In the Toyota garage, management faces were set grim, while Hugues de Chaunac – enigmatic boss of team partner ORECA – wept openly. Around them, 263,000 people gasped in a shared moment of shock and sympathy.
“That was an unbelievable end to such a difficult race,” said a devastated Davidson. “You couldn’t have written the way it ended; no one would ever have believed a movie if it ended like this. To actually live through the experience is pretty hard to take.”
The Porsche trio had every right to savour the biggest victory of their lives. “We were on the podium but we haven’t yet realised what has happened,” said a stunned Dumas. “I’m sorry for Toyota, but when you have a victory like that you take it. You’re not going to say no to it.”
