The two Toyota TS050 Hybrids dominated the six-hour Silverstone race, finishing first and second on the road, four laps ahead of the third-placed Rebellion R-13.

Later, however, the Toyotas were disqualified after both cars failed skid block deflection tests in post-race scrutineering.

The front part of the winning Fernando Alonso/Sebastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima car’s skid block was reported to have ‘deflected 6mm on the right-hand side and 8mm on the left-hand side under the specified 2500 N load at the front of the skid block’. The second-placed Toyota recorded a 9mm deflection on both sides of the skid block under the specified load.

Toyota told the Stewards that both cars sustained damage to their skid blocks during the race but this was not accepted as an explanation for the discrepancy.

"Although there are no reports of the car being involved in any specific incident,” The Stewards’ statement read, “the competitor stated that his only explanation for the non-conformity must have been as a result of the car running off-track and sustaining some sort of damage to the internal stays that fix that portion of the car.

"The stewards considered this possibility but determined that the design of the car must be able to withstand the normal rigours of a 6 hours endurance race.”

The ruling elevated the Gustavo Menezes/Thomas Laurent/Mathias Beche crewed Rebellion to an unexpected victory, with the sister car of Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer making it a Rebellion one-two.

The latter Rebellion had been ahead of the eventual winner late in the race until it was delayed by a pitstop to rectify a faulty tail light.