There were tense moments during this hour at Le Mans testing the greater AF Corse trust. Robert Kubica in the yellow #83 Ferrari 499P wanted to get past his factory stablemate Antonio Giovinazzi in the red #51 Ferrari, even appealing for the team to swap the cars on track.
But as we head into the fourth quarter of the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #51 Ferrari is still out in front, six hours away from a Ferrari hat trick. After the last round of pit stops, Kubica lost crucial seconds in traffic on his out lap, now sitting seven seconds off the lead but 34 seconds ahead of the #50 in third, Antonio Fuoco currently at the helm to complete the top three lockout since sunrise.
Four manufacturers occupy the next four spots: the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 sits fourth, 13 seconds behind Fuoco and 55 seconds off the overall lead. The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID is hanging in there in fifth, but 40 seconds back from the Porsche.
The #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8, and the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R trail the top five.
And in total ten cars are still on the lead lap overall, completed by the #7 Toyota GR010, #5 Penske Porsche, and #38 JOTA Cadillac.
52 out of 62 starters are still running, including 19 of the 21 Hypercar runners – with the #101 WTR and #311 Whelen Cadillacs as the only retirements so far from the top class.
Inter Europol Competition is six hours away from its second LMP2 win in three years. The #43 ORECA 07-Gibson has fought back from a big pit lane miscue to retake control of the race, and Nick Yelloly continues to inch away to lead over the #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA of Oliver Gray in second by 20 seconds.
The #199 AO by TF ‘Spike’ ORECA is third in LMP2 outright, and first in LMP2 Pro/Am by at least a lap or more. Then it’s the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton ORECA, and the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA, in fourth and fifth.
Richard Lietz is six hours away from his sixth career Le Mans GT class win, and back-to-back LMGT3 class wins in the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 LMGT3 R. The baby blue Porsche has controlled the action since the #46 Team WRT BMW retired from the race.
Lietz leads by more than a minute over the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296, comfortably second ahead of the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette in third.
Jack Hawksworth and Mattia Drudi are currently in a tight battle for fourth in the GT ranks, and just minutes ago, Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin made a great move to get past Hawksworth in the #78 ASP Lexus.
What surprises are in store for the final six hours? We’ll just have to wait and see…
