2018

For this 86th edition, Jacky Ickx was named Grand Marshal of the event, while tennis player Rafael Nadal, the winner at Roland-Garros a week earlier will start the race. 

Porsche withdrew from the endurance championship after its nineteenth victory in 2017 and this meant that Toyota became favourites. As the only major manufacturer involved, Toyota has been the victim of bad luck in the Le Mans race on more than one occasion. The driver of the Japanese model Kazuki Nakajima distinguished himself with the best time during 2018 testing as if to ward off the painful memory of his retirement on the final lap in 2016.

The reliability was there and the Japanese manufacturer finally won and even achieved a double after nineteen unfortunate attempts. It was the first time since 2000, and Audi's victory meant that a new manufacturer had entered its name onto the list of winners at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Kazuki Nakajima became the first Japanese driver to win in a Japanese car. The finish line was crossed, and the native of Okazaki in the prefecture of Aichi, where the city of Toyota is located, accompanied his two teammates in an unforgettable parade. For the first time in history, the winning car set the fastest time on the test day (Alonso), in qualifying practice (Nakajima) and also set the race lap record (Buemi).

The position on the starting grid has been determined by the time achieved during qualifying practice since 1963. The fastest get to start first… on the other hand, whoever says “pole man” does not necessarily mean they will be the winner of the 24 Hours!

This only happened in 1974, 1975, 1981, 1982, 1997, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2022.