Le Mans' revival is a once-in-a-generation transformation - ESPN

With the Hypercar class surging, the buzz is back at Le Mans. James Moy Photography/Getty Images

LE MANS, France -- Toyotas are being hunted this weekend in France, and it's for a good reason. Thanks to an overall victory streak that has reached the gaudy heights of five in a row, there's a giant target placed squarely on the Toyota Gazoo Racing team heading into the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Just as American racing fans have the Indianapolis 500 as the biggest open-wheel racing event on the planet, the rest of the world has Le Mans, which rivals Indy with 300,000 rabid fans who stuff themselves into the massive 8.5-mile track to witness motor racing's World Cup.

Located two hours southwest of Paris, the nonstop weekend of elite sports car battles presents racing's greatest gauntlet of physical and mechanical stamina. Cars break. People break. Le Mans doesn't care. Only its winners are remembered.

And by the end of Sunday, when those 24 merciless hours on the clock have wound down to zero, there will be a new winner whose name and automobiles will be celebrated as the unquestioned best, crowned as the top survivor of racing's most punishing test. That's how Le Mans works.