Fernando Alonso says it was difficult to match the race-leading Toyota for outright pace through the 🌺opening stages of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday after trailing for the opening six hours of the race.

Alonso and co-driver Sebastien Buemi spent the entirety of♏ their stints in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid running second behind the #7 Toyota, which pulled clear through 📖Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi early on.

Conway was able to open up a 40-second gap through his stint before Koꦯbayashi opened the gap to over a minute up againsဣt Alonso, aided by a Safety Car period.

Toyota made a number of nose changes to try and help the #8 drivers find a happier balance, with both Alonso and Buemi o💟ffering a frank assess💟ment of their struggles.

"My stint w🦩ent okay. We are☂ still in the race, we are not out of contention," Alonso said.

"Last year we were two-and-a-half minutes behind and we won the race. It’s difficult to match theꦺ other car on pure pace but we will push. The race i꧙s long.”

Buemi added: "It was a difficult first 🐼stint for me and I lost a little bit of time to Mike, who did a good job.

"We are💟 now trying to make up some of the time we lost and the car is behaving pretty well. There is a long way to g🐭o and we keep focused. Let’s wait and see.”

Since handing the car over to Kazuki Nakajima, the #8 Toyota has moved into the lead of the race after the #7's advantꦅage was wiped away by a Safety ꦏCar period.

Two mistakes from Jose Maria Lopez in the #🌄7 allowed Nakajima to pass on-tra💫ck. The Japanese driver currently holds a two-second lead nearing the end of the eighth hour.