A different Ferrari 499P now leads the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. This one is yellow and privately-entered.
With 17 hours left, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari has taken the lead over the two full factory Ferraris. Phil Hanson has returned to the cockpit after Ye Yifei erased the deficit to the two factory cars, and took the lead during pit stops about 45 minutes ago.
The #50 now runs second with Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel, followed by the #51 of James Calado.
Kevin Estre has just taken over the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 and is about to rejoin the race in fourth place, ahead of the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R of Norman Nato in fifth.
Rene Rast in the #20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 overtook Sebastien Buemi for sixth place; Buemi is now seventh in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID, while the #36 Alpine Hypercar Team A424 has breached the top ten for the first time, behind the #15 WRT BMW and #4 Penske Porsche.
In LMP2 the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson is leading and trying to regain what it lost in the pits a few hours ago. In an out of sequence strategy, Jakub Smiechowski is currently ahead of the #48 VDS Panis Racing car, the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton car, and the leading Pro/Am cars: the #11 Proton Competition and #199 AO by TF ORECAs, fourth and fifth across the board.
It’s still as-it-was in LMGT3 as well: The #46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO of Kelvin van der Linde is still building the gap to the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche in second.
The rest of the top five features the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, #81 TF Sport Corvette, and #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus.
The #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 and #95 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 EVO have officially joined the list of retirements from the race: the #60 Mercedes-AMG was pushed back to the garage for good after a catastrophic engine failure, while the #95 McLaren’s rear axle failure along the Mulsanne Straight proved terminal.
The main incident of the hour occurred in the Hypercar battle for 14th place on the road, Paul-Loup Chatin’s #35 Alpine A424 making contact with Loic Duval, spinning the French driver’s #94 Peugeot 9X8 down at Mulsanne Corner, the move under stewards’ investigation.
While not as dramatic, the #33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, a presumptive pre-race favourite, lost two laps in the garage when a stubborn wheel nut wouldn’t come off during a tyre change.
Nine cars were under investigation for a yellow flag infringement during the yellow flag for the stranded McLaren, including the #38 JOTA Cadillac which already served a drive-through penalty – and crucially, the #50 Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Ford Performance and Proton Competition issued a statement on driver Giammarco Levorato after the #88 Ford Mustang LMGT3 crashed earlier: “An investigation by Ford Performance and Proton determined that the incident was caused by a loose wheel nut, leading to a wheel detachment. Driver Giammarco Levorato returned to the paddock under his own power and was confirmed to be unharmed.”
