Toyota won the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans with its #7 crew and secured its sixth victory in this legendary endurance race.
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| Photo by Marc Fleury |
A total of 350,105 trackside fans witnessed the Japanese manufacturer win the 94th edition of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe. But let's go back to the start.
After a not particularly successful qualifying session, Toyota qualified only 14th with the #7 crew and 15th with the #8 crew. It didn't look very promising, but Le Mans is not a sprint — it's a 24-hour race full of challenges, and the winner can emerge from almost any starting position. This year's race was a perfect example of that.
Right from the start, Toyota's strategists opted for an early undercut, which put the team in contention for victory. The #8 crew was initially the leading Toyota, but during the night several issues came their way. A drive-through penalty and minor technical problems slowed them down. As a result, the sister car, #7, was able to catch up.
The only remaining rival for Toyota was BMW #20, as Cadillac #38 was forced to retire with technical issues. The internal Toyota battle for victory was decided by Nick de Vries, who managed to get ahead of a struggling Brendon Hartley. De Vries then handed the car over to his teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, who brought the red Toyota home in first place after 24 hours of racing.
Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi won Le Mans for the second time, while for Nick de Vries it was a maiden victory in this famous race.
The battle for second place on the podium was decided 47 minutes before the end of the race when Robin Frijns in BMW #20 overtook Sébastien Buemi in Toyota #8 through the Porsche Curves. Thanks to this move, Frijns and his teammates, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde, secured second place.
Toyota #8 completed the podium in third place with Sébastien Buemi, Ryō Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley behind the wheel.
“It’s hard to put into words,” reflected Conway. “To win here is always incredible because it’s such a tough race, and our opposition was super-tough as well. There were moments where every competitor was strong. I think even until the last two or three hours, we didn't really know what was going to happen.
“Robin [Frijns] made it super-tense for the last 30 minutes and I think Nyck [de Vries] was closing his eyes for the last hour and hiding. I was pacing around in the drivers’ room and had about 15 toilet breaks in the last 30 minutes! But we got through it, we did the job and we’re here. It was an amazing effort, so huge credit to everybody involved.”
The LMP2 category belonged to Inter Europol Competition, as the Polish team secured the first two positions and was joined on the podium by Forestier Racing by Panis #29.
However, we came close to seeing a woman on the top step at Le Mans, as Doriane Pin and the Duqueine Team crew led the majority of the race. Unfortunately, she and her teammates were forced to retire due to technical issues with their Oreca LMP2 prototype.
The LMGT3 category was won by TF Sport #33, with Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating behind the wheel.
The World Endurance Championship season will continue at the Brazilian circuit of São Paulo on 12 July.