The two finishes that showed the best of endurance racing

Obviously, a 24-hour race is never over until the chequered flag has fallen - and indeed, following the exclusion of class winners at Le Mans in each of the past two years, until technical inspections have been cleared - but very rarely is there anything of importance left on the table to fight for in the final hour.

Yes, it's true that reliability is better now than ever before, and drivers often do race flatout. But attrition resulting from mechanical issues and fatigue-driven mistakes has a knack of thinning out the fight at the front and leaving those who have survived at healthy intervals behind.

That's why covering endurance racing requires patience. There's always something to watch somewhere in the field, but often it counts for very little in the grand scheme of things. A car running in 16th place and is 30 laps down after repairs is turning fastest laps? Good for the driver, but academic. A nip-and-tuck battle for eighth place in class will barely get a mention in a post-race report.

So, when a 24-hour race is transformed from a slow-burner into a nail-biting chase with victory on the line after 23 hours and 45 minutes, it's immensely satisfying.

For the drivers, the hard part is getting to the 22-hour mark without a scratch on the car and still having a sniff of victory. Once in that position, to come so close only to fall at the final hurdle simply doesn't bear thinking about.

The driver chosen to complete the final leg must shoulder the burden of expectation from their co-drivers, engineers and mechanics, while drawing on their final reserves of concentration to perform at the level they managed at the start. And when those Herculean efforts pay dividends in a moment of on-track decisiveness, it's memorable.

It's for that reason that my memory of the decade isn't Toyota's galling failure to win at Le Mans in 2016. A moment of unforgettable drama, yes, but until the moment Kazuki Nakajima coasted to a halt on the pit straight with what Toyota described as a "defect on the air line between the turbo and the intercooler" three minutes from home, the car he shared with Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson had been comfortable out in front. Certain victory was turned to agonising defeat, but it lacked the build-up that comes with a tense chase.

The closest Le Mans has come to serving up a race at the finish in recent years came with the GTE-Pro class in 2017, when Aston Martin's Jonny Adam came out of the pits right behind Jordan Taylor's Corvette for the final stint and stalked his rival until Taylor locked up at the Mulsanne Chicane, which resulted in a puncture that handed Aston victory.

But, even better still, were the Nurburgring 24 Hours of 2016 and '17. It might be a cop-out to choose two races as a memory of the decade, but each was decided right at the death and stand out as the best motor races I've had the pleasure of covering.

The 2016 race, won by the #4 Black Falcon Mercedes of Maro Engel, Bernd Schneider, Adam Christodoulou and Manuel Metzger, was decided by a winning margin of just 5.6 seconds after Engel's final lap pass on the unsuspecting HTP Mercedes of Christian Hohenadel on the Grand Prix loop.

Endurance racing is a funny old game. But when it goes down to the wire, there's nothing quite like it

Engel had been the fastest driver all weekend, setting pole in the sister #9 Black Falcon Mercedes he was also registered to drive in mixed conditions. He did so despite slowing to avoid Kevin Estre's crashed Porsche at the left-hand kink before Bergwerk.

Engel led the opening hour in #9 until a massive hailstorm - which caused several cars to float off the track at Aremberg - resulted in a four-hour stoppage.

It was restarted in biblical conditions at 8pm and after the race-leading Schuberth BMW suffered an engine failure, the race settled into an intra-Mercedes fight between the #88 Haribo car, the #29 HTP and the #4 Black Falcon, fighting back after Christodoulou had reported a vibration and pitted twice in quick succession.

Haribo looked set for victory until a penalty for a Code 60 violation (for driving over the 60kph limit) dropped the car to third, and seemingly put HTP in command. But Engel's frenzied stint back in the #4 car had brought him within striking range when Hohenadel came in for a splash and dash with two laps to go.

Engel's eyes were bloodshot - he later joked "I'm pretty sure if that had been the day I met my wife, she would have turned me down!" But he set off after Hohenadel, who believed his position was secure and that Engel wouldn't attempt to pass. He was wrong.

Engel set the race's fastest lap on the 133rd and penultimate lap and pounced as Hohenadel left the door open at the Castrol Curve on the final tour, making slight contact as Hohenadel attempted to shut the door. It was a remarkable way to win a 24-hour race, but not everybody was happy.

So disgusted was HTP boss Norbert Bruckner that he lodged an appeal over the contact with the stewards - which quickly rejected - while Hohenadel's team-mate Marco Seefried didn't attend the podium to collect his trophy. Of the team's four drivers, only Christian Vietoris was present at the post-race press conference.

The 2017 race had some way to go to top the closest finish in the event's history, but the arrival of rain in the final half hour turned the race on its head and made a hero of another driver that believed the race had slipped through his and his team's fingers.

Kelvin van der Linde had won the ADAC GT Masters title alongside Rene Rast in 2014, which accelerated his path to factory driver status with Audi. But this was the race that marked him out as a true star for the brand.

After the Glickenhaus car that Jeff Westphal had taken to a shock pole dropped back following contact, Land Motorsport driver Van der Linde established a lead that he and team-mates Christopher Mies, Connor de Philippi and Markus Winkelhock kept until electrical problems with two hours to go forced him to make a slow tour of the GP loop back to the pits to complete a full system reset.

Third looked the best the crestfallen crew - De Philippi and Mies were in tears - would manage as the WRT Audi anchored by Rast took over the lead, chased by Nicky Catsburg's Rowe BMW. But they caught a slice of luck when the Eiffel microclimate lived up to its reputation with 20 minutes to go.

The Nordschleife is indeed a long lap. A good time in race trim is around eight minutes and 20 seconds and being on the wrong tyres can swing a race.

The WRT mechanics were hugging and clapping themselves on the backs after sending Rast on his way for the final time, still in the lead, as Van der Linde came in. The stop took an age as the car was released before all the fuel had gone in, costing it second to Catsburg.

But with black clouds looming, Van der Linde rolled the dice and called for wets. It was his only option to salvage a result in the remaining two laps, but with the GP loop bone dry, it looked a 50/50 call.

Any doubts were soon dispelled. The rain had intensified around the back of the circuit. Suddenly, Rast and Catsburg were scrambling for grip on slicks, while Van der Linde was carving through the slower traffic.

At times, he had to jam on the anchors and take to the grass, so absurd were the closing speeds, but crucially he avoided a needless collision and kept his head to retake second when Catsburg slipped wide at Brunchen.

Van der Linde was 20s behind Rast as they headed down the Dottinger Hohe, but Rast couldn't risk another lap on slicks and headed to the pits, returning Van der Linde to the top spot.

Endurance racing is a funny old game. But when it goes down to the wire, there's nothing quite like it.