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Irish victory at Le Mans 24 Hours

Irish victory at Le Mans 24 Hours
Belfast-born Charlie Eastwood took the GTE Am class win at the Le Mans 24 Hours race in the TF Sports Aston Martin. Photo: Getty Images

Belfast-born Charlie Eastwood became the first Northern Irish winner since 2010 by taking the GTE Am class win at the Le Mans 24 Hours race. His TF Sports Aston Martin was 47.9 seconds clear of Dempsey Proton Racing's team. He shared the car with Jonny Adam and Salih Yoluc.

The unique Le Mans was the fourth in the event's 88-year history to take place outside its traditional June slot and was without spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Last year's event attracted 250,000.

Toyota celebrated a third successive victory in the top class LMP1 category with Kazuki Nakajima taking the chequered flag in the number eight car to complete a personal hat-trick.

It was also a third triumph in a row at the famed Sarthe circuit for the Japanese driver's Swiss team mate Sebastien Buemi in the last Le Mans before the start of a new Hypercar era in 2021.

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New Zealander Brendon Hartley, who replaced double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso in the eight car lineup after the Spaniard's wins in 2018 and 2019, previously won with Porsche in 2017.

Irish victory at Le Mans 24 Hours

Toyota celebrated a third successive victory in the top class LMP1 category with Kazuki Nakajima taking the chequered flag. Photo: Getty Images

Swiss-based Rebellion Racing's number one R13 Gibson car driven by Brazilian Bruno Senna, American Gustavo Menezes and France's Norman Nato, finished second and Toyota completed the podium with their number seven car.

That meant heartache for Japan's Kamui Kobayashi, Britain's Mike Conway and Argentine Jose Maria Lopez, runners-up to the sister car in the last two years, after starting from pole position.

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Toyota, the only major manufacturer in the top LMP1 category and again crowned World Endurance Champions, had led one-two as night fell over the circuit on Saturday but the order was soon to change.

The number seven car lost half an hour in the garage with a turbo problem that could have proved terminal just after the halfway mark.

That dropped the number seven to fourth overall but they managed to overhaul the number three Rebellion to secure a podium finish in a race that stayed dry throughout.

United Autosports' number 22 car finished fifth to win the LMP2 category with Britons Paul di Resta and Philip Hanson along with Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque.

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