24 Hours of Le Mans – H+14: Toyota maintains its course
The night has been much quieter over these 24 hours of Le Mans. Toyota and Ferrari continue to battle closely for the overall lead, far ahead of the rest of the field.
After the halfway point, Peugeot’s hopes of a podium finish (or even better) were dashed by Gustavo Menezes’ (No. 94) off-track excursion. The battle would then unfold between Ferrari No. 51 and Toyota No. 8.
In LMP2, Neel Jani (No.30) was leading the race ahead of Louis Delétraz’s WRT No.41. Meanwhile, Alpine was continuing its comeback with No.36: Charles Milesi took over from Julien Canal and was in 8th place at 4:15 in the morning. No.35, on the other hand, was in 12th position.
The battle in GTE-Am was also intense, as the Project One Porsche was leading the Kessel Racing Porsche by only three seconds.
At the top of the overall standings, James Callado’s Ferrari N°51 has relinquished the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to Toyota N°8, which only had to wait for its turn to take over. The Cadillac N°2, on the other hand, was following the leaders at a distance, in third place.
On the French side, the best Peugeot was Paul di Resta’s car number 93, finishing in 6th position. Car number 94, unfortunate at the Daytona chicane, was gradually making its way up the LMP2 cars ahead of it, driven by Gustavo Menezes.
The two leading cars continued to play cat and mouse: both the Toyota and the Ferrari were closely matched, as each stopped at the pits at the same time. Richard Westbrook’s Cadillac No. 2 took advantage of this and regained the lead, maintaining a very interesting pace (averaging 3 minutes and 30 seconds).
A wiser night
Contrary to the first part of the event, the night did not bring about any major twists. The Toyota still maintained its slight lead of approximately seven seconds over the Ferrari No. 51 at 5:23 am. In the LMP2 category, however, the Inter Europol No. 34 was leading the race with Albert Costa at the wheel, while Kessel Racing (Ferrari No. 57) took over from Project One in the GTE-Am class.
The Nascar N°24, for its part, continued on its way: at 5:30 am, Jenson Button was behind the first two GTs and was gaining four seconds per lap. So far, the Chevrolet Camaro has not encountered any major mishaps.
At the front of the general classification, the two leading cars were closely matched and pulling away from the rest of the (prestigious) field. Antonio Giovinazzi, in car number 51, found his rhythm and closed in on the heels of Sébastien Buemi and his Toyota.
The gap has reduced to just over three seconds. A completely unprecedented gap in recent years, even between the two Toyota cars when they were the only factory machines involved.
Corvette No. 33 spun out at the Dunlop chicane while attempting to overtake the Kessel Racing Ferrari No. 57. The American team has probably used up their last chance to win again at Le Mans.
At 5:46 a.m., the Aston Martin No. 777 from D Station Racing was stopped between Mulsanne and Indianapolis. This car has certainly experienced many setbacks, if we remember its big crash during free practice.
And then, at 6 o’clock, a new slow zone was declared, after the huge crash of a Porsche GTE-Am at the exit of Indianapolis. Will this disrupt the race?
