A tense four-way battle for glory is brewing in the headlining Hypercar class in the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Toyota takes the fight to BMW and Cadillac while LMGT3 has been blown wide open.
Barely 10 seconds blanket the leading four contenders in the headlining Hypercar category heading into the final four hours of a captivating 24 Hours of Le Mans
The fight at the front between BMW, Cadillac and Toyota has been too close to call all race, but a safety car interruption at three-quarter distance brought the #7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid into contention as well, joining the #20 BMW, #12 Cadillac and #8 Toyota in the quest for outright honours
Louis Delétraz looked to be in charge for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA until a drive-through penalty for a slow zone infringement dropped the gold-liveried V-Series.R to third, 14 seconds behind Toyota’s Brendon Hartley and BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde
The M Hybrid V8 had fallen behind the TR010 Hybrid just after 6am due to a delay on its front-left wheel in the pits, with Van der Linde subsequently struggling to exploit his fresh tyres as he sat tucked up behind Hartley
Entering the race’s 18th hour, the BMW finally leap-frogged the Toyota by virtue of not changing tyres as the pair pitted, gifting him a 20-second lead, but that advantage was eroded by the intervention of the safety car at 10am after Manthey LMGT3 driver Ayhancan Güven collided with the Mulsanne barriers
The neutralisation conversely aided the #12 Cadillac, now in the hands of Norman Nato, after the JOTA-run car had earlier lost time due to having to make an emergency pit-stop
When the action resumed just over an hour later, Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW and Norman Nato in the #12 Cadillac found themselves nose-to-tail, and the Frenchman initially ramped up the pressure prior to having to turn his attentions to the hard-charging Toyotas behind, piloted by Kamui Kobayashi and Ryō Hirakawa, with both Japanese drivers lowering the fastest lap time in the process
There was a scare for Frijns with four-and-a-half hours remaining when the Dutchman entered the pits from the lead, only to lock up and skated across the gravel
The delay dropped the BMW from first to fourth, elevating Nato to the lead as the 21st hour arrived, pursued by the twin Toyotas of Hirakawa and Kobayashi
James Calado runs a little way adrift of the lead battle in last year’s world championship-winning #51 Ferrari 499P, with Robert Kubica sixth in the privately-entered #83 AF Corse Ferrari, which triumphed at La Sarthe 12 months ago
The #35 Alpine A424, #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie, #101 Cadillac WTR – which picked up a fourth drive-through penalty, this time for Full Course Yellow speeds – and the #36 Alpine complete the current Hypercar top ten
On its Le Mans debut, Genesis Magma Racing suffered its first retirement of its maiden campaign in the FIA World Endurance Championship when Mathys Jaubert stopped in the #17 GMR-001 with suspension damage at 08:30am, having been running just outside the points-paying positions
LMGT3
Like in Hypercar, the safety car intermission has ignited the LMGT3 class battle, erasing the #33 TF Sport Corvette’s 1h40m lead
Nicky Catsburg is now endeavouring to hang on at the front of the field, but the Dutchman is coming under scrutiny after the re-start from a dual Aston Martin and Lexus attack
In Heart of Racing Team’s 23 Aston Martin Vantage, ‘Dudu’ Barrichello is just over three seconds behind the Corvette, with Jack Hawksworth in the earlier leading #78 Lexus RC F similarly well in touch in third
There is a parallel Aston Martin-Lexus fight behind, as Akkodis ASP Team’s Clemens Schmid closes on Zacharie Robichon in the #27 Vantage that started the race on pole position, with Alessio Rovera keeping VISTA AF Corse in contention in sixth behind the wheel of the #21 Ferrari 296
There has been trouble for both Proton Competition Ford Mustangs, with the #77 retiring due to a broken gearbox while the sister #88 car lost time to a broken toe-link
Manthey’s winning run at Le Mans in LMGT3 looks certain to come to an end today, with Güven’s hefty impact with the Mulsanne barriers forcing the #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche into retirement and the #92 The Bend Manthey 911 GT3 R running five laps down following earlier technical issues
LMP2
After dominating the majority of the race in the LMP2 class, Duqueine Team’s #30 Oreca-Gibson piloted by Doriane Pin, Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor saw its advantage wiped out by the safety car period
At the re-start, Andlauer set about trying to re-establish a gap, while Inter Europol Competition duo Reshad de Gerus and future Ford Hypercar driver Nick Yelloly endeavoured to exploit their opportunity to turn the tables
With four hours left to run, just over four seconds cover the leading trio in LMP2
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Terxt: WEC
Image: @crédit : DPPI
