No. 8 Toyota Wins The 24 Hours Of Le Mans After Final Half Hour Safety Car
There was no stopping Toyota Gazoo Racing at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans: the team was dominant from the very start. And while the No. 7 experienced an early heartbreak after leading the opening hours, the No. 8 was ultimately able to secure an overall win. Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley graced the top step of the podium as victors of the world's biggest endurance event.
The last hour of Le Mans brought its fair share of surprises. Two of the top five LMP2 cars suffered some kind of disaster—suspension failure for the G-Drive and a bad crash into the tire barrier for Graff Racing. After that second crash, there was no choice but to bring out a safety car during the last half hour, with the track going green with just over 20 minutes to go.
SC is out. @GraffRacing No.39 is in the wall.
skmnklvlvflkjfvcjkfv 🤯🤯🤯#WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/lVY1655fLS
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) September 20, 2020
Bunching up the drivers made for a fascinating final few minutes. While the leaders of each class had firmly established themselves, the closed gap made for some fascinating battles for position, both on the track and in the pit lane.
The No. 38. Jota pitted with five minutes to go, having come up two laps short on fuel, leaving the No. 22 untouched for LMP2 class win and overall top five.
Overall Top Three
No. 8 Toyota Gazoo RacingSebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley
No. 1 Rebellion RacingGustavo Menezes, Norman Nato, Bruno Senna
No. 7 Toyota Gazoo RacingMike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
LMP1 Podium
No. 8 Toyota Gazoo RacingSebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley
No. 1 Rebellion RacingGustavo Menezes, Norman Nato, Bruno Senna
No. 7 Toyota Gazoo RacingMike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
LMP2 Podium
No. 22 United AutosportsPhil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque, Paul di Resta
No. 38 Jota Roberto Gonzalez, Antonio Felix da Costa, Anthony Davidson
No. 31 Panis RacingJulien Canal, Nico Jamin, Matthieu Vaxiviere
LM GTE Pro Podium
No. 97 Aston Martin RacingAlex Lynn, Maxime Martin, Harry Tincknell
No. 51 AF CorseJames Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Daniel Serra
No. 95 Aston Martin RacingNicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen, Richard Westbrook
LM GTE Am Podium
No. 90 TF SportSalih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood, Jonathan Adam
No. 77 Dempsey-Proton RacingChristian Ried, Riccardo Pera, Matt Campbell
No. 83 AF CorseFrancois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, Nicklas Nielsen