24h Le Mans
With the end-of-year ceremonies and galas in full swing, let's take a moment to acknowledge a major player of the 2018 endurance racing season: Sébastien Buemi, winner at the 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of a Toyota TS050 Hybrid. The Swiss driver is still over the moon!
With teammates Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi firmly carved his name in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. It was a pivotal achievement for this Swiss driver who debuted at the race back in 2012 with Toyota. Their 2018 win almost erases the memory of the shocking turn of events at the 2016 edition when a mechanical problem in the final lap robbed the Japanese marque of its long-awaited win. "It was an extremely difficult moment to live through. In the following months, we asked ourselves if we would ever get another opportunity to win the race," recalls Sébastien Buemi.
Despite that cruel turn of fate, the members of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team rallied, and just two years later Toyota joined Mazda among Japanese manufacturers to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The curse was lifted in brilliant fashion. "After the disappointment of 2016, we tried to move on as quickly as possible. In 2017, though we had great speed, we ran into new problems. As a result, the last laps of the race this year were tense for the entire team, to such a degree Fernando didn't quite understand our concern. It was a defining moment when the car crossed the finish line," admits the Swiss driver before adding: "Winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans is obviously the biggest victory of my career. It still hasn't sunk in yet."
And there's more to come! The 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) Super Season isn't over yet, with three races left on the calendar: the 1,000 Miles of Sebring (15 March 2019), the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (4 May 2019) and the 87th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (15-16 June 2019) as the finale. If Sébastien Buemi and his teammates manage to win the World Endurance Champion title (Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso are currently leading the provisional classification) and win the 24 Hours of Le Mans a second time in the same season, it will be a triumph of unprecedented magnitude.
