24 Hours of Le Mans: Toyota with sixth victory in the classic

The 2026 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is over - and once again victory went to Toyota. It is the Japanese manufacturer's sixth triumph in the legendary classic on the French Sarthe. In fact, Toyota did not start the race as favourites, as the two TR010 Hybrids only started from 14th and 15th on the grid.

However, a perfect strategy (but also a strong race pace) then put Toyota in front. The TR010 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries won the race - it was the first ever triumph at Le Mans for the Dutchman de Vries. Around five hours before the end of the race, it seemed as if the pendulum for this year's LM victory would swing in favour of the competition from BMW and Cadillac.

But then there was a safety car phase (to recover a Porsche). This brought the field back together - and consequently the two Toyota cars in third and fourth place ahead of them within striking distance of the BMW M Hybrid V8 of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, who were in front at the time, and the Cadillac V-Series.R of Norman Nato, Will Stevens and Louis Delétraz behind them.

In the almost five-hour sprint to the chequered flag, the manufacturers finally laid all their cards on the table - with the better end in favour of Toyota. BMW was narrowly beaten but still celebrated a well-deserved second place. It is the best result for the brand with the propeller since its magnificent triumph with the open-top V12 LMR in 1999.

The podium was completed by the second Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sébastien Buemi in third place. This TR010 Hybrid was actually the faster car at first, but a repair to the front left brake simply cost too much time on Sunday morning.

With the V-Series.R of Norman Nato, Will Stevens and Louis Delétraz, Cadillac made it to fourth place. The Americans went into the race as favourites - in the end it was not enough for the podium. The Ferrari 499P of reigning world champions James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi completed the top five.

Inter Europol Competition again in front in LMP2

The Oreca 07 of Tom Dillmann, Jakub Smiechowski and Nick Yelloly won the LMP2 class. This is the third class victory at Le Mans in four years for Polish outfit Inter Europol Competition. The LMGT3 triumph went to Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating in the Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R.