The Triple Crown double?
06/20/2018
Will there finally be a double triple in 2019? Only Graham Hill has so far been able to celebrate the famous triple, i.e. victories at the Monaco GP, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500. He won in Monaco in 1963/64/65/68 and 69, in Le Mans in 1972 (with Henry Pescarolo) and in Indianapolis in 1966.
Fernando Alonso may now follow him as he takes a big step closer to his "Mission Triple Crown", having already won Monaco in 2006 and 2007, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a rookie this weekend.
He has also raced at Indianapolis in 2017 and could have been in contention for victory as a rookie had he not been let down by the Honda engine. In the end, he was left with a few leading laps and 24th place.
It's absolutely fantastic that GP drivers are finally finding their way back into other racing series and demonstrating their great skills here. Like Nico Hülkenberg in the Porsche 919 Hybrid, Fernando Alonso also put in an absolutely brilliant performance at Le Mans in the Toyota TS050. His consistency during the nightly stints was remarkable.
Alonso on his stint of over two and a half hours at night: "I found a good rhythm and hit the lapped cars at exactly the right time. Then one thing leads to another. That's just the way it is: If you're lucky on one lap, sometimes you're even luckier on the next. The other way around, unfortunate circumstances can build up. The cold track conditions suited my riding style better. I felt more comfortable. We wanted to stay in the race and we managed to do that."
After 20 attempts, Toyota was finally able to overcome its own curse and win. The Swiss flag was even raised in the process, as Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi was also in the car with Spaniard Alonso and Japanese driver Nakajima.
Sébastien Buemi: "This is the greatest moment of my career. I'm struggling to comprehend it. The last hour was brutal. The images of how we failed at the last moment in 2016 kept coming back to me. When Kazuki crossed the finish line, I was so relieved. An incredible amount of work has gone into this project."
This victory was certainly not influenced by overly strong competition, but the Toyota team has also shown in recent years that they were competitive against Porsche and Audi, but often lacked the necessary bit of luck for a big win.
