We talked about the bevy of Americans racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last week and several Americans took home class wins in the French classic. Not only was that part of the story, but the finish of the race for the overall was one of the most heartbreaking finishes you’ll ever see. It was a race chock-full of drama so let’s recap just some of it.

After dominating nearly the entire race with a solid strategy and their first win imminent after four-second places, Toyota’s race-leading Toyota TS050 ground to a halt in front of the pits and the grandstands with just three minutes left. Kazuki Nakajima in the Toyota was helpless as #2 Porsche driver Neel Jani drove past to take the lead on the final lap while a stunned Toyota garage looked on. Toyota had finished second place overall four times without a win and only one Japanese entry (Mazda 1991) had ever won Le Mans so the devastation was really driven home.

As a final kick to the jewels, the Toyota was not classified because its final lap was more than 10 minutes long, which falls afoul of the ACO’s regulation. The sister #6 Toyota had been running third and was promoted to the manufacturer’s fifth second-place finish with the #8 Audi claiming the last podium position. Audi was poised for the first time in the brand’s Le mans history to be off the podium and it took only an act of god to put them on it.

Fifty years after the GT40’s first Le mans victory in 1966, Chip Ganassi Racing have returned and won the GTE-PRO class at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Ford victory included a rehashing of the ‘66 battle with Ferrari with American-run Risi Competizione racing the Fords hard in their Ferrari 488, but the #68 Ford emerged victorious with Dirk Muller, Joey Hand, and Sebastian Bourdais at the helm.

The leading Ford arrived at the finish one minute ahead of the Risi Ferrari, which was the only of the new Ferrari 488’s still running. The Ferrari was given a stop-and-go penalty late in the race for a broken leader light on the car’s side, which they ignored and drove to the finish. Two Fords, the #69 and #66, finished third and fourth in GTE-PRO and were likely to be promoted after the Risi car was assessed post-race penalties.

[Edit: Official FIA classification shows Risi still in second place as of one hour post-race.]

The #63 Corvette lacked the pace of the newer turbocharged Fords and Ferraris—a point of contention all race week—and finished seventh in the class behind the two factory Aston Martins. The #64 Corvette retired after a huge shunt with Tommy Milner at the wheel, though he was unscathed in the wreck.

In the GTE-AM class, the all-American #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 romped away to the class win. Indy 500 competitor Townsend Bell shared the car with Bill Sweedler and Jeff Segal, the trio safely driven clear of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari and the #88 Proton Competition Porsche, which had American Porsche factory driver Pat Long in it.

Finally, the LMP2 class winners Signatech Alpine A460-Nissan ran a clean race with strong stints from American driver Gustavo Menezes. His codrivers Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Richelmi helped them clear the very strong G-Drive Oreca-Nissan lineup.

We’ll have video highlights soon.