Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was in the lead after 20 hours of racing at the 92nd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Entering the 18th hour, Hiroshi Hamaguchi in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 pulled off a gripping overtake on Michelle Gatting’s #85 Lamborghini Huracan into Mulsanne corner for second place in the category
Most crucially, a third safety car (SC) period was deployed after Daniel Mancinelli and his #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage found themselves upside down and out of the race.
A replay package showed the #27 being cautious towards Hypercar traffic into the Indianapolis corner although his Aston Martin was upset by going onto the damp line – from the heavy rain during the previous night – therefore sent his rear end into the tyre barrier and turned over. He walked away from the incident and an Aston Martin spokesperson confirmed to the media that Mancinelli was released from the medical centre.
After nearly an hour under the SC, and many additional incidents, a thrilling restart saw the group of the top-eight Hypercars fight enthusiastically.
Robert Schwartzman (#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P) was tasked with fending off Antonio Fuoco (#50 Ferrari), whilst Kamui Kobayashi challenged the pair in his #7 Toyota GR10 Hybrid.
Side-by-side action from all three made their battle gripping to watch, although Kobayashi encountered a brief turbo issue which affected his power after Kevin Estre (#6 Porsche Penske) and teammate Sebastien Buemi (#8 Toyota) overtook the Japanese driver, although Buemi then pulled a move on Estre.
The group went down to seven after Pipo Derani (#311) lost his Cadillac V-Series.R and made right-side contact with the barrier.
Although he slowly made it back to the pits, he incurred severe bodywork and suspension damage to lose out on the top level battle with under six hours remaining.
A slow zone deployed for the #311’s debris temporarily paused the top fight and so Frederic Makowiecki got away well ahead of Fuoco and Schwartzman.
Shortly afterwards, Fuoco took third place with a stunningly late and brave move into Indianapolis on Schwartzman, the latter of whom was told to triple-stint his soft tyres.
To his misfortune, Makowiecki was one of the few Hypercars awarded a drive-through penalty for slow zone procedures which dropped him slightly back as a result.
This meant pole-sitter Estre was back at the sharp end, with the help of the #2 Cadillac pitting in the hands of Earl Bamber.
Kobayashi put an immense level of pressure on Estre, though the Porsche Penske driver kept his head ahead to hold the challenging Toyota run on his tail.
However, in doing so, Kobayashi incurred a subtle front-left tyre puncture after it rode the inside of a kerb, though luckily for the Toyota GAZOO Racing team principal, Kobayashi was in the final sector and swiftly pitted in response.
In the class lead was double-IndyCar champion Alex Palau in the #2 Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac, followed by Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, and the sibling Toyota with the #7 at the wheel.
Two Ferrari 499Ps were in fourth and fifth, the #51 of James Calado followed by the #50 driver of Miguel Molina. At least five manufacturers were in the real shout for theoverall win.
In the LMP2 category, Malthe Jakobsen’s quiet yet strong pace in the #37 Cool Racing kept them at the sharp end of the class, but it was Clement Novolak driving for the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca – a team which secured their maiden WEC and Le Mans win at last year’s Centenary event –
It was a tough moment when the podium-contending #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO of Gregoire Saucy stopped on the driver’s left-side in the #59 but continued to the pit box from P5.
Manthey EMA’s #91 Porsche 911 sat narrowly in the lead in the hands of Morris Schuring, as the sole-running BMW in the race – the #31 WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 – continued a great fight in second position owing to Augusto Farfus behind the wheel.
It was an impressive showing so far during the debut of the Lexus RC F LMGT3 in the hands of #87 Le Mans 24 Hours debutant Esteban Masson.
Rahel Frey kept the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 in fourth as they not only seek out their second-ever WEC win after the Bahrain finale last year, but also their first Le Mans win in the new LMGT3 class.
Fifth position was taken by the highest running place for the new Ford Mustang LMGT3 with the #88 Proton machine driven by Dennis Olsen.
