24h Le Mans
The driver line-up in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid has won the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans ahead of the #8 sister car and Alpine Elf Matmut's #36 Alpine A480-Gibson.
Mike Conway: "We knew in the last six hours that there could be a problem with the car. Our progress was threatened by a technical problem, but the team found a solution. All the credit goes to the team. The race was not easy and the last hours were really stressful. Now we celebrate as a weight has been lifted!"
Kamui Kobayashi: "We experienced many obstacles. The team worked really hard. Despite that, we felt the need to survive in the last two hours. It is an amazing feeling to finally be the winners. My teammates did a great job throughout the week."
José-María López: "This is a dream come true! We came through a tough Le Mans. I have waited so many years for this win. I could not have asked for better teammates. Mike and Kamui are like brothers to me and I am lucky to have them. And the team worked really hard! We take the glory, but there are 600 people in Cologne and 1,000 in Japan behind us. It was tough. The last six or seven hours weren't easy, but we came through as a team!"
Sébastien Buemi: "Unfortunately, we got hit in the first turn. I fell back in the middle of the GTs, but with 60 cars on the track, I needed to be careful. After the accident at the start, I had to stop on the track to restart the car, I even did a straight ahead at Mulsanne. We were in last position! But we made our way back, even taking the lead later on. We believed. You always have to have faith. To finish second isn't so bad. As the race went on, we had a weaker pace than the #7. Congratulations to them, they deserve it!"
Brendon Hartley: "To bring a brand new car from last place to second is impressive. We had a fuel pump problem and were unable to make full use of the capacity of the tank, which caused us to have to do 5-6 lap stints. We had technical problems and spent quite some time on the radio to fix them. Yes, we would have preferred to win, but we are happy for our teammates. They've known disappointment in the past and this win is well-deserved."
André Negrão: "It was a difficult race for us. Glickenhaus was very fast and Toyota even more so. We finished ahead of Glickenhaus so we succeeded. It is a really good result and a pleasure to represent Alpine with whom I've gained another podium after 2017, 2018 and 2019 in LMP2."
Nicolas Lapierre: "It was wonderful to see all the fans again, we missed them last year when the race took place behind closed doors. We felt a lot of enthusiasm relative to our participation. This third place is not what we'd hoped, but we couldn't do better. We are going to work hard in the future to improve in the classification. Bravo to Toyota. They were stronger than we were and we have to accept it. Nonetheless, I think we can be proud of finishing third for Alpine's first year in Hypercar."
Matthieu Vaxivière: "Right from the start, we knew it would be difficult with Toyota because they have a great pace. It was up to us not to make a mistake and to push ourselves. My incident in the first Mulsanne chicane was my fault. At least we didn't sustain too much damage or lose too much time. In the end, we made it onto the podium. We are very proud of that. Our team has really gelled and that makes the adventure even better. The team has done excellent work over the last several months and I am sure we will return."
Philippe Sinault: "I hope this is the first of many positive results. Alpine loves Le Mans, that's certain. Thank you to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest for organizing the race in challenging conditions. Thank you to the entire team and my thoughts go to Jean-Pierre Jaussaud."
