PARIS (Reuters) - Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second year in a row on Sunday after a tight and tense battle with Toyota to the finish of the 92nd edition of the endurance race.
Almost out of fuel and on a wet track, Denmark’s Nicklas Nielsen took the chequered flag in the number 50 499P hypercar shared with Italian Antonio Fuoco and Spaniard Miguel Molina over 311 laps of the Sarthe circuit.
The car’s fuel gauge was registering around 2% at the finish.
The seven Toyota GR010 hybrid of Argentine Jose Maria Lopez -- a late stand-in after Briton Mike Conway was injured in a cycling accident -- Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Dutch driver Nyck de Vries finished 14.221 seconds behind after starting 23rd.
Ferrari’s winning crew from a year ago -- Italians Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Britain’s James Calado -- finished third in the 51 car on a day of drizzle and overcast skies.
Last year’s comeback win was the Italian marque’s first overall victory at Le Mans in 58 years.
All three drivers of the 50 car were first-time overall winners but the outcome remained open right to the end in a race with a safety car period lasting more than four hours during the night.
There was drama with more than an hour remaining when the car’s right-side door flapped open, forcing a pitstop -- which later played into Ferrari’s hands with the car now on a different fuel strategy to rivals.
Toyota’s challenge was slowed by Lopez spinning at the Dunlop Curve, losing precious time and undoing the Argentine’s earlier good work.
With 30 minutes remaining, and a 30-second gap to the leader, Toyota effectively conceded defeat and told Lopez to bring the car home in second place.
The 83 car, which had led on Saturday, retired four hours from the end with technical issues.