‘We’d given up’ - How Toyota’s 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans win almost never happened

Kamui Kobayashi admits the crew of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning No.7 Toyota “were giving up” on its hopes due to a long-standing technical issue.

Toyota’s four-year wait for a sixth Le Mans victory was ended on Sunday, after the No.7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway rose from 14th on the grid to prevail in a tense fight with the No.8 Toyota, the No.20 BMW and the No.12 Cadillac in the final hours.

Both Toyotas were put onto an offset fuel strategy in the early hours of the race to try to make up ground, with two lengthy safety car periods proving hugely beneficial later on.

The No.7 cycled into the lead for the first time in the 22nd hour.

It wasn’t a straightforward race for the No.7, which suffered a slow puncture in the fourth hour, with Kobayashi revealing afterwards that it was also having to nurse a sensor issue.

‘We were trying to save the car’

Speaking after the race, Kobayashi says the sensor issue meant the No.7 had to be driven in “safe mode” and conservatively over the kerbs.

The issue eventually improved itself in the latter stages of the race, allowing the No.7 to begin pushing harder towards victory.

“We were always chasing back to the lead group a little bit,” Kobayashi is reported by Sportscar365 as saying.

“We were further down because we had the slow puncture.

“There were a few safety cars that bunched us up and brought us back positions, and we started really to push in the last five, six hours because [up to that point] we were trying to save the car.

“We had a driveshaft sensor problem; we had to drive in back-up mode, which is not optimal. We had to drive in safe mode with less power.

“At one point, we were giving up and were just trying to finish the race.

“When we drove, we avoided the kerbs and everything, and somehow we came back a bit better in terms of engine performance, and that brought us a little hope.”

The No.7 led after the final round of pit stops inside hour 24, with Kobayashi nursing his TR010 Hybrid home.

His winning margin was just 10.913s in front of the No.20 BMW of Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde.

The No.8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley was 20.417s off the lead in third, having come from 15th on the grid.

The No.8 crew was put onto a strategy of track position for the closing stages, leaving it on older tyres, which Buemi caused tension over the radio.

That car, at one point, looked like Toyota’s best contender for the win.

Toyota now matches Bentley on six victories at Le Mans, with Kobayashi and Conway celebrating their second, and De Vries his first.