After midnight, after a long Safety Car period lasting over an hour and a half due to the need to complete the repairs to the barriers following the contact between the Ferrari #83 with Robert Kubica and the BMW #15, the race finally resumed . However, just as we were about to restart, a downpour of water arrived, prompting the cars to put on wet tyres: as before, the rain came consistently and suddenly.
The real breaking news, however, is the penalization of the #83 Ferrari, the one privately owned by AF Corse driven by Robert Kubica. Precisely because of the accident with the BMW #15, the Pole had come under the scrutiny of the commissioners who wanted to see clearly how the German car was withdrawn.
In an attempt to lap a Porsche GT3, which was moving towards the left side of the road, Kubica moved towards its right, but hit the BMW, which in turn ended up against the barriers with damage that forced Dries Vanthoor to abandon his car on the side of the track. Commissioners confirmed that the incident is under investigation.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo credit: Rainier Ehrhardt
Just after the Safety Car returned to the pits, the decision came from the stewards, who held Kubica responsible for the collision, for which they assigned a 30 second stop&go sanction to the Red Car (in yellow dress) #83, which is so slipped to sixth position after serving the penalty.
Above all, Toyota #8 benefited from this, currently with Ryo Hirakawa at the wheel, which thus took the lead after the initial risk of the wet, progressively moving up the rankings. The Japanese car precedes the Porsche #6 driven by Vanthoor, about twenty seconds behind, while behind them is the other Toyota, the #7.
After the penalty of the #83, the first Ferrari is the #50, currently in the hands of Antonio Fuoco who is trying to close the gap to De Vries’ Toyota, now virtually on the last step of the podium. Jota #38 is sixth, while Cadillac #2 with Bamber at the wheel is in seventh position.
The other Ferrari, the #51, is currently ninth after a small error by Calado in front of the #3 Cadillac with Sebastien Bourdais who left the wheel to Scotto Dixon. He lost a lot of time to the #5 Porsche with Makowiecki, who slipped out of the top ten ahead of the #311 Cadillac. The two Peugeots and the two Lamborghinis follow in sequence.
#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin
Photo by: Marc Fleury
In LMP2 the Cool Racing #37 returned to the lead ahead of the Nielsen Racing #24, while the #183 of AF Corse virtually completed the podium. Fourth was Vector Sport #10, ahead of United Autosports #22, which was in the lead before the restart, and Inter Europol #34, which is attempting to move up the order after the problem reported by Novalak before 10pm, when returned to the pits without a left front tire causing a slow zone.
In LMGT3 the Porsche #92 of Manthey Purerxcing remains in the lead ahead of the Mustang #88 of Proton, but at close range, given that only 6 seconds divide the two cars. Third was the first Ferrari 296, the Spirit of Race. Fifth was the #87 Lexus of Akkodis ahead of the #95 McLaren of United Autosport and the #95 Lamborghini of Iron Dames.
The twist of the category, however, is Al Harthy’s mistake. The Team WRT driver, protagonist of an excellent stint in the first part of the race with which he managed to put the BMW in the lead, took the wheel of the #46 again, replacing Valentino Rossi after his first stint. However, after half past midnight, Al Harthy lost control of the car, crashing into the barriers before becoming stuck in the gravel. A Le Mans to forget for now for BMW which, in addition to having seen its two Hypercars stopped by accidents and problems, also suffered a similar fate in LMGT3. That leaves #31, currently in tenth place in the category.
FIA WEC – 24h of Le Mans: LIVE ranking
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