the head of the category at the time, however it was able to build it back up and hold on for the win.

Team Project 1 and JMW Motorsport closed out the podium spots for the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the second place car almost 45 seconds down on the lead. 

Photos 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019

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