Brendon Hartley revisits Le Mans defeat after fifth WEC title

Brendon Hartley had just won his fifth FIA World Endurance Championship drivers’ title when he looked back at the race that got away. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, he felt he had taken too long to pass a Cadillac, giving Toyota’s sister car an opening at the next round of pit stops. Five months later at Monza, Hartley, Sébastien Buemi and Ryō Hirakawa finished the season ahead of that same crew.

The Le Mans stint Hartley kept coming back to

The #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid spent much of Le Mans in contention for the win. A Sunday-morning safety car brought the #7 Toyota back into the fight after a puncture and a driveshaft sensor issue had cost it time. With two Toyotas, the #20 BMW and the #12 Cadillac all in contention, the timing of a late Full Course Yellow also helped the #7.

In comments reported by Autosport, Hartley singled out the time he spent behind the #12 Cadillac. He felt the delay gave the #7 the chance to get ahead through the next pit sequence. “So I somehow took the responsibility for that,” Hartley said. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries won in the #7, with the BMW second and Hartley’s crew third.

Fuji and Barcelona put the #8 back in control

The #8 crew had already won the season opener at Imola. Back-to-back victories at Fuji and Barcelona put the trio in control of the drivers’ standings. In Toyota’s one-two at Barcelona, Hirakawa brought the #8 home just 0.6 seconds ahead of the #7. That secured Toyota the manufacturers’ title and gave the #8 crew a 17-point cushion heading to Monza.

At the 6 Hours of Monza finale, the #8 was classified 10th after post-race penalties dropped the #007 Aston Martin down the order. The #7 took 11th, leaving the two Toyota crews 18 points apart in the final standings. It was the third title Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa had won together, and the fifth for both Hartley and Buemi.