Toyota Makes Early Pace as BMW and Cadillac Challenge at Le Mans
BMW and Cadillac quickly seized the lead as four different cars topped the race in the first hour, officials said.
- The 94th Le Mans race began on Saturday before more than 300,000 spectators, as BMW and Cadillac immediately challenged established endurance powers Ferrari and Toyota.
- Ferrari has won the hypercar class for the last three years, while Toyota dominated the five preceding races; BMW now leads the endurance constructors' standings following success at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
- With temperatures forecast to pass 30 degrees Celsius, teams face extreme heat on the 13.6-kilometre Circuit, while Toyota and Ferrari struggled in qualifying, starting 14th, 15th, and 12th.
- Mark Cavendish dropped the flag to start the 24-hour race, triggering a flurry of overtaking; BMW's Kevin Magnussen initially led before Cadillac's Will Stevens and Rene Rast's BMW traded the lead with Sebastien Buemi's Toyota.
- General Motors, which owns Cadillac, pursues its first-ever Le Mans victory, while BMW seeks its second win since 1999 and Alpine has been improving in recent seasons.
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Toyota took a dared bet from the first hour and holds the rope. But BMW and Cadillac do not intend to let the Japanese go towards victory. L'article Le Mans: the three giants' fight sentensifies appeared first on Le Singulier.
Thanks to its staggered strategy since the start of the race, the Toyota n°8 was in the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the first four hours of racing on Saturday.
BMW Leads, Advantage Toyota After Three Hours
Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI BMW’s No. 20 car led after three hours in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but Toyota continued to hold the strategic advantage as an ill-timed full-course yellow prevented leader Sheldon van der Linde from completing a scheduled routine stop. After moving to the head of the Hypercar order in the opening hour following an early pit stop for Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley continued to make the most of its early strategic gam…
Toyota had a hollow nose. After a complicated qualifying session condemning the two TR010 Hybrids to swaying since the seventh and eighth lines of the starting grid, the Japanese manufacturer emerged at the top of the race after the first 60 minutes. Hardly the blue-white-red flag agitated by Mark Cavendish that the 2026 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was animated. Indeed, while Kevin Magnussen opened the way at the wheel of the BMW number 1…
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