Porsche claimed victory at the 2016 Le Mans after a race-long battle with Toyota for the honours. The #5 Toyota, that was leading the race, suffered mechanical failure with just three minutes to go handing over the victory to the German manufacturer. Surprisingly, the 24 hours Le Mans, saw Audis not making it on the podium for the first time in over a decade.
The #2 Porsche was piloted by Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas for over 24 hours at the demanding Le Mans circuit for 384 laps in the LMP1 car. Defending champions, Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernard, driving the #1 Porsche 919 had to retire in the ninth hour owing to over-heating and water pump issues. The #5 Toyota finished second after completing 383 laps before the TS050 Hybrid driven by Nakajima Kazuki lost power and came to halt with just three minutes left.
#6 Toyota, driven by Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi cruised to an easy third, four laps behind the race leader. This has been Toyota’s best performance in years with the competitors not managing to match their 14-lap fuelling strategy in the early stages. The V4 turbo-diesel Audis could not match the pace set by the leaders, slowly dropping out of podium contention.
