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u/Michal_Baranowski

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On this day 10 years ago, Toyota infamously lost a Le Mans win on the very last lap of the race

Well, like the title said - on 19th June 2016, Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 #5 of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima (who was doing the final stints), grounded to a halt on the very last lap of that year's edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For me it's hard to believe it's already been 10 years since that moment. In my mind, still the most dramatic finish of Le Mans ever. Nothing ever came close before or since.

As a Toyota fan, it was a gut-wrenching moment. Especially after all those near misses in the previous years, when Toyota desperately looked for that illusive maiden win at Le Mans, however never finding it due to variety of problems. 2016 race finally looked to break the curse. When Toyota #5 was leading with one hour to go, silently I started to believe it may finally happen. When Toyota completed their final pit stop and emerged into the lead, it felt even closer. When second-placed Porsche #2 waived the "white flag" and came in for fresh tires with minutes to go, leaving Toyota #5 with one minute lead, I thought that it just had to happen. And then Kazuki Nakajima with around 7 minutes to go reported over the radio that he lost power... The rest as they say, is history.

One decade later, wounds of that loss are practically healed. Toyota won Le Mans six times, with the most recent victory this year being against massive competition, feeling like a complete catharsis for what happened in 2016. But memories of that infamous edition will forever stick inside my head.

u/Michal_Baranowski — 16 days ago