Ferrari lead by a minute over Toyota at three-quarter distance in Le Mans

Ferrari lead the Le Mans 24 Hours by a minute over Toyota with a quarter of the race still remaining.

Hours 11-12

The number 50 Ferrari was brought into the pits just before 2am with a cooling problem, wheeled into the garage while the mechanics began to conduct heavy work on the car. There was a four-way battle for the overall lead of the race between Nico Muller in the number 94 Peugeot, Sebastien Buemi in the sole remaining Toyota, James Calado in the number 51 Ferrari and the number two Cadillac just behind the three of them.

Buemi passed Muller for the lead of the race into the Mulsanne corner to give some joy to Toyota after the retirement of the number seven car a few hours earlier. Calado immediately began to pressure the Peugeot himself for second place, eventually getting by into Indianapolis.

The two leading cars both pitted together, emerging back in third and fourth place which put the number 94 Peugeot in the lead again temporarily, until Gustavo Menezes was installed back in the car. However, there was trouble for Peugeot when the number 94 was first given a five second time penalty for a pit stop infraction, before Menezes spun off the track and into the barriers, causing heavy damage to his car. He managed to recover the car to the pits, however, allowing the team to try and salvage the former leading car.

The Toyota and Ferrari would pit together again, but the number 51 Ferrari would take the lead on the way out of the pits courtesy of making a fuel-only stop, rather than the Toyota taking tyres. The number eight Toyota was then handed a five second time penalty for its own pit stop infringement, before the number 94 Peugeot was released from the pits after repair work was completed on the car.

At the half way point, Ferrari who continued to lead in the number 51 Ferrari, with the number eight Toyota only a few seconds behind.

Hours 13-14

The next round of pit stops saw new drivers take over each of the two leading cars. The leading number 51 Ferrari was taken over by Antonio Giovinazzi, while Brendon Hartley moved into the number eight Toyota. Hartley took over the lead of the race and began to pull away from Giovinazzi behind.

In third place, the number two Cadillac was the next to receive a five second time penalty due to a pit stop infringement.

Giovinazzi began to eat away at Hartley’s lead ahead of him, until pitting from the lead just before 6am to get out of the 499P and allowing Alessandro Pier Guidi back into the car. That allowed Toyota to reassume the lead of the race.

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Hours 15-16

The early hour of 6am began with a big accident for the number 88 Proton GT Am Porsche at Indianapolis, which required a Slow Zone to be recovered and the barriers repaired. Then Ben Barnicoat became the next retirement, crashing out the number 80 AF Corse LMP2 car at the Porsche Curves, necessitating another slow zone.

In the lead, Ryo Hirakawa had taken over the leading number eight Toyota, maintaining a lead of around a quarter of a minute over the chasing number 51 Ferrari driven by Pier Guidi. But the Ferrari picked up the pace and began to close to well under ten seconds to the Toyota just as 7am ticked over.

Then there was drama in the hypercar class as the number four Vanwall suffered an engine failure at the Porsche Curves, smoke coming from the back of the car. Tristan Vautier pulled the car off and into retirement.

Both leading cars pitted together, with James Calado taking over the number 51 Ferrari and the front bodywork being replaced on the Toyota. That allowed the Ferrari to assume the lead out of the pit lane, with Calado quickly pulling away from his rival behind. Calado would continue to gradually grow Ferrari’s lead out front until the clock ticked over to 8am, with Ferrari continuing to lead by around 10 seconds.

Inter Europol led the LMP2 class, with the GTE Am category led by the number 56 Project 1 Porsche. The Garage 56 Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Car ran in 31st place.

Positions after 16 hours

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Hours 17-18

The 17th hour of the race began with a bang when Kevin Estre ran off the track through the Porsche Curves in his number six Porsche Penske hypercar while trying to lap an LMP2 car and crashed into the tyre wall at moderate speed. Thankfully, he was able to reverse the car out of the barriers and recover the relatively short distance to the pits for repairs.

Once again, the two leading cars pitted in sequence together, with Calado in the number 51 Ferrari resuming in the lead ahead of the number eight Toyota. The Ferrari’s lead grew to just under half a minute, with Alexander Lynn sitting in third in the number two Cadillac.

With Ryo Hirakawa back in the number eight Toyota, it began to slowly creep back up to the leader, taking five seconds out of Calado in a matter of minutes. It would eventually stabilise around 20 seconds as the sun began to heat up the 13km circuit once again.

There was a spin for the number 708 Glickenhaus hypercar on the exit of Indianapolis, leaving the car stranded pointing sideways across the track. After great effort, driver Olivier Pla eventually righted the car before recovering slowly to the pit lane.

Sebastien Buemi was installed back in the number eight Toyota in second place and immediately asked how he could put pressure on the leading Ferrari. Buemi was told to push, locking up heavily into the first corner in response.

However, the entire field were forced to slow temporarily for a Full Course Yellow, caused by a loose bollard and a large amount of gravel littering the circuit at various points. The poor timing cost Buemi significantly and when the race resumed, the gap between the leader and the second-placed Toyota sat at around 45 seconds away from the Ferrari. Over the next half an hour, Giovinazzi continued to gradually pull further away from the pursuing Toyota and when the 18th hour concluded, the Ferrari’s lead was just over a minute from the number eight Toyota with the number two Cadillac in third almost a lap behind.

In LMP2, the number 34 Inter Europol car continued to lead the second class by a full lap, while the number 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin was scored in the lead of GTE Am after its three rivals close behind it had pitted. The NASCAR Cup Car driven by Mike Rockenfeller had moved up into the top 30 in 29th place, one ahead of the class leading GTE Am car.

Positions after 18 hours

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World Endurance Championship

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