Метка: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Ferrari survives late drama to score back-to-back wins



Nickas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina took the chequered flag in the #50 Ferrari 499P with a 14s margin over the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, as the #51 Ferrari of defending champions Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the podium.

There was drama in the penultimate hour as the right-side door of the #50 Ferrari began flapping rapidly, prompting race control to show a black-and-orange flag. Nielsen was forced to bring the car back into the pits just six laps into the stint, but was able to hold the net lead over the #7 Toyota.

Nielsen’s run to the finish was made easier by Lopez spinning at the Dunlop Curve and briefly stopping on track, a mistake that ended any remaining chance of Toyota adding to its five wins at Le Mans.

Ferrari had looked rapid from the get go in the 92nd running of Le Mans, with all three 499Ps — including the AF Corse-entered customer entry — charging to the front in the opening hour.

The #50 factory car and the #83 customer entry elected to stay out when rain hit the track briefly on Saturday evening, a decision that put the two 499Ps well clear of the rest of the field as most cars — including the #51 Ferrari — had to return to the pits to switch back to slicks.

The race was neutralised for the first time after night fell at La Sarthe, when the #20 BMW of Robin Frijns crashed at the end of Mulsanne after contact with the #83 Ferrari then driven by Robert Kubica.

It took the best part of two hours for the marshals to replace the barriers, with the action resuming just past midnight. Another safety car period followed in the early hours of the morning, as rain and fog made the track unsafe for racing, with Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari all trading the top spot.

It wasn’t until the break of dawn that the race went back to green, with the complexion of the race changing virtually every hour as a number of manufacturers enjoyed stints at the front.

The #50 Ferrari made major headways in the 18th hour before the final rain shower, as Fuoco overtook the #83 Ferrari and the #5 Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki to take second, when an out of sync #2 Cadillac stopped to switch to wet tyres.

Pier Guidi managed to hang on to the final spot of the podium in the #51 Ferrari he shared with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi despite coming under serious pressure from the #6 Porsche 963 driven by Laurens Vanthoor.

Pier Guidi was hit with a five-second time penalty for colliding with the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley in the penultimate hour, an incident that left Hartley facing the wrong side of the track at the Mulsanne corner.

Pre-race favourite Porsche had to settle for fourth position, with Vanthoor finishing just 1.1s behind Pier Guidi in the #6 963 LMDh he shared with Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer. 

The #6 Porsche had moved into the front in the 18th hour after pitting under a slow zone, which was ironically caused by Felipe Nasr crashing the sister #4 entry into Indianapolis. However, the #6 had to make its next pitstop under a safety car — brought by the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3’s shunt at the same turn — which dropped the trio back down the order.

The #8 Toyota delayed by the incident with Pier Guidi ended up fifth, Sebastien Buemi bringing the car he shares with Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa to the finish line ahead of the #5 Porsche of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki.

Cadillac emerged as a surprise contender for victory on Sunday afternoon, as a well-timed pitstop before the last safety car put the #2 V-Series.R of Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Alex Palou in the lead — albeit out of sync on pitstops with its immediate rivals.

However, any advantage the factory Chip Ganassi crew could potentially derive from their pit strategy was negated when rain hit the track in the final three hours, which put the entire Hypercar field on wet tyres at roughly the same time.

Two-time IndyCar Champion Palou eventually brought the #2 Caddy to seventh at the finish, ahead of the two customer Jota Porsches.

The #12 Jota Porsche, which was rebuilt around a new chassis in record time after a crash in FP2 on Wednesday, finished eighth ahead of the #38 car.

Peugeot endured another troubled outing with the new 9X8 2024 that made its debut in the Imola round of the World Endurance Championship, with the car struggling for pace in all conditions.

Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul di Resta and Loic Duval finished 11th in the best of the two factory cars from the French manufacturer, three laps down on the winning Toyota, after picking up a drive-through penalty for overtaking under the slow zone.

The #93 car also had to drive through the pitlane after Mikel Jensen was deemed responsible for a collision with the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 car. That combined with a crash for Nico Muller under the safety car left him, Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne down in 12th place in the final reckoning, a lap adrift of the sister car.

Lamborghini was the best of the newcomers in the Hypercar class after a solid if unremarkable run for the Iron Lynx-run factory squad at Le Mans. The Italian marque never had the pace to bother its more established factory rivals, but its two SC63s ran without any major hiccups — save for a couple of spins in the fourth hour.

The #63 Lamborghini entered for the full WEC season finished ahead of the Peugeot in 10th with Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara, while the sister #19 car brought over from IMSA and driven by Romain Grosjean, Andrea Caldarelli and Matteo Cairoli ended up in 13th place.

Isotta Fraschini was the only other new manufacturer to be classified, after Jean-Karl Vernay, Carl Wattana Bennett and Antonio Serravalle managed to take the #11 Tipo6-C to 14th place. 

Both BMW and Alpine were out of the running before midnight on Saturday, despite having shown promising pace in the lead-up to the race.

Engine failures were to blame for Alpine’s double retirement at Le Mans, with Ferdinand Habsburg parking the #35 A424 LMDh at Arnage in the fifth hour and Nicolas Lapierre pulling the sister car shortly after into the garage.

BMW’s troubles began in the opening hour itself as Marco Wittmann went off at the Esses and immediately put the #15 M Hybrid V8 on the back foot. Team-mate Dries Vanthoor was trying to recover from the early setback when he had a coming together with the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Kubica at the end of Mulsanne at night, with the impact sending him head-on into the armco barriers.

By this point, the #20 BMW was already in the garage after Robin Frijns ran over the kerbs at the Ford Chicane and sustained what appeared to be terminal damage. BMW was eventually able to get the car repaired to send team-mate Sheldon van der Linde back on track in the final hour, but the car was not classified as it failed to complete the required 70% distance.

The #83 customer Ferrari that led a major portion of the race on Saturday and was well in contention in the early hours of the afternoon eventually retired with technical issues in the 20th hour, with TV images showing plumes of smoke coming out of the front.

The #3 Cadillac and the #4 Porsche were among the six Hypercar entries to not be classified.

Porsche triumphs in new-for-2024 LMGT3 class

Porsche scored yet another WEC win in the LMGT3 class as Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring took top honours in the #91 Manthey EMA 911 GT3 R.

The victory in the production-based class boiled down to a straight fight between the Manthey Porsche and the #31 WRT of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung in the closing stages, as a number of leading contenders dropped out due to a variety of reasons.

Gelael managed to grab the lead of the race when rain returned on track with just over two hours to go, but factory Porsche driver Lietz had little trouble getting past his silver-rated rival on the run to Indianapolis to lead the #91 crew to the first-ever LMGT3 victory at Le Mans.

The sister #92 Manthey PureRxcing entry was also in the victory battle for much of the enduro and was actually leading the class when Klaus Bachler was forced to bring the car to the garage with electric problems.

Proton Competition took spots three and four with its pair of Ford Mustang GT3s, the #88 car of Dennis Olsen, Giorgio Roda and Mikkel Pedersen finishing ahead of Christopher Mies, Ben Tuck and John Hartshorne in the sister entry.

All three McLaren 720S GT3 entries, including the pole-winning Inception Racing car, suffered a spate of issues on Sunday that left them out of the reckoning.



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Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari battle it out for the win



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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Porsche surges ahead of Toyota as safety car returns


The factory #6 Porsche Penske 963 of Laurens Vanthoor was circulating a few seconds clear of the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID driven by Ryo Hirakawa after 18 hours of racing at Le Mans, with marshals still replacing the barriers at Indianapolis under the caution period.

Heart of Racing driver Daniel Mancinelli was being lapped by the #51 Ferrari LMH car when the Italian lost control of the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on his own and slammed heavily into the barriers, with his car going airbone and landing upside down on the track.

Mancinelli walked away unscathed from the crash, but the SC had to be deployed to recover the car and replace the tyre barriers at the inside of the banked left-hander.

The #6 Porsche of Vanthoor was leading the race by 18s when the SC bunched the field back up, having jumped the #8 Toyota in the previous round of pitstops.

Ironically, it was a crash for the sister #4 Penske car that had helped Vanthoor circle into the lead, with the Belgian pitting under a slow zone caused by Felipe Nasr losing the rear-end of his 963 on slick tyres into Indianapolis. The incident put the additional Penske IMSA entry out of the race.

The #8 Toyota had been leading the Hypercar class until that point, with Hirakawa having made a clean restart in the 17th hour after the racing finally resumed after a four-hour safety car period.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Hirakawa had pitted a few laps before Nasr’s off in green conditions, which allowed Vanthoor to jump into the lead, but was still running a comfortable second ahead of the sister #7 car driven by Nyck de Vries. 

De Vries was the first Hypercar runner to switch to slick tyres as he was already due to make a pitstop, having been running out of kilter with its rivals. However, that also meant that he had to return to the pitlane under the safety car for more fuel, which dropped him down the order.

The #2 Cadillac was the main beneficiary as Earl Bamber assumed third place, but he is yet to complete his pitstop. Fourth place is being held by the #5 Porsche of Frederic Makoweicki, who fended off Robert Shwartzman in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari before the safety car period.

The #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco was running right behind the duo and continues to hold sixth, ahead of the #7 Toyota now driven by de Vries’ team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.

The LMP2 class featured a number of changes in the last three hours, as the order shuffled during every pitstop phase.

At the end of hour 18, Ben Barnicoat was back in front in the #183 AF Corse ORECA-07, ahead of the #22 United Autosports car now driven by Oliver Jarvis.

Vector Sport also made headways after putting platinum-rated Patrick Pilet in the car, while the #37 Cool Racing dropped to fourth as Lorenzo Fluxa took over.

In LMGT3, the class-leading #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R dropped out of contention with gearbox issues, as Klaus Bachler brought the car into the garage shortly after the race went green again. It took 24 minutes for the German squad to fix the problem, which meant it lost five laps and in the lower regions of the top 20. 

The sister #91 Manthey EMA Porsche of Richard Lietz took over the baton from Bachler, but dropped to third late in the 18th hour after making a pitstop.

That put Gregoire Saucy in front in the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3, ahead of the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

Results after Hour 18:

POS # CLASS TEAM CAR LAPS GAPS
1 6 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 221
2 8 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 221 1.386
3 2 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 221 2:25.244
4 5 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 221 2:26.548
5 83 Hypercar H AF CORSE 221 2:30.160
6 50 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 221 2:31.051
7 7 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 221 2:35.656
8 12 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 220 4:29.952
9 38 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 220 4:32.016
10 3 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 220 4:37.587
11 51 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 220 4:42.003
12 19 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 219 2 laps
13 94 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 219 4:32.928
14 311 Hypercar H WHELEN CADILLAC RACING 219 4:33.988
15 93 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 219 4:35.201
16 63 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 219 1 lap
17 99 Hypercar H PROTON COMPETITION 216 5 laps
18 11 Hypercar H ISOTTA FRASCHINI

 

Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C

215 7:26.811
19 4 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 211 10 laps
20 183 LM P2 P/A AF CORSE 211 2:23.796
21 22 LM P2 UNITED AUTOSPORTS 210 11 laps
22 10 LM P2 VECTOR SPORT 210 4:43.506
23 37 LM P2 COOL RACING 210 4:46.661
24 34 LM P2 INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION 210 2.774
25 28 LM P2 IDEC SPORT 210 3.480
26 14 LM P2 P/A AO BY TF 209 12 laps
27 33 LM P2 P/A DKR ENGINEERING 209 11 laps
28 25 LM P2 ALGARVE PRO RACING 208 12 laps
29 65 LM P2 P/A PANIS RACING 208 13 laps
30 47 LM P2 P/A COOL RACING 205 16 laps
31 24 LM P2 NIELSEN RACING 205 2:23.072
32 85 LMGT3 IRON DAMES

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

199 22 laps
33 59 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

199 4:36.420
34 87 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 199 4:37.388
35 91 LMGT3 MANTHEY EMA

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

199 4:38.792
36 31 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 199 4:41.206
37 95 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

199 4.636
38 78 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 199 5.203
39 88 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 199 6.142
40 44 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 199 2:27.350
41 86 LMGT3 GR RACING 198 23 laps
42 55 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 198 4:44.307
43 777 LMGT3 D’STATION RACING

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

198 1.520
44 155 LMGT3 SPIRIT OF RACE 198 2:29.525
45 82 LMGT3 TF SPORT 197 24 laps
46 27 LMGT3 HEART OF RACING TEAM

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

196 25 laps
47 70 LMGT3 INCEPTION RACING

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

195 26 laps
48 92 LMGT3 MANTHEY PURERXCING

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

194 27 laps
49 81 LMGT3 TF SPORT 191 30 laps
50 60 LMGT3 IRON LYNX

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

186 35 laps
51 23 LM P2 P/A UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA 186 7:25.226
52 77 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 146 75 laps
53 20 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 92 129 laps
54 45 LM P2 P/A CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR 149 72 laps
55 66 LMGT3 JMW MOTORSPORT 112 108 laps
56 30 LM P2 P/A DUQUEINE TEAM 112 109 laps
57 46 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 109 112 laps
58 15 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 102 119 laps
59 36 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 88 133 laps
60 9 LM P2 PROTON COMPETITION 86 135 laps
61 35 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 75 146 laps
62 54 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 30 191 laps



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Heavy rain neutralises race behind safety car


As the race entered its second half, incessant rainfall meant that the race director kept the safety car out for an extended period. Each of the three safety cars being used had to be refuelled, and were swapped out with fresh ones on the start/finish straight.

The #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R – which was third at the halfway point – took a nose change that meant IndyCar champion Alex Palou tumbled back to ninth.

Besides that, there were barely any major changes in race order across the three hours since the conclusion of hour 12.

Leader Brendon Hartley (Toyota #8) complained of cramping in his knee, as he trundled around at the head of the field at the soaked Circuit de la Sarthe. Kevin Estre ran second in the #6 factory-entered Porsche, a tantalising 1.5s behind the car he had been chasing hard when the rain intensified to the point that the race director made his decision to neutralise the event.

Hartley handed over the leading car to Ryo Hirakawa in hour 15, as Estre relayed to Laurens Vanthoor.

Nyck de Vries was running third in the #7 Toyota but was under investigation for rejoining behind the same safety car, ahead of the #50 Ferrari 499P of Niklas Nielsen. De Vries was brought back in for an extra stop, to self-rectify the error, but that cost him a spot to Nielsen.

Safety car

Safety car

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Earlier leader Robert Kubica is up to fifth in the #83 Ferrari from fellow ex-F1 racer Jenson Button in the #38 Jota Porsche 963.

Alex Lynn is in the best-placed Cadillac, the #2 machine he took over from Palou, ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 Ferrari, the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and Matt Campbell’s #5 Porsche.

Further back, Mathieu Jaminet has no working windscreen wiper aboard the #6 Porsche 963, so he’s been driving with limited visibility.

The best example of how wet the conditions were was Romain Grosjean’s leaky #19 Lamborghini SC63, which runs in 14th.

 

In LMP2, the #183 AF Corse Oreca leads the way in Francois Perrodo’s hands from Cool Racing’s #37 with Lorenzo Fluxa behind the wheel, ahead of Jakub Smiechowski’s #34 Inter Europol entry and Stephane Richelmi’s #10 Vector Sport car.

In the LMGT3 class, the #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 of Aliaksandr Malykhin leads the #91 sister car driven by Yasser Shahin.

Ian James has risen to third in Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin from Iron Dames’ Lamborghini, which has Sarah Bovy at the wheel.

More rain is forecast for the coming hours.



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Porsche battles against Toyota at the halfway point


After all the rain and safety car drama of the previous couple of hours, the track dried out completely as it ticked past 1am local time on Sunday morning.

All eyes were initially on Antonio Fuoco (#50 Ferrari) and Earl Bamber (#2 Cadillac) swapping fourth place in a pulsating battle in the very small hours, exchanging the position on multiple occasions before the Italian made it stick.
At the front, the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi pulled out a 20s lead over Andre Lotterer in the #6 Porsche, a gap that had been as low as 1.2s when Laurens Vanthoor was chasing Buemi at the start of hour 10. They were well clear of the third-placed #7 Toyota.
Moderate rain returned in hour 12, by which time the interval had remained static between the top two cars. The leaders pitted for wets, with Brendon Hartley taking over the #7, 16s clear of Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche, who in turn was 42s ahead of the #7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopez.

A brief third full-course yellow was then called at 3:13am but when it went green again, Estre charged after Hartley, taking a couple of seconds per lap out of the leader.

Just 15 minutes before the halfway point, the safety cars were called out again – just as Estre had got within 9s of Hartley. Third-placed Lopez had been well clear of the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina.

Hartley pitted a lap ahead of Estre, which turned out not to matter as they joined the same safety car train with Hartley still ahead.

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou stayed out and rose to third in the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R. The #51 Ferrari of a charging Alessandro Pier Guidi jumped ahead of the erstwhile leading #83 499P of Yifei Ye, when the latter stayed out too long on slicks, and grabbed fourth over Lopez and Molina by staying out under the safety car.
All that promoted the #183 AF Corse of Nicolas Varrone and Nolan Siegel in the #22 United Autosports car to the front of the field – although Siegel pitted just as the safety car was called, dropping him to fourth behind the #37 Cool car and #34 Inter Europol entry.

Heinemeier Hansson returned to the track only to go off again, at the Porsche Curves this time, just before Colin Braun lost a left-rear wheel from the #45 Crowdstrike by APR entry.

#155 Spirit: Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Johnny Laursen, Conrad Laursen, Jordan Taylor

#155 Spirit: Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Johnny Laursen, Conrad Laursen, Jordan Taylor

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

In the LMGT3 class, one of the main players from earlier in the race – the #66 JMW Ferrari – ground to a halt in the Porsche Curves at the start of the 10th hour and Salih Yoluc just couldn’t persuade it to restart.
In another blow for Ferrari’s hopes in this class, Jordan Taylor – who had recently entered the mix in Spirit of Race’s Ferrari 296 – was pounded into the gravel trap at first Mulsanne chicane by Gregoire Saucy’s McLaren 720S, although the stewards called it as ‘no further action’.
More big news occurred with a drive-through penalty for the erstwhile class leader Klaus Bachler in the #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 for a slow-zone infringement. That put it into second behind the sister #91 car and embroiled it in a fight with the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus of Kelvin van der Linde.
As the rain returned, the #92 car held sway once more with Joel Sturm leading the #91 of Morris Schuring. Nicolas Costa ran third on the #59 United Autosports McLaren, ahead of a pair of Lexuses.

Costa stayed out as the Manthey cars pitted under the safety car to claim the lead for McLaren at the halfway point, but then dropped back to third again when he pitted a lap later.



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Toyota leads Porsche after Kubica penalty for causing crash



After nine hours of frantic action, Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa led in its #8 car after erstwhile leader Kubica was given a 30s stop/go penalty for causing a huge crash on the Mulsanne Straight.

Hour seven began with a brief but hard rain shower as darkness fell, with Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari leading the #5 factory Porsche by over 45s. Kubica pitted for wets, as the factory Ferraris stayed out on slicks, and such were the conditions that Kubica even lapped the #51 Ferrari as it slithered around waiting for the track to dry.

A full-course yellow was soon required when the #60 Claudio Schiavoni spun his Iron Lynx Lamborghini GT3 car firmly into the barrier at the second Mulsanne chicane.

Kubica reported a gearbox temperature alarm but was told to press on with his wet tyres, now well ahead of Hirakawa in Toyota #8. Kubica switched out his wets after seven laps for soft slicks but retained his lead as the #8 did likewise, putting the #50 Ferrari back to second – and Niklas Nielsen then carved into Kubica’s lead having made a net gain by staying on slicks.

The race’s first full safety car was required when leader Kubica clashed at high speed with the delayed #15 BMW Dries Vanthoor, who slammed heavily into the barriers at the end of the Mulsanne Straight, the Belgian complaining of foot pain as he hobbled away. 

Vanthoor was attempting to stay on the lead lap and they were both lapping the #92 Manthey Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3 car at the time – “he was racing me and pushing me to the wet,” complained Kubica. 

 

After a lengthy safety car period for barrier repairs of over 90 minutes, during which a dog got loose on the track, the rain returned for the restart towards the end of hour eight. The race went green with most cars on slicks, with the #5 Porsche of Fred Makowiecki and #311 Cadillac of Pipo Derani staying out to lead while most others dived for the pits to take wets.

The wet-shod Kubica quickly picked off Derani and chased down Makowiecki, passing him just before the end of the following lap. But Kubica was assessed a 30s stop/go penalty for the Vanthoor clash.

He extended a 6s advantage over Hirakawa, who inherited the lead when Kubica took his penalty. 

At the hour nine point, Laurens Vanthoor ran second in the #6 Porsche, 15s behind Hirakawa and 10s ahead of the #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries.

Kubica rejoined in sixth behind the #2 Cadillac of Alex Lynn; Makowiecki tumbled to 11th on his slicks after his stubborn gamble failed terribly.

Lynn passed the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco for fifth, pushing the earlier dominant Ferrari back to a 5-6-7.

In LMP2, the #10 Vector Sport Oreca of Stephane Richelmi lost his class lead during the safety car phase, which promoted the #37 Cool Racing car to the lead – despite the fact that Lorenzo Fluxa had earlier spun coming into the pits during the rain. The #22 United Autosports and #24 Nielsen Racing entries also benefited. 

More turmoil occurred when the #30 Duqueine Team car caught fire on the Mulsanne Straight in Jakub Smiechowski’s hands.

At the hour nine point, Malthe Jakobsen led in the #37 from Fabio Scherer in the #24 and Ben Barnicoat in AF Corse’s #183 – with the #10 chasing them in fourth. 

In the new LMGT3 class, there was early drama at the start of hour seven when Maxime Martin in the frontrunning #46 BMW he’d just taken over from Valentino Rossi clumsily punted Ben Hanley’s much-delayed #23 United LMP2 car into a spin. Martin got away with a warning for the incident and led the #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche, which had a grandstand view of Vanthoor’s huge shunt.

The polewinning #70 McLaren then went into the garage in a cloud of steam after Brendon Iribe had clearly hit something solid.

 

At the restart following the long safety car, Klaus Bachler spun the #92 Porsche coming into the pits and dropped way down the order.

That handed the advantage to the sister #91 Porsche of Richard Lietz, who had stayed out on slicks, but Bachler atoned by charging back to the front of the class, leading Dennis Olsen’s Proton Ford Mustang. Jordan Taylor is also in the mix in Spirit of Race’s Ferrari 296.

Just before the end of the hour, Ahmad Al Harthy spun off at the Esses in the #46 BMW – taking it completely out of the battle for honours.



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Le Mans-leading Ferrari slapped with big penalty for Kubica’s BMW clash


AF Corse driver Robert Kubica was trying to put a lap on Dries Vanthoor in the seventh hour of the race when he side-swiped the BMW at the end of the Mulsanne straight, sending the car head-on into the barriers.

The contact with the armco sent Vanthoor spinning to the other side of the track, where he came to a rest with severe damage to the front of the car.

The #15 BMW retired immediately on the spot, with the race control deploying a safety car to help with the recovery of the vehicle.

The stewards began investigating the incident soon afterwards, but it wasn’t until after the safety car period had ended in the ninth hour that a decision was announced.

It was deemed that Kubica was responsible for the collision, with the #83 Ferrari 499P he shares with factory drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman being handed a 30-second stop/go penalty.

The sanction is set to drop the car from the lead of the race, as the safety car had bunched up the field and wiped out its entire lead — which stood at the best part of a minute at one point.

The #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Ryo Hirakawa looks poised to move to the front after Kubica takes to the pitlane to serve the penalty.

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann

Photo by: Marc Fleury

The factory #50 Ferrari that also didn’t pit for wet tyres at that point will now take over as the lead 499P on track.

The collision between the #83 Ferrari and the #15 BMW, which followed not long after Vanthoor had gone off at the second Mulsanne chicane, further wrecked the German manufacturer’s chances of a strong finish on its return to the top class at Le Mans after 25 years.

The #15 M Hybrid V8 had already dropped off the lead lap after Marco Wittmann suffered a crash in the opening hour, prompting an unscheduled visit to the pits.

The sister #20 entry also had its own share of drama, with Robin Frijns heavily damaging the car after clipping the kerb at the Ford Chicane in Hour 3. 

Frijns managed to complete a full lap of the track and bring the car back into the pits, but it remains in the garage at the time of writing.



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Ferrari in front in Hypercar as rain returns



The #83 AF Corse Ferrari continues to hold the net lead in the hands of Yifei Ye after the opening six hours of the race as rain hit the Circuit de la Sarthe, with the Frederic Makowiecki grabbing second late on in the #5 Porsche.

Robert Shwartzman was able to pull out a lead of over 40 seconds in the satellite Ferrari following an impressive triple stint, with Ye carrying on the good work of his team-mate to put  AF Corse well clear of the opposition as night fell at the track.

Nickas Nielsen held second position in the best of the works 499Ps after taking over from team-mate Miguel Molina at the end of hour six, but dropped to fourth in the last pitstop cycle after taking on a new set of slick tyres just before the latest rain shower. 

This left Nielsen fourth in the order, behind the #8 Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa. The first of the factory cars from the Japanese manufacturer was running out of kilter with most of the Hypercar pack, but came into the pits after just eight laps as the track became too wet for slicks

The last of the remaining Ferrari 499Ps, the factory #51 entry, completed the top five at the end of Hour 6, with Antonio Giovinazzi currently driving the car that won on debut in 2023.

The #6 Porsche holds fifth with Laurens Vanthoor ahead of the customer #12 Jota Porsche of Norman Nato and two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou in the #2 Cadillac.

The #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID that started from the rear of the Hypercar pack suffered another setback when Jose Maria Lopez picked up a drive through penalty for a pitstop infringement. Lopez rejoined the track in seventh after serving the penalty, over three minutes down on the leading Ferrari.

Alpine suffered a double DNF on its return to Le Mans 24 Hours, with its two A424 LMDh cars officially out of the race before night time at La Sarthe.

The #35 Alpine A424 LMDh was the first Hypercar entry to retire from the race, with Ferdinand Habsburg pulling over in the fifth hour with smoke coming out of the rear of the car.

The sister #36 Alpine suffered technical problems of its own and pulled into the garage in the sixth hour, before officially exiting the race.

In the LMP2 class, the #10 Vector Sports Oreca holds the top spot following rapid stints from Ryan Cullen and Stephane Richelmi.

Cool Racing squad put up a tough fight to Vector when factory Toyota driver Ritomo Miyata was at the wheel of the squad’s #37 Oreca, but its challenge fell apart when silver-rated Lorenzo Fluxa took over.

The third place is occupied by the lead United Autosports Oreca driven by Bijoy Garg, despite the #22 crew picking up a drive-through penalty for an incident in hour five.

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi was leading the new LMGT3 class on his debut at Le Mans after extending the lead he had inheriting from Alhmad Al Marthy in the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3.

But WRT elected to bring switch him for factory BMW racer Maxime Martin just before the end of hour six, putting the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche of Joel Sturm at the front. Richard Lietz holds third place in the sister #91 Manthey EMA entry.



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Ferrari leads as shower disrupts Hypercar battle



The World Endurance Championship race has been shaped by a sudden shower at 5:38pm, before which the Nicklas Nielsen’s #50 Ferrari led Laurens Vanthoor’s #6 Porsche, Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 Ferrari and Sebastien Buemi’s #8 Toyota.

The Italian and the Swiss had previously overtaken Sebastien Bourdais’ Cadillac, respectively round the outside at Mulsanne and on the Mulsanne straight.

Although the track wasn’t soaked, the shower was substantial enough to result in a noticeable loss of grip, with the #8 Toyota, both Alpines and the #3 Cadillac pitting for wet-weather tyres straight away.

It initially seemed like this strategy might work out as they were several seconds a lap faster than their rivals, and most of the Hypercar class emulated them in the following two laps.

However, the #83 and #50 Ferraris, #12 and #5 Porsche, #19 and #63 Lamborghinis opted to brave those tricky track conditions on slick tyres.

This gamble proved to be the right one as the other cars grudgingly came back in to put slick tyres back on – this was their fourth pitstops when the lead cars were on two.

The only exception was the #20 BMW, which the WRT team decided to keep on track with grooved tyres until its next stop – before Robin Frijns lost control after bouncing off a kerb at the Ford chicane and crashed the car at 6:23pm. The right-rear corner was damaged, and Frijns had to go around the lap at snail’s pace, taking no less than eight minutes to get back to the pitlane.

 

Meanwhile, two Ferraris were battling it out for the outright lead, with Robert Kubica making a mistake at Mulsanne in the #83 car and resisting an assault from Nielsen, with the #50 499P having served a ten-second penalty for an unsafe release with the #3 Cadillac earlier. Nielsen found a way past shortly after, taking first position at 5:59pm.

However, the pecking order evolved further as lead cars pitted during a slow zone, with the #50 losing tens of seconds to the #83 and the #5 Porsche as well.

Robert Shwartzman took the lead at the wheel of the #83 Ferrari, gradually increasing what initially was a meagre gap to Michael Christensen’s #5 Porsche to more than 25 seconds.

On the other hand, Antonio Fuoco has been the faster of the three and brought the gap down to 35 seconds with the lead car in the #50 Ferrari, setting the fastest lap so far in the process – 3m29.208, more than 1.4s quicker than anyone else. He subsequently pitted after the third hour, as did the #5 Porsche.

This temporarily elevated the #8 Toyota to second place and the #51 Ferrari to fourth, with Sebastien Buemi’s car the first of those which pitted for wet-weather tyres, thanks to a remarkable three-hour stint.

Further in Hypercar, the Peugeot #94 had an early second pitstop and subsequently had to serve a drive-through penalty due to a slow-zone infringement by Loic Duval.

In the LMP2 class, Inter Europol’s #34 ORECA took the lead shortly before 7pm after Clement Novalak overtook Vector Sport’s #10 machine driven by Ryan Cullen, with other cars close to a minute behind.

The start of the race was one to forget for Cool Racing’s #47 car as Naveen Rao spun at the Dunlop chicane before colliding with Thomas Flohr’s #54 AF Corse GT3 Ferrari, which the Swiss driver got a drive-through penalty for.

Flohr also crashed out at the Dunlop chicane at 6:09pm, causing the aforementioned slow zone.

 

Although Larry ten Voorde built a comfortable GT3 lead at the wheel of JMW’s #66 Ferrari, the car dropped back somewhat when Salih Yoluc took over, and the #91 Porsche run by Manthey Racing is now in the lead, driven by Morris Schuring.

Le Mans 24 Hours 2024, Hour 3 results

POS # CLASS TEAM CAR LAPS GAPS PITS
1 83 Hypercar H AF CORSE 48 3
2 8 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 48 1:21.477 5
3 5 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 48 1:29.228 4
4 51 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 47 1:45.238 5
5 (+1) 50 Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE 47 1:46.859 4
6 12 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 47 1:47.463 4
7 7 Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 47 1:49.334 5
8 19 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 47 1:55.895 3
9 4 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 47 2:18.120 5
10 6 Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT 47 2:20.400 5
11 311 Hypercar H WHELEN CADILLAC RACING 47 2:21.446 5
12 38 Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA 47 2:27.669 5
13 3 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 47 2:43.805 5
14 36 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 47 2:47.419 5
15 63 Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX 47 3:10.543 4
16 15 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 47 3:17.400 4
17 2 Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING 47 3:23.610 5
18 35 Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM 47 0.596 5
19 93 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 47 7.093 5
20 94 Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES 47 1:01.078 6
21 11 Hypercar H ISOTTA FRASCHINI

 

Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C

46 2 laps 5
22 34 LM P2 INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION 45 3 laps 4
23 10 LM P2 VECTOR SPORT 45 2:29.317 4
24 37 LM P2 COOL RACING 45 3:21.836 5
25 22 LM P2 UNITED AUTOSPORTS 45 3:24.363 5
26 183 LM P2 P/A AF CORSE 45 21.240 5
27 28 LM P2 IDEC SPORT 45 37.779 5
28 9 LM P2 PROTON COMPETITION 45 1:10.636 6
29 99 Hypercar H PROTON COMPETITION 45 26.827 6
30 24 LM P2 NIELSEN RACING 45 1:40.662 5
31 30 LM P2 P/A DUQUEINE TEAM 44 4 laps 5
32 (+1) 14 LM P2 P/A AO BY TF 44 1:40.662 4
33 33 LM P2 P/A DKR ENGINEERING 44 3:15.447 4
34 65 LM P2 P/A PANIS RACING 44 4.466 5
35 45 LM P2 P/A CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR 44 13.666 5
36 25 LM P2 ALGARVE PRO RACING 43 5 laps 5
37 91 LMGT3 MANTHEY EMA

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

42 6 laps 4
38 46 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 42 5.934 4
39 87 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 42 6.195 4
40 66 LMGT3 JMW MOTORSPORT 42 11.792 4
41 86 LMGT3 GR RACING 42 25.982 4
42 85 LMGT3 IRON DAMES

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

42 29.199 4
43 59 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

42 38.628 4
44 92 LMGT3 MANTHEY PURERXCING

 

Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3

42 39.898 5
45 95 LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

42 43.422 5
46 77 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 42 45.676 4
47 44 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 42 1:01.747 4
48 88 LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION 42 1:21.862 5
49 27 LMGT3 HEART OF RACING TEAM

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

42 48.220 4
50 55 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 42 1:32.020 4
51 70 LMGT3 INCEPTION RACING

 

McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo

41 7 laps 5
52 81 LMGT3 TF SPORT 41 1:55.606 4
53 155 LMGT3 SPIRIT OF RACE 41 2:27.196 5
54 31 LMGT3 TEAM WRT 41 2:37.501 4
55 78 LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM 41 3:00.635 4
56 777 LMGT3 D’STATION RACING

 

Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3

41 3:29.413 5
57 82 LMGT3 TF SPORT 41 3:31.274 4
58 60 LMGT3 IRON LYNX

 

Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2

41 17.380 4
59 20 Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT 40 8 laps 5
60 47 LM P2 P/A COOL RACING 39 9 laps 5
61 23 LM P2 P/A UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA 35 13 laps 5
62 54 LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE 30 18 laps 3



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