The Grand Prix of Endurance is back, the City of Le Mans preparing to become motorsport’s ultimate battleground for the 94th time. Having defeated the defacto Kings of Le Mans and banished Porsche to the USA, Ferrari seek a fourth consecutive crown for the first time since 1964. Yet with the field having closed the performance gap and arriving hungrier than ever, it will be no easy task for the Scuderia – but it never has. Who will emerge from the Porsche curves at 4.00pm on Sunday? It’s time for the oldest endurance test of them all to begin… 

Hypercar

As one BMW chases down the race leading #38 Cadillac, the pole-sitting #15 has had the first major drama of the top class at Le Mans. After contact with DKR Engineering’s #3 LMP2 machine the right rear tyre subsequently detached itself from the car, also giving big rear bodywork damage that’s effectively ruined the #15’s chances of redemption.

Up front, the #20 still runs second to the leading #38 as Cadillac and BMW continue their battle for the lead, with Ryo Hirakawa’s #8 Toyota still keeping both honest from third place.

The hour began with a lead change, as Jack Aitken caught and repassed Sheldon Van Der Linde after the previous round of stops, the #38 surpassing the #20 and with the sister JOTA #12 entry sitting third just 30sec back Cadillac looked to be in a strong place just four and a half hours into the race.

That lead battle continued as the defending racewinners #83 slowly moved back up the order, leapfrogging the Alpine #36 as it knocked on the door of the top ten, battling with the delayed #7 Toyota as all three charged hard to make up time.

Up front as Robin Frijns took over the leading #20 BMW the battle behind and closing was the #8, with both JOTA Cadillacs behind, #38 with Sebastian Boudais at the helm ahead of the sister #12 entry with the #36 Alpine still fifth. Further down the #7 was continuing its recovery, now fighting for eighth with the #101 Wayne Taylor-run Cadillac and making his move with 18 and a half hours to go.

Genesis had fallen back to thirteenth and fifteenth respectively, #17 ahead of #19 while Peugeot and Aston Martin remained squarely and the foot of the Hypercar category. The #38 also had a hair-raising brake pedal lengthening in the Porsche curves, managing to keep the car in a straight line but violating the race director instructions in going straight across the gravel trap. It would avoid a penalty.

LMP2

With quarter distance done in LMP2 the race lead has stayed largely unchanged, with Duqueine Team’s #30 leading the way ahead of Forestier Racing by Panis’s #29, with the slowly improving #37 of CLX Motorsport in third. Fourth is Valerio Rinicella’s #28 IDEC Sport entry, with the Vector Sport #26 up into sixth with Vladislav Lomko piloting the car.

The #24 Nielsen had a small spin at the Dunlop hairpin, dropping it to eighth with Edward Pearson at the helm of the entry, while minutes later John Farano spun the already delayed #3 of DKR Engineering at the first Mulsanne chicane, avoiding the barriers but losing yet more time.

Having led much of the race the #28 IDEC Sport pitted earlier than the rest of the class, with Doriane Pin still leading in the #30 ahead of Ollie Gray’s #29 and the #37 of Theodore Jensen and CLX Motorsport.

The #183 Pro/Am AF Corse entry of Francois Perrodo then came unstuck at the Porsche curves, after contact while attempting to pass the #79 Mercedes. It dropped to 14th after a pitstop.

With the top three unchanged both Inter Europol cars, #43 leading the Pro/Am #343 in fifth and sixth places respectively continued to strengthen their position in the race.

LMGT3

In LMGT3 meanwhile Lexus have returned to the front of the pack with a 1-2 lead, the #87 this time ahead of #78 by just four seconds in what’s been an incredibly close race thus far. Third is the Heart of Racing #27 with Ian James at the wheel, ahead of fellow Englishman James Cottingham in the #91 Porsche. Fifth is currently Parker Thompson’s BMW.

At the top of the fourth hour Lexus led 1-2, with Jose Maria Lopez bringing his #87 Lexus, and right out in front of the #27 Aston Martin and James Cottingham’s #91 Porsche, a battle for second emerging with 19 and a half hours left to go.

With the #78 finally pitting Lopez would be in a battle with the #27 for the lead of the class, with Cottingham’s falling 10sec back and the sister #23 Aston Martin running fourth with Eduardo Barichello right behind the Englishman’s Porsche. Francois Heriau was fourth in the #21 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

Further back the BMW pairing had dropped down the order considerably since the last round of stops, as the fifth hour approached they were both running outside the top ten, with the #69 in tenth and the #32 of Darren Leung now 14th.

The #61 then suffered yet more suspension damage, again with Martin Berry at the helm as a tyre blew on the exit of Indianapolis. Five hours in and with the damage compounded by Berry’s earlier spin at Tetre Rouge, the car’s race was over. Thus, the first retirement of the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours was to be a Mercedes. The #13 stayed in the garage with the door down after contact with an LMP2 saw its sensors damaged, and it would eventually retire around an hour later.

Up front, Lexus ran 1-2 with Lopez’s 87 leading the sister #78 of Hadrien David with Zacharie Robichon giving chase in the #27 Aston, Cottingham’s #91 now down to fifth just before the pitstops.

image credit: T GOUREAU, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons