What the Drivers said after the 90th Le Mans 24 Hours

Sébastien Buemi, Toyota Gazoo Racing: No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar

“It’s hard for me to express myself after that race because it’s just an amazing feeling, especially to be in the centre of the podium with Ryo (Hirakawa) and Brendon (Hartley).

“It is fantastic that we were able to win together with Ryo in his first Le Mans as part of the #8 car. He has done such a great job and I’d like to congratulate him for his performance.

“The whole team, and our crew, executed a perfect race without any mistakes and no damage to the car. It’s an incredible feeling to win Le Mans for the fourth time, and the fifth time for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. It will take a little bit of time before it sinks in because it’s hard to realise what we achieved today.”  

Gianmaria Bruni, Porsche GT Team: No.91 Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro

“A dream has come true for me today. I’ve won Le Mans three times with Ferrari.

“After my move to Porsche, winning was at the top of my list. I’ve been incredibly close twice with second place – today was finally my day. The era of the GTE-Pro class comes to an end with a victory for Porsche at Le Mans. It doesn’t get better than that.”

Will Stevens, JOTA: No.38 Oreca-Gibson LMP2

“I’ve been trying a while to get a win in LMP2, and it means a lot to finally get it.

“We’ve come close quite a few times and had problems in others so its special to do with Jota and Roberto (Gonzalez) and Antonio (Felix da Costa), and also coming in and filling Ant’s (Davidson’s) shoes.

“We’ve had a lot of momentum coming into this week and we rolled off last Sunday with a super strong car, so credit to the team for all the work they did before arriving here. The car was honestly a pleasure to drive from the start to the finish. For how competitive LMP2 field is, and all the top teams are there, is credit to the team and I am super happy we could get the win today and I hope it is one of many this year.”

Ben Keating, TF Sport: No.33 Aston Martin LMGTE Am

This is a really special win for sure. This is my eighth Le Mans and previously I had done seven in seven different cars. We got second place in the TF Sport Aston last year. It was such a good car I had to come back and do it again.

To be one more step up on the podium is really special. To me it is especially special though because of how we won. We didn’t win it on pace because the Porsches were about two seconds a lap quicker than we were, but we had a perfect race. We had great pit-stops, no off road excursions, no punctures, no penalties, no mistakes from anyone the whole race.

“12 hours into the race I didn’t think we had a chance. I back loaded all of my drive time and when I got out after a triple stint with an hour and a half left I couldn’t believe we had an 80-second lead and that’s when I start to go ‘whohh’ we might have a chance here.”

Steven Thomas, Algarve Pro Racing: No.45 Oreca-Gibson Pro/Am

“We came here to win (Pro/Am). When I put it in the wall I said guys ‘we’re going to start last, and we will win, and it will be a great story!’ So, let’s win, we’re gonna win!

“These two guys (Rene Binder and James Allen) were amazing, Mark our crew chief essentially built us a new car before the race, and it was amazing.

“I want to thank my daughter who came to her very first race. I got into a race car for the very first time three and a half years ago and she hasn’t been to a race, and she was like ‘wow this racing is really cool.’