We have reached the halfway mark in the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, and the #8 Toyota continues to lead the #6 Porsche, with heavy rain at the circuit bringing out the safety car for a second time.
During the hour, with Brendon Hartley in the lead Toyota and the #6 Porsche driven by Estre, the gap between the two cars closed right up, with Estre reeling in the Kiwi gradually as the conditions worsened and everyone moved to wets.
But the gaps will become irrelevant now into the second half of the race, as the safety car proceedure bunches the field up.
The #7 is third, with the #50 Ferrari and #2 Cadillac making up the top five.
With 12 hours down, despite all the rain showers and treacherous conditions at times, there are still eight Hypercars on the lead lap. And now, with the gaps closed, it’s anyone’s game once again.
Outside the top five and now also in the running are the #51 Ferrari, #83 Ferrari and #38 JOTA Porsche.
AF Corse in prime position at halfway point
The AF Corse #183 car has taken absolute control as the race hits the halfway point. Nico Varrone stretched to an almost 2 minute lead ahead of the #22 United Autosports car before the call of the Safety Car, which neutralised the race due to the inclement weather.
At the turn of the halfway point, the AF Corse was on its own out front, with the #37 Cool Racing car in second, a full safety car train behind. Another safety car train behind was the #34 Inter Europol Competition car, now ahead of the #22 United Autosports and #10 Vector Sport cars, who pitted at the call of the safety car and dropped to the rear of the train featuring the #34.
They are the five cars on the lead lap currently. Despite the work of Reshad De Gerus and Alex Quinn, neither the #28 IDEC Sport or #14 AO by TF – which is still second in Pro-Am – have been able to wrestle themselves back onto the lead lap.
Third in Pro-Am is the #33 DKR Engineering machine, which is now only a safety car train behind the #14 for second place in the Pro-Am category. Both have a long way to chase down the #183 for the Pro-Am, and overall lead.
There has been one further retirement from LMP2 in the last hour, and that is the #45 Crowdstrike by APR car.
Colin Braun exited the second Mulsanne chicane only to have the left rear wheel part company with the car, stranding him on the side of the road on the run down to Mulsanne corner. Despite desperate efforts from Braun and Stuart Cox instructing him on the radio, the car was unable to become mobile, and was retired trackside.
Porsche’s to the front at the halfway point
Manthey’s strong showing has seen both cars move to the top positions at the halfway point of the race, taking the lead after pitting at the beginning of the Safety Car period, and inheriting the lead after the #59 United Autosport McLaren then pit on the next lap.
It is currently the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche from the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche, with both Bronzes in the car, in the same safety car train.
Nicolas Costa in the #59 United Autosports McLaren is in the next train and in the next position, with a full safety car train gap over the next batch of cars, which features the sister #95 United Autosports McLaren, the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Marton, the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini, the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus, and the #31 Team WRT BMW.
They will be joined by the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus when they exit the pit, at the tail of the train.
The #87 Akkodis ASP has had a rough hour, picking up two drive through penalties for separate infringements.
Firstly, a drive through penalty for a pit lane speeding infringement dropped the car from 5th in class, but a follow up drive through penalty for a slow zone infringement saw them drop away to the tail end of the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 is the #88 Proton Competition Mustang, with the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari rounding out the cars currently on the lead lap.
Remarkably, the #77 Proton Competition Mustang has been returned to the track after contact saw it off in the gravel last hour.
A 45 minute repair got the car back on track, where it is circulating 54 laps behind the class lead, but still on track.
