#8 Toyota leads at halfway
Hot News World Endurance Championship

Le Mans Hour 12: Heavy rain moves in over La Sarthe

Posted by AR1 staff

The #8 Toyota hypercar leads the #6 Penske Porsche as conditions worsened over La Sarthe at the halfway mark. The safety car again leads the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Brendon Hartley is in the lead Toyota and the #6 Porsche is driven by Kevin Estre as the safety car procedure bunched the field up.

The #7 Toyota is third, with the #50 Ferrari and #2 Cadillac rounding out the top-5.

There are still eight Hypercars on the lead lap – #51 Ferrari, #83 Ferrari (Robert Kubica is given a 30-second stop/go penalty for the safety car triggering incident with Dries Vanthoor in the No.15 BMW M Team WRT Hypercar) and #38 JOTA Porsche.

LMP2

The LMP2 battle closes up after first safety car with the AF Corse Oreca-Gibson of Nicola Varonne, Francois Perrodo and Ben Barnicoat emerging as leader in both LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am

The No.37 Cool Racing car of Malthe Jakobsen, Ritomo Miyata and Lorenzo Fluxa places second, while the defending champions at Le Mans, the Inter Europol Competition team (Vlad Lomko, Kuba Smeichowski and Clement Novalak is third despite losing a wheel and being forced to pit in the early stages of the race

Completing the top six is the No.22 United Autosports car driven by Nolan Siegel at half distance, the Vector Sport Oreca-Gibson of Patrick Pilet and the AO by TF ‘Spike’ crowd favorite in the hands of Alex Quinn

David Heinemeier Hansson in the Nielsen LMP2 entry collects Zacharie Robichon in the No.77 Proton Ford Mustang at the Forest Esses just before 3am triggering a Slow Zone

Nielsen were well placed in the category running in the top three as teams change positions in pit-stop periods on different strategies after dry/wet/dry running. Heinemeier Hansson has another spin shortly after and the British run car drops to 10th in class as a result

The No.45 Crowdstrike Racing by APR LMP2 stops on track at 03.15am as Colin Braun loses his left rear wheel and is forced to retire, bringing out the third Full Course Yellow of the race

The Duqueine Oreca-Gibson retires just after midnight with a technical failure which stops it on the Mulsanne Straight

LMGT3

No.92 Manthey PureRxcing leads stablemates No.91 Manthey EMA as a Porsche 1-2 plays out as half distance arrives in the first ever LMGT3 race at Le Mans

Alex Malykhin and Yasser Shahin run 1-2 under safety car at the halfway mark as the heavy rain neutralises the race

United Autosports moves in to third position as the No.59 United Autosports McLaren of Nicolas Costa, Gregoire Saucy and James Cottingham close up to the Porches after second safety car is deployed

The Saucy driven McLaren LMGT3 was involved in an incident with the Jordan Taylor driven No.155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 and both cars are delayed. Incident is placed under investigation

Fourth is the No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus’ of Arnold Robin, Timur Boguslavskiy and Kelvin van der Linde. They briefly led after starting the race from the pitlane and with a penalty after a warm-up incident with the No.7 Toyota

The second of the United Autosport McLarens of Marino Sato, Nico Pino and Hiroshi Hamaguchi places sixth after a clean run in the early hours

The rest of the top ten in LMGT3 is made up of: 7th – Iron Dames Lamborghini; 8th No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus; 9th No.31 Team WRT BMW; 10th No.88 Proton Ford Mustang

24 Hours of Le Mans 12 Hour Standings

POS No. STATUS CLASS TEAM CURRENT DRIVER CAR LAPS BEHIND GAP
1 8 RUN Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING HARTLEY Brendon Toyota GR010 – Hybrid 174 0.000 0.000
2 6 RUN Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT ESTRE Kévin Porsche 963 174 2.602 2.602
3 7 RUN Hypercar H TOYOTA GAZOO RACING LOPEZ Jose Maria Toyota GR010 – Hybrid 173 3:01.309 1 lap
4 50 RUN Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE MOLINA Miguel Ferrari 499P 173 3:04.687 3.378
5 83 RUN Hypercar H AF CORSE YE Yifei Ferrari 499P 173 4:43.905 1:52.075
6 38 RUN Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA RASMUSSEN Oliver Porsche 963 173 4:50.985 7.080
7 3 RUN Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING VAN DER ZANDE Renger Cadillac V-Series.R 173 4:55.412 4.427
8 51 RUN Hypercar H FERRARI AF CORSE PIER GUIDI Alessandro Ferrari 499P 173 4:59.617 4.205
9 2 RUN Hypercar H CADILLAC RACING PALOU Alex Cadillac V-Series.R 173 5:00.840 1.223
10 5 RUN Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT CHRISTENSEN Michael Porsche 963 173 8:54.435 4:00.376
11 12 RUN Hypercar H HERTZ TEAM JOTA ILOTT Callum Porsche 963 173 8:44.269 6.499
12 311 RUN Hypercar H WHELEN CADILLAC RACING AITKEN Jack Cadillac V-Series.R 172 2 laps 1 lap
13 19 RUN Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX GROSJEAN Romain Lamborghini SC63 172 8:43.260 4:01.308
14 4 RUN Hypercar H PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT JAMINET Mathieu Porsche 963 172 8:49.183 5.923
15 94 RUN Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES DUVAL Loïc Peugeot 9X8 172 8:53.391 4.208
16 93 RUN Hypercar H PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES JENSEN Mikkel Peugeot 9X8 172 8:55.919 2.528
17 63 RUN Hypercar H LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX BORTOLOTTI Mirko Lamborghini SC63 172 8:57.431 1.512
18 11 RUN Hypercar H ISOTTA FRASCHINI SERRAVALLE Antonio Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C 168 6 laps 4 laps
19 99 RUN Hypercar H PROTON COMPETITION TINCKNELL Harry Porsche 963 168 8:43.301 18.079
20 183 RUN LM P2 P/A AF CORSE VARRONE Nicolas Oreca 07 – Gibson 165 9 laps 3 laps
21 37 RUN LM P2 COOL RACING FLUXA Lorenzo Oreca 07 – Gibson 164 10 laps 1 lap
22 34 RUN LM P2 INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION NOVALAK Clément Oreca 07 – Gibson 164 4:47.738 2:07.042
23 22 RUN LM P2 UNITED AUTOSPORTS SIEGEL Nolan Oreca 07 – Gibson 164 4:56.752 9.014
24 10 RUN LM P2 VECTOR SPORT CULLEN Ryan Oreca 07 – Gibson 164 4:58.457 1.705
25 14 RUN LM P2 P/A AO BY TF QUINN Alex Oreca 07 – Gibson 163 11 laps 1 lap
26 28 RUN LM P2 IDEC SPORT LAFARGUE Paul Oreca 07 – Gibson 163 3:06.171 12.307
27 33 RUN LM P2 P/A DKR ENGINEERING BINDER René Oreca 07 – Gibson 163 1.826 6:00.719
28 25 RUN LM P2 ALGARVE PRO RACING DE ANGELIS Roman Senna Oreca 07 – Gibson 162 12 laps 1 lap
29 24 RUN LM P2 NIELSEN RACING SCHERER Fabio Oreca 07 – Gibson 161 13 laps 1 lap
30 65 RUN LM P2 P/A PANIS RACING HUFFAKER Scott Oreca 07 – Gibson 161 6.849 6:16.066
31 47 RUN LM P2 P/A COOL RACING BELL Matthew Oreca 07 – Gibson 159 15 laps 2 laps
32 92 RUN LMGT3 MANTHEY PURERXCING MALYKHIN Aliaksandr Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 154 20 laps 5 laps
33 91 RUN LMGT3 MANTHEY EMA SHAHIN Yasser Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 154 3:03.339 1.046
34 59 RUN LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS COSTA Nicolas McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 154 5:01.836 2:11.783
35 95 RUN LMGT3 UNITED AUTOSPORTS PINO Nicolas McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 154 8:52.282 3:56.906
36 27 RUN LMGT3 HEART OF RACING TEAM JAMES Ian Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 154 8.555 26.844
37 85 RUN LMGT3 IRON DAMES BOVY Sarah Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 154 9.973 1.418
38 87 RUN LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM KIMURA Takeshi Lexus RC F LMGT3 154 12.398 2.425
39 31 RUN LMGT3 TEAM WRT FARFUS Augusto BMW M4 LMGT3 154 14.450 2.052
40 78 RUN LMGT3 AKKODIS ASP TEAM ROBIN Arnold Lexus RC F LMGT3 154 18.404 3.954
41 88 RUN LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION RODA Giorgio Ford Mustang LMGT3 153 21 laps 1 lap
42 55 RUN LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE ROVERA Alessio Ferrari 296 LMGT3 153 2:58.961 4.050
43 44 RUN LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION TUCK Ben Ford Mustang LMGT3 153 4:44.873 1:59.172
44 86 RUN LMGT3 GR RACING PERA Riccardo Ferrari 296 LMGT3 153 8:46.142 4:02.224
45 81 RUN LMGT3 TF SPORT ANDRADE Rui Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R 153 5.449 11.260
46 155 RUN LMGT3 SPIRIT OF RACE LAURSEN Conrad Ferrari 296 LMGT3 153 10.777 5.328
47 777 RUN LMGT3 D’STATION RACING SØRENSEN Marco Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 153 15.636 4.859
48 82 OUT LMGT3 TF SPORT KOIZUMI Hiroshi Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R 151 23 laps 2 laps
49 70 RUN LMGT3 INCEPTION RACING MILLROY Ollie McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 150 24 laps 1 lap
50 60 RUN LMGT3 IRON LYNX PERERA Franck Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 142 32 laps 8 laps
51 23 RUN LM P2 P/A UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA HANLEY Benjamin Oreca 07 – Gibson 140 34 laps 2 laps
52 66 STOP LMGT3 JMW MOTORSPORT YOLUC Salih Ferrari 296 LMGT3 112 62 laps 28 laps
53 77 RUN LMGT3 PROTON COMPETITION BARKER Benjamin Ford Mustang LMGT3 100 74 laps 12 laps
54 20 IN Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT VAN DER LINDE Sheldon BMW M HYBRID V8 92 82 laps 8 laps
55 45 Ret LM P2 P/A CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR BRAUN Colin Oreca 07 – Gibson 149 25 laps 0.000
56 30 Ret LM P2 P/A DUQUEINE TEAM SIMMENAUER Jean-Baptiste Oreca 07 – Gibson 112 62 laps 37 laps
57 46 Ret LMGT3 TEAM WRT AL HARTHY Ahmad BMW M4 LMGT3 109 65 laps 3 laps
58 15 STOP Hypercar H BMW M TEAM WRT VANTHOOR Dries BMW M HYBRID V8 102 72 laps 6 laps
59 36 Ret Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM LAPIERRE Nicolas Alpine A424 88 86 laps 14 laps
60 9 STOP LM P2 PROTON COMPETITION RIED Jonas Oreca 07 – Gibson 86 88 laps 1 lap
61 35 STOP Hypercar H ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM HABSBURG Ferdinand Alpine A424 75 99 laps 11 laps
62 54 STOP LMGT3 VISTA AF CORSE FLOHR Thomas Ferrari 296 LMGT3 30 144 laps 45 laps