After a long neutralization lasting around four hours due to rain, the 24 Hours of Le Mans resumed, with a Porsche in the lead with car #6, now in the lead with Laurens Vanthoor taking advantage of the neutralization period behind the Safety Car.
Following it is the Toyota #8 which had taken the lead in the segment between the two Safety Cars which closed the evening on Saturday and which characterized the early hours of Sunday also taking advantage of the sanction given to the Ferrari #83 due to of the contact between the car of the Maranello brand, driven at that time by Robert Kubica, with the BMW #15 which was then forced to retire.
After a not exactly exciting qualifying, with one of the two cars starting at the bottom of the Hypercar class, Toyota still managed to gradually move up the rankings, to the point of bringing two cars into the top 3 for now. Behind them, in fact, initially was Ferrari #50 with Antonio Fuoco who had inherited the wheel of the 499P from Nicklas Nielsen after the 17th hour. The Toyota #7 driven by De Vries was the protagonist of a three-way battle with the Ferrari #50 driven by Fuoco and the #83 of AF Corse with Robert Shwartzman at the wheel. The three cars were in fact within a few tenths of a second, at least until an episode involving the Heart of Racing Aston Martin GT3 pushed the management to bring in the Safety Car once again.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo credit: Rainier Ehrhardt
The #27 with Mancinelli at the wheel was in fact the protagonist of a rollover trying to stay on the outside of the Ferrari #51: unfortunately the Italian driver seems to have independently lost control of his car, triggering a sort of pendulum effect that brought him first into the gravel and then against the barriers. Despite the initial fear of the overturned car, fortunately Mancinelli got out of the car without suffering any major physical consequences.
The Safety Car allowed the #6 Porsche to maintain the lead it gained after the #8 Toyota stopped, with Vanthoor leading the race behind the safety car for a neutralization period that looks like it could take some time: marshals they must in fact repair the barriers where the Aston Martin crashed, even if the fact that it is a “wall” of tires should speed up the operations. Furthermore, you will have to wait for the merging procedures to be completed behind the Safety Car, which will take up additional time.
Taking advantage of the neutralization period, the two Ferraris #50 and #83 stopped, however their position was reversed at the moment of the pit stop: the AF Corse private car managed to overtake the official car before stopping at the traffic lights having to wait for the passage of the Safety Car. Ahead of the two Reds are now in fourth place the Cadillac #2 driven by Bamber and the Porsche #5 with Makowiecki at the wheel.
In eighth and ninth position we find the Porsche Jota duo with the #12 driven by Norman Nato preceding the #38 with Jenson Button at the wheel. Closing out the top ten is the #3 Cadillac with Scott Dixon, while the other #51 Ferrari is eleventh after a stop to top up with fuel.
#19 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63: Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli, Matteo Cairoli
Photo by: Shameem Fahath
The first Lamborghini, #19, came in twelfth, with the dream of trying to reach the top ten before the end of the endurance race par excellence. The Italian single-seater precedes the Peugeot 94 and the Cadillac 311. Of note is the accident involving the Porsche #4 around 9.15am, which ended up against the barriers after a loss of grip by Felipe Nasr, who thus put the the end to the race of one of the German company’s cars.
In the LMP2 class, AF Corse is currently leading with car #183, which precedes United Autosport #22 and Vector Sport #10, currently in third position. Cool Racing #37 came in fourth, with these four cars having led the race in the category for a long time. Fifth was Inter Europol #34 which, after the problem it had before midnight in which it returned to the pits without the right front tyre, recovered and managed to get back to fifth place. Idec Sport is sixth, while “Spike”, the car of AO Racing by TF, is currently seventh.
As for the LMGT3, the real surprise was the problem suffered by Manthey Purexricng’s Porsche #92 which, at that time, was in the very top positions in its category. The return of the car to the garage left room for the opponents: with the entry of the Safety Car the ranking changed, which currently sees the Iron Dames girls in the lead on the Lamborghini, followed by the McLaren of United Autosports with Gregoire Saucy currently at the steering wheel.
Third was Akkodis’ Lexus, preceding what is now the first Porsche, Lietz Richard’s #91. Good recovery for BMW #31, the only survivor of the Bavarian brand, currently fifth with Sean Galael at the wheel. To find the first Ford Mustang you have to go down to eighth place with the #88, while the first Ferrari is the #86 of GR Racing.
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