24 Hours of Le Mans – H+8: Peugeot takes the lead in the face of misfortune for others
There have been more twists and turns in this race. Many drivers were caught off guard by the return of the rain. Several cars suffered damages. The Porsche 75 had to retire. The Peugeot 94 took the lead again, while Ferrari, Porsche, and Toyota encountered some setbacks.
The rain has made its return! Starting from the beginning of the sixth hour of the race, from the Dunlop curve, the chicane, all the way to the Hunaudières, the track was soaked! The raindrops trapped a GTE-AM Porsche in the Dunlop curve. A trip through the gravel and off it went again.
Only one Ferrari stopped to change to grooved tires. The Peugeots immediately dived into the pits to do the same. The Cadillacs followed suit. After a challenging lap, the second Ferrari eventually chose the same option.
Parking and Collisions in Indianapolis
Despite these tires, the off-track incidents accumulated at the S-turn of the karting track. A Ferrari, a Porsche, a Toyota, and several GT cars skidded into the gravel and some collided with the wall. All these incidents benefited the Peugeot 94, which found itself propelled into second place.
In Indianapolis, the escape route turned into a backup parking lot. Three LMP2 cars got caught. The Racing Team Turkish’s car even collided with the stationary Prema number 9. The left rear suspension suffered damage. The car, which was in second place in its category, had to return to the garage.
“We have rarely seen so many racing incidents in all categories,” exclaimed Philippe Sinault, the Team Principal of Alpine, surprised.
Porsche loses a car
Difficult conditions benefited Loïc Duval: the French driver in Peugeot No.94 was driving 15 seconds faster than the leading Ferrari No.51. The Hunaudières straight was completely wet, visibility was almost zero. The cars kept making mistakes. Numerous cars encountered the gravel in this section.
Finally, the Peugeot ended up losing ground. Alessandro Pier Guidi’s red car took the lead. The Toyotas were closing in on Loïc Duval. The Porsche Penske number 75 was the most comfortable. On board, Matthieu Jaminet was the fastest driver on the track.
At 10:46 PM, another twist. Again! Matthieu Jaminet, in the Porsche 75, was stopped at Tertre Rouge. After several minutes, the Stuttgart Hypercar eventually restarted, but at a slow pace. The German team finally made the decision to withdraw the car from the race.
Yes, the Vanwall is indeed participating in Le Mans.
An hour after the start of the rain, she finally decided to leave. The track, dry enough, allowed the teams to switch back to slick tires. With these tire choices, the Scuderia was the fastest, increasing its lead at the front of the race.
Discreet since the beginning of these 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Vanwall finally made itself noticed. Shortly before midnight, Esteban Guerrieri spun out in the Forest esses and ended up in the gravel.
At 11:55 PM, another upset occurred. At the front, the Ferrari 51 went off track into the gravel in the Hunaudières corner. Peugeot took advantage of this to regain the lead of the race. Behind them, the Toyota 7 and Ferrari 66 collided. The JMW Motorsport car took off. The Toyota was slowing down in the Hunaudières corner. The race was under Full Safety Yellow conditions. The Alpine 53 also suffered damage and was involved in this crash.
At the time of writing these lines, the Toyota No. 7 was heading back to the pits at a slow pace.
