TOYOTA CRACKS IT AS ALONSO MAKES MORE HISTORY

When Kamui Kobayashi slowed to a crawl in the penultimate hour, Toyota’s ‘easy’ run to its first Le Mans victory suddenly looked under threat. Could its curse really strike again? Fortunately, the problem turned out to be nothing more than Kobayashi forgetting to stop, and the Japanese manufacturer duly completed its one-two, finally ending three decades of heartache. Despite what a few naysayers may think, Fernando Alonso’s appearance at Le Mans was a huge positive for the race. And so was his victory. Yes, he stole most of the headlines, but there were more of those headlines, and more people reading them, because the double Formula 1 world champion was in the classic French enduro. There were also those in the immediate aftermath of the race who felt the need to suggest that Alonso’s achievement wasn’t worthy of Graham Hill’s Le Mans victory in 1972. That success completed Hill’s triple crown so – given Alonso’s stated aim of winning the Monaco GP, Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 – comparison was inevitable. Quite apart from the fact that any win in the Le Mans 24 Hours is worthy of respect, Hill was also part of a dominant team. Matra had no real opposition – Hill’s success was undoubtedly well-deserved, but the 1972 Le Mans hasn’t gone down as a classic in the event’s history. This year’s race probably won’t either, but that has nothing to do with Alonso’s performance. So, fans should rejoice in Alonso’s success, particularly as it means he is even more likely to do the Indy 500 again now. Perhaps a World Endurance title and full Indycar season beckon…

As the early section of the magazine, which includes our LMP2 report, went to press the news broke of G-drive’s exclusion. It was too late to change our report (page 28), but please turn to p10 for details on what went on and how Signatech inherited victory.