The start of the seventh hour of the race was marked by the return of rain to the Le Mans circuit and by the #60 Lamborghini Iron Lynx going off the track which spun and hit the walls. at the exit of the Michelin chicane, causing a Full Course Yellow. The race having resumed, the Ferrari #83 of AF Corse began its hundredth lap of the race as the rain stopped in the Sarthe sky. At the same time, the #36 Alpine stand shutter was lowered, officially confirming the abandonment of the two French Hypercars.
The track still wet, it trapped Sébastien Bourdais who spun at the wheel of the #3 Cadillac. The French driver was able to restart and only lost one position, falling to 14th place. A few minutes later, all the drivers wearing rain tires stopped to change to slick tires. At the end of the pit stops, the #83 Ferrari retained the lead ahead of the #50 Ferrari and the #5 Porsche.
BMW #15 abandoned after collision with Kubica
You will have to wait until 10:35 p.m. to see the Safety Car enter the track for the first time. After a slight collision with the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, the #15 BMW driven by Dries Vanthoor hit the rails just before the Mulsanne bend. The front of the Hypercar was completely destroyed and it was forced to abandon.
Time to repair the rails and carry out the entire restart procedure, we spent midnight under a safety car, the #83 Ferrari still leading after eight hours of racing. The Safety Car disappeared after an hour and a half of neutralization. At the restart, all the Hypercars stopped to put on rain tires except the Porsche #5 and the Cadillac #311 which took the lead of the race. A risky gamble that did not pay off for the two Hypercars who saw their opponents very quickly come back on them, the Ferrari #83, driven by Robert Kubica, taking the lead of the race again.
It was also the Polish driver who was judged responsible for the collision with the #15 BMW. He was penalized with 30 seconds of Stop and Go and will come out in sixth place after performing the latter. It was the #8 Toyota which took advantage by taking the reins of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, ahead of the #6 Porsche and the #7 Toyota. The end of this ninth hour of racing will be marked by the exit of the track of the BMW #46 GT3 which hit the wall of tires after the Dunlop footbridge and came to rest in the gravel.
The ranking after 9 hours of racing
| POS | # | TEAM | TOURS | JUDGMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 128 | 12 |
| 2 | 6 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 128 | 12 |
| 3 | 7 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 128 | 13 |
| 4 | 50 | FERRARI AF CORSICA | 128 | 10 |
| 5 | 83 | AF CORSICA | 128 | 11 |
| 6 | 38 | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 128 | 14 |
| 7 | 2 | CADILLAC RACING | 128 | 13 |
| 8 | 51 | FERRARI AF CORSICA | 128 | 12 |
| 9 | 12 | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 127 | 12 |
| 10 | 3 | CADILLAC RACING | 127 | 13 |
| 11 | 5 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 127 | 10 |
| 12 | 311 | WHELEN CADILLAC RACING | 127 | 12 |
| 13 | 94 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 127 | 13 |
| 14 | 93 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 127 | 14 |
| 15 | 63 | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 127 | 10 |
| 16 | 19 | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 127 | 12 |
| 17 | 4 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 126 | 16 |
| 18 | 11 | ISOTTA FRASCHINI | 124 | 14 |
| 19 | 99 | PROTON COMPETITION | 123 | 13 |
