Into the final hour, and the #7 Toyota has to be so careful. Reboot the car. Will the #8 car pass? Yes! Wow! Can Alonso, Nakajima, and Buemi get two wins in a row? What drama! What a cruel blow for #7! Mike Conway and company have wanted to win this race, but they might not get that chance. They might be bridesmaids again! They are ten seconds behind. They've changed the tire. All it needed was a reboot, actually, and put in fuel and put new boots on the car. Oh man! #8 leads. It is all down to Jose Maria Lopez. What drama! The Alkphine with Pierre Thiriet takes the car in for it's final pit stop and Nicolas Lapierre will take the car to the finish of the motor race. Jose Maria Lopez has to push this car, Toyota #7, to the maximum.
Toyota changed the front right and the rear left tire. They also could have a sensor problem. The sensor has not been reactivated or deactivated. Oh my! Toyota have over riden the sensor. Make every corner count. This is it. Wow. We're going to be in for a wild finish here. What incredible drama! Right now, you are listening to every small noise the car might mke. Especially if you are in a leading car. It's unreal. We had that puncture for Jose Maria Lopez. Toyota #8 is leading with Kazuki Nakajima. 50 minutes to go. Could Fernando Alonso get a second consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans win? We have 45 minutes to see what will happen. Both cars have to stop. #7 has an advantage, but it is very slight.
Nico Lapierre will perhaps hang on for LMP2. In LM GTE Pro, it seems Alessandro Pier Guidi and Ferrari might hold on. Ford will be picking up the leftovers on the podium it seems. BMW has not had their day and neither has Corvette nor Aston Martin. Could Ferrari celebrate on the 70th anniversary of their first Le Mans win with Luigi Chinetti and Lord Selsdon? That was in 1949 with the Ferrari 166MM. Who will win LM GTE Am? This is going to be a grandstand finish. Signatech Alpine could win two Le Mans races in a row.
No sign of G-Drive at all until they had the starter trouble. The championship is also up for grabs. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is what you want, but the championship is also big. Take both. Less than 45 minutes to go now. Will Toyota #8 stop? Jeroen Bleekemolen has taken over the #85 Ford GT. Bleekemolen is being chased by Jorg Bergmeister. The whole complexion of this race is changing within 45 minutes of the end! Holy cow! The #7 Toyota has a sensor issue. Alessandro Pier Guidi has pitted from the lead in LM GTE Pro. Porsche might close up on Ferrari. Earl Bamber, though is three whole pit stops behind the Ferrari.
Ferrari could have a chance to win LM GTE Pro. Nicolas Jamin has a suspension problem on the LMP2 car for the #30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca! He is listing, driving slowly down the Mulsanne straight. Philipp Eng is also in trouble recovering the BMW M8 GTE. Phil Hanson is taking the United Autosport #22 to the finish. Phil Hanson is going to bring the #23 car into the pit lane. A driver change will eat into the advantage. What will the damage be? Couldn't tell what Hanson said.
Toyota #7 has been the faster of the two cars, and now, will they have the win taken from them by their teammate? Toyota are damned if they do, damned if they don't. #30 with the broken suspension is into the garage. We have drama too, in LM GTE Am. Matteo Cressoni is pressuring Giancarlo Fisichella for eighth in class. Jeroen Bleekemolen is increasing the gap over Jorg Bergmeister. Kazuki Nakajima has a 50+ second cushion over Jose Maria Lopez. We cannot tell if the sesnors were faulty, or if there was indeed a deflating Michelin tire.
Toyota will still score a 1-2 finish. The gap is now down to 49 seconds. The #8 car leads over #7 and Jose Maria Lopez is driving through anger. In GTE Am, it is the same deal. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Jorg Bergmeister are eight seconds apart. Gianmaria Bruni is chasing Alessandro Pier Guidi, too. Ferrari might have an advantage over Porsche who still need a pit stop. In GTE Pro, five cars are on the same lap, and we have three cars on the same lap in LM GTE Am. AF Corse won GTE Pro in 2012. Gustavo Menezes has gone off the road in the #3 Rebellion again. Their finish is not going to be respective of their pace this year.
Kazuki Nakajima is pulling away in the #8 Toyota. Kazuki Nakajima dives for the pit lane. Will this be a splash and dash? The #7 car is on track. This is going to be mega. Now, they are not changing tires. They are just adding fuel to the car. Here comes #7! #7 takes the lead! This is unreal! #7 still has a chance! Nakajima has to push really hard now. Jose Maria Lopez could be in the catbird seat. Lopez leads. Jose Maria Lopez could still have to make a pit stop as well. It's still Jeroen Bleekemolen vs. Jorg Bergmeister for the win in LMGTE Am. A few other cars have indeed made their final pit stops.
Would Toyota complete one more lap fully on electric power? Maybe. LMP2 cars are making their final splash and dash pit stops. Ho-Pin Tung, from China, but living in Holland, he could be in for a win in LMP2. Twenty minutes to go. Jose Maria Lopez pits what is the quicker Toyota. Can Lopez claw back the gap to the sister car? He's leaving nothing on the table. Signatech Alpine makes their final pit stop. It's win or bust for Lopez, Mike Conway, and Kamui Kobayashi. Nakajima leads by 24 seconds. Lopez is told to just bring the car home.
Loic Duval pits the #28 TDS car. Nico Lapierre still leads LMP2. Alessandro Pier Guidi is going to finish for Ferrari. Jeroen Bleekemolen has managed to eke out a 15 second lead over Jorg Bergmeister. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz could be in for the GTE Pro championship. Tristan Gommendy is chasing Will Stevens in LMP2./ The cars are getting loose. Gommendy can'tclpse up on Stevens. Don't leave anything on the table for the final 11 minuts here at Le Mans. Kazuki Nakajima continues to lead Jose Maria Lopez. Toni Vilander is fourth in GTE Am for the WeatherTech Ferrari team. No one is going to ease off at the end of this race.
Gianmaria Bruni and Earl Bamber are both cutting really fast laps. Alessandro Pier Guidi will be able to respond. Keating Motorsports might just win LM GTE Am. He wants to win Le Mans, to stand atop the podium. James Calado will be one of the winners. 2012 was the last time AF Corse and Ferrari won LM GTE Pro. Ferrari won with Scuderia Corse in 2016. Nakajima leads Lopez by 17.4 seconds, and we'll have about 2 and 1/2 to 3 laps left. Will Stevens does a splash and a dash. Tristan Gommendy also came in. Jose Maria Lopez did have a four minute lap. Nakajima is told "don't go faster".
The four minute lap from Lopez was his outlap from the pits. Signatech Alpine from France, they are going to win their home race at Le Mans. One of the Hublot Kessel Racing Ferrari's goes off the road and we are on the final lap of Le Mans 2019, the final lap of the "Super Season". Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi, and Fernando Alonso, will win a second 24 Hours of Le Mans, and also, an FIA WEC World Championship. But, pause for thought, becuase Toyota had victory snatched from them in 2016. Nakajima navigates through Mulsanne corner. Don't back off too far. Stay focused.
Toyota wins their second successive 24 Hours of Le Mans! Toyota has won the World Championship! Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi,and Fernando Alonso! Second place for Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, who will be gutted, because they so wanted a win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Maybe in the Hypercar era. Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negro, and Pierre Thiriet win LMP2! Ferrari has won GTE Pro, with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Daniel Serra. In LM GTE Am, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating, and Felipe Fraga get the win for Ford in LM GTE Am!
Overall/LMP1: #8 Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid
LMP2: #36 Lapierre/Negrao/Thiriet Alpine A470 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #51 Pier Guidi/Calado/Serra Ferrari 488 GTE
LM GTE Am: #85 Keating/Bleekemolen/Fraga Ford GT
Alonso scores his second Le Mans victory. Just incredible. Here are the champions.
LMP1: #8 Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima Toyota TS050
LMP2: #36 Lapierre/Negrao/Thiriet Alpine A470 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #92 Estre/Christensen Porsche 911 RSR
LM GTE Am: #56 Bergmeister/Lindsey/Perfetti Porsche 911 RSR
These are your winners, and your champions. This is the last time we see BMW. So long to them, and good luck to them in the future in Formula E. The next FIA WEC season, gets underway, very shortly, in September, at Silverstone, in England, for the 2019-2020 season. We'll talk more about that as it comes closer. But, what a great day for Nakajima, Buemi, and Alonso., taking the world championship, and winning two editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in one season.
The drivers can celebrate now, on the podium. Ford, Ferrari, Alpine, and Toyota are your Le Mans manufacturers champions. Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, and Sebastien Buemi are World Champions, and Nakajima is the first ever World Champion from Japan. We will talk so much more about Le Mans later this week as we recap and analyze everything that happened. It's been another incredible 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2019.
Thank you for being with us for all the coverage of the pre-race, and the race itself. We've enjoyed your company thoroughly. For now, au revoir from Le Mans, and we'll see you, for the next season in 2019-2020 coming up, starting in September. We've got tons more racing to look at for sports car racing in the not too distant future. Au revoir, and a fond farewell, from Le Mans, France.
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