Thanks to the 919 Hybrid with its unique engine design (four-cylinder turbocharged V), Porsche reclaimed its throne at Le Mans, adding two victories to its win record, now at 18 total. But the stunning finale at the 2016 24 Hours started a new and unexpected chapter at Le Mans, as well as reinforcing the popularity of Toyota, often unlucky in its quest for victory.

2015 - The highly anticipated duel between Porsche and Audi, the winningest manufacturers in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (with 16 and 13 wins respectively at the time), took center stage in 2015. The 83rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans included no less than 28 leader changes between the #17 Porsche (Timo Bernhard-Brendon Hartley-Mark Webber), #19 Porsche (Nico Hülkenberg-Nick Tandy-Earl Bamber) and the #7 Audi (Marcel Fässler-André Lotterer-Benoît Tréluyer) and #9 Audi (Filipe Albuquerque-Marco Bonanomi-René Rast). Seventeen years after its last win, Porsche triumphed once again...with an unexpected trio racing an LM P1 prototype for the first time. In 2015, Hülkenberg, Tandy and Bamber competed only in the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They were followed on the podium by their teammates Bernhard-Hartley-Webber and the Audi driven by Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer. The performance level at the 2015 24 Hours was exceptional. During the race, André Lotterer established a new lap record at an average of 248 km/h, Neel Jani (#18 Porsche 919 Hybrid) scored the pole nearly five seconds faster than Kazuki Nakajima (Toyota) in 2014 and, with 395 laps covered (5,385 km), the winners lacked only two laps to beat the distance record established in 2010 by the Audi of Romain Dumas-Timo Bernhard-Mike Rockenfeller (5,405 km), in spite of the safety car's lengthy presence on the track.

2016 - After the 2015 Porsche-Audi duel, Toyota was Porsche's number one rival for the win in 2016 in the wake of Audi's troubles during the race. After a second consecutive pole position for Neel Jani (Porsche 919 Hybrid), Toyota quickly took the reins at the 84th edition of the 24 Hours. In all, the Japanese manufacturer's two TS050 Hybrids remained at the top of the hourly standings for 20 hours. After a stunning battle with the #1 Porsche driven by Timo Bernhard-Brendon Hartley-Mark Webber, the #6 driven by Mike Conway-Kamui Kobayashi-Stéphane Sarrazin emerged as the solid leader, up until an incident on Sunday morning paved the way for its sister car driven by Sébastien Buemi-Anthony Davidson-Kazuki Nakajima, back in the fold after engine power problems. In the last minutes, the #5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid held more than a minute's lead on the Porsche of Jani-Dumas-Lieb. That's when the shockingly unexpected happened: after having communicated via radio that he had lost power, Nakajima stopped in the grandstands straight. The image went viral, causing an enormous wave of sympathy throughout the 24 Hours of Le Mans paddock and across the globe. After a surprise win for Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb after that final lap, Porsche's LM P1 vice president Fritz Enzinger said: "First of all I would like to express my respect for the sensational performance which Toyota gave in this race. It was a great fight with them - shortly before the finish we had settled for second place until we suddenly claimed our second Le Mans victory in a row (18 total, Ed.)." Of the 384 laps at the 2016 24 Hours, Toyota had led 277, Porsche 104 and Audi three. After five second place finishes, one day Toyota will triumph, and the victory will be all the sweeter...

Click below for the first installment in this series:

LM P1 at Le Mans 2012-2016 (1) - Audi wins...Porsche returns

Photo: In three participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Porsche 919 Hybrid has already accumulated two victories and two pole positions...but Toyota has not thrown in the towel by any means. Don't miss the 85th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 17-18, 2017!