Leading Le Mans with just over three minutes remaining, the #5 TS050 Hybrid looked certain to make Toyota just the second Japanese brand to win at Circuit de la Sarthe, only to suffer a catastrophic power failure.
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Nakajima crossed the line second, but his final lap of almost 12 minutes was so slow that the car’s result was not classified, so Toyota’s No. 6 vehicle took second place and Audi third.
There is an old saying in motorsport that to finish first, first you have to finish and today that applied to the Toyota TS050 hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in dramatic circumstances.
Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas were able to celebrate a success in the world famous race, which attracted 263,500 spectators, that looked so unlikely until the closing stages. The auto was great to drive. The failure eventually slowed the auto to a halt just after the finish line, when it would have been starting its final lap. I would definitely give up my spot here to see them up there [as winners] and to see them rewarded for their hard work.
Mark Webber’s Le Mans dream went all nightmarish around 11pm on Saturday – after eight hours – when his Porsche overheated with water pump issues whilst fighting up front, leaving the #2 sister vehicle to continue the fight. Despite strenuous efforts to restore drive, the auto struggled round the lap and stopped on the start-finish line.
It was rough going for WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars and drivers in the LMP2 class, which was won by the No. 36 Signatech Alpine of Stephane Richelmi, Gustavo Menezes and Nicolas Lapierre.
The Toyota pit crew beat him to that as well, with the heartbreak evident across the garage.
The loss was particularly painful for Japanese fans, as it would have marked the 25th anniversary of the last Japanese auto to win, the 1991 Mazda 787B. “So to actually live through the experience is pretty hard to take, but it will make us stronger and we’ll be back”. “It is simply heartbreaking but we will return stronger and more determined to win”, said Toyota Racing team president Toshio Sato.
WeatherTech regulars Michael Shank Racing, victor at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, fielded a Honda-powered Ligier for co-drivers John Pew, Ozz Negri and Laurens Vanthoor. Still we drove a very good race with very few mistakes and pushed the vehicle to the maximum. It is so disappointing for the whole team; we did the right preparation and we had the auto to win. “I would like to thank our great team in Weissach, our team here in Le Mans and all Porsche employees and fans which have supported us here”.
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Champions of the 2015 Le Mans, the #1 Porsche driven by ex-F1 driver Mark Webber, Timo Bernard and Brendon Hartley ran out of the competition at the ninth hour owing to consistent heating issues and a malfunctioning water pump.
