Alonso leads Toyota to 1-2 finish at Le Mans 24 Hours
LE MANS: Fernando Alonso celebrated a “lucky” second straight Le Mans 24 Hour race title on Sunday in a Toyota, the two-time Formula One champion sharing the wheel with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
Another Toyota driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, was in the lead and on course for victory only to suffer a puncture one hour from the finish.
Entering the closing stages Spaniard Alonso’s car with Nakajima driving lagged over a lap behind the other Toyota hybrid, before fortune intervened to gift them the advantage, and victory in the 87th edition of Le Mans in front of a crowd of over 250,000 committed motor enthusiasts at the venue.
Alonso’s No.8 entry crossed the line 17 seconds clear of the pole-sitting No.7 after 385 laps of the iconic circuit.
“It was luck that gave us the trophy, we’ll take it, because motorsport is like that. I hope they’ll win next year,” said Alonso.
His Swiss teammate Buemi, also a former F1 driver, added: “It wasn’t fair for the No.7 car.
“I can imagine what they are feeling after 2016 in the last lap for us, it must be terrible.”
Three years ago Buemi was in the team assured of victory only for their Toyota to lose power when in the lead on the final lap.
The 1-2 outcome was a carbon copy of 2018 and it handed Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima the endurance drivers’ title with Toyota having taken the constructors’ crown last month.