PARIS, June 16 -- Former Formula One racer Fernando Alonso and two partners won the Le Mans 24 hour race title for the second straight year at the expense of a late puncture of teammates' car at the 87th edition of the tournament on Sunday.
Alonso, along with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, cooperated to drive the No. 8 car for their title defense with a lead of 16.972 seconds in LMP1 category of the race starting from 3 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Their sister No. 7 car, driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, stayed ahead for most part of the race, while suffering a puncture with around one hour remaining. The No. 7 Toyota car finished runner-up.
"We weren't as fast as car No. 7 and we didn't deserve to win on track, but luck was a big factor," Alonso pointed out.
"Let's see if we have the pace to fight with car No. 7 and after five laps I realized it was going to be nearly impossible. Somehow in the race, we got better but they were the quickest over the whole race. I was really happy to finish second because over the year, they deserved more wins than they had. But that's motorsport, and I will take the win, but I'm sorry for them," commented Buemi.
Also on Sunday, Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet triumphed in LMP2 category with Signatech Alpine No. 36 car.
China's Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 38 car, featuring Tung Ho-Pin, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry, was placed second.
Held annually since 1923, the Le Mans 24 hour race is considered one of the most prestigious automobile races in the world.
Organizers announced that a total of 252,500 crowds watched the two-day race this year.