Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of racing fans flocked to the small French city of Le Mans to witness the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans: the world’s oldest, most prestigious and most grueling endurance race. Since its inaugural race in 1923, Le Mans has always been special. Dozens of unbelievably quick racing cars battle for first place on the 8.4 mile-long Circuit de la Sarthe at the hands of some of the world’s most qualified drivers for 24 hours nonstop. It serves as the ultimate test of both speed and reliability for both cars and drivers, a battleground where the biggest manufacturers and teams duke out their engineering prowess. The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been the stage for some of history’s most gripping races--ones that are remembered for generations, and this year’s Le Mans was that kind of a race: a race that even our children will talk about. Here are two reasons that will ensure that this year’s Le Mans will go down into the history books.

1. The Epic Battle of Three Titans

Top to Bottom: Porsche 919 Hybrid, Audi R18, Toyota TS050 Hybrid

The LMP1 class is the highest class in Le Mans, the battleground of the 900+ horsepower, hybrid-powered monsters that you see above. Winning the LMP1 is one of the highest honor a car manufacturer can achieve, but as if that wasn’t enough, the three biggest contenders in this year’s race had other reasons to win. Good reasons. Porsche, the most successful team in Le Mans’ history and last year’s winning team, was shooting for two consecutive wins with the 919 Hybrid, the same car that won last year. Audi, the second most successful team in the race’s history and winner of 13 out of last 16 Le Mans, sought to reclaim their throne with their upgraded R18, one of the most successful cars in the 84 year-old race. Then, there was a newcomer who came out swinging at both Germans: Toyota. For four years, the same company that makes the Prius had been on a crusade to knock down Porsche and Audi from the podium, and with their new TS050 Hybrid, it looked like they could actually do it this year. With so much at stake for all three teams, they unleashed everything they had.

As soon as the race began, it was obvious that this year’s battle in the LMP1 class was going to one of the most exciting race, if not the most exciting race of the decade as all six cars (two from each team) fighting intensely for the lead. To add to all the excitement, Lady Luck twisted and turned the race in a way that no one could’ve predicted. Just two hours into the race, one of the Audis suffered a catastrophic engine failure with its sister car struggling to stay in the lead, a shocking calamity for a team that people once thought were invincible. But as if that wasn't sad enough for Audi, reliability issues throughout the whole race wiped out the German team's chance of winning—shocking news for Audi but good news for the fans, because this only made the duel between Toyota and Porsche really damn exciting.

The Porsches and the Toyotas fought intensely for the lead; one minute, a Porsche was leading, then the next minute, a Toyota had overtaken. This nail-biting excitement continued for the next six hours until luck turned against one of the Porsches. It was an engine failure, leaving just one Porsche 919 to fend itself against two mighty Toyota TS050s while its sister car limped to the pit garage. By the time the fallen Porsche had returned, it was too far behind to assist its teammate. Both commentators and fans on social media started to think that Toyota might actually win, making it the second Japanese manufacturer ever to win 24 Hours of Le Mans (first was Mazda in 1991). Better yet, Toyota could very well be the first Japanese manufacturer to win first and second place. However, there was still one Porsche left in contention, and it carried on fighting.

The electrifying battle between the two Toyotas and the lone Porsche continued for 14 more hours, gluing the fans to their binoculars, screens and radios. Then at the 20th hour, something amazing happened for Porsche: one of the Toyotas had lost control and spun out, falling 20 seconds behind its teammate. The race heated up even more as the remaining Toyota tried to defend its lead against the lone Porsche, with the odds still titled to the favor of Toyota. By the final hour of the race, it looked like Toyota was the winner of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

But then, 23 hours and 55 minutes in, the leading Toyota broke down. With only five minutes left in the 24 hour race, the leading car had broken down with its driver reporting “complete loss of power” from the engine. As it sputtered to a stop, all adjectives related to “unbelievable” in the English language combined could not describe the shock that fans and Toyota itself was going through. With just three minutes remaining, one of the Porsche 919s overtook the stationary Toyota and took the win.

So by shocking turn of events, Porsche scored their 18th win in 24 Hours of Le Mans and also managed to two consecutive wins in 24 Hours of Le Mans. Toyota still managed second place thanks to the backup car while Audi finished third. The broken-down Toyota could not recover in time to be even classified in the final leaderboard, serving as a testament of how quickly and brutally the tables can turn in 24 Hours of Le Mans. With such crushing defeat, fans have begun speculating that Toyota may fold their efforts in LMP1, and it makes sense. Competing in LMP1 class is an expensive gamble; each of this year's Audi R18s, for example, cost $30 million. I do wish Toyota would return and give both Porsche and Audi something to really worry about once again, and give fans another year of fantastically exciting race. If it wasn't for Toyota, this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans would have just been Porsche and Audi tussling back and forth, and that's the same thing that's been happening since 2014.

2. 50 Years Later, Ford Returns

Top: Ford GT LM Bottom: Ferrari 488 GTE

Behind the scorching battle in the LMP1 class and the rather dull race in the LMP2 class was a historic battle in the GTE Pro class, one that took 50 years in the making. The GTE Pro and Amateur classes are for production sports cars, so although all the competing cars are heavily modified for race duty, all the cars that you see on the GTE classes are the same cars that you could see on the road tomorrow. For many fans, they are arguably the best class to watch in 24 Hours of in Le Mans, especially the Pro class, because you can recognize the cars and competition is just as fierce and exciting as it is in the top LMP1 class. This year's GTE Pro class, however, was a bit more special, thanks to the return of Ford. Exactly 50 years ago, Ford swept first, second and third place in 24 Hours of Le Mans with the iconic GT40, an astonishing achievement even by today's standards. This remarkable victory started Ford's four-year long winning streak in the late '60s and humiliated then-dominating team Ferrari until the Blue Oval ended their GT40 racing program in 1970. In 50th anniversary of their first and greatest victory, Ford pledged to repeat history with their new GT LM, the long-awaited successor to the GT40, and challenged Ferrari's new and highly-competitive 488 GTE.

As soon as the race began, it was clear that the GTE Pro class was going to be a duel between Ford and Ferrari as others started to fall behind, or fall apart. Reliability issues kicked Porsche (they compete in both LMP1 and GTE Pro because they're overachievers) out of contention by the 12th hour while two Corvette C7.Rs from Corvette Racing struggled to turn out competitive lap times with one suffering a major crash in the 15th hour. With nobody else to worry about, the drivers of the three Ferrari 488 GTEs and the four Ford GTs brought out their absolute everything, with the cars performing like champs. But this was 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most grueling test of reliability, and as time passed, both the Fords and the Ferraris began to struggle. 10 hours and 35 minutes into the race, one of the Ferraris was forced to retire from the race due to poor engine health. Just three hours after, another Ferrari followed, leaving just one healthy 488 GTE in the race. While Ford fared better with no retirements, brake issues and transmission issues kept half of the GTs far behind the lead. Despite the disadvantage in numbers, the lone Ferrari fought off the two Fords throughout the race. For the next 11 hours, the fight between the Ferrari and the Fords was so intense, no one could predict the winner. But fate was decided 20 hours and 46 minutes in the race, when the lone Ferrari spun out of control, clearing the way for one of the Fords. Although the Ferrari managed to climb back up to second place, Ford took the victory in this year's GTE Pro class in 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Some might call Ford's win a crazy good luck, but I beg to differ. Ford had been preparing for years, and went through may trials and errors leading up to 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team behind the entire project both at Ford and Chip Ganassi Racing (Ford's partner team) fully dedicated themselves to make sure they emulate the legendary win of 1966. I hope this is not the end of Ford GT's success, but the beginning. After winning in 1966, the original GT40 won 24 Hours of Le Mans in '67, '68 and '69, and I really do hope the new GT become the icon that its predecessor was.

So there you have it, the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in a nutshell. It was an intense battle that was decided in equal part by both skill and luck. All the contenders gave out their absolute best, and it showed in the intensity of the race. But this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans wasn't just about speed; Toyota's tragic failure in the LMP1 class, and Ford's iconic return and victory after a 50-year hiatus makes this race an epic. It had more plot twists and edge-of-the-seat moments than a Hollywood film along with a return of a long-gone hero. I highly doubt next year’s Le Mans, or the years after would be as memorable as this year’s Le Mans. With such intense battle in the top tier and Ford's triumphant return, this Le Mans will surely go down in history. I will remember every minute that I watched (all 24 hours of it) very fondly for a very, very long time.