James Calado is leading Le Mans for Ferrari, with the Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa just 12 seconds behind, as daylight breaks at Le Mans and ‘Happy Hour’ is well underway for drivers and teams.
Calado, in the #51 Ferrari 499P, has just climbed into the car int the last half an hour or so. Before that, his teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi chased down Hirakawa, closing a 20 second plus gap to just a few tenths by the time both pitted on the same lap.
Ferrari’s quick pitstop work then enabled them to take the lead, with Toyota needing to change the #8 GR010 Hybrid’s nose, as the car hit “something”, according to the team, possibly debris or maybe a squirrel, earlier in the stint. Toyota confirmed that the subsequent damage, plus a slow right rear puncture, was the reason Pier Guidi was able to catch the Japanese driver.
However, Calado is still managing to pull out the gap to Hirakawa, by a at least a few tenths every lap.
In third is the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn, who recently replaced Earl Bamber at the wheel of the car. Lynn is over 2 minutes behind Calado, but most importantly is still on the lead lap.
The first car not on the lead lap is Sebastien Bourdais in the sister #3 Cadillac, a further two minutes behind Lynn. In fifth is Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche 963, with the leading Peugeot the #93 Peugeot 98 of Mikkel Jensen in sixth, two laps down to Calado.
In LMP2, Fabio Scherer is leading the class in the #34 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson, holding a 50 second lead to Robert Kubica, behind the wheel of the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson. bRene Binder is third in class, a further x seconds behind, in the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca 07-Gibson.
GTE-Am is led by Takeshi Kimura in the #57 Kessewl Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. He has a 3 minute lead to Michelle Gatting in the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, while the #56 Project 1 AO ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 RSR-19 is third, wuth Matteo Cairoli driving.
The Innovative Car, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup Car, is 30th overall, splitting Gatting and Cairoli in GTE-Am, with Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel.
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