Le Mans 2024 CHIEF TALKING POINTS

With a manufacturer pile-on, there is much to look forward to in this year’s endurance blockbuster. Pied Piper of the 24 Hours Gary Watkins reveals eight key themes you need to know before the race

- Gary Watkins

1 Don’t discount Toyota 

Twelve months ago, Toyota headed into the Le Mans 24 Hours as the clear favourite, though it ultimately lost out to Ferrari in a thrilling race that went down to the wire. On the evidence of the opening round of the World Endurance Championship in Qatar in March, the odds have to be considerably longer. The Japanese manufacturer’s pair of GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercars were pretty much nowhere.  

The reasons for that are multifarious. The pack has been catching up on the incumbent kings of the WEC and the Balance of Performance, the system by which the field is meant to be levelled in the WEC’s Hypercar class, was clearly not in Toyota’s favour in the Middle East. Victory second time out in Imola wasn’t quite the return it might have looked. The win was down to Ferrari’s strategic implosion.  

Yet it would be wrong to discount Toyota on the evidence of one race. How about taking the past six editions of the 24 Hours into account? It triumphed in five of them, admittedly against limited opposition, so the Cologne-based Toyota Gazoo Racing squad knows how to win the big one. It is a well-oiled racing operation with years of experience to dip into, and has an amazing resourcefulness to go with it.

2 Porsche bids for the big 20