Still 7 Hypercars within 30 seconds

WECHyperCar

Jun 16

The 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans turned into a Grand Prix race with 7 cars within 30 seconds with 4 hours 30’ to go after several cautions including a more than 5 hours Safety Car. Four manufacturers still with a reasonable chance to win.

A clean start with both Ferraris and Porsche #6 battling for the lead

Laurens Vanthoor in the pole-sitting #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 led the 62-car field to the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans but not for long as Nicklas Nielsen ended the opening lap in the lead with his #50 Ferrari 499P. Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 took P2 a few laps later.

Ferrari #50 and Porsche #6 have been battling for the lead during the two first hours.

Ferrari #83 in the lead from hour 3 till hour 8

The private #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P driven by Robert Shwartzman, Robert Kubica, and Ye Yifei did take the lead during the third hour and kept it during five hours until after midnight.

Long night with several cautions

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.

With light rain falling after 7 hours racing, race engineers had to make tough decisions: Porsche and Cadillac went for rain tires while Ferrari went for slicks resulting in less pit stops for Ferrari but a slower pace on track. #83 Ferrari lose the lead while BMW M Team WRT lost both Hybrids V8: #15 went into the rails while being pushed by Kubica and #20 is going through a rebuild which was still going on this morning.

Cars released with Toyota #8 and Porsche #6 in the lead

16 hours over and still 11 Hypercars forming a long line since they have been following the safety car for more than 4 hours 30’ of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The combination of heavy rain and poor night-time visibility necessitated the intervention of the Safety Car splitting the pack in three Safety Car queues.

Hirakawa with #8 Toyota was on the lead until Laurens Vanthoor with #6 Porsche regained the lead after having the chance to pit under caution while the #8 Toyota was running at 80 km/h.

New one hour Safety Car released Cadillac #2 first

With 4h30’ to go, seven cars are within 30 seconds off leading Earl Bamber with #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. It is now a sprint race between the Cadillac #2, Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari #50, AF Corse Ferrari #83, Toyota Gazoo Racing #8, Porsche Penske Motorsport #6, Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 and AF Corse Ferrari #51.