Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa were never threatened in the eight-hour bonus points title-decider, the crew of the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid leading every race outside of the pitstop cycles to successfully defend their 2022 crown.
The outcome of the contest was effectively decided at the start when Cadillac’s Earl Bamber locked up going into Turn 1 after starting from third, turning around the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway that was trying to consolidate second-place behind the pole-sitting #8 car of Buemi.
Although Conway was able to get back up to third just an hour into the race, with Kamui Kobayashi propelling the team to second when taking over from the Brit, the #7 crew never had the pace to close down the 30s gap built by Buemi in the opening two stints of the race.
In fact, Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa ended up increasing their advantage at the front of the pack over the remainder of the race, scoring their second win of the season by a commanding margin of 47s to celebrate their title in style.
It was the fourth championship success for both Hartley and Buemi, and second for Hirakawa, with the latter continuing his 100% title record after joining the series in 2022 to replace Kazuki Nakajima.
Conway, Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez had to concede defeat in the championship fight despite winning more races than the sister crew, four compared to two, with their retirement in the double-points Le Mans 24 Hours costing them a chance to repeat their 2021 success.
Source: Autosport