Japanese stories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Japanese stories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Although Germany can claim a third of all victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, La Sarthe is also a "promised land" for Japanese sports cars, drivers and manufacturers. Here are eight examples.

Although Germany can claim a third of all victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, La Sarthe is also a "promised land" for Japanese sports cars, drivers and manufacturers. Here are eight examples.

Not only Nissan, but Mazda, Toyota and Honda have entries at various levels in the history of the 'twice around the clock' legend.

1990 - Nissan is the first Japanese manufacturer to set the pole position time (with Mark Blundell) and podium finish (third place with Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Toshio Suzuki) in the 24 Hours of Le Mans ...

1991 – It is Mazda who win outright, with Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot. This was the first (and still only so far) Japanese victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

1995 - Masanori Sekiya is the first Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Frenchman Yannick Dalmas and Finnish JJ Lehto (McLaren F1 GTR).

1999 - Toshio Suzuki and Ukyo Katayama Keiichi Tsuchiya (Toyota GT-One) finished second in pursuit of the BMW of Yannick Dalmas Joachim Winkelhock and Pierluigi Martini. This is the best result for a 100% Japanese driver crew in La Sarthe.

2004 - Second victory for a Japanese driver in the 24 Hours with Seiji Ara, alongside Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello (Audi R8).

2010 - The British team Strakka Racing finished fifth overall and won victory in the LM P2 prototype class with the Honda HPD ARX-01c driven by Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts who were also the first to surpass the 5,000 kilometre mark in this class.

2011 - In their return to the 24 Hours as an engine supplier, Nissan won the LM P2 class with the Zytek of Karim Ojjeh, Olivier Lombard and Tom Kimber-Smith (Greaves Motorsport, eighth overall). In 2012, it was also a Nissan engine in the DeltaWing, the first prototype pf innovative technology to occupy the new 56th pit at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

2012 - After thirteen years of absence, Toyota was back in prototypes, and lived up to its status as the leading global manufacturer of hybrid cars, with two TS030 at the start of the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours to challenge Audi.

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