In front of a passionate 65,000 crowd, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López saw off an intense challenge from the local heroes to win for the third time this season in their #7 GR010 HYBRID, by 16.520secs from the #50 Ferrari.
A determined comeback drive from Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 GR010 HYBRID saw the World Champions recover from the back of the field. They crossed the line fourth but were handed a post-race penalty and dropped to sixth.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s fourth win of the season is the perfect response to a frustrating Le Mans 24 Hours and extends the team’s World Championship lead to 26 points. Victory brings the #7 crew back into the drivers’ title race and they now lie second, 23 points behind their #8 colleagues.
On another warm summer day, the action on track was equally hot from the opening lap when Mike led the 36-car field into the tight first chicane from pole position. He jostled for the lead, but Sébastien, starting third, made contact with the #51 Ferrari and dropped to eighth.
After 15 minutes, Mike led from the #50 Ferrari and #93 Peugeot, when an incident between the #8 and a GT car brought out the safety car again. The #8 was not damaged but its chances were hit when stewards imposed a 10secs penalty for the first incident and a further 60secs for the second.
The safety car brought the chasing pack right on Mike’s tail and when racing resumed he dropped to third. Sébastien took his 60secs penalty and resumed in 34th place, losing a lap to the leader soon after.
Mike put pressure on the leaders as the first pit stops approached at the one-hour mark, but lost valuable seconds when manoeuvring around a car pitting in the adjacent garage. At his stop, Sébastien served his other penalty and began the #8 car’s fightback.
Third-placed Mike was the quickest car on track in his second stint on the hard tyres and moved into the lead during the next pit stops. José continued the battle, fighting past the #5 Porsche to effectively lead the race shortly before an LMP2 incident caused a safety car early in the third hour.
When off-strategy rivals pitted behind the safety car, José hit the front and began building an advantage over the #50 Ferrari, twice setting new fastest laps in the process. Meanwhile the #8, now with Ryo at the wheel, fought its way up to seventh.
Smart strategy and a string of quick laps from Ryo helped the #8 return to the lead lap by the time Brendon took over to push for a top-six finish. At the front, José’s efforts during the fourth hour paid off and he handed over the #7 to Kamui with a substantial advantage over the two Ferraris.
However, a safety car eliminated that 45secs gap and set up an exciting last 90 minutes with Kamui defending a slender lead from the #50 Ferrari. The #8 car’s misfortune continued when they had to make an emergency fuel stop under the safety car, and then a full pit stop when racing resumed, dropping Brendon to eighth.
Kamui set about rebuilding his advantage and led by around 10secs when he made his final pit stop with 45 minutes to go, after minimising the time lost on old tyres compared to the Ferrari on new tyres. An exceptional pit stop by the mechanics helped Kamui return to the track ahead of his rival.
With fresh rubber, Kamui set the fastest lap and pulled clear to win by 16.520secs from the #50 Ferrari. The #8 crew’s never-give-up approach paid dividends as Brendon battled into fourth place in a frantic final 15 minutes by overtaking their World Championship rivals in the #51 Ferrari, and the #5 Porsche. Post-race, the #8 was handed a 50secs penalty for briefly and unintentionally exceeding a powertrain power limit on one lap.
The chequered flag brought the European leg of the 2023 season to a close. Hypercar competition will return on 10 September for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s home race, the 6 Hours of Fuji, the penultimate race of a season which concludes in Bahrain in November.
