KIWI HERO HARTLEY TAKES LE MANS AGAIN
New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley has claimed his second 24 Hours of Le Mans victory, while Toyota Gazoo Racing has picked up its third consecutive victory in the iconic race.
Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima completed over 5000km of the race and won by five laps in the #8 TS050 Hybrid, also taking the lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
It’s Buemi and Nakajima’s third consecutive Le Mans victory; Hartley’s previous win was in 2017 with Porsche.
“To win with two different manufacturers feels amazing,” said Hartley. “I feel at home here, I love it”.
Toyota is also home in some respects for Hartley, who had early success as an open-wheeler rookie in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand — he won his first race in 2005, at the age of 15.
He joined Gazoo Racing last year as a reserve driver in the WEC and got the seat when Fernando Alonso retired.
The #8 TS050 had problems early in the race and required a
10-minute pit-stop to fix a brake issue, but the team was ultracomposed in the second half.
“After 24 hours of racing we didn’t have a single scratch on the car,” said Hartley.
Le Mans is traditionally one of the biggest motor racing events on the global calendar, attracting
250,000-plus spectators at Circuit La Sarthe. But not this year, with Covid-19 restrictions meaning empty stands.
“We miss the fans,” said Hartley. “I look forward to seeing all the fans again.”