Above and beyond the competitive and technological battles these last few years between Audi, Toyota and Porsche, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has also provided formidable fighting ground, with faster and faster stand-out drivers year after year.

- Twelve driver representing six nations have won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2012: Switzerland (Marcel Fässler in 2012 and 2014, Neel Jani in 2016), Germany (André Lotterer in 2012 and 2014, Nico Hülkenberg in 2015, Marc Lieb in 2016), France (Benoît Tréluyer in 2012 and 2014, Loïc Duval in 2013, Romain Dumas in 2016), Denmark (Tom Kristensen in 2013), U.K. (Allan McNish in 2013, Nick Tandy in 2015) and New Zealand (Earl Bamber in 2015).

- During that period, six among them won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time: Loïc Duval, Nico Hülkenberg, Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb.

- Three driver line-ups won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the world drivers title in the World Endurance Championsjip (WEC) the same year: Marcel Fässler-André Lotterer-Benoît Tréluyer (2012), Loïc Duval-Tom Kristensen-Allan McNish (2013) and Romain Dumas-Neel Jani-Marc Lieb (2016).

- Audi and Porsche won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the world manufacturers title in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), in 2012-2013 and 2015-2016 respectively.

- Though Toyota has not yet won the 24 Hours, the first global manufacturer of hybrid cars broke the German dominance in the World Championship in 2014 with the Manufacturers title and the Drivers title for Sébastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson. Toyota had made its return to prototypes at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, and has since claimed a podium finish three times at the 24 Hours (second in 2013 and 2016, third in 2014).

- Sincre the inception of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), Audi is the only manufacturer to have achieved a one-two-three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was back in 2012, with different cars: two hybrid diesel R18 e-tron quattro prototypes in the top two spots (Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer ahead of Capello-Kristensen-McNish) and a diesel R18 ultra prototype (Bonanomi-Jarvis-Rockenfeller) in third place.

- Audi also scored a one-two at Le Mans in 2014 (Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer ahead of Kristensen-Gené-di Grassi), as did Porsche in 2015 (Hülkenberg-Tandy-Bamber ahead of Bernhard-Hartley-Webber).

- Winner of the FIA Endurance Private LM P1 Teams in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since the team was created, Rebellion Racing achieved its best result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with two fourth place finishes: in 2012 with a Lola chassis (Jani-Prost-Heidfeld), then in 2014 (Beche-Prost-Heidfeld) with its own car, the Rebellion R-One. Developed in collaboration with French constructor Oreca, it clinched the impressive result as early as its first appearance at Le Mans. For the 2017 season, Rebellion Racing has left this class to return to LM P2, with two new Oreca 07 chassis.

Click below for previous installments in this series:

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

LM P1 at Le Mans 2012-2016 (2) - Victory for Porsche, popularity for Toyota

Photo: Since 2012, Swiss driver Neel Jani was first a major player in the prototypes field with the arrival of private team Rebellion Racing, before becoming a factory Porsche driver in 2014. Since then, with the 919 Hybrid, he won the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans (with two consecutive poles positions in 2015 and 2016 as well), the world drivers title in 2016 and two other victories in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).