James Calado has a narrow lead in the #51 Ferrari 499P after 20 hours of racing in the 91st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the 19th hour of the race, the #51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi pitted with a minute-long lead over the #8 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid of Sebastian Buemi. But the lead was eroded when Pier Guidi couldn’t get the #51 Ferrari going again. Alessandro Pier Guidi had to perform a full power cycle to get going again, and emerged 5.8 seconds behind Buemi.
However, it wasn’t long until Pier Guidi was able to retake the lead, capitalising on the Mulsanne straight when Buemi was held up by the #100 Walkenhorst Ferrari GTE-Am machine at the first chicane. The #51 Ferrari was able to extend its lead to beyond five seconds heading into the next cycle of pit stops, and to the relief of the Scuderia, the issue that befell their previous stop didn’t reoccur, and Pier Guidi held its lead against the #8 Toyota, which now has Brendon Hartley at the wheel.
Calado has now inherited the #51 Ferrari and leads by just under five seconds. Hartley remains in second place in the #8 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid. In third is Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, with the sister #3 Cadillac of Renger Van Der Zande two laps off the lead in fourth. The top five is completed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 piloted by Jean-Eric Vergne, three laps down on the leaders.
Amidst the drama at the front, the #38 Jota Porsche 963 with Antonio Felix Da Costa at the wheel found the wall at the exit of Indianapolis. The incident triggered a slow zone and prompted the Jota squad to replace the nose on their customer 963 machine.
Benefiting from the slow zone was LMP2 leader Fabio Scherer in the #34 Inter Europol, who gained around a minute when Louis Delétraz in the #41 WRT entry had to make an extra run through the slow zone. The top three in LMP2 is rounded out by Laurents Hörr in the #48 Idec Sport car.
The fight for the lead in GTE-Am continues to be an enthralling spectacle. Sarah Bovey leads in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR ahead of Michael Dinan in the #25 Ort By TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR machine. Third in GTE-Am belongs to the #33 Corvette of C8.R of Nicolas Varrone.
Michael Fassbender has crashed out of GTE-Am in his #911 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR with a hard hit against the wall at the Porsche Curves after an excessive bout of oversteer. The car was recovered to the pits, but it won’t be a Hollywood ending for the Proton crew, as the #911 car’s race is done.
The Garage 56 Nascar entry continues to impress. The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 currently lies 34th overall with Jenson Button at the wheel.
With four hours remaining, work continues to fix the barriers damaged by Fassbender’s Porsche and overall victory in Le Mans’ centenary race is far from being decided. Will Ferrari claim their first overall win since 1965, or will it be six in a row for Toyota?
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