Sebastien Buemi from Switzerland, Brendon Hartley from New Zealand, and Ryo Hirakawa from Japan are the drivers of the #08 Toyota Gazoo Racing car, specifically the Toyota GR010 Hybrid. This event took place on June 15, 2024, as part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the fourth round of the championship and was held at the famous Le Mans circuit in France. The race took place on a Saturday.
Sebastien Buemi, leading the race for Toyota, managed to maintain his position even with 14 hours of racing completed. The race was under safety car conditions due to heavy rain. Toyota has been competing in the Le Mans race since 2012 and their cautious and non-risk approach has paid off so far. As the reigning Hypercar manufacturers’ champion, Toyota is aiming for their third Le Mans victory with their GR010 Hybrid package.
The #7 Toyota car started last in its category due to a rare mistake made by Kamui Kobayashi during qualifying practice. However, the #8 car managed to make its way to the front of the field. Ryo Hirakawa, the driver of the #8 car, initially faced competition from Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske 963. However, Sebastien Buemi took over the wheel and increased the gap between them to over 13 seconds.
The rain continued to intensify and affected various areas of the circuit. As a result, the race had to be put under safety car conditions again shortly after returning to green flag racing. In the LMP2 category, the #24 Nielsen Racing team’s chances of winning the class were halted when David-Heinemeier Hansson got stuck in the gravel trap at the Porsche Curves in their Oreca 07 car.
At the front of the LMP2 category was the #155 AF Corse team, driven by Francois Perrodo. They were followed by the #22 United Autosports Orea car of Nolan Sieigel and the #37 Cool Racing Oreca car of Lorenzo Fluxa. Fourth and fifth places were occupied by the #34 Inter Europol Competition and the #10 Vector Sport teams, respectively.
In the LMGT3 category, it was a 1-2 finish for the Manthey team, with Alex Malykhin in the #92 car leading the way, followed by Yasser Shahin in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3.R. Fourth place was held by Ian James in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, followed by Sarah Bovy in the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini and Takeshi Kimura in the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F.