Kevin Estre (FRA) / Andre Lotterer (GER) / Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) #06 Porsche Penske Motorsport, Porsche 963. June 15, 2024. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 4, Le Mans 24 Hours, Race, Le Mans, France, Saturday.
Laurens Vanthoor of Porsche is currently leading the 24 Hours of Le Mans with only six hours remaining. Vanthoor has managed to gain an advantage over Ryo Hirakawa in the Toyota GR010 – Hrybid #8 car.
Vanthoor and Hirakawa have been engaged in a battle for the past two hours, but their competition was interrupted by another safety car period. Hirakawa initially took the lead after the safety car period, quickly pulling ahead by three seconds in just six minutes.
Unfortunately, Nyck de Vries of the Toyota team faced visibility issues and had to pit from fourth place. The safety car lasted for a long time, causing cars with penalties to finally serve their punishment at daybreak.
Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari #51 was one of the drivers who had to take a penalty while running in seventh place. He dropped to ninth as a result. Meanwhile, Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche 963 was closely trailing Hirakawa by just two and a half seconds.
Nicklas Nielsen in the Ferrari #50 was in third place, approximately 13 seconds behind the leading duo. Robert Kubica was in fourth place, six seconds behind Nielsen, with Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R close behind.
Further back, Jenson Button in the #38 JOTA Porsche and Matt Campbell in the #5 Penske Porsche were engaged in an exciting battle. Campbell eventually made a successful move on the second chicane down the Mulsanne straight.
Hirakawa made a pit stop with seven and a quarter hours remaining. The question was whether to put dry tires on the car since the track was drying. Toyota decided to stick with wet tires as the conditions were not yet dry enough for slicks.
Kubica, the #83 Ferrari, Frederic Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche, and Jenson Button in the #38 machine also opted to stay on wet tires during their pit stops.
Vanthoor, Nielsen, and Lynn also made their pit stops without switching to dry tires. Hirakawa maintained his lead after 17 hours of running, with Vanthoor closing in to within two seconds.
In the LMP2 category, Stephane Richelmi was leading in the #10 Vector Sport Oreca 07 – Gibson, followed by Ben Barnicoat in the #183 AF Corse entry.
Richard Lietz had a comfortable nine-second lead in the LMGT3 field with the #91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT 3 R LMGT3 after 17 hours of running. However, the #92 Manthey Porsche faced technical issues and fell five laps behind the class leader.
Entering the 18th hour, de Vries, who had encountered issues earlier with his widescreen, made a pit stop and became the first Hypercar runner to switch back to slick tires, deviating from the rest of the leading pack.
Meanwhile, Hirawaka, who was leading the race, also decided to pit with six and three-quarter hours remaining, exchanging his wet tires for scrubbed slick tires.
Unfortunately, Felipe Nasr in the #4 Porsche lost control of his 963 prototype and crashed heavily into the barriers.
Following Toyota’s example, all the remaining Hypercars opted to switch to slick tires.
After all the Hypercar competitors had made the switch, Vanthoor found himself with a 20-second lead over Hirakawa and de Vries, who had greatly benefited from his earlier risky move.
At the 17-and-a-half-hour mark, de Vries found himself engaged in a fierce battle with Antonio Fuoco and Robert Shwartzman in the #50 and #83 Ferraris.
However, their battle, along with the rest of the race, was interrupted by the third Safety Car period of the endurance race.
This was triggered by Daniel Mancinelli in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3, who veered off the wet line while approaching Indianapolis in an attempt to avoid the Hypercar traffic. Mancinelli ended up crashing into the barriers and flipping his car onto its roof.
Although the #27 car, which had a chance of reaching the podium, was out of the race, Mancinelli managed to escape the incident unharmed.
As a result of the Safety Car conditions, Fuoco and Shwartzman decided to pit, hoping to gain an advantage. The #83 car managed to leapfrog its counterpart, the #50 Ferrari, in the pit-lane.
There were also pit stops in the LMP2 class, including for Malthe Jakobsen and Richelmi, who were running in second and third place respectively.
Several LMGT3 runners also chose to pit, leading to a reshuffling of the order in all three classes as the field continued to circulate the circuit under caution.
Vanthoor currently leads the race in the #6 Porsche, followed by Hirakawa and Earl Bamber, who recently took over driving duties for the #2 Cadillac.
In fourth place is Mackowiecki in the #5 Porsche, with Shwartzman and Fuoco in fifth and sixth respectively, driving the #83 and #50 Ferraris.
Kamui Kobayashi has assumed driving responsibilities for the #7 Toyota, currently in seventh place, while Norman Nato is running in eighth place in the #12 JOTA Porsche.
Barnicoat remains in the lead in the LMP2 class, ahead of Oliver Jarvis in the #22 United Autosports entry and Patrick Pilet in third place, driving the #10 Vector Sport machine.
Gregoire Saucy has taken the lead in the LMGT3 class, driving the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo, followed by Jack Hawksworth in the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 and Richard Lietz in the #91 Manthey Porsche.