Antonio Fuoco of the #50 Ferrari 499P held the lead at the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 24 Hours of Le Mans after four hours of racing.
With the Ferraris asserting pace, 2024 race winner Fuoco ran in the lead of the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours.
The #6 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar, which started 21st, ran in second with Laurens Vanthoor after he fought with the #83 privateer-funded Ferrari of Robert Kubica, who was third.
AF Corse’s #51 held third in the hands of Antonio Giovinazzi, with the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Robin Frijns rounding out the top five.
As the third racing hour turned, Kubica asserted a cunning move into the Indianapolis Corner on the #311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R driver Felipe Drugovich, before pitting.
The main battle intensified when Fuoco, tasked with extending his lead, had Giovinazzi and #5 Porsche Penske’s Mathieu Jaminet wrestling behind, using the slipstream to keep within close quarters of each other.
Toyota GAZOO Racing team principal and #7 GR010 driver Kamui Kobayashi turned on the pace, albeit further down outside the top 10, before suffering a notable front-right lock-up into Mulsanne Corner.
As a result, he nursed a flat spot along with having overshot the corner, thus forcing him to take the full roundabout situated there.
After a brief full-course-yellow deployed for circuit debris, Alpine suffered further challenges with a drive-through penalty for the #36 A424 and five seconds added to the next pit stop of the #35 A424 for pit lane speed violations – the second time both cars have undertaken these penalties.
Jaminet also served a drive-through for slow zone procedures, from the third position.
Inter Europol front LMP2, AF Corse in LMGT3
The slow zone was the result of #8 Proton Ford Mustang LMGT3 driver Giammarco Levorato losing his left-rear wheel before contact with the tyre barrier at Tertre Rouge.
The lead fight settled in the LMP2 category with Inter Europol’s #43 Oreca 07 still in the lead after doing so at the second hour.
However, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Mathias Kaiser outbraked himself into the #16 RLR M Sport of Michael Jensen, thus causing left front damage on the #25.
Jakub Smiechowski fronted the fight ahead of Franck Perera’s #48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca in second and third, followed by the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton Oreca of Maceo Capietto and #28 IDEC Sport Oreca driver Paul Lafargue.
Dane Cameron headed the charge in fifth for AO by TF’s #199 ‘Spike the Dragon’ Oreca 07.
Meanwhile, in LMGT3, Alessio Rovera led for AF Corse at the fourth racing hour in the #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 ahead of nine-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi’s #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
Five-time Le Mans class winner and reigning winner from last year, Richard Lietz, was third in the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 LMGT3.R ahead of Sarah Bovy’s #85 Iron Dames Manthey-run Porsche and Finn Gehrsitz’s #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3.
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