Toyota’s pair of GR010 Hybrids hold a commanding lead as the race reaches the halfway point. Currently, the #7 at the hands of Kamui Kobayashi leads the #8 by 37 seconds, with a buffer of three laps to the rest of the field, lead by the Alpine A480-Gibson. The two Toyotas were running almost exactly on sequence, except for a slightly shorter stint to manage a ‘fuelling problem’ for the #8 car.
Alpine Elf Matmut have made their way onto the podium, after a great stint from Nicolas Lapierre saw the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson cut down a 25 second gap on the #708 Glickenhaus SCG-007 in the 10th hour of running. Olivier Pla in the #708 managed to hold on through traffic until a GT car forced him to check on the exit of Tertre Rouge, allowing Lapierre the chance to power past on the Mulsanne. The pair traded blows over the course of the lap; the SCG-007 faster in a straight line but the Alpine more efficient under braking and cornering, including a great moment where the pair went side-by-side through Indianapolis. Ultimately Lapierre prevailed through the Porsche Curves, and that car holds a comfortable one minute gap at the halfway point.
Both the #36 Alpine and the #708 Glickenhaus have had to fight their way through the top of the LMP2 field, with the pair of Team WRT Oreca 07’s mixing it with the recovering Hypercars. The #31 Team WRT has held the lead for most of the night hours, but Yifei Ye in the sister #41 car has significantly cut down their lead, currently sitting at 2 seconds at the halfway point.
United Autosports’ #22 completes the LMP2 podium, after jumping the #65 Panis Racing Oreca early in the night. The #28 JOTA Sport car rounds out the top 5, with Tom Blomqvist putting in an impressive stint. They’re the last of the LMP2 cars ahead of the final Hypercar runner in the #709 Glickenhaus SCG007, which has been struggling for pace.
The top 10 features the #34 Inter Europol Oreca, the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca, the #23 United Autosports Oreca, and the Pro-Am leading #21 Dragonspeed USA Oreca. Risi Competizione rounds out the 10, with Felipe Nasr holding the fastest lap of the race in LMP2, a 3:32.309.
AF Corse stretch their advantage while attrition hits GTE Am
AF Corse still holds the lead in both GTE categories, with the #51 and #83 machines controlling the Pro and Am classes respectively.
In GTE Pro, it is the #51 AF Corse Ferrari that has started to stretch it’s advantage over the field, leading the sister #52 AF Corse Ferrari by one minute and 40 seconds. The #52 AF Corse Ferrari itself holds a slim advantage over the #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, which is pitting off sequence from the rest of the field, and are currently making inroads on fresher tyres at the hands of Nicky Catsburg. The #92 Porsche is the next closest challenger, with the #91 Porsche a little further back.
GTE Pro has lost one entry in the night hours, with the #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche crashing out in the Ford Chicanes. Cooper MacNeil caught too much kerb on the entry to the first part of the chicanes, unsettling the car and firing the Porsche into the wall hard on driver’s left, setting off the medical light. While Cooper managed to return the car to the pit lane, the damage was too significant for the car to continue.
Nicklas Nielsen in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari has been the consistent leader of GTE-Am, stretching out to over a minute lead over the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin, with the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari completing the top 3. Fourth placed #54 AF Corse is a lap down on the leader, with two minutes separating Fisichella from the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche in fifth.
GTE Am has seen a number of casualties overnight, with a number of Ferraris run into difficulty in quick succession. After the contact with the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07, which itself caused a 10-minute slow zone, the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari managed to limp back to pit lane with a puncture. However, immediately after returning to the circuit, it ground to a halt on pit exit, and had to be recovered under slow zone. Shortly after, the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari at the hands of Mikkel Jensen stopped at a peculiar point on the circuit; on racing line on the entry to Tertre Rouge. While there was no apparent damage, it was clear that the car was not moving from that position without assistance, bringing out another slow zone.
These retirements came after the #85 Iron Lynx Ferrari of the Iron Dames spent 11 minutes in the pits, and the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Matt Griffin found the wall at Indy just after midnight, which has since been officially retired. The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche has been the final filed retirement before half-race distance, with suspension damage ending their race.
