While the hour began with new hope for Toyota, Ryo Hirakawa leading most of it in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid after a slow pit stop for the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, it ended with Yifei Ye back at the front in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
In between was a highly entertaining battle that ebbed and flowed with traffic. It culminated with Ye taking the lead in the second Mulsanne Chicane, and Hirakawa taking station in second. The first factory Ferrari ran third, Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel of the #51. Raffaele Marciello holds fourth in the #15 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8, and Miguel Molina made it all three Ferraris in the top five.
As Matt Campbell took over the #6 PPM 963 from Laurens Vanthoor, what seemed like a solid position at the front suddenly became sixth, just ahead of Alex Lynn in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.
Louis Delétraz is back behind the wheel of the #199 AO by TF ORECA, and has the car third overall in LMP2, first among the Pro-Am entries. The #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA of Jakub Smiechowski had the LMP2 lead over Reshad De Gérus in the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton entry.
The #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA of Esteban Masson had just cycled out of the lead with a pit stop.
Manthey 1st Phorm continued to lead LMGT3 with starter Ryan Hardwick now back in control of the #92 Porsche 911 GT3R. Simon Mann, who had had a potential penalty – for rejoining behind the same safety car in the previous hour – hanging over his head, was second in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
The #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R continued a strong run in third, Charlie Eastwood taking over from Rui Andrade.
“The safety car was really lucky,” explained Andrade. “It came out at a good time for us and put us right in the mix. So far so good. Our car is good, we haven’t made many mistakes, everyone is driving really well, the team is doing a good job. Fingers crossed we can keep this up.”
The #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 of Finn Gehrsitz ran fourth, ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with Ian James in the cockpit.
Unfortunately, the #101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac has joined the list of confirmed retirements due to its engine issue.
Although the racing has been far from tame, the fights are likely to get more intense over the next hour as light fills the sky. Dawn will arrive as the race enters its 15th hour.
