24 Hours of Le Mans – H+2: Damage on all fronts

Stressful! While the blue, white, and red flag had not yet been lowered, there was stress on the starting grid. The Hunaudières straight was soaked, while the rest of the track was almost dry. During the warm-up lap, one car wasn’t running: the Glickenhaus 708. It was stuck in the pits due to a gearbox issue.

The first corners were tricky. At the first chicane of the Huanaudières straight line, many cars had to take the escape route. Jack Aitken’s Cadillac 311 violently crashed into the barriers at the exit of the turn. The British driver, on three wheels, miraculously managed to make it back to his pit.

Ferrari loses leadership

The Ferraris did not take advantage of their advantage on the grid. The number 51 lost two positions and the number 50 was overtaken before the Indianapolis corner, in the first lap.

Car number 32 went for a ride in the gravel. All these incidents required the intervention of the safety car. The number 43 car from DKR Engineering, which had a problem when starting, stayed in the pits for a very long time. The mechanics worked on the LMP2’s starter.

At the restart, the second Ferrari was overtaken, at the same turn as the number 50, by Mike Conway’s Toyota. After a long battle, Nicklas Nielsen forcefully reclaimed his position in front of the Scuderia’s car. This battle benefitted the three Porsches, who closed the gap to this small group.

Major accidents in LMP2…

One lap later, the number 51 regained the advantage over the Toyota. Behind, the Porsche 75 moved ahead of the number 7 Toyota. After the first round of pit stops, there was a battle on all sides. Ferrari and Cadillac were fighting to take the lead. The American team also had work to do in the pits after Jack Aitken’s mistake. The British driver from Action Express Racing returned to the track with a 14-lap deficit.

After 1 hour and 30 minutes of racing, the #14 Nielsen Racing car crashed into the tire barrier very violently at the exit of the Dunlop chicane. The front of the car was completely destroyed, and the right front wheel disconnected from the rest of the LMP2.

…And in GTE

A few minutes later, the Tower Racing 13 also ended up in the barrier, shortly after the Tertre Rouge. The car, completely destroyed, had to retire. The AF Corse’s Ferrari 21 in the GTE-AM category collided with Sébastien Bourdais’ Cadillac. The American car was able to continue with some damage, while the Italian car had its front end destroyed. This was the third car to call it quits. The Aston Martin 55, also involved, retired as well.

After two hours, Earl Bamber’s Cadillac was in the lead, ahead of the Porsche Penske. But they had only made one stop. The Toyota number 8 was in fourth place, with two stops.