Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a tactical battle that went down to the final stages, while Ferrari, the three-time defending winner, failed to extend its streak for a fourth straight victory. This year’s race featured eight manufacturers, including, for the first time, Genesis, which joined the elite field with two new cars.
Ferrari arrived as the favorite, after winning the iconic French endurance race in each of the past three years, including last year with a yellow private-entry Ferrari backed by the factory team. But results earlier this season in Italy and Belgium suggested Ferrari had not yet solved its 2026 package, and its status among the top contenders weakened. Instead, BMW, Toyota and Cadillac were viewed as the main challengers, alongside the debuting Genesis program.
About 350,000 spectators attended the event. During the night, the lead shifted between Toyota, BMW and Cadillac, while Ferrari cars occasionally moved near the front without truly threatening for the win. Genesis, led by Cyril Abiteboul, who previously managed in Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship, hoped to finish both cars and learn from its first Le Mans appearance, but the team lost one car to a suspension failure and then adopted a cautious strategy with the other.
That approach meant repeated pit stops for checks, but Genesis’s remaining orange car, finished 13th, giving the Korean brand a credible first outing and useful data ahead of its next race in Brazil. At the front, Toyota and BMW remained the class of the field this season, and Toyota’s fuel strategy and pit timing proved decisive late on. Toyota’s win ended Ferrari’s dominance, while Cadillac was also left behind, and Alpine, Peugeot and Aston Martin finished further back.
