Between Porsche Penske Motorsports pushing longer stints and Ferrari hurting itself with penalties, the #6 PPM 963 leads the 24 Hours of Le Mans after 10 hours.
Kevin Estre is enjoying the unobstructed view at the front, having been in the car for three hours. It’s been a redemption run so far for the #6, which was disqualified from the first qualifying session for being underweight and started at the rear of the Hypercar field.
The top of the order now looks quite different from the timing screens of the last few hours. Unable to go the 13 laps that the Porsche is doing, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica runs second, followed by Brendan Hartley in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010.
The #50 499P is the best of the factory Ferraris, now in fourth with Antonio Fuoco at the wheel, ahead of the #4 PPM 963 of Nick Tandy.
The big problem for Ferrari came for the #51 when Antonio Giovinazzi was handed a five-second penalty served during a pit stop. The penalty was for an incident with the #35 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by Jonny Edgar.
As he was serving that penalty, Giovinazzi was being investigated for speeding in pit lane, and eventually handed a more severe 20-second stop-and-go penalty. The #51 now sits in eighth, behind the #20 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8 and the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R
The #311 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R spent several laps in the pits replacing a steering torque sensor and ECU after Frederik Vesti reported an issue that continued for Jack Aitken. The Caddy, which for much of the last few hours had been the best-running V-Series.R, is back up to speed, but five laps down. That’s been the biggest problem for any of the Hypercars, and all continue to run.
The #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA of Franck Perera continues to head LMP2, ahead of the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton of Maceo Capietto. Tom Dillman is now in the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA to chase the Iron Lynx-Proton car. The #199 AO by TF entry still heads Pro-Am, now with Dane Cameron having taken over from PJ Hyett.
Vista AF Corse was at the head of LMGT3 as the hour ticked over, Alessio Rovera piloting the #21 Ferrari 296 GT3, but Team WRT continues to look strong in second with Ahmad Al Harthy driving the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3.
Riccardo Pera has taken over the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3.R from Richard Lietz, and is in third ahead of the two Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RCF GT3s.
