Want more drama? With two hours left in the 92nd annual 24 Hours of Le Mans, the rain has returned!
Rain showers have hit the track within the last few minutes, forcing all the Hypercar front-runners to pit for wet tyres.
It hasn’t so much led to any real change of positions – the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Nicklas Nielsen still leads from the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley but a slow pit stop has put the #8 closer to the #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi in third.
A sticky right-front wheel nut was the culprit that erased most of the #8’s progress, as Hartley had began to catch Miguel Molina before Molina handed the car off to Nielsen at this round of pit stops.
Laurens Vanthoor was the last of the front runners to take wets and has now dropped behind the #7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopez and #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Alex Lynn, who lost time after the previous round of pit stops but was one of the first cars to take the opportunity to come in for wet tyres.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari has officially retired following its hybrid system issue in the previous hour.
United 22 leads LMP2
Another hour, another splash of rain, another pit stop cycle, and another new leader. This time, it’s the #22 United Autosports ORECA with Oliver Jarvis that leads the way as the field dove in for wets, with a 20-second gap over the #183 AF Corse car, with Ben Barnicoat at the wheel.
The #183 AF Corse car was a huge winner in the rush onto wet tyres, jumping both the #37 COOL Racing and #34 Inter Europol cars in the pit stop. The AF Corse team did an incredible job turning around the car, overcoming a 15 second deficit, and putting it out right behind the IDEC Sport car for second.
Moments later, Barnicoat passed Reshad de Gerus for second place, and set off in chase of Oliver Jarvis out front.
The COOL Racing car sits in fourth, with Inter Europol in fifth place. Vector Sport holds onto sixth, still only a minute away from the lead.
Before the weather, the United Autosports car topped the LMP2 field, after taking the lead at the last pit stop. A quick, clean stop from the #22 team enabled them to jump the #37 COOL Racing car in the pit lane after the leading Cool Racing car had to readjust the car’s position due to a wonky entry to the box.
A 16-second longer stop dropped the COOL Racing car down the order.
The #28 IDEC Sport car moved into second, with the #34 Inter Europol car slotting into third just ahead of the delayed Cool Racing car. Vladislav Lomko managed to hold off Malthe Jakobsen throughout the stint before more rain brought the whole LMP2 field into the pits.
The question marks about stint lengths, tyre life, and fuel saving have been thrown out the window with this spot of weather. From this point on, effectively, everyone is on the same strategy in LMP2.
Manthey Porsche regains LMGT3 lead
The start of the hour saw a brief change at the head of the LMGT3 field as both the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche and the #31 Team WRT BMW took to the pits for routine stops and driver changes.
The #31 car resumed in the lead, Sean Gelael two seconds ahead of Richard Lietz. The Austrian veteran quickly found his rhythm though, taking tenths out of the red and white retro-liveried BMW M4 LM GT3 to resume the Porsche’s lead in a clean move approaching Indianapolis.
The leading gap at the latest round of stops is six seconds.
A minute and twenty seconds back, the contest for third place lost nothing through its own round of driver changes. Mikkel O. Pedersen now had the best of the Ford Mustangs, the black and gold #88 Proton Competition car gained pace to maintain a healthy 15-second gap to Michelle Gatting, who’s back at the wheel of the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini.
Gatting had her mirrors full of Lexus super-sub Jack Hawksworth though. But at the exit of Tertre Rouge, in the draft of the Lamborghini, the Lexus’s bonnet detached itself, requiring a swift unscheduled detour to the pits.
This left the Iron Dames Lamborghini in clear air in fourth before its next routine stop allowed the chasing Christopher Mies through in the #44 Proton Competition Mustang.
