With 14 hours remaining in the 2024 LM24 Hours, we have ourselves a nose-to-tail lead battle to enjoy between two storied OEMs.
The #8 Toyota, after taking the lead in the previous hour, continues to hold station up front. But for Sebastien Buemi, the pressure is on with Laurens Vanthoor getting within a couple of seconds in the #6 Porsche Penske 963.
It hasn’t come to blows just yet, but Vanthoor managed to bring the gap down from 11 seconds to 1.3 in the hour before handing over to Andre Lotterer at the car’s 14th stop. The German is now eight seconds behind as he gets his tires up to temperature.
The #7 Toyota remains third, more than a minute adrift now and unable at this stage to gain any ground with Kamui Kobayashi in the car.
Further back the battle for fourth came alive over the past 60 minutes, with Earl Bamber briefly getting past Antonio Fuoco’s #50 Ferrari in the #2 Cadillac.
Fuoco retook the position but couldn’t shake off the Kiwi, who is likely to be under investigation shortly for turning the Isotta Fraschini round at the Ford Chicane.
On the subject of BMW’s tough day, WRT team boss Vincent Vosse has released a statement after two of his team’s four cars have been forced to retire.
“Le Mans has been very tough to us so far,” he said. “Having car No. 20 in the garage after contact with the wall, having car No. 15 out of the race, which was then followed some hours later by car No. 46 also marking-up a DNF, is a hard one to swallow.
“Luckily all drivers are okay! But how can we not be disappointed? As we all know, Le Mans is the big one, but we will fight back!
“Car No. 31 is still running and we are hoping to fight for a podium. A well-deserved one for the crew that has been working tirelessly for the past two weeks.”
AF Corse leads LMP2 at the end of the 10th hour
With Nicolas Varonne behind the wheel, the #183 AF Corse LMP2 has cycled to the lead of the class. In fact, it has been predominantly the LMP2 Pro-Am cars that have led the last hour, with the AO by TF #14 also spending a long time in the lead.
The AO by TF car is a little off-sequence from everyone else, and with PJ Hyett back behind the wheel, has not been as competitive in the second half of the hour. However, PJ has been very strong when compared to the pro drivers, setting respectable lap times and keeping well in the game.
Behind Varrone is the #24 Nielsen Racing car, then the #10 Vector Sport car. Patrick Pilet in the #10 has just been handed a stop/go penalty however, because of a slow zone infringement at the top of the hour.
In fourth, and second, in Pro-Am, is Hyett in the #14, then on the lead lap are the #22 United Autosports, #37 Cool Racing, and #34 Inter Europol Competition cars. The #34 is just clinging on to the lead lap at this stage, and will need to work the strategy hard to make sure they remain on the lead lap into the sunshine.
Akkodis ASP leads as more cars eliminated in LMGT3
It is Akkodis ASP on the top of the timesheets at the end of hour 10 in GT3, with Kelvin van der Linde in the #78 Lexus holding off the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche of Morris Schuring by less than a second in the middle of the night.
The GT3 battle overnight has been defined by pack racing, another car stuck on track, and unfortunately some contact in the deep of the night.
Just after the start of the hour, the #66 JMW Ferrari came to a stop on the exit of the Porsche Curves. Despite Salih Yoluc’s best attempts to get the car back to the pits, the Ferrari couldn’t be coaxed beyond Karting, and was pulled behind the wall under a slow zone. That car is still listed as ‘Stopped’ and not yet retired.
There was a significant incident in the battle for 5th place between the #155 Spirit of Race Ferrari and the #59 United Autosport McLaren, with 9 hours and 45 minutes elapsed.
Replays showed the Gregoire Saucy arriving at a rate of knots into the first Mulsanne chicane, launching over the inside kerb and collecting the #155 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Jordan Taylor.
Saucy was able to continue, but Taylor was stranded in the gravel for 5 minutes. Taylor was eventually able to find reverse and get that car back to the pits, but that car has now fallen off the lead lap.
The top 5, behind the Akkodis ASP #78 Lexus and #91 Manthey EMA Porsche, is the sister #91 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche, who picked up a drive-through penalty for a slow-zone infringement, and the sister Akkodis ASP Lexus – the #87 in 4th. Gregoire Saucy is in 5th in the United Autosports McLaren, after taking a pit stop, but will be under the microscope after the contact with the #155 Ferrari.
There are now only 10 cars on the lead lap; the #95 United McLaren, the #88 Proton Mustang, the #27 Heart of Racing Aston, the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini, and the #31 Team WRT BMW complete the 10, but not quite at the pointy end at this stage of the race.
