At 5:38 PM here at Le Mans, rain showers began to arrive from the west and have shaken up the running order after the second hour of racing.
The #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Nicklas Nielsen is leading now. It was one of the few cars that opted to stay out even when the rain was at its hardest at the West end of the circuit, and this was after Nielsen served the ten-second penalty stop for an unsafe pit release.
Nielsen had just taken the lead from the private label #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica who still runs a very close second, as the two had battled side-by-side earlier on.
The #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 – less than 24 hours removed from its completed rebuild and shakedown – runs third in the hands of Will Stevens. Michael Christensen is fourth in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, followed by the two Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63s – the #19 of Andrea Caldarelli, ahead of the #63 of Edoardo Mortara.
And critically, all of these top six cars didn’t take wet tyres – which is now looking like the smart call as the rain has just dissipated.
Of those that switched to wets – and have since switched back – the best of the lot is the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi in eighth, behind the #20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Robin Frijns who just entered the car on an alternate strategy.
The #51 Ferrari, now driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, and the #6 Penske Porsche, now driven by Andre Lotterer, have slipped down the order somewhat as a consequence of changing from wets back to slicks.
Only one Hypercar has had significant trouble thus far. The #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 still has issues getting the door secured, and right now, a new door is being prepared by the German team.
Inter Europol grabs LMP2 lead amidst changing weather…
LMP2 is in a state of change as the track has dried out, with pit stops aplenty as teams move back to slick tyres.
Currently, it is the #34 Inter Europol car, with Vladimir Lomko at the wheel, that leads the race. Lomko has just taken the lead after a pit stop for Patrick Pilet in the #10 Vector Sport machine, with the #37 COOL Racing of Ritomo Miyata in third. The gap for the lead is now 24 seconds to Lomko, who has been in the #34 since the beginning of the race.
The #14 AO by TF with PJ Hyett at the wheel leads Pro-Am, in fourth overall, with the Nielsen Racing #24 of Kyffin Simpson rounding out the top five. Second in Pro-Am is the DKR Engineering #183 AF Corse car of Nicolas Varrone, who has just taken eighth overall from Alexander Mattschull in the #33 DKR Engineering car, third in Pro-Am.
Every Pro-Am team had their Bronze driver in for at least one stint, with all of them making it through the hour in the changing conditions without major incident. Most LMP2 teams eventually moved to wet tyres as the rain was heavy from Mulsanne to the main straight, but the track has dried out again to bring teams back in for slicks.
The #47 COOL Racing car was involved in a collision with the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari at the entrance to the Porsche Curves, but both cars managed to continue.
Naveen Rao moved to pass on the inside of Thomas Flöhr in the Ferrari as the Ferrari turned to the apex. They made side-to-side contact on the entry to the Porsche Curves, which sent Rao into a spin and Flohr through the gravel. Flohr managed to get onto the escape road and continue and was given a drive-through penalty for causing the contact.
…as does JMW Ferrari in LMGT3
Larry ten Voorde’s pace on slicks in the deteriorating conditions stretched the #66 Ferrari’s lead to 36 seconds, a brave decision looking to have paid off as the rain eased.
Christopher Mies is now second for Proton Competition’s yellow #44 Ford Mustang, also on slicks, being hunted down by Rahel Frey in the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini, which had moved up through the field from outside the top ten, and is now posting personal best sector times. But Frey owed a stop as the hour closed.
Having been off the circuit to drivers’ left at the entry to the Porsche Curves, Vista AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari received a drive-through penalty, Thomas Flöhr having been deemed to have caused the collision with the LMP2 car.
