Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari battle it out for the win

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This three-hour period began under the safety car following the earlier crash of the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the prestigious World Endurance Championship round, with two Hypercars being hit by problems despite the reduced speed.

First, Nico Muller went off at Indianapolis at the wheel of the #93 Peugeot, seemingly disturbed by a wobble for the car ahead. It was running in 15th place.

Later, the #3 Cadillac briefly stopped on the Mulsanne straight as it held 11th position. It limped back to the pits and had to retire due to an apparent oil leak.

When the green flag was waved at 10:32am local time, Earl Bamber’s #2 Cadillac led the race from the #5 Porsche, the #83 and #50 Ferraris, and the #7 Toyota – with no fewer than ten cars on the lead lap, and therefore close to each other.

The two lead Ferraris started to squabble over third place, with Antonio Fuoco’s #50 machine overtaking Robert Shwartzman’s #83 entry at the Michelin chicane before the AF Corse driver hit back at Mulsanne corner. They briefly went three-wide with Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota, but the prancing horse’s representatives remained ahead.

As the #311 Cadillac’s race took a turn for the worst with a violent off for Pipo Derani at Indianapolis – he hobbled back to the pits, where the car spent the best part of two hours – Kobayashi briefly slowed down, with the #8 Toyota getting up to fifth place.

Fuoco was on a mission with the #50 Ferrari and found a way past Shwartzman on the approach to Mulsanne corner, before overtaking Frederic Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche to take second place.

 

The Penske-run car subsequently lost some time in the pits – notably due to a drive-through penalty for a slow-zone infringement, which the #38 Jota Porsche and the #19 Lamborghini also had to serve – and is now running just eighth, despite briefly leading the race not so long ago.

At that stage, the #2 Cadillac was still leading at the hands of Bamber with a nine-second gap to the #50 and #83 Ferraris, the #8 Toyota, the #6 Porsche and the #7 Toyota.

Buemi overtook Shwartzman with a bold move around the outside at Mulsanne, bringing the #8 Toyota up to third place, and things went from bad to worse for the #83 Ferrari, which pitted not long later with plumes of smoke emanating from its brakes. Although it has not officially retired, this outcome seems likely.

While James Calado’s #50 Ferrari let Miguel Molina’s #51 sister car through, Buemi (Toyota #8) did the same for Kobayashi’s #7. The Japanese veteran driver and team principal went on to achieve the fastest lap of the race so far, a 3m28.756s, at the end of a remarkable 2.5-hour stint at the wheel. Jose Maria Lopez subsequently took this car over, but suffered a slow puncture which cost it some time.
At 1pm, the #2 Cadillac driven by Alex Palou still led, four seconds ahead of the #50 Ferrari with Molina at the wheel, Brendon Hartley’s #8 Toyota being a further eight seconds away. Kevin Estre’s #6 Porsche and Alessandro Pier Guidi’s #51 Ferrari were battling it out for fourth, and the top nine cars remained on the lead lap.
The LMP2 class remains hotly contested, with a tight battle between Inter Europol’s #34 entry and Vector Sport’s #10 car. The former took the lead as Clement Novalak overtook Patrick Pilet when the veteran put two wheels in the gravel at the exit of Indianapolis corner.
However, the latest round of pitstops thrust IDEC Sport’s #28 machine into the lead, with Reshad de Gerus, Paul Lafargue and Job van Uitert having little margin for comfort due to the five cars chasing them fewer than 40 seconds behind.
In GT3, the #81 Corvette from TF Sport and United Autosports’ #59 McLaren were hit by trouble as they stopped on track – the latter retired. Meanwhile, the battle for the win is now a duel between Manthey’s #91 Porsche (Lietz-Shahin-Schuring) and WRT’s #31 BMW (Farfus-Gelael-Leung), with just two seconds between them.

2024 Le Mans 24 Hours — Hour 21 results

POS # CLASS TEAM CAR LAPS GAPS
1 2 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 264 —
2 50 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 264 4.298
3 8 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 264 16.072
4 51 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 264 31.664
5 6 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 264 32.158
6 7 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 264 51.693
7 12 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 264 1:11.961
8 5 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 264 1:15.720
9 38 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 264 1:26.542
10 94 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 263 1:54.723
11 63 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 262 2 laps
12 93 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 262 3:29.788
13 19 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 262 26.780
14 11 Hypercar H ISOTTA FRASCHINI

 

Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C

 257 7 laps
15 28 LM P2 IDEC SPORT 252 12 laps
16 34 LM P2 INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION 252 42.695
17 37 LM P2 COOL RACING 252 43.187
18 22 LM P2 UNITED AUTOSPORTS 252 49.588
19 10 LM P2 VECTOR SPORT 252 49.868
20 183 LM P2 P/A AF CORSE 252 1:02.951
21 14 LM P2 P/A AO BY TF 251 13 laps
22 33 LM P2 P/A DKR ENGINEERING 250 14 laps
23 25 LM P2 ALGARVE PRO RACING 250 1:07.963
24 65 LM P2 P/A PANIS RACING 249 15 laps
25 83 Hypercar H AF CORSE 248 16 laps
26 47 LM P2 P/A COOL RACING 248 1:46.981
27 24 LM P2 NIELSEN RACING 246 18 laps
28 99 Hypercar H PROTON COMPETITION 244 20 laps
29 91 LMGT3 MANTHEY EMA

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

 238 26 laps
30 31 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 238 2:15.228
31 88 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 238 3:14.688
32 87 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 238 5.079
33 85 LMGT3 IRON DAMES

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

 238 9.005
34 44 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 238 21.895
35 78 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 238 1:52.687
36 86 LMGT3 GR RACING 238 1:59.157
37 55 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 237 27 laps
38 777 LMGT3 D’STATION RACING

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

 237 55.085
39 155 LMGT3 SPIRIT OF RACE 237 1:15.974
40 82 LMGT3 TF SPORT 236 28 laps
41 311 Hypercar H WHELEN CADILLAC RACING 233 31 laps
42 70 LMGT3 INCEPTION RACING

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

 233 44.888
43 92 LMGT3 MANTHEY PURERXCING

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

 233 1:04.463
44 23 LM P2 P/A UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA 228 36 laps
45 81 LMGT3 TF SPORT 225 39 laps
46 60 LMGT3 IRON LYNX

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

 217 47 laps
47 77 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 185 79 laps
48 20 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 92 172 laps
49 3 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 223 41 laps
50 59 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

 220 44 laps
51 95 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

 212 52 laps
52 4 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 211 53 laps
53 27 LMGT3 HEART OF RACING TEAM

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

 196 68 laps
54 45 LM P2 P/A CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR 149 115 laps
55 66 LMGT3 JMW MOTORSPORT 112 152 laps
56 30 LM P2 P/A DUQUEINE TEAM 112 0.000
57 46 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 109 155 laps
58 15 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 102 162 laps
59 36 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 88 176 laps
60 9 LM P2 PROTON COMPETITION 86 178 laps
61 35 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 75 189 laps
62 54 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 30 234 laps



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