Toyota and BMW are continuing to exchange the overall lead of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the latter’s Team WRT-run #20 M Hybrid V8 out front at the end of the third hour.
Sebastien Buemi handed over his #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid over to Brendon Hartley at the beginning of the hour, with the Kiwi maintaining its advantage before making its fourth pit stop of the race 14 minutes before the three-hour mark.
Sheldon van der Linde, who has taken over the #20 BMW from René Rast, therefore inherited the lead, and is yet to make his own fourth pit stop.
The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R of Louis Delétrax is currently second, 13 seconds behind, with the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P up to third after Alessandro Pier Guidi passed Ricky Taylor’s #101 WTR Cadillac at Mulsanne shortly before the end of the hour.
The order is skewed, however, due to the fact Hypercar is currently mid-pit cycle. The #8 Toyota is currently sixth, but is the effective leader, whilst the #38 JOTA Cadillac was running behind the sister car before a recent pit stop.
The #50 Ferrari had a scare at Tertre Rouge, when Antonio Fuoco spun following contact when he attempted to lap the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA LMP2 of Richard Verschoor. The Italian lost around 10 seconds recovering, and also received a warning from the stewards.
Verschoor currently leads in LMP2, having cycled to the front when he took over the #30 ORECA from Julien Andlauer at the end of the last hour.
The Dutchman holds a 21-second advantage over the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA of Louis Rousset, which has cycled back up as different tyre strategies balance out.
The #28 IDEC Sport ORECA has fallen back to third, ahead of the #343 Inter Europol Competition and #9 Proton Competition entries.
PJ Hyett continues to lead LMP2 Pro/Am aboard the #99 AO by TF ORECA, although Ben Barnicoat has slashed his lead aboard the #183 AF Corse entry. The gap, which once stood at over a minute, is now down to 29 seconds, with the #14 TDS Racing ORECA a further 52 seconds behind in third.
In LMGT3, Tom van Rompuy has extended his lead in the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3, with the Belgian ending the hour 34 seconds ahead of the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo of Darren Leung.
Like with Hypercar, the LMGT3 class is currently mid-pit cycle, but before the most recent round of pit stops began the #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 had charged up to second.
The German squad was reaping the rewards of starting its Bronze-rated driver James Cottingham, with Porsche factory driver Ayhancan Güven now installed and picking off the Bronze drivers now installed elselwhere.
Güven ended the hour in third overall, ahead of the #77 Proton Competition Ford and #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG.
The #13 13 Autosport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 are both currently in the damage, the former due to damage after some contact, and the latter to address a black and orange flag.
