#8 Toyota GR010 – Hyrbid driver Ryo Hirakawa leads the 24 Hours of Le Mans after 16 hours of running with the last four hours run under the Safety Car.
Due to heavy rain, the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been neutralised for several hours under Safety Car conditions.
The net result is that there has been no racing action effectively as the night faded and day broke at the Circuit de La Sarthe.
However, with the conditions calming as the 16th hour drew to a close, the merging and pass-around phases of the Safety Car intervention commenced.
The last four hours have seen drivers tour at a snail’s pace, with pit-stops only needed for driver changes.
Behind Hirakawa is second-placed Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Penske Porsche 963 with Nicklas Nielsen third in the #50 Ferrari 499P.
Nyck de Vries is fourth in the second Toyota with Robert Kubica rounding out the top five in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Remarkably, and perhaps helped by the lengthy safety car, 11 Hypercars remain on the lead lap which effectively means an eight-hour Le Mans ‘sprint’ will play out once the Safety Car pass around is complete.
In LMP2, the #183 Corse Oreca 07-Gibson of Ben Barnicoat leads and six cars remain on the lead lap.
Bijoy Garg is second in the #22 United Autosports entry, ahead of third-placed Stephane Richelmi in the #10 Vector Sport car.
Cool Racing’s Malthe Jakobsen is fourth in the #37 machine, with Vladislav Lomko fifth in the #34 Inter Europol machine.
11 cars are on the lead lap in LMGT3 ahead of the return to green flag conditions with a Manthey Porsche one-two leading the class.
AKlaus Bachler leads in the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R ahead of Richard Lietz in the #91 car.
Hiroshi Hamaguchi is third in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo.
