MOTORSPORT: Porsche, Ford joy at Le Mans. Tears for Toyota

With less than 4min of the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans to run, a historic first victory was within Toyota’s grasp… Then a heart-breaking power failure robbed the Japanese manufacturer and handed yet another success in the world’s toughest circuit race to Porsche.

Oh, what a feeling…

It wasn’t, however, the Porsche 919 Hybrid that Australian Mark Webber co-drove. That car had led in the first third of the race but was out of contention after a lot of time in the pits because of a water pump failure.

While Porsche, already the most successful marque in the French classic, notched its 18th outright victory, Ford triumphed in the GTE Pro class with its new 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged machine on its return to the event 50 years after its famous first outright victory there.

Turbocharged GTs dominated that class, with Fords first, third and fourth and a Ferrari 488 second.

Dirk Muller, Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais drove the # 68 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT to victory. The car started the race from GTE pole position and dominated the class during the race.

Aussie Ryan Briscoe was in the Ford that finished third and which New Zealander Scott Dixon took across the finish line. A raft of post-race penalties has not changed the final order.

In the LMP2 sportscar support class, Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi drove their Nissan-powered Signatech-Alpine #36 to victory. The crew also claimed an impressive fifth place in the overall standings.

In the premier LMP1 category, the race looked to be Toyota’s from around half distance. Toyota’s TS050 Hybrids took charge through their combination of pace and better fuel consumption, getting 14 laps a stint out of its 2.4-litre, twin-turbocharged petrol V6 to the 13 laps of Porsche’s 2.0-litre turbo petrol V4 and Audi’s 4.0-litre turbo diesel V6.

But on the 383rd and penultimate lap of the 13.6km circuit, with Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel, the Toyota faltered and the #2 Porsche, which had made a late stop and looked to be entrenched in second place, inherited a miraculous win. This left Toyota runner-up for the fifth time in its 18 Le Mans quests since 1985.

Mazda remains the only Japanese manufacturer to have won Le Mans – in 1991.

“I have no words to describe our emotions. It is simply heartbreaking, but we will return stronger and more determined to win,” Toyota team president Toshio Sato said.

“We did everything right,” said tearful driver Nakajima.

The #5 Toyota twice stopped on the start-finish straight after losing the lead with less than 3½ minutes remaining, but it eventually restarted and completed the final lap – but too slowly to be classified a finisher.

That left the other Toyota TS050 second, three laps down, with an Audi R18 e-tron quattro third, a further nine laps down.

The victorious Porsche was driven by Switzerland's Neel Jani, Frenchman Roland Dumas and Germany’s Marc Lieb.

The other 919 that Webber shared with New Zealander Brendon Hartley and German veteran Timo Bernhard was classified 13th after completing 346 laps – 38 fewer than its stablemate.

“It wasn’t our day,” Webber said.

“We were unlucky with the water pump. That was the big problem for us. We lost a lot of time.

“In the end we all prayed for #2 and, of course, I’m happy for our teammates and Porsche. But what has happened to Toyota today is really hard to take and you have to feel for them.”

Porsche’s executive in charge of its sports car racing program, Fritz Enzinger, said: “First of all I would like to express my respect for the sensational performance which Toyota gave in this race. It was a great fight with them. Shortly before the finish we had settled for second place until we suddenly claimed our second Le Mans victory in a row.”

Porsche team principal Andreas Seidl said his crew “certainly feel for our colleagues and friends from Cologne [in Germany, where Toyota Motorsport is based]”.

“To give away such a great race this way on the last lap is something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. But this is the sport with all its highs and lows – and that’s also why we love it.

“To win Le Mans is the highlight of the season and it is difficult to believe we have managed it twice now in what is only our third year [after a 16-year hiatus from top-level sports car racing].”

The GTE Pro battle rekindled the Ford-Ferrari rivalry of the 1960s and left Porsche, Corvette and Aston Martin languishing in that class.

“This is an historic moment for the Ford Motor Company,” said Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman.

“We dared to dream that we could return to Le Mans, 50 years after the incredible 1966 win, and take on the toughest competition in the world.

“The pride we all felt when the Ford GT crossed the line at Le Mans is indescribable.

“The Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team demonstrated the spirit of Ford – that of innovation, determination and true teamwork.

“We cherish our history and heritage. Today we made history again and I couldn't be more proud.”

Ford Australia was absent in its pre-promotion of the brand’s involvement at Le Mans. As this report was published, the brand has not acknowledged the victory publicly.

It was Chip Ganassi’s 175th victory as a team owner and he became the only owner in history to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Daytona 24-Hour, Sebring 12-Hour and Le Mans.

German Nico Hulkenberg, one of the three drivers of last year’s wildcard Porsche 919 entry that won outright, missed this year’s enduro because of the clash with the new Formula 1 grand prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, and it was an unlucky return for his two co-drivers.

New Zealander Earl Bamber and Brit Nick Tandy dropped down to GTE Pro this year in Porsche 911 RSRs and had led the class in the wet early stages.

However, Bamber’s car dropped out after power steering and front suspension problems while Tandy’s suffered a punctured air cooler caused by a stone before engine problems put it out too.