Sebastien Buemi (SUI) / Brendon Hartley (NZL) / Ryo Hirakawa (JPN) #08 Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota GR010, Hybrid. June 15, 2024. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 4, Le Mans 24 Hours, Race, Le Mans, France, Saturday.
In the Le Mans 24 Hours race, Ryo Hirakawa, driving the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, is currently leading after 16 hours of running. The last four hours have been run under the Safety Car due to heavy rain, resulting in no racing action. As the 16th hour came to a close, the conditions improved and the Safety Car intervention allowed for merging and pass-around phases. Drivers have been moving at a slow pace, only making pit-stops for driver changes. Behind Hirakawa is Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Penske Porsche 963 in second place, with Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P in third. Nyck de Vries is fourth in the second Toyota, and Robert Kubica is fifth in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Surprisingly, 11 Hypercars are still on the lead lap, setting the stage for an intense eight-hour sprint once the Safety Car pass around is completed.
In the LMP2 category, Ben Barnicoat in the #183 Corse Oreca 07-Gibson is leading, with six cars remaining on the lead lap. Bijoy Garg is in second place in the #22 United Autosports entry, followed by Stephane Richelmi in the #10 Vector Sport car in third. Malthe Jakobsen of Cool Racing is in fourth place in the #37 machine, and Vladislav Lomko is fifth in the #34 Inter Europol machine. In the LMGT3 class, 11 cars are on the lead lap, and a Manthey Porsche one-two is leading the way as the race returns to green flag conditions. Klaus Bachler is leading in the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Richard Lietz in the #91 car in second place. Hiroshi Hamaguchi is in third place driving the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo.