Getting into the morning running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, hour 15 brought some dicey running, more so than the wee hours of the night before sunrise.
The #62 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, which had been running issue-free, was the third of the three Iron Lynx team cars to have a major incident when Giuliano Alesi spun in the final corner, receiving suspension damage and forcing him to limp the car around back to the pits, taking seven and a half minutes to make the journey.
This incident caused a Slow Zone intervention, which would go green again shortly after, but not before the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, #37 CLX Motorsport ORECA, #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari LMGT3, and the front-running #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin LMGT3 cars all received drive-through penalties for speeding in the Slow Zone.
While the slow zone was deployed, the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis was run off track in the Porsche Curves when he was caught out by a herd of LMGT3s, specifically the #57 Kessel Ferrari, which had made itself too wide for the #29.
The #7 Toyota came in for a scheduled pit stop and narrowly avoided contact with the #183 AF Corse ORECA LMP2, which was investigated for an unsafe release and found guilty. They would have to serve a five-second penalty added to their next pit stop.
The second FCY of the race was brought out after a bollard was booted onto the racing line by the #26 Vector Sport car, and the caution was resolved within a minute.
The #38 JOTA Cadillac was pulled back into the garage once more, already 25 laps back. The #101 Cadillac was penalised with a drive-through penalty for a full-course yellow infringement running in seventh position, having already served a drive-through.
The #99 AO by TF “Rockie” ORECA went straight off in the Porsche Curves on lap 239 with Dane Cameron at the wheel and brought out a caution that would last three laps. The #99 would get moving again with assistance from a crane, bringing it out of the gravel.
John Farano had two more spins, the second of which saw the #3 DKR Engineering car sporting a new nose, probably from damage sustained from the prior one.
Will Stevens led overall in the steady #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, followed by René Rast in the #20 WRT BMW, both drivers newly in the car in their pit stops on laps 241 and 240, respectively. The #8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi remained in third position.
LMP2 continued to be dominated by the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA, followed by the two Inter Europol Competition prototypes, the #343 ahead of the #43.
In LMGT3, Jonny Edgar maintained the lead even after pitting from first on lap 210 in the #33 TF Sport Corvette, and when Nicky Catsburg got behind the wheel, he did the same. The table was set by Ben Keating completing his mandatory six hours of drive time in the first eight hours of the race, allowing Catsburg and Edgar to run the rest of the race.
Ian James was still in second in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin sat over a minute behind, with a drive-through to serve, followed by the #23 Heart of Racing with Gray Newell in the car.
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