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

With two thirds of Le Mans done, the #12 JOTA Cadillac has consolidated its lead to nearly fifty seconds over Brendan Hartley’s chasing #8 Toyota, with Sheldon Van Der Linde clawing back time in the #20 BMW.

The recovering #7 is back up to fourth after a solid couple of hours of running, with the best placed Ferrari, #51

Aston Martin and Peugeot continued their steady climbs up the order, with the #94 running now in thirteenth and the sister car fourteenth, with the #007 of Tom Gamble running tenth and Marco Sorensen trading places with the #19 Genesis.

As the slowzone for the #62 Mercedes was released Toyota #8 gained in the pits, shaving off a few seconds of time-loss on its pitstop as in also came the #51 that was now up to sixth.

Meanwhile the #83 was then hampered further, and given a drive through penalty for a slow zone infringement. The #101 Cadillac was also given a drive through for a full course yellow infringement, meaning another unnecessary trip to the pits.

The #101 would then receive another drive through penalty, for full course yellow procedure breach.

LMP2

As the #14 TDS Racing waits in the barriers, the #30 of Richard Verschoor leads Nico Muller’s #343 ahead of the sister Inter Europol of Tom Dillmann in the #43.

Fourth is the #9 Proton of Harry King, despite a small excursion at Mulsanne Corner with the #26 of Vector Sport a minute back in fifth.

The Forestier Racing By Panis had a hair-raising moment at the Porsche curves trying to pass the #150 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo and was incredibly luck to have run through the entire gravel trap, but Esteban Masson calmly directed the #29 Oreca 07 back onto the track having lost roughly 5sec.

As part of a flurry of penalties, the #37 of CLX Motorsport was awarded a drive through for a slow zone infringement.

More drama came for the much troubled #3 of DKR Engineering, with a spin for John Farano at the Mulsanne chicane while worse drama was for Dane Cameron aboard the #99 after a lockup at Mulsanne corner sent it into the barriers, losing significant time as the recovery vehicle set about getting the #99 back onto the track.

With Julien Andlauer’s #30 leading ahead of Inter Europol’s #343 and #43, the battle on track was for fourth between the Forestier By Panis #29 and the #26 of Vector Sport, with the latter improving its position without much fight from the #29.

The #183 was given another five second stop and go penalty to be served at its next pitstop, with the #3 losing yet more time thanks to another identical spin. It would then receive another drive through penalty for a slow zone infringement.

The #9 Proton of Harry King had a small excursion at Mulsanne Corner, running fourth and a lap down on the leading #43 of Nick Yelloly.

With Kevin Estre chasing down the class leader Kevin Estre clipped the inside kerb at Indianapolis and slammed into the barriers, bringing out a slowzone right as the hour ticked over. The #14 TDS Racing machine had significant damage to its front in a similar fashion to the earlier incident for the #99.

LMGT3

For the first time in LMGT3, the class leader has a pit stop’s worth of an advantage over the field, with Nicky Catsburg currently enjoying a comfortable advantage in the #33 Corvette of TF Sport. Behind him the best placed #78 Lexus leads Gray Newell’s #23, with the #91 Manthey Porsche in fourth ahead of the sister #27 Aston Martin

Having run strongly all race, the #62 fell the same way as the sister #61 with a puncture bringing further suspension and bodywork damage, marking punctures for all three cars after both #61 and #79 being classified as official retirements.

Once back to the pits the car was brought into the garage with nine and-a-half hours remaining, the culprit a broken suspension arm and the result a six lap deficit lost to the leaders after a lengthy pitstop.

Contact between the battling #87 Lexus and Dustin Blattner’s #74 Ferrari saw the former almost spear off into the barriers at Karting, but both cars held on. The #87 would pick up a drive through, with Clemens Schmid sustaining the penalty

Two hefty penalties then came for contending cars in class, as the #27 Aston Martin and the #74 of Kessel Racing, both placed third and fourth, were awarded drive through penalties.

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