After a rainy and largely neutralized night, the battle resumed on the track. There are still ten of them who can win! Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche and Cadillac engage in an epic battle on a dry track again.
The circuit’s official speaker Bruno Vandestick makes no mistake, the race can be decided at that moment, when the safety car is removed at 8:10 a.m. this morning, after more than four hours of neutralization, and while the track is wet. Eleven hypercars are on the same lap, led by Ryo Hirakawa’s Toyota GR010 Hybrid. The Japanese got off to a good start while Nyck de Vries (Toyota #7) was already getting impatient behind Nielsen’s #50 Ferrari 499P. Sébastien Bourdais (Cadillac V-Series.R #3) receives an entry penalty just like former Formula 1 residents Daniil Kvyat (Lamborghini SC63 #63) and Antonio Giovinazzi (Ferrari 499P #51).
Once the penalties were observed, Hirakawa and Vanthoor (Porsche 963 #6) widened the gap, at the rate of one and a half seconds per lap. They are still ahead of the #50 and #83 AF Corse Ferraris, the #2 Cadillac and the #38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche of Jenson Button. Matt Campbell (Porsche #5) dispossesses the 2009 Formula 1 world champion from 6th place (204th lap). At this time there are five cars within one lap of the leader, led by Felipe Drugovich and his #311 Cadillac, the two Peugeot 9X8s and the two Lamborghinis SC63s.
Giovinazzi (Ferrari 499P #51) is opportunistic in traffic, he takes 8th place at the expense of Norman Nato (Porsche 963 #12 Hertz Team Jota), on the 211th lap. The track is drying out and the #7 Toyota is the first to put on slick tires shortly after 9 a.m. All the hypercars imitate it in the laps that follow.
After its 20th stop, the #6 Porsche 963 took command ahead of the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids. At the wheel of second, De Vries (#7) is followed by the Ferrari 499Ps of Fuoco and Shwartzman (#50 and #83) in that order.
The safety car is deployed again after Mancinelli’s accident (see below). Nico Müller lost control of his #93 Peugeot 9X8 while the race had not yet been restarted. The leaders made another pit stop and the Cadillac of Earl Bamber (#2) took command, ahead of the Porsche of Frédéric Makowiecki (#5) and the Ferrari of Robert Shwartzman (#83). Cadillac #3, then driven by Scott Dixon, is stopped in the middle of the Mulsannes. The New Zealander manages to bring his car back to the pits, where it leaves a large puddle of oil: the V8 has given up the ghost.
The race is restarted at the end of the 225th lap. The first seven hypercars are grouped together. Kobayashi tries to overtake Fuoco but is pushed back. Fuoco passes Shwartzman on the next braking but the driver of the #83 Ferrari 499P responds immediately. The parade is sumptuous. Pipo Derani comes out at the same place as Felipe Nasr earlier, the Cadillac V-Series.R #311 is bruised but it returns to its stand. Kobayashi now attacks Fuoco (Ferrari #50) who defends himself well! But the Japanese suddenly lost pace. He passed successively by Buemi in the other Toyota (#8) and Estre in the #6 Porsche. Fuoco ended up taking the advantage over Shwartzman, who found himself threatened by Sébastien Buemi (Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8). The Ferrari drivers are now attacking the first position held by the Porsche 963 of Frédéric Makowiecki since the refueling of the #2 Cadillac. Incisive, Antonio Fuoco swallows the Frenchman on the 231st lap.
Another passage through the pits and Earl Bamber regains command ahead of Antonio Fuoco, Robert Shwartzman and Sébastien Buemi. Behind them, Kévin Estre is still battling Kamui Kobayashi. The French pole-sitter defends his 5th place dearly.
Four hours from the finish, there are still 10 cars on the same lap. All are candidates for final victory: we are entering the “money time” of these 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. In a twist, the Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse is smoking when the clock strikes noon!
In LMP2, Ben Barnicoat (Oreca 07-Gibson #183 AF Corse) is comfortable on the wet track this Sunday morning: he builds a lead of almost 20 seconds over Malthe Jakobsen (Oreca 07-Gibson #37 Cool Racing) and Stéphane Richelmi (Oreca 07-Gibson #10 Vector Sport).
At 8:27 a.m., the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R returned to its pit box due to a gearbox problem. The sister car leads the debates in the category while the Iron Dames emerge in 2nd position (Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 #85), ahead of the McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #95 from United Autosports. The first Aston Martin is at the foot of the provisional podium in the category, but each refueling reshuffles the ranking. The only constant: the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R dominates the LMGT3 category.
The #81 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R from TF Sport stopped in Les Hunaudières, shortly after Nasr lost control of the #4 Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsport (start of the 18th hour of the race). The American manages to return to her stand after letting many minutes slip away.
Daniel Mancinelli emerges unscathed of his #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 when he found himself on the roof in the Indianapolis sector: it was a huge relief mixed with great disappointment in the Heart Of Racing stand.
The top 5 at 12 hours (general ranking):
1. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Miguel Molina / Nicklas Nielsen, 248 laps
2. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse – Robert Kubica / Robert Shwartzman / Yifei Ye, at 4”685
3. Porsche 963 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / André Lotterer / Laurens Vanthoor, at 6”011
4. Porsche 963 #38 Hertz Team JOTA – Oliver Rasmussen / Philip Hanson / Jenson Button, at 1’08”553
5. Cadillac V-Series.R #2 Cadillac Racing – Earl Bamber / Alex Lynn / Alex Palou, at 1’09”462
The leaders of the other categories:
LMP2: Oreca 07-Gibson #34 Inter Europol Competition – Jakub Smiechowski / Vladislav Lmoko / Clément Novalak – 237 laps
LMGT3: Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #91 Manthey EMA – Yasser Shahin / Morris Schuring / Richard Lietz – 224 laps
Dropouts at 12 p.m. this Sunday:
- Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #54 Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon – Off the track
- Alpine A424 #35 Alpine Endurance Team – Paul-Loup Chatin / Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen / Charles Milesi – Broken engine
- Alpine A424 #36 Alpine Endurance Team – Nicolas Lapierre / Mick Schumacher / Matthieu Vaxivière – Broken engine
- BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT – Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Marco Wittmann – Crash
- Oreca 07-Gibson #9 Proton Competition – Jonas Ried / Maceo Capietto / Bent Viscaal
- Oreca 07-Gibson #30 Duqueine Team – John Falb / James Allen / Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (LMP2 Pro/Am) – Engine failure
- BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Maxime Martin – Off the track
- Oreca 07-Gibson #45 Crowdstrike Racing by APR – George Kurtz / Colin Braun / Nicky Catsburg (LMP2 Pro/Am)
- Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #66 JMW Motorsport – Giacomo Petrobelli / Larry ten Voorde / Salih Yoluc
- Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Daniel Mancinelli / Alex Riberas – Off track
- Cadillac V-Series.R #3 Cadillac Racing – Sébastien Bourdais / Renger van der Zande / Scott Dixon – Engine failure
Best lap: Ferrari 499P #50, 3’29”208 (46th lap)
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P led the race before being stopped at around midday.
Prudencio CASALES (ACO)
