Toyota Hybrids Finish 1-2 at Le Mans

Toyota Motor Corp.’s TS050 Hybrid race cars finished first and second at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, giving the carmaker its first victory at the famous French venue.

The two cars, which are part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, started in the front row and led the entire race. The winning racer, piloted by Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, finished two laps ahead of its stablemate and 12 laps in front of the third-place finisher from Rebellion Racing.

Alonso, a two-time Formula One champion, won in his first trip to Le Mans. He aims to be the second driver with career wins in racing’s unofficial triple crown (Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500), having already captured the checkered flag twice in Monaco. Graham Hill is the only driver to date with wins at all three races.

Porsche, which won the last three Le Mans races, dropped its LMP1 team this year to focus on the Formula E electric car series. Audi dropped out for similar reasons at the end of the 2016 season.

G-Drive Racing won the LMP2 class, while Porsche teams finished first among GTE Pro and GTE Amateur contenders. The other carmaker entries (Ford GT, Corvette C7R, Ferrari 488, Aston Martin Vantage AMR and BMW M8) finished well off the pace.