Julien Andlauer retained the lead at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 24 Hours of Le Mans following two hours of exhilarating racing.
Porsche Penske, having taken the upper hand on JOTA Cadillac, held the leading position in the Hypercar category.
Andlauer continued at the front ahead of #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P driver Nicklas Nielsen and Kevin Estre, who started at the back of the class only a couple of hours prior, holding first and third for the Porsche Penske effort.
The race entered the second racing hour with the great intensity from the opening hour continuing.
Estre’s mighty charge forward continued at the wheel of the #6 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar, which started in last place, having wrestled past Jack Aitken’s #311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
Another key player was Phil Hanson’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, having fought with Frederick Makowiecki’s #36 Alpine A424 and Mike Conway’s #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Unfortunately, Conway was slightly hampered during his pit stop when he was forced to enter his box at an angle, although he continued to fight within the midfield.
Alpine’s pair of #35 and #36 A424s were both under investigation for pitlane speeding, a predicament that penalised both – the #36 a 20-second stop and go penalty and the #35 with five seconds.
Nevertheless, Makowiecki continued a fierce charge despite being further down the 21-strong Hypercar field.
Beyond third place, Jack Aitken ran in P4 as the highest-placed Cadillac, at the wheel of the #311 Whelen Cadillac, ahead of the #12 JOTA Cadillac (Will Stevens) and the #38 entrant (Earl Bamber).
Sebastien Buemi of the #8 Toyota chased down Bamber before the #38 car pitted, with Rene Rast’s #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid in ninth as Phil Hanson rounded out the top 10.
Inter Europol looks strong in LMP2
The Centenary Le Mans LMP2-winning outfit ran in the lead of the LMP2 category with Tom Dillmann having fronted a strong effort after Mathias Beche (#29 TDS Racing Oreca 07) held an early, notable lead gap.
Before the #11 Proton Competition Oreca pitted, it held second ahead of Patrick Pillet’s #16 RLR M Sport Oreca, as Franck Perera in the #48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca was third.
IDEC Sport’s #28 ran fifth with Paul Lafargue at the wheel.
In LMGT3, after an intense opening two hours, the attention fell towards giving the FIA Bronze-graded drivers a chance to eat away their drive time.
Stefano Gattuso raced in the class lead in the #88 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 with a substantial gap on Derek Deboer’s #10 Racing Spirit of LeMan’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 Evo.
Proton’s other Mustang, the #77, ran in third with Bernardo Soasa at the wheel.
The #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo ran fourth, with Kelvin van der Linde having given the driving duties over to Ahmad Al Harthy.
Akkodis ASP’s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3, which started eighth and ran impressively with Jack Hawksworth having charged to the lead, rounded out the top-five positions.
READ MORE – Porsche’s Julien Andlauer leads Le Mans with an hour gone
