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The finale to the WEC season saw Toyota’s Kazuki Nakajima finish his endurance career with victory in the #8 GR010 HYBRID shared with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley.
Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, in the #7 GR010 HYBRID, retained the drivers’ title by finishing Saturday’s race, the sixth and final round of the season, in second place.
Kobayashi is now Japan’s first two-time World Champion on four wheels while López becomes the second Argentinian to win five FIA World Championships, matching Juan Manuel Fangio.
Chasing Toyota, the Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team completed its first campaign in the premier Hyper Car class of the FIA World Endurance Championship with its sixth podium finish in as many races.
Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere demonstrated their toughness to return from last to third following a differential shift problem. Alpine ends the year in second place in the final general classification. Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere finish third in the drivers general classification.
Results
- #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 247 laps
- #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +7.351secs
- #36 Alpine (Negrao/Lapierre/Vaxivierre) +6 lap
- #31 Team WRT (Frijns/Habsburg/Milesi) +7 laps
- #38 JOTA (Gonzalez/Da Costa/Davidson) +7 laps
- #28 JOTA (Galael/Vandoorne/Blomqvist) +7 laps
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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