Loïc Duval and Stéphane Sarrazin, the pursuers - For Duval and Sarrazin, factory Audi and Toyota drivers, respectively, in 2016, this year's World Endurance Championship (WEC) was an extended chase. Along with Brazilian driver Lucas di Grassi and the Brit Oliver Jarvis, Loïc Duval won twice: at the WEC Spa-Francorchamps and Bahrain, for Audi's last win before its withdrawal. With four podium finishes, he beat in second place in the World Endurance Drivers Championship his fellow countryman Stéphane Sarrazin, still in the running for the title the day before the last round. With his teammates Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, he gave Toyota its only victory in 2016 on its home turf at the 6 Hours of Fuji. The trio of the #6 TS050 finished third in the driver standings, with four other podiums.

Pierre Thiriet, in the lead - Pierre Thiriet proved regularly to be one to beat, with no less than 10 wins since the inception of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). Deputy Director of a production site for the frozen products company created by his father, he demonstrated remarkable consistency at the top of the ELMS with the Thiriet by TDS Racing team: title-winner in 2012, second in 2013, 2015 and 2016. With such a stunning record, bolstered by three consecutive wins and a second place finish by the end of the 2016 ELMS season, today Pierre Thiriet figures, at 27 years of age, among the best gentlemen-drivers in the discipline, along with his two fellow countrymen Julien Canal and François Perrodo, as well as the Brit Simon Dolan and Russian driver Roman Rusinov.

Click here for the first and second installments:

2016 Review - French driver honor roll (1) - Romain Dumas, Nicolas Lapierre, Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo

2016 Review - French driver honor roll (2) - Sébastien Bourdais

Photo: In the final standings of the 2016 World Endurance Drivers Championship, there is a French driver in each top 3 driver line-up: World Champion Romain Dumas, Loïc Duval (pictured) and Stéphane Sarrazin.