Still 7 Hypercars within 30 seconds
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
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Le Mans 2024.
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