24 Hours of Le Mans – Race H + 12: A solid race from Aston Martin, Porsche and Ferrari take turns in the lead
Despite a performance level below that of the other hypercars, the Aston Martins are far from ridiculous. Their performance is much better than Isotta Fraschini's last year.
A festival of punctures. The Porsche #6 was affected by this issue. The Ferrari #51 as well. But the German car was still able to take advantage of this situation to overtake the two official cars. And when the #83 was in the pits, it regained the lead of the race.
The field was extremely tight. At two in the morning, the Aston Martins were not completely outdistanced. They were only one lap behind the leaders. The pace on the track was very good despite a lower level of performance compared to the competitors.
The Peugeot #93 spent a good amount of time in the pits, just like the Cadillac #311, which was affected by a technical issue. The American brand replaced the flywheel and the electronic control unit of the Hypercar after a problem was detected by Fred Vesti.
A rare occurrence at Le Mans, no safety car was deployed during the first ten hours of the race. Only a slow zone slightly disrupted the running. In the Hypercar category, twelve cars were on the same lap at two o’clock in the morning.
Well positioned for victory in the GT3 category, the #46 BMW from WRT went off track at the entrance of the Porsche corners. The car ended up in the gravel without any damage. A slow zone was deployed to clear it. A full course yellow was initiated, but the procedure didn’t last.
At 2:47, 176 laps had been completed. If the second half of the race isn’t disrupted by various problems, the drivers could complete 395 laps, two short of the record. But the crash of the #24 Nielsen Racing at Tertre Rouge changed everything. The LMP2 crashed into the tires. The first safety car was deployed.
At the same time, the fifth retirement of the race was recorded: the BMW #46. It fell victim to an electrical problem.
