#7 Toyota beats #8 for 1-2 victory in Le Mans as Ferrari beats Corvette in GTE Pro

Toyota are Le Mans 24 Hours winners again but it’s a first success for Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi; Team WRT win LMP2 but are denied 1-2

Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez can finally call themselves winners of the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time after completing a peerless performance for Toyota to dominate from the first corner to the chequered flag 24 hours later on lap 371.

A fourth consecutive win for Toyota Gazoo Racing, while the first hat-trick were all achieved by the sister #8 car, on this occasion it was the turn of the #7 trio, who after years of desperately bad luck – particularly in 2016 when the car famously stopped in the final minutes – redemption would finally come in fine style.

Indeed, at no point was the entry ever headed, having qualified on pole position, led into Turn 1 and simply clicked off the laps over the next 24 hours. In all, the trio completed 371, 17 less than in 2020 with the faster LMP1 cars.

The victory – a first for all three drivers after several podiums – marks the first in the Hypercar era with Toyota making the most of the thin competition to never look like it needed to chase the limit.

Indeed, the #7 GR010 Hybrid extended its lead metronomically over the course of the race and suffered with nothing more than the odd electrrical gremlin. Similarly, the #8 car ran reliably throughout but saw its victory hopes ultimately dashed just seconds into the race when it was spun around by a Glickenhaus.

Putting the trio of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley on an immediate back foot, the car quickly made it back up to second place but never looked like a threat before Toyota put them under team orders towards the end.

As such, the fight for third place proved the more engaging tussle with Alpine eventually prevailing against a feisty Glickenhaus, which arguably exceeded its own expectations with a reliable and momentum-building performance.

In the end though Alpine – which had hoped to challenge Toyota only to blot its copybook with two costly spins – will be satisfied to have brought the ageing A480 home on the podium ahead of a complete overhaul for 2022.

With the second Glickenhaus battling its way up from earlier dramas to eventually grab fifth, it meant all five Hypercar class cars filled the top positions.

In LMP2, Team WRT suffered a shocking bittersweet tale of joy and woe as it secured victory on its debut but not with the entry it expected to after the #41 car of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Ye Yifei sensationally stopped at the start of its final revolution.

The car had spent almost 19 hours out front of the class – occasionally trading with the sister #31 car – but couldn’t complete what would have been a 1-2 for the Belgian team, which has this year stepped up from GT racing to LMP2.

Nonetheless, it was still able to celebrate a win with the fortuitous car belonging to Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Robin Frijns snatching the victory at the deathj.

WRT’s misfortune meant every LMP2 runner moved up an unexpected spot, with the #28 Jota of Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist completing what had been a methodical rise up the order after spinning in rain early on. They spared the blushes of the British team after the hot favourites of Antonio Felix da Costa, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez in the sister car crashed early on and never recovered.

Another debutant impressing first time out was Panis Racing, who landed the final podium spot for Will Stevens, James Allen and Julien Canal.

United Autosports ended the race a positive fourth, albeit still smarting from a bizarre incident that saw its other two cars collide at Turn 1 and effectively put each out of the race.

Interpol Competition celebrated its best Le Mans result yet with fifth in class, thanks mostly to the efforts of Alex Brundle who was regularly one of the fastest drivers on the track.

Elsewhere, the all-female Richard Mille Racing team suffered a bizarre exit when Sophia Floersch was first caught up in an accident when a G-Drive spun into her path, only to then be T-boned by a Eurasia India driver seemingly not paying attention in the slow zone.

Indeed, nearly every LMP2 car endured time off circuit over the course of the race, the legacy of intermittent showers throughout the evening and into the night.

In GTE Pro and GTE Am, Ferrari were a double winner in both the GTE class with AF Corse completing victory after holding down the lead for more than half of the entire race.

Initially it seemed the spoils would go to the #52 488 GTE of Sam Bird, Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra before technical issues plummeted it down the order.

Nevertheless, the #51 car driven by James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar would take over at the front and complete a satisfying win in a competitive class that never saw the Corvette Racing car fall more than a lap behind in second.

Pre-race favourites Porsche had to make do with third and fourth with its factory cars, but the pole sitting Hub Auto Porsche was forced to retire.

GTE AM went down to the wire before the AF Corse Ferrari trio of Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Niklas Nielsen emerged on top, ahead of the TF Sport Aston Martin driven by Ben Barker, Dylan Pereira and Ben Keating.

2021 LE MANS 24 HOURS – FINAL OFFICIAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER 24H OF 24H

POS.	TEAM	DRIVER #1	DRIVER #2	DRIVER #3	CAR	NAT.	CLASS	LAPS
1	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Mike Conway	Kamui Kobayashi	Jose Maria-Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	JAP	Hypercar H	371
2	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sebastien Buemi	Brendon Hartley	Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	JAP	Hypercar H	369
3	Alpine Elf Matmut	Nicolas Lapierre	Andre Negrao	Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480-Gibson	FRA	Hypercar	367
4	Glickenhaus Racing	Pipo Derani	Franck Mailleux	Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	USA	Hypercar	367
5	Glickenhaus Racing	Ryan Briscoe	Romain Dumas	Richard Westbrook	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	USA	Hypercar	364
6	Team WRT	Robin Frijns	Ferdinand von Habsburg	Charles Milesi	Oreca 07 Gibson	BEL	LMP2	363
7	Jota	Tom Blomqvist	Sean Gelael	Stoffel Vandoorne	Oreca 07 Gibson	GBR	LMP2	363
8	Panis Racing	James Allen	Julien Canal	Will Stevens	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	362
9	United Autosports	Paul Di Resta	Alex Lynn	Wayne Boyd	Oreca 07 Gibson	GBR	LMP2	361
10	Inter Europol Competition	Alex Brundle	Jakub Smiechowski	Renger van der Zande	Oreca 07 Gibson	POL	LMP2	360
11	IDEC Sport	Paul-Loup Chatin	Paul Lafargue	Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	359
12	G-Drive Racing	Franco Colapinto	Roman Rusinov	Nyck de Vries	Aurus 01 Gibson	RAF	LMP2	358
13	Jota	Antonio Felix da Costa	Anthony Davidson	Roberto Gonzalez	Oreca 07 Gibson	GBR	LMP2	357
14	Duqueine Team	Rene Binder	Tristan Gommendy	Memo Rojas	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	356
15	DragonSpeed Racing	Henrik Hedman	Ben Hanley	Juan Pablo Montoya	Oreca 07 Gibson	USA	LMP2	356
16	Racing Team Nederland	Frits van Eerd	Giedo van der Garde	Jov van Uitert	Oreca 07 Gibson	NED	LMP2	356
17	Realteam Racing	Loic Duval	Esteban Garcia	Norman Nato	Oreca 07 Gibson	SUI	LMP2	352
18	High Class Racing	Dennis Andersen	Marco Sorensen	Ricky Taylor	Oreca 07 Gibson	DEN	LMP2	345
19	SO24-DIROB by Graff	Vincent Capillaire	Arnold Robin	Maxime Robin	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	345
20	AF Corse	James Calado	Alessandro Pier Guidi	Come Ledogar	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Pro	345
21	Corvette Racing	Nicky Catsburg	Antonio Garcia	Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	USA	GTE Pro	345
22	Porsche GT Team	Michael Christensen	Kevin Estre	Neel Jani	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Pro	344
23	Porsche GT Team	Gianmaria Bruni	Richard Lietz	Frederic Makowiecki	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Pro	343
24	ARC Bratislava	Matej Konopka	Miro Konopka	Oliver Webb	Oreca 07 Gibson	SVK	LMP2	342
25	AF Corse	Nickles Nielsen	Francois Perrodo	Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	340
26	TF Sport	Felipe Fraga	Ben Keating	Dylan Pereira	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	GBR	GTE Am	339
27	Iron Lynx	Matteo Cressoni	Callum Ilott	Rino Mastronardi	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	338
28	Racing Team India Eurasia	Tom Cloet	John Corbett	James Winslow	Ligier JS P217-Gibson	IND	LMP2	338
29	Sashi-High Class Racing	Anders Fjordbach	Jan Magnussen	Kevin Magnussen	Oreca 07 Gibson	DEN	LMP2	336
30	Iron Lynx	Raffaele Gianmaria	Paolo Ruberti	Claudio Schiavoni	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	335
31	Dempsey Proton Racing	Matt Campbell	Jaxon Evans	Christian Reid	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	335
32	Association SRT41	Takuma Aoki	Nigel Bailly	Matthieu Lahaye	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	INV	334
33	D’Station Racing	Tomonobu Fujii	Satoshi Hoshino	Andrew Watson	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	JPN	GTE Am	333
34	Absolute Racing	Andrew Haryanto	Alessio Picariello	Marco Seefried	Porsche 911 RSR-19	CHN	GTE Am	332
35	TF Sport	Ross Gunn	Ollie Hancock	John Hatshorne	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	GBR	GTE Am	332
36	Iron Lynx	Sarah Bovy	Rahel Frey	Michelle Gatting	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	332
37	AF Corse	Sam Bird	Miguel Molina	Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Pro	331
38	Herberth Motorsport	Ralf Bohn	Rolf Ineichen	Robert Renauer	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	330
39	AF Corse	Francesco Castellacci	GIancarlo Fisichella	Thomas Flohr	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	329
40	United Autosports USA	Filipe Albuquerque	Philip Hanson	Fabio Scherer	Oreca 07 Gibson	GBR	LMP2	328
41	Inception Racing	Ben Barnicoat	Brendan Iribe	Ollie Millroy	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GBR	GTE Am	327
42	Dempsey Proton Racing	Julien Andlauer	Lance David Arnold	Dominique Bastien	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	327
43	GR Racing	Ben Barker	Tom Gamble	Michael Wainwright	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GBR	GTE Am	322
44	Corvette Racing	Tommy Milner	Alexander Sims	Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	USA	GTE Pro	313
RET	Risi Competizione	Ryan Cullen	Oliver Jarvis	Felipe Nasr	Oreca 07 Gibson	USA	LMP2	362
RET	Rinaldi Racing	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Pierre Ehret	Christian Hook	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GER	GTE Am	275
RET	PR1 Motorsport Mathiasen	Gabriel Aubry	Patrick Kelly	Simon Trummer	Oreca 07 Gibson	USA	LMP2	271
RET	WeatherTech Racing	Earl Bamber	Cooper MacNeil	Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	USA	GTE Pro	261
RET	Team WRT	Louis Deletraz	Robert Kubica	Ye Yifei	Oreca 07 Gibson	BEL	LMP2	362
RET	Team Project 1	Anders Buchardt	Robby Foley	Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	188
RET	Kessel Racing	Scott Andrews	Mikkel Jansen	Takeshi Kimura	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	SUI	GTE Am	138
RET	JMW Motorsport	Jody Fannin	Thomas Neubauer	Rodrigo Sales	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GBR	GTE Am	128
RET	Spirit of Race	Duncan Cameron	Matt Griffin	Daniel Perel	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	SUI	GTE Am	117
RET	G-Drive Racing	Rui Andrade	John Falb	Roberto Merhi	Aurus 01 Gibson	RAF	LMP2	118
RET	Cetilar Racing	Antonio Fuoco	Roberto Lacorte	Giorgio Semagiotto	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	ITA	GTE Am	108
RET	Team Project 1	Matteo Cairoli	Riccardo Pera	Egidio Perfetti	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	106
RET	United Autosports	Jonathan Aberdein	Nico Jamin	Manuel Maldonado	Oreca 07 Gibson	GBR	LMP2	90
RET	Richard Mille Racing	Tatiana Calderon	Sophia Florsch	Beitske Visser	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	84
RET	Hub Auto Racing	Maxime Martin	Alvaro Parente	Dries Vanthoor	Porsche 911 RSR-19	TAI	GTE Pro	227
RET	Proton Competition	Vuttikhorn Inthraphuvasak	Florian Latorre	Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GER	GTE Am	66
RET	Aston Martin Racing	Marcos Gomes	Paul Dalla Lana	Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	GBR	GTE Am	45
RET	IDEC Sport	Ryan Dalziel	Thomas Laurent	Dwight Merriman	Oreca 07 Gibson	FRA	LMP2	WDN