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New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley says he feels right at home at Le Mans after taking his second title there after Toyota Gazoo’s number 8 car comfortably won the famous 24-hour race.
Team Toyota won from Rebellion No. 1 on Sunday (Monday New Zealand time) to secure a third consecutive victory in the prestigious endurance race.
David Vincent / AP
Drivers Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland, Kazuki Nakajima of Japan and Brendon Hartley of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team spray champagne after winning the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race.
It was also a third consecutive victory for Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi and Japanese Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel. Hartley was the other driver, having replaced two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.
Hartley, Toyota reserve driver for the winning 2019 team, celebrated his second Le Mans crown, after winning with Porsche in 2017.
Ker Robertson / Getty Images
New Zealand driver Brendon Hartley has achieved another victory at Le Mans. (File photo).
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“Winning it with two different manufacturers feels amazing,” Hartley said.
“I feel at home here, I love it.”
Buemi and Hartley sat on the side of the car as Nakajima drove to the podium.
Hartley, 30, is a two-time winner of the World Endurance Championship, which had 25 starts in Formula One for Toro Ross in 2017-18.
More recently, he has been involved in Formula E racing for electric cars.
The Rebellion No. 1 of the Swiss team featured American driver Gustavo Menezes and Brazilian Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late F1 great Ayrton Senna.
David Vincent / AP
The Toyota Gazoo Racing Team’s No8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, driven by Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland, Kazuki Nakajima of Japan and Brendon Hartley of New Zealand, leads the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race.
He finished one lap ahead of Toyota Gazoo’s No. 7, and Rebellion’s No. 3 finished in fourth place.
For much of the race, it looked like the No. 7 Toyota would win after leading comfortably from pole. But until late at night the car encountered an engine problem and the 30-minute stop in the stands proved costly.
The race was first held in 1923. A total of 252,500 spectators attended in 2019, but there were none this year when the race started three months late due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We miss the fans,” Hartley said. “I hope to see all the fans again.”
The No. 7 Toyota took pole position after former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi narrowly edged the No. 1 Rebellion team in the standings.
In wet and humid conditions, Mike Conway got away cleanly early on, while Senna kept Buemi at bay.
After nearly seven hours, the Toyota No. 8 backed away after a 10-minute stop in the stands to fix a brake cooling issue on Kazuki Nakajima’s car. Rebellion’s number 1, driven by Frenchman Norman Nato, took the opportunity to move to second place behind Toyota’s number 7.
David Vincent / AP
The Rebellion R13 No3 of the Rebellion Racing Team driven by Nathanael Berthon from France, Romain Dumas from France and Louis Deletraz from Switzerland in action at Le Mans.
Then the decisive moment came at 2.40 in the morning when No. 7, also with Argentine José María López, found a problem with the turbo. When the car came out again, it was in fourth place.
“We had some problems early in the race,” Nakajima said. “Later they had a bigger problem than us.”
Rebellion’s No. 1 encountered a hood problem around 9 a.m. and the switch took six minutes, allowing Rebellion’s No. 3 (Nathanaël Berthon-Louis Delétraz-Romain Dumas) to bridge the gap.
It was turning into a close battle between the two Rebellion cars behind the No. 8 Toyota.
At 12pm, Rebellion No. 3 with Dumas at the wheel was just one second ahead of No. 1 driven by Menezes. Then both cars went in for a driver change with Delétraz replacing Dumas in an extended stop, and Nato for Menezes as Rebellion No. 1 suddenly got ahead of his team rival.
Dumas, a 2016 winner with Porsche, seemed unhappy with the strategic decision to bring his car first and the length of the stop. There were tense explanations in the team garage.
Colombian Tatiana Calderón, F1 test driver with Alfa Romeo, was in the Richard Mille Racing Team in the LMP2 category. She was joined by the German Sophia Flörsch, a F3 driver, and the Dutch Beitske Visser. They were placed ninth out of 24 in their category.
– Additional reporting material
