Ferrari starts strong at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
The start of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans saw a change of leader on the first lap with the #50 Ferrari getting the better of the #6 Porsche. After taking the lead from Sébastien Bourdais, at the wheel of the #3 Cadillac, the #51 Ferrari attacked the #6 Porsche, placing the two factory Ferraris in the first two places.
The first pit stops arrived after ten laps of the race. In this little game, the Porsche #6 regained control of the race but for a short time since the Ferrari #50 regained the advantage a few minutes later. However, the latter was penalized with a ten-second penalty for not having given priority to the #3 Cadillac in the pit lane.
Having served its ten-second penalty received during the qualifying practice sessions, the Ferrari #51, driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, fell back to fifth place after the pit stop before making a comeback to third place. In this first hour of the race, it was the #8 Toyota that won big, moving up to fourth place.
The rain comes in the second hour
We will have to wait an hour and a half to see new changes in leaders. First it was the #6 Porsche which took the lead from the #50 Ferrari, stopping in the pits and serving its ten-second penalty. It was then the #51 Ferrari which found itself in the lead after a burst of stops. The #6 Porsche fell to seventh position after changing drivers.
A few minutes later, the rain arrived and the race direction declared the track wet. The #51 Ferrari pitted, giving the lead to its sister car, the #50. On the following lap, the #6 Porsche then the #83 Ferrari moved into the first two places before seeing the #6 stop to put on rain tires. The #83 and #50 Ferraris remained on the track on slick tires, proving to be a good decision since the Hypercars that were on wet tires had to stop again to put on slicks.
After two hours of racing, the #50 Ferrari regained first place after several attempts to overtake the #83 of Robert Kubica. While the #50 Ferrari stopped in the pits for a driver change, the #83 Ferrari took the lead before seeing the #20 BMW hit the wall in the junction chicane. She was able to restart with the rear end damaged but stopped the following lap.
#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Sheldon Van Der Linde, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
The ranking after 2h30 of racing
| # | TEAM | TOURS | JUDGMENTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 83 | AF CORSICA | 40 | 3 |
| 2 | 5 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 40 | 3 |
| 3 | 50 | FERRARI AF CORSICA | 40 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 39 | 4 |
| 5 | 8 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 39 | 5 |
| 6 | 38 | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 39 | 4 |
| 7 | 12 | HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 39 | 4 |
| 8 | 51 | FERRARI AF CORSICA | 39 | 5 |
| 9 | 19 | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 39 | 3 |
| 10 | 7 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 39 | 5 |
| 11 | 63 | LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX | 39 | 3 |
| 12 | 35 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 39 | 4 |
| 13 | 2 | CADILLAC RACING | 39 | 4 |
| 14 | 6 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 39 | 5 |
| 15 | 93 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 39 | 4 |
| 16 | 311 | WHELEN CADILLAC RACING | 39 | 5 |
| 17 | 94 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 39 | 4 |
| 18 | 3 | CADILLAC RACING | 39 | 5 |
| 19 | 36 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 39 | 5 |
| 20 | 15 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 39 | 4 |
| 21 | 20 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 39 | 5 |
| 22 | 11 | ISOTTA FRASCHINI | 38 | 4 |
