Porsche claimed 2016 Le Mans 24 Hour honours after the leading Toyota suffered an engine failure with just three minutes remaining.
The Japanese automaker’s Kazuki Nakajima was on course for victory when the failure hit, bringing the TS050 hybrid to an agonising halt on the track.
The 919 hybrid shared by Neel Jani, Roland Dumas and Marc Lieb then blasted past to take the win, the second consecutive for Porsche.
Another Toyota (shared by Kamui Kobayashi, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway) took second place, with Audi placing third.
“What can I say? First of all I feel sorry for the boys down in the other garage,” Lieb said, according to Reuters.
“They deserved this, they were giving us a hard time as well. This race should have had two winners, it was really unbelievable.”
Ford, meanwhile, marked its return to Le Mans by claiming honours in the GTE Pro category.
Competed together for 24 hours. Head to head for 24 hours. Gained our respect forever. #LEMANS24 pic.twitter.com/9NVoLVNaax
— Porsche (@Porsche) June 19, 2016