PARIS, June 16 -- Former Formula One racer Fernando Alonso and two partners won the Le Mans 24 hour race title for the second straight year at the expense of a late puncture of teammates' car at the 87th edition of the tournament on Sunday.

Alonso, along with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, cooperated to drive the No. 8 car for their title defense with a lead of 16.972 seconds in LMP1 category of the race starting from 3 p.m. local time on Saturday.

Their sister No. 7 car, driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, stayed ahead for most part of the race, while suffering a puncture with around one hour remaining. The No. 7 Toyota car finished runner-up.

"We weren't as fast as car No. 7 and we didn't deserve to win on track, but luck was a big factor," Alonso pointed out.

"Let's see if we have the pace to fight with car No. 7 and after five laps I realized it was going to be nearly impossible. Somehow in the race, we got better but they were the quickest over the whole race. I was really happy to finish second because over the year, they deserved more wins than they had. But that's motorsport, and I will take the win, but I'm sorry for them," commented Buemi.

Also on Sunday, Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Pierre Thiriet triumphed in LMP2 category with Signatech Alpine No. 36 car.

China's Jackie Chan DC Racing No. 38 car, featuring Tung Ho-Pin, Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry, was placed second.

【体坛英语资讯：Alonso defends Le Mans title with Toyota】相关文章：

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Sharon Stone apologizes over karma remarks

★ 体坛英语资讯：Davydenko not worried about betting probe

★ 体坛英语资讯：Group rivals cannot meet again in final

★ 体坛英语资讯：Llodra beats Soderling to win Rotterdam tennis title

★ 体坛英语资讯：Bucks finish preseason with loss to Timberwolves

★ 体坛英语资讯：Barcelona defeats Beijing Guoan 3-0 in 1st game of Asia tour

★ 体坛英语资讯：Big net cast for Chinese tennis champs

★ 体坛英语资讯：Bayern closer to title, Leverkusen tie

★ 体坛英语资讯：Tennis ace Peng ready for prime time

★ 体坛资讯：Henin wins 3rd consecutive French Open title