The #8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid has extended its lead during the second hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Sebastien Buemi now 29 seconds clear at the head of the field.
Having seized clean air through his early first pit stop, the four-time winner has taken full advantage of it, setting the fastest lap of the race and pulling away from the chasing pack headed by the #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 of René Rast.
Rast, meanwhile, has reestablished a five-second margin over the third-placed #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 of Ferdinand Habsburg, after the Alpine driver closed to within one second of the German before the second round of pit stops.
Habsburg’s attention has more recently turned to the chasing pack, with Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s pair of V-Series.Rs both within two seconds of the #35 Alpine.
Filipe Albuquerque’s #101 WTR Cadillac is in sixth, ahead of the pair of factory Ferrari AF Corse 499Ps, with Kevin Magnussen’s ninth-placed #15 BMW the final car within a minute of the leader after a recent pit stop from the #7 Toyota.
The early running has reaffirmed Peugeot pre-race concerns, with the pair of 9X8s at the back of the Hypercar field. The better-placed, the #94 entry currently being piloted by Loic Duval,is 101 seconds off the lead, and 22 seconds behind its closest rival. the #009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie.
In LMP2, the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA of Julien Andlauer leads at the two-hour mark, after Job van Uitert pitted the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA on the previous lap to hand over to Paul Lafargue.
Andlauer had spent the previous hour closing up to van Uitert, cutting down a nine-second margin as the pair broke clear of the rest of the LMP2 pack.
The defending winner, the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA, is currently nine seconds behind Andlauer in second, with the Polish squad’s sister #343 entry in third.
Forestier Racing by Panis’ #29 ORECA has fallen back due to a longer second pit stop, as it served a five-second penalty, fitted new Goodyear tyres and installed Louis Rousset behind the wheel.
The #99 AO by TF ORECA holds a significant advantage in LMP2 Pro/Am, although PJ Hyett, who replaced Dane Cameron at its most recent pit stop, has done the least drive time of any of the Bronze-rated drivers in the class so far. The American is 52 seconds ahead of the #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA, with the #183 AF Corse ORECA in third.
At the tail end of the field, the #3 DKR Engineering and #44 Proton Competition entries have both lost the lead lap in LMP2, putting them at significant risk of loosing out incase of a Safety Car.
And in LMGT3, the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 still leads, despite Jack Hawksworth handing over to Bronze-rated Tom van Rompuy at the most recent round of pit stops.
The Belgian, impressively, has held the #69 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo of factory driver Dan Harper at a steady two-second margin since climbing aboard.
The #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 Evo is up to third, ahead of the #32 BMW, #87 Lexus and #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo, with the pole-sitting #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 having fallen back to seventh.
The #87 Lexus, notably, leads the cars which is on its second stint for its Bronze-rated driver.
The #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) GT3 has become the first car to make s visit to its garage, with Yasser Shahin losing two laps as a broken tie rod was addressed. Without a miracle, Richard Lietz’ chances of maintaining his perfect record in LMGT3 at Le Mans now appear over.
