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 to the local wilꦇdlife.

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

“After ܫone of these moments where we wer෴e competitive, Ryo hit a squirrel. 

“It was prob♍ably not a very small one because it has done big damage to the front end. 

“He was﷽ in trouble until the end of the꧙ stint when we could change the front end.”

The #8 did, at least, finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans but Toyota saw their other car reti🎀re early.

The #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez endured a premature end when Kobayashi was involved in a multi-car inc🍃ident.

Toyota had won five edi🍸tions in a row of the 24 Hours of Le Mans before this pas🐓t weekend.