The Toyota was forced to return to the pits for a system reset which cost it a lot of time.
The Toyota N.7 of José Maria Lopez, defending champion, experienced a technical problem on Sunday around 07:45 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, losing for the first time a significant time behind its rival and sister car N.8.
At the Arnage corner, the Argentinian stopped after having already rolled in slow motion for several tens of meters. He then left and drove at a good pace to his pit.
An unusual scene then took place: the mechanics of the Japanese manufacturer remained motionless for long seconds in front of the car, which was visibly relaunched electronically from a distance.
They then put fuel in the hypercar, which set off again but was immediately one lap behind the Toyota N.8 of New Zealander Brendon Hartley.
Spared by technical glitches since the start of the race on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., the Japanese manufacturer, hegemonic for four years on the Sarthe circuit, experienced its first hitch, when the two cars were neck and neck from the start.
Would this incident mark the return of the legendary bad luck of the N.7? His crew won last year after years of misfortune. After leaving the pits, however, it maintained a three-lap lead over Glickenhaus N.709, 3rd in the general classification.
