Dramas for Ferrari and Toyota in the night!

Toyota pit stop under yellow

The crash of the Prema-Oreca with Kwjat at the wheel prompted what is known as a full-course yellow. In this caution phase (without safety car), the leading #8 Toyota comes straight into the pits to bring forward its next routine stop a little.

This puts the #94 Peugeot back in the lead, but it has significantly less fuel in the tank than the Toyota, which is already full again.

Crash by Daniil Kvyat

In the Porsche curves, Daniil Kwjat in the Prema-Oreca #63 (Pin/Bortolotti/Kwjat) crashed. The car is relatively badly damaged. That should be the end for him, Dorina Pin and Mirko Bortolotti. Hands are already being shaken in the Prema pits – just like before in the Toyota pits when the number 7 car retired.

Porsche #5 in the pits with a leaking radiator

The #5 Porsche (Cameron/Christensen/Makowiecki) is pushed backwards into the pits to fix a suspected radiator leak. It is anything but the first setback for Porsche in this race.

Collision in the LMP2 field

A collision in the LMP2 field throws Jota-Oreca #28 (Heinemeier Hansson/Fittipaldi/Rasmussen), who was initially in the lead, into the gravel bed. The car Pietro Fittipaldi clashed with was apparently the Cool-Oreca #47 (de Gerus/Lomko/Pagenaud).

Toyota takes the lead from Peugeot

Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 Toyota took over the lead from Nico Müller in the #94 Peugeot right on the lap after the restart. Almost at the same time, the two Ferraris passed Alex Lynn’s Cadillac #2 and are now in third and fourth place.

Ferrari chasing the top 3

The two Ferrari 499P restarted in fourth and fifth position. This means that the damage, especially for the car with starting number 51, is limited. Alessandro Pier Guidi may have lost the lead since his ride, but with direct contact with the top 4 everything is still possible.

Restart: Peugeot loses a big lead

The Peugeot #94 (Duval/Menezes/Müller), which took the lead when the Ferrari #51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) took off, lost a lead of almost a lap “thanks” to the safety car phase.

Second behind the Peugeot is the #8 Toyota (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa), which is now close at hand. Third is the blue Cadillac (car number 2 with Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook).

The WRT Oreca #41 (Andrade/Kubica/Deletraz) is currently leading in the LMP2 class. In the GTE class, the all-female Iron Lynx Porsche #85 (Bovy/Gatting/Frey) is right at the front.

Safety car phase is coming to an end

As soon as the entire field of cars still in the race has been sorted, you can continue. It shouldn’t be much longer.

After 9/24 hours: What has happened so far

– Toyota #8 storms past the Ferraris to the lead on the opening lap
– 40-minute safety car after Jack Aitken’s accident in Action Express Cadillac #311 (Derani/Sims/Aitken)
– Cadillac #3 (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon) is hit by GTE car
– Rain causes chaos and many departures and washes Peugeot #94 (Duval/Menezes/Müller) to the top
– Jean-Eric Vergne (Peugeot #93) spins into the gravel bed behind the safety car
– Tire damage on Porsche #6, penalty against Porsche #5 for overtaking under the safety car
– Heavy departure of the leading Jota-Porsche #38 (Felix da Costa/Stevens/Ye)
– Ferrari double lead in the evening
– Rain at nightfall
– Pit stops confuse order
– Alessandro Pier Guidi (Ferrari #51) storms away from the field
– Porsche #75 is defective
– Vanwall #4 is broken
– Alessandro Pier Guidi (Ferrari #51) spun into the gravel bed while in the lead
– Multi-car crash tears Toyota #7 (Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez) out of the race

Who has won so far

As the safety car period continues, time for a look at history. In this photo series we have compiled all the overall winners of the 24h Le Mans since the first edition exactly 100 years ago:

Not one, but three safety cars

Incidentally, the current safety car phase is not led by a single safety car, but as in previous years at Le Mans, this time by three safety cars, which were dispatched to the track at fixed intervals. In the run-up to the race, there had been polarizing opinions about the introduction of a single safety car.

safety car phase

In order to be able to clear the track after the four-car crash, the safety car came out and caught the field.

Out for the Toyota!

People are already shaking hands in the Toyota box – not with joy, but with the certainty that the confusing crash in Tertre Rouge means the end for the GR010 Hybrid with starting number 7. Kaumi Kobayashi was driving at the time of the accident.

Crash with Toyota!

Now also one of the Toyota in Trouble! There was a crash involving several cars in the Tertre Rouge section. It’s the beginning of a slow zone that apparently hasn’t been noticed by everyone.

One of the cars is the Toyota #7 (Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez), another is the JMW-Ferrari #66 (Neubauer/Prette/Petrobelli) from the GTE class, another is the Alpine-Oreca #35 (Negrao/Rojas/ Caldwell) from the LMP2 class, the Graff-Oreca #39 (Lacorte/van der Garde/Pilet) from the LMP2 and also the Walkenhorst-Ferrari #100 (Hull/Haryanto/Segal) from the GTE.

Peugeot in the lead

Because the hours-leading Ferrari is in the gravel, Peugeot has now taken the lead. The 9X8 with starting number 94 (Duval/Menezes/Müller) leads the race at the brand’s home race.

Leader in the gravel!

Alessandro Pier Guidi sank the leading Ferrari #51 in the gravel bed! It was a spin in one of the chicanes, on the lap right after a pit stop. Another round of routine stops is under way, but the follow-up didn’t go to plan for Ferrari!