THE HUMAN STORIES THAT SAVED TOYOTA’S 2021 LE MANS
Sebastien Buemi had just completed a three-lap stint on Sunday morning at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The fuel-pressure issue by now afflicting both Toyotas was getting ever worse, and it looked as though extended pitstops for the two cars would be required, stops that would put them out of contention. Then his engineer came over the radio and asked him to try something strange. It was the first of two off-the-wall ideas thought up in the heat of battle that enabled the Japanese manufacturer to take a fourth straight victory in the French enduro.
Toyota may have looked to have had a straightforward run to victory at Le Mans back in August, its pair of new GR010 HYBRIDs finishing four and two laps up on third-placed Alpine. But the reality was a long way from that. With seven hours left to go, it was far from clear to Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe that its two cars would make it cleanly to the end.
That Toyota completed a 1-2 victory was down to the ability of the Cologne-based TGRE squad to think on its feet and come up with
