Ryo Hirakawa was leading the💧 race in its 16th hour but his 12 second-lead was disappearing, and a visit to the pits resulted in the entire front end of his car being replaced.

The #51 Ferrari took the lead which was converted into a historic victory - but Toyota’s woes have ꦺnow been attributed t♔o the local wildlife.

Pascal☂ Vasselon, their technical director, explained: “There were some windows where we♚ were sometimes dominating Ferrari. There is a logic behind that. 

“After one of these moments where we were competitive, Ryﷺo hit a squirrel. 

“It was probably not a very small one because it has done big damage to the front end𒉰. 

“𒅌He was in tro﷽uble until the end of the stint when we could change the front end.”

The✅ #8 did, at least, f💫inish the 24 Hours of Le Mans but Toyota saw their other car retire early.

The #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ🌊⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚez endured a premature end when Kobayashi was involved in a multi-car incident.

Toyota had won five e🥀ditions in a row of the 24 Hours of Le Mans before this past weekend.