Toyota’s assault on the gruelling Le Mans 24 Hour sports car race moved to within one step of its ultimate goal following a second place finish in the 67th running of the French classic. The all-Japanese Toyota Motorsport crew of former Formula One drivers Ukyo Katayama and Toshio Suzuki, and Keiichi Tsuchiya posted the podium result, finishing just one lap behind the winners. Katayama set a new lap record in his Toyota GT-One in the latter stages of the French classic while closing on the leading team. The Japanese driver’s chase of the leader received a set-back just 45 minutes from the end when his V8 twin-turbo-powered car suffered a huge tyre blow-out. The Toyota driver was forced to the pits, effectively ending any hopes of winning the event. Katayama crossed the finish line in front of 170,000 spectators to cover 364 laps, four laps more than the third-placed car. The result matched Toyota’s best ever finish in the renowned event recorded in both 1992 and 1994, the latter assault spear-headed by 1999 Australian Grand Prix winner Eddie Irvine. The Japanese-crewed car ran faultlessly throughout the event, needing only routine stops for fuel, tyres, brakes and driver changes. “The GT-One ran without any problems - and to set a new lap record for the famous circuit is incredible,” Katayama said. The two other Toyota Team Europe-prepared GT-Ones retired following accidents. Only 23 of 45 starts were running after 24 hours. The race was won by the team of Pierluigi Martini, Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock in a BMW.