Toyota, who looked to be headed toward its first win at Le Mans, lost the race on the final lap with a mechanical issue handing the win to the #2 919 hybrid Porsche in the hands of Neel Jani.
A gutting result for Toyota who had worked so hard for the win and looked set to take the win until the penultimate lap when the car lost power.
The big story is the return of the Ford GT after 50 years to take the battle to Ferrari and win just like they did fifty years ago. That’s exactly what happened. An incredibly impressive debut.
Results
| Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Dumas, Jani, Lieb | 384 | |
| 2 | LMP1 | #5 Toyota | Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima | 383 | + 1 Lap |
| 3 | LMP1 | #6 Toyota | Sarrazin, Conway, Kobayashi | 381 | + 3 Laps |
| 4 | LMP1 | #8 Audi | Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis | 372 | + 12 Laps |
| 5 | LMP1 | #7 Audi | Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer | 367 | + 17 Laps |
| 6 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Menezes, Lapierre, Richelmi | 357 | + 27 Laps |
| 7 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Stevens, Rast | 357 | + 2m40.640s |
| 8 | LMP2 | #37 BR01 | Petrov, Shaytar, Ladygin | 353 | + 31 Laps |
| 9 | LMP2 | #42 Gibson | Leventis, Watts, Kane | 351 | + 33 Laps |
| 10 | LMP2 | #33 Oreca | Pu, Gommendy, De Bruijn | 348 | + 36 Laps |
| 11 | LMP2 | #41 Ligier | Rojas, Canal, Berthon | 348 | + 52.618s |
| 12 | LMP2 | #27 BR01 | Minassian, Mediani, Aleshin | 347 | + 37 Laps |
| 13 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Chatin, Buret | 347 | + 1m50.325s |
| 14 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Bernhard, Webber, Hartley | 346 | + 38 Laps |
| 15 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Pew, Negri Jr, Vanthoor | 345 | + 39 Laps |
| 16 | LMP2 | #43 Ligier | Gonzalez, Senna, Albuquerque | 344 | + 40 Laps |
| 17 | LMP2 | #30 Ligier | Sharp, Brown, Van Overbeek | 341 | + 43 Laps |
| 18 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Munemann, Hoy, Pizzitola | 341 | + 9.817s |
| 19 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 340 | + 44 Laps |
| 20 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Fisichella, Vilander, Malucelli | 340 | + 1m00.200s |
| 21 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 340 | + 1m24.794s |
| 22 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Pla, Mucke, Johnson | 339 | + 45 Laps |
| 23 | LMP2 | #40 Ligier | Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa | 338 | + 46 Laps |
| 24 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 338 | + 1m43.107s |
| 25 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Stanaway, Rees, Adam | 337 | + 47 Laps |
| 26 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 336 | + 48 Laps |
| 27 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Sweedler, Bell, Segal | 331 | + 53 Laps |
| 28 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Perrodo, Collard, Aguas | 331 | + 2m54.897s |
| 29 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Al Qubaisi, Heinemeier Hansson, Long | 330 | + 54 Laps |
| 30 | LMP1 | #12 Rebellion | Prost, Heidfeld, Piquet Jr | 330 | + 27.381s |
| 31 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Bell | 329 | + 55 Laps |
| 32 | GTE Pro | #77 Porsche | Lietz, Christensen, Eng | 329 | + 1m01.994s |
| 33 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Capillaire, Maris, Coleman | 328 | + 56 Laps |
| 34 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Carroll, Barker | 328 | + 2m06.472s |
| 35 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Keating, Bleekemolen, Goossens | 323 | + 61 Laps |
| 36 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Laursen, Mac, Nielsen | 319 | + 65 Laps |
| 37 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Griffin, Hirsch | 318 | + 66 Laps |
| 38 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Yamagishi, Ragues, Belloc | 316 | + 68 Laps |
| 39 | CDNT | #84 Morgan | Sausset, Tinseau, Bouvet | 315 | + 69 Laps |
| 40 | GTE Am | #57 Chevrolet | O’Connel, Bryant, Patterson | 306 | + 78 Laps |
| 41 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Franchitti, Priaulx, Tincknell | 306 | + 2m48.753s |
| 42 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Ried, Henzler, Camathias | 300 | + 84 Laps |
| 43 | LMP2 | #31 Ligier | Dalziel, Derani, Cumming | 297 | + 87 Laps |
| 44 | LMP2 | #34 Oreca | Leutwiler, Nakano, Winslow | 297 | + 14.774s |
| 45 | LMP2 | #28 Morgan | Taittinger, Striebig, Roussel | 292 | + 92 Laps |
| 46 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Griffin, Scott | 289 | + 95 Laps |
| 47 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 281 | + 103 Laps |
| 48 | LMP2 | #38 Gibson | Dolan, Dennis, Van Der Garde | 222 | + 162 Laps |
| 49 | LMP1 | #13 Rebellion | Tuscher, Imperatori, Kraihamer | 200 | + 184 Laps |
| 50 | LMP2 | #44 Oreca | Graves, Rao, Merhi | 283 | Retired |
| 51 | LMP2 | #46 Oreca | Thiriet, Beche, Hirakawa | 241 | Retired |
| 52 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Cheng, Tung, Panciatici | 234 | Retired |
| 53 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Taylor | 219 | Retired |
| 54 | LMP1 | #4 CLM | Trummer, Webb, Kaffer | 206 | Retired |
| 55 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Bruni, Calado, Pier Guidi | 179 | Retired |
| 56 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Bertolini | 143 | Retired |
| 57 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Makowiecki, Bamber, Bergmeister | 140 | Retired |
| 58 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Pilet, Estre, Tandy | 135 | Retired |
| 59 | LMP2 | #47 Oreca | Matsuda, Howson, Bradley | 116 | Retired |
| 60 | GTE Am | #89 Porsche | Macneil, Keen, Miller | 50 | Retired |
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I read otherwise that the Toyota was not running at the end? Don’t rules say you have to be running to be classified?
Yes, the car has to take the flag at the end of the race to be classified. Although the number five Toyota did crawl around to take the flag, its final lap of over eleven minutes was deemed too slow.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/124886/porsche-snatches-le-mans-win-from-toyota
ACO rules say 6 minutes maximum to complete the final lap, Toyota took almost 12 minutes. DQ. By the way, I’m betting on a blown charge pipe.
I was absolutely gutted for Toyota. To lose the race that way was heartbreaking.
Every year, they edge closer and closer to victory. I bet Toyota is spending the same amount of cash annually as it did for its short time in Formula-1. I would not blame one bit if they decide to chuck the whole LMP program and leave it to Audi and Porsche.
I am completely gutted after that. It was such a close and fascinating race for 23hr 55min with the lead being exchanged on pit stops back and forth with no car really ever having more than a minute advantage. So much strategy, with Toyota going one lap farther on fuel each stint, and Porsche quadruple stinting tires. Porsche being faster most of the night, but Toyota being faster in the morning, and both being about equal for the last 4 hrs or so. Everything you could ever want in an endurance race with Toyota seeming to win the battle. But… Read more »
I gave NBC a bunch of flack for showing golf instead of the F1 race last weekend, but with a couple of hours to go in my recording of Le Mans, FS1 LEFT the race coverage to show… Golf! Damnit!
Even had I been watching live I still would have missed it since they moved it to FS2 which hardly any cable company carries.
Motorsport coverage in the US is just a travesty.