The 24 Hours of Le Mans has once again become a prey for Toyota Gazoo Racing. The Hypercar of the defending champion, driven by Horstenaar John Litjens, crossed the line first.
Litjens has been around for years chief project leader with the successful racing team, which occupied the top two steps of the podium with its cars.
Also read: His key role in Le Mans remains special for John Litjens
Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa
The car with starter car 8, with Swiss Sébastian Buemi, New Zealander Brendon Hartley and Japanese Ryo Hirakawa alternating as drivers, came in first after 380 laps. The Toyota car with starting number 7, with Briton Mike Conway, Japanese Kamui Kobayashi and Argentinian José Maria Lopez as drivers, finished 2 minutes behind.
Favorite Roll
With this, the formation of Litjens, who had started on the first and second starting position, fulfilled its favorite role. Glickenhaus Racing, with Britons Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook and Frenchman Franck Mailleux, finished third five laps down.
Frisian
Robin Frijns dropped out with just over 5 hours to go. The Maastricht driver crashed towards the end of his driving time in the Oreca 07 – Gibson of his Team WRT. He came out of a corner too wide and slammed into the guardrails. He couldn’t get his car to start again.
Also read: Robin Frijns crashes in Le Mans 24 hours and drops out
Frijns had started the race in sixth position, but had already fallen far back. He also raced in LMP2 class. In this class he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.