Hartley third at Le Mans
Brendon Hartley was back on the podium at the Le Mans 24 Hours after helping the Toyota Racing #8 TR010 Hybrid to third place.
The New Zealand driver, a three-time winner of the famous race, and his teammates, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa, led for large chunks of this year’s contest before finishing 20.417 seconds behind the winners.
Toyota Racing’s #7 car, featuring Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries behind the wheel, took the chequered flag on June 14 after completing 381 laps.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 team of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde came second.
The Le Mans 24 Hours was the third round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship and delivered an epic hypercar contest as only 10.913 seconds separated the first and second-placed cars at the finish.
Despite starting from modest grid positions after a disappointing Hyperpole, the TR010 Hybrids adopted an aggressive strategy to refuel earlier than their rivals and take advantage of a clear track to gain time.
That brought both cars into contention for the top six but a number of setbacks interrupted their progress.
The #7 car suffered an early puncture that left it in a tight midfield battle before climbing back into the top three with six hours remaining.
Meanwhile, the #8 vehicle led the early stages but an off-track moment in the ninth hour, a drive-through penalty around half distance, and a brake drum mounting repair soon after left them facing a tough task to return to the front.
A safety car with less than six hours remaining reset the field and gave both cars the opportunity to show their speed and race craft in a four-car battle at the front.
With three hours to go, bold overtakes from Hartley and de Vries put Toyota Racing into a one-two lead.
The #7 car established a gap at the front, although fuel and tyre strategies caused the podium positions to fluctuate over the remaining hours.
As for the #8 crew, they battled for second but had to change tyres in the last hour, which dropped them to third.
Hartley says: “It was an up-and-down race, as usual here. We led for a long time and had a big gap at one point before the safety car.
“We had some good luck and some bad luck. Ultimately, it didn’t work out for our car.
“We fought really hard until the end and my teammates did a fantastic job.
“I am genuinely happy for the whole team, for the #7 crew and the drivers. It’s an emotional moment.”
The result leaves Hartley and his teammates equal fourth in the drivers’ championship with five more rounds to go, while the racers from Toyota’s #7 car share equal first place.
The next race in the championship is the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at Interlagos on July 12.
