Toyota Gazoo Racing dominated the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, sealing a coveted one-two in the legendary endurance race and claiming a fourth straight victory. The No. 7 car, shared by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José Maria Lopez, delivered an almost faultless run, completing the event without any significant issues.
The sister Toyota, No. 8, driven by Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima and Sébastien Buemi, ran into a few setbacks over the course of the race. Even so, it still brought home second place, rounding off an outstanding result for the Japanese manufacturer.
Toyota Gazoo Racing and the Hypercar podium at Le Mans
Third overall went to the home outfit, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team, with André Negrão, Maxime Vaxivière and Nicolas Lapierre carrying the French colours onto the podium.
HISTORIC🏁@TGR_WEC #LeMans24 #WEC pic.twitter.com/zgU8tIMNlc
- 24 Hours of Le Mans (@24hoursoflemans) August 22, 2021
Alpine’s No. 36 was consistently competitive across the full 24 hours, but a handful of driver mistakes-one of them in the opening hour-ultimately shaped the team’s outcome. After getting ahead of one of the Scuderia Glickenhaus cars, the French squad then held on to third and did not relinquish the position.
On its Le Mans debut this year, the US-based Scuderia Glickenhaus secured fourth and fifth overall. The crew of Luis Felipe Derani, Olivier Pla and Franck Mailleux proved the quicker of the team’s two entries.
LMP2: Team WRT leads as late drama reshuffles the class
In LMP2, the standout was Team WRT’s No. 31, piloted by Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi. It topped the class and finished sixth overall, helped by the misfortune of the team’s “twin” car, No. 41 (Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Ye Yifei), which retired on the final lap.
A Team WRT one-two in LMP2 had looked all but certain, but that late retirement elevated JOTA Sport’s No. 28 to second in the category, with Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blonqvist sharing the driving. Third in LMP2 went to Panis Racing’s No. 65, driven by Julien Canal, Will Stevens and James Allen.
GTE Pro and GTE Am: Ferrari takes the honours
In GTE Pro, Ferrari emerged on top thanks to AF Corse’s No. 51, with James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Côme Ledogar getting the better of their rivals.
The Corvette driven by Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg finished second, while the works Porsche of Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen completed the GTE Pro podium in third.
Ferrari also won the GTE Am class, again with AF Corse, as the No. 83 entry driven by François Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera took the category victory.
Portuguese drivers out of luck…
JOTA Sport’s No. 38, featuring Portuguese driver António Félix da Costa alongside Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez, had been among the leading favourites for the LMP2 win. However, its challenge unravelled very early on, and it could do no better than 13th overall (eighth in LMP2).
Filipe Albuquerque, sharing United Autosport’s No. 22 with Phil Hanson and Fabio Scherer, even fought for the lead of LMP2 during the night. But an alternator issue during a pit stop caused a delay that could not be recovered, leaving the Portuguese driver’s car classified only 18th in the class.
In GTE Pro, the HUB Racing Porsche that started from pole position-and had Portuguese driver Álvaro Parente at the wheel-retired during the night.
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