We’re back to racing with five hours left in the LM24, though it took a bit longer to withdraw the Safety Car that was originally brought out for Daniel Mancinelli’s rollover at Indianapolis Corner.
Charlie Eastwood’s #81 TF Sport Corvette LMGT3 came to a halt at the exit of the Porsche Curves and had to be pushed behind the wall. Minutes later, Nico Müller in the #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 lost control at the same place of Mancinelli’s crash – and slid off into the gravel at Indianapolis!
Before race control could start the process of merging and wave-arounds, the #3 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R stopped and reset itself twice. Scott Dixon’s car suffered an oil leak yet he was somehow able to get the car back to its garage.
But the golden yellow Cadillac is now the fourth official retirement in the premier class.
Adding further injury to the Cadillac fleet, Pipo Derani slid off and crashed into the tyre barriers at Indianapolis the lap after the restart. The battered #311 Whelen Cadillac Racing car limped to the pits and the garage for repairs.
Prior to the Safety Car, two Hypercar front-runners came into the pits – the blue #2 Cadillac of Earl Bamber and the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Frederic Makowiecki. They led the field back to green at the bottom of the hour, as fantastic skirmishes broke out behind them.
Robert Shwartzman and Antonio Fuoco battled side-by-side in their Ferrari 499Ps, swapping positions and even inviting the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid to try and make it three-wide through the kink at Indianapolis!
Bamber pitted the #2 Cadillac a few minutes before the top of the hour, and Fuoco, who already got the better of Shwartzman into Arnage Corner, was able to overtake Makowiecki and grab the lead.
Makowiecki still owes a stop but was running second at the interval, with Shwartzman ready to inherit second. A Toyota runs third behind the two Ferraris, but now it’s the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi – and not the #7, which lost position after Kobayashi reported a potential issue with the turbocharger.
Kevin Estre was fifth in the #6 Penske Porsche, followed by Kobayashi in sixth.
Vector Sport leads six-car LMP2 battle
With the Safety Car cleansing the field, it is now a six-car battle for the win in LMP2.
Leading currently is Vector Sport, with the #10 ORECA 07 leading the #37 COOL Racing car and the #183 AF Corse machine right behind.
The top three were only separated by two seconds at the conclusion of lap 220. Patrick Pilet is currently holding off the charge from Lorenzo Fluxa and Nico Varrone, as the trio are nose to tail at the turn of the hour.
Just behind to the tune of ten seconds are the #34 Inter Europol car, with Clement Novalak, followed by the #22 United Autosport car currently with Oliver Jarvis behind the wheel, and the IDEC Sport #28 of Job van Uitert. Those cars are the only six on the lead lap after the safety car.
It has been a great effort from the #28 IDEC Sport to return to the lead lap after missing the cut on the first Safety Car overnight, however, they are still at the tail end of the lead lap.
The Pro-Am battle is still firmly in the hands of the #183 AF Corse LMP2, with Varrone in the mix for the overall lead. Second and third are separated by a lap, with the #14 AO by TF car one lap off the lead in seventh overall, then the #33 DKR Engineering car one lap further back, in eighth overall.
Importantly, at this stage, all Am-drivers have completed their drive time, so it is a straight shootout on track for the win in LMP2 from here to the finish.
Lietz leads in LMGT3
Richard Lietz leads LMGT3 having made the best of the Safety Car restart, from Sean Gelael in the #31 Team WRT BMW, who’s now fully in touch with the race.
The United Autosports McLaren #95 in the hands of Marino Sato is running third from the charging #59 of Gregoire Saucy.
Fuel saving under the safety car enabled Jack Hawksworth’s #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F to maintain its place at the front of the pace.
Lietz’s #91 Manthey EMA Porsche looked to see what the Lexus had in the tank, and tried to retake the class lead. The Porsche closed to 0.3s but Hawksworth defended well on used tyres, and the fight allowed Geleal’s #31 BMW to get within striking distance.
Lietz cleared Hawksworth and with lap times three seconds sharper than the #87 Akkodis ASP car, immediately started pulling away, with Geleal all over the back of the Lexus. Hawksworth immediately pitted for much-needed tyres and a swap to Esteban Masson.
The #31 BMW made short work of Marino Sato’s #95 United Autosports McLaren – which now had Rahel Frey glued to his tail through the slow zones. Saucy was pressing his fellow Swiss driver, with the McLarens sandwiching the Lamborghini.
The McLaren made it through to put the United Autosports pairing third and fourth as the hour ticked over.
