Ferrari win 24 Hours of Le Mans for second year in a row

Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second year in a row on Sunday after a tight and tense battle with Toyota to the finish of the 92nd edition of the endurance race.

Almost out of fuel and on a wet track, Denmark's Nicklas Nielsen took the chequered flag in the number 50 499P hypercar shared with Italian Antonio Fuoco and Spaniard Miguel Molina over 311 laps of the Sarthe circuit.

The car's fuel gauge was registering around 2 per cent at the finish.

The seven Toyota GR010 hybrid of Argentine Jose Maria Lopez – a late stand-in after Briton Mike Conway was injured in a cycling incident – Japan's Kamui Kobayashi and Dutch driver Nyck de Vries finished 14.221 seconds behind after starting 23rd.

Ferrari's winning crew from a year ago – Italians Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Britain's James Calado – finished third in the 51 car on a day of drizzle and overcast skies.

Last year's comeback win was the Italian marque's first overall victory at Le Mans in 58 years.

"The worst for me was when they asked me to go slower because that's usually where the mistakes happen," Nielsen told Eurosport television after saving fuel to the finish.

"The last lap was so long. They kept me updated on the gap basically all the stint so it was just about managing the gap to the car in P2 (second), but then it obviously was a very long stint... but we did it."

All three drivers of the 50 car were first-time overall winners, but the outcome remained open right to the end in a race with a safety car period lasting more than four hours during the night.

"We were waiting for this moment since one year," said Fuoco, who took pole last year but ended up fifth. "At the end we won it and we are just super-happy."

There was drama with