After 50 years away from the sport, Ferrari made a history comeback and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans back to back after an intense battle with Toyota and Porsche.
After 311 laps of the Sarthe circuit, Nicklas Nielsen of Denmark, along with Italian Antonio Fuoco and Spanish Miguel Molina, shared the 499P hypercar that was nearly out of gasoline and on a wet track.
After starting 23rd, the Toyota GR010 hybrid piloted by Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez finished 14.221 seconds behind.
Although Molina, Fuoco, and Nielsen all won the race for the first time overall, the result was still up for grabs in a race that had a safety car period that lasted more than four hours throughout the night.
At the end, the fuel gauge on the automobile was reading about 2%.
Regarding preserving gasoline till the very end, Nielsen remarked, "The worst for me was when they asked me to go slower because that's usually where the mistakes happen." "It was a really lengthy last lap. They informed me of the distance, so all we had to do was manage the space to the car in P2 [second]. Nevertheless, we succeeded."
With over an hour left, there was a dramatic moment when the right-side door of the vehicle suddenly sprang open, necessitating a pit stop. This subsequently worked to Ferrari's advantage since the car was now using a different fuel strategy than its competitors.
After starting 23rd, the Toyota GR010 hybrid piloted by Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez finished 14.221 seconds behind.
Lopez lost valuable time when spinning at the Dunlop Curve, slowing down Toyota's attack. With just thirty minutes to go and a 30-second cushion over the leader, Toyota essentially declared victory and instructed Lopez to take the vehicle home in second place.
With the two factory cars and the AF Corse customer team entry, driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, and Yifei Ye, Ferrari had looked impressive from the outset. Due to mechanical difficulties, the entry that had taken the lead on Saturday retired four hours from the finish.
With the vehicle in the lead, driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, and Andre Lotterer, Porsche Penske came in fourth.
In a Cadillac, two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou came in sixth.
By midnight, BMW and Renault-owned Alpine had been eliminated from the competition; after nearly five hours of racing, Renault's entry caught fire at Arnage. Engine problems forced the BMW to retire.
The second-tier LMP2 category was won by Oliver Jarvis of Britain, along with Americans Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel, in the United Autosports Oreca vehicle.
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