24 Hours of Le Mans – Saturday, 6:30 PM: The Porsche-Audi duel continues, Duval crashes
After 3 hours and 30 minutes of racing, the Porsche trio still leads the way at Le Mans. Audi follows very closely: the duel between the German teams is living up to expectations so far. Loïc Duval, in the No. 8 Audi, had a rather severe off-track excursion but was fortunately able to resume the race.
The rolling start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans confirmed the supremacy of Porsche, with Neel Jani, who took pole position, nevertheless relinquishing first place to his teammate Timo Bernhard.
After 3 hours and 30 minutes of racing, it was still the Porsche No. 17, now driven by Brendon Hartley, that was leading at Le Mans. The two Porsches followed, currently ensuring a solid result for the German manufacturer.
However, the Audi threat is still more than palpable. Andre Lotterer even led the proceedings during the first two hours, thanks to a sumptuous double overtaking maneuver on the two leading Porsches. Will Audi make the difference due to its consistency and strategic expertise, especially with rain (possibly) expected on Sunday?
At 6:30 PM, the race was still under the safety car regime: the marshals were repairing a safety barrier after Loïc Duval’s accident. Indeed, the French driver, in his Audi, had an off-track excursion while trying to overtake a backmarker from a lower category, following the implementation of a slow zone near Indianapolis. Loïc Duval lost control of his Audi, skidded, and eventually hit the barrier almost head-on.
Very impressively, he was able to return to his pit and make way for Lucas Di Grassi after a short repair, while the Brazilian was overtaken by the Toyotas, which were not very fast this weekend.
In the LMP2 category, it is still the Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre who is currently the fastest. He is followed by the Nissan Oreca 05 No. 46 driven by Ludovic Badey.
In GTE Pro, the Aston Martin Vantage V8 No. 99 easily dominates the discussions. In GTE Amateurs, it’s the same model that is also in the lead, that of car No. 98 of Paul Dalla Lana.
