Fernando Alonso rides his luck to win second Le Mans 24 hour title
FERNANDO ALONSO is now a two-time Le Mans winner and lifts the World Endurance Championship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The Spaniard, along with teammates Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, have taken the title in the 24 Hours classic for a second year in a row.
While the former F1 driver will not mind another victory in France, it came with a bit of luck.
Alonso's team had been on course to miss out on the win at the Circuit de la Sarthe with the other Toyota Gazoo Racing car leading for much of the race.
But disaster struck Brit Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez as a series of tyre punctures in the final hour saw them lose time in pit stops on consecutive laps.
That allowed Nakajima to overtake the leaders and hold on for victory around the 8.467-mile circuit.
CONTROVERSIAL OR LUCK?
Yet, there have been controversial calls that team orders were at play to allow their famous driver Alonso claim a second win.
As Argentine driver Lopez made his way back to the pits for a second puncture, his engineers told him to limit to just 100mph to not cause any further problems.
Yet, experts believe he could have gone faster to ensure they did not lose the lead.
Even Alonso realised that it was not him and his teammates that should have been on the top step of the podium.
In his post-race interview, the Spaniard claimed that they did not deserve the win, but luck was on their side.
Having already won the race in 2018, Alonso was more concerned with taking home the World Endurance Championship title.
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But victory at Indy 500 remains top of his list to complete the Triple Crown including Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Spaniard failed to qualify for last month's race in Indianapolis in the new McLaren team.
There was British success at Le Mans though, as James Calado helped AF Corse to claim the title in the LMGTE Pro class.
