24 Hours of Le Mans 2020: Toyota Gazoo Racing win for a third year in a row

ByEurosport

Updated 20/09/2020 at 13:31 GMT

Toyota Gazoo Racing triumphed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race for the third year in succession on Sunday. United Autosports won LMP2 while Aston Martin secured the FIA GT Manufacturers’ World Championship.

Toyota Gazoo Racing won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race for the third year in a row on Sunday.

It was also the third successive title for Japan's Kazuki Nakajima, who was at the wheel of the number eight car for the chequered flag at the Sarthe circuit, and Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi.

New Zealander Brendon Hartley, the third member of the crew who replaced double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso in the lineup after the Spaniard's wins in 2018 and 2019, previously won with Porsche in 2017.

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United Autosports' number 22 car finished fifth to win the LMP2 category with Britons Paul di Resta and Philip Hanson along with Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque. They have won six consecutive races - a record feat in LMP2.

Aston Martin and Alex Lynn in the #97 Vantage took the spoils to win GTE Pro, while Charlie Eastwood and TF Sport in GTE Am gives the manufacturer their first double class victory.

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The race, first held in 1923 and now in its 88th edition, was held for the first time without spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year's event attracted 250,000, many of them British motor racing fans making the trek to the circuit in northwest France.

"We miss the fans. It doesn't feel quite the same as it normally does," said Hartley, before clambering onto the roof of the winning car with Buemi when Nakajima brought it back to the pitlane.

To win it with two different manufacturers feels amazing. I feel at home here, I love it.

Swiss-based Rebellion Racing's number one R13 Gibson car driven by Brazilian Bruno Senna, American Gustavo Menezes and France's Norman Nato, finished second and Toyota completed the podium with their number seven car.

That meant heartache for Japan's Kamui Kobayashi, Britain's Mike Conway and Argentine Jose Maria Lopez, runners-up to the sister car in the last two years, after starting from pole position.

Toyota, the only major manufacturer in the top LMP1 category and again crowned World Endurance Champions, had led one-two as night fell over the circuit on Saturday but the order was soon to change.

The number seven car lost half an hour in the garage with a turbo problem that could have proved terminal just after the halfway mark.

That dropped the number seven to fourth overall but they managed to overhaul the number three Rebellion to secure a podium finish in a race that stayed dry throughout.

Additional reporting from Reuters.

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