Toyota didn?t deserve this. No matter how many swerving gold Camrys have ever cut you off or blocked your way, they didn?t deserve this. Not just defeat, but utter humiliation on global television and in front of a crowd of 263,000. ?I have no power,? radioed driver Kazuki Nakajima to his pit as the No. 5 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid sat inert with one lap to go in the race. Not in the pastoral woods of the Mulsanne Straight or the Indianapolis curves, where Nakajima could have cried into his helmet in private, but right on the start/finish line in front of packed garages and grandstands, the Japanese flag having already been brought to the winner?s podium to await the victors.
And that was that. The Porsche 919 Hybrid passed it moments later with Jani Neel at the wheel and Porsche?s 18th Le Mans overall victory went into the record books. It was a stunning upset for Porsche and its various cars in LMP1 and GTEPro, which all weekend long had been proving that once bad luck starts at Le Mans, it has the momentum of a freight train. After 23 hours and 57 minutes of dicing with Porsche for the overall lead of the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota had it in the bag. Finally! The company had finished second in the French classic twice but had never won. It was moments away from becoming only the second Japanese manufacturer ever to win Le Mans after many large and well-funded factory efforts from both Toyota and Nissan. The previous and only Japanese victory,...