By Carlo Platella
Another contender exits the fight for the overall victory. Ferrari #83, at times leading the race and still fighting for victory, was brought back into the garage after a technical problem emerged during the pit stop. The Ferrari mechanics are at work on the 499P to solve the problem, but for the AF Corse yellow the race is now compromised. However, the official Red cars #50 and #51 still remain in the running.
Broken dreams
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari was one of the great protagonists of this 24 Hours of Le Mans. The yellow 499P had also taken the lead on Saturday evening, taking advantage of Robert Kubica’s mastery in the wet. The Polish driver then made contact with the #15 BMW, sending it into the wall and receiving a 30-second Stop&Go penalty for this. However, the return of the rain and the subsequent Safety Cars had allowed the recovery of the private 499P, which with four hours to go was in full battle for first position with the Ferrari #50 and the Toyota #8.
At midday the AF Corse car returned to the pits to refuel and change drivers, with Yifei Ye inheriting the wheel from Robert Shwartzman. A few seconds later, however, the Chinese driver was forced to get out of the 499P, from which heavy smoke was coming out of the front axle. What was initially thought to be a simple overheating of the brakes turned out to be a more serious problem than expected. The origin of the problem is still unknown, but the insulating gloves worn by the mechanics infuse the suspicion of a malfunction of the hybrid system.
Two-pronged Ferrari
Currently the 499P #83 is still inside the garage, but it has already missed the top-10 and continues to accumulate laps. The Prancing Horse though remains in the fight for overall victory with the two official Reds. The 499Ps travel in fourth and fifth position, with the #51 preceding the #50. The two Ferraris are a few seconds behind the lead, however with the advantage of having already changed tires and drivers at the last refueling, unlike the #2 Cadillac and the two Toyotas in the leading positions.
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