LE MANS, France — Toyota executed a perfect, textbook strategy throughout the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to claim its first victory since 2022, securing a sixth overall triumph and equaling the tally of British marque Bentley.
To spectacular fanfare, Japanese powerhouse Toyota Racing lifted the iconic trophy at a sun-kissed Circuit de la Sarthe for the first time in four years, in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators at the venue and millions more watching around the world.
Drivers Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway emerged as the team to beat at the end of the race, guiding the No. 7 Toyota to victory ahead of the sister No. 8 Toyota Racing entry, the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT and the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA machine in an epic four-way battle to the checkered flag – underlining the “Platinum Era” status that the Hypercar category is building.
For Kobayashi, it was a fourth Le Mans victory. It marked a second triumph for British star Mike Conway and, for the first time in 38 years, a historic win for the Netherlands as Nyck de Vries became the latest Dutch driver to conquer Le Mans.
It looked set to be another Toyota one-two, but BMW’s never-say-die attitude ensured that the FIA World Endurance Championship points leaders – the No. 20 crew of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde – claimed second overall and a valuable haul of championship points.
Toyota could still be delighted with third place, although a few costly mistakes and strategy calls denied the No. 8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa another victory.
Meanwhile, Cadillac can take plenty of plaudits once again. A crowd favorite throughout the week, the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA crew gave everything in pursuit of victory, and the pace they demonstrated at Le Mans suggests they will remain contenders for years to come.
The car was shared by Louis Delétraz, Will Stevens and Norman Nato.
It was a grandstand finish in LMP2 as the Inter Europol Competition cars worked well overnight bring both cars into the rostrum contention, but a second day charge from Forestier Racing by Panis had everyone on the edge of their seats, but after 24 hours of racing the Polish No. 43 ORECA with pilots Jakub Smiechowski, Tom Dillmann and Nicholas Yelloly win the penultimate race at Le Mans for this specification LMP2 car.
Corvette captured the magic of Le Mans once again with iconic yellow No. 33 Corvette run by TF Sport took LMGT3 laurels with Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg taking a popular leap onto the top step of the podium.
It’s the first victory at the French endurance class for the Corvette GT3 and 10th for the Corvette Racing program since its first Le Mans win in 2001. A Corvette won Le Mans for the first time since 2023 when Catsburg and Keating won for the Corvette Racing team in the final year of the GTE Am class with a Corvette C8.R.
Akkodis ASP Team put Lexus on the podium for the first time at Le Mans with the No. 78 car second and the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin joins in the celebrations in third.
