Porsche has claimed its second consecutive victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Porsche has claimed its second consecutive victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its 919 Hybrid. The real story, however, is the spectacular fashion in which it did - snatching the win in the final stretch from the leading Toyota, which began to experience a power failure five minutes before the end of the race.

Toyota's TS050 prototype had taken the lead early on and held on to the position for nearly the entire race. Its 2.4-litre V6 mated to a hybrid-electric system was outpacing the field in terms of efficiency, requiring a refuel every 14 laps as opposed to the Porsche's #13 and Audi's #12.

Toyota's victory - which would've marked the carmaker's first at Le Mans - seemed inevitable until the penultimate lap, when the TS050 ground slowly to a halt in front of the pit row straight. That gave the Porsche, which had been running one minute 24 seconds behind, all the time it needed to catch up and clinch the win.

Driver Kazuki Nakajima was able to get the car started again but the breakdown prevented him from completing the lap under the mandatory six minutes, resulting in an NC (Not Classified) ranking, which is effectively the same as a DNF (Did Not Finish).