Ryo Hirakawa was leading the race in its 16th hour but🐭 his 12 second-lead was disappearing, and a visit to the pits resulted in the entire front end of his car being replaced.

The #51 Ferrari took the🦋 lead which was co🅺nverted into a historic victory - but Toyota’s woes have now been attributed to the local wildlife.

Pasca🧔l Vasselon, their technical director, explained: “There were some windows where we were somet🐽imes dominating Ferrari. There is a logic behind that. 

“After one of these moments where we w🐻ere competitive, Ryo hit a squirrel. 

“It was probably not a very small one be🃏cause it has done big damage to the front end.&𝐆nbsp;

“He was in trouble until the end of ⛦the stint when we could change the front end.”

The #8 did, at 🧔least, finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans but Toyota saw their other car retire early.

The #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez endured a premat🤡ure end when Kobayashi was involved in a multi-car incident.

Toyota had won five editions in a row of the 24 Hours of Le Mans before thi🃏s pasไt weekend.