24h Le Mans
It all comes down to this. With the final four hours remaining, the front four cars are separated by just eight seconds. Cadillac leads despite being caught out by a Full Course Yellow, BMW has a rapid race car underneath them, while Toyota has cycled both of its entries into the top three. It's going to be a dogfight to the finish.
We've made it to lunchtime – it's 12:00 local time and we're into the final countdown. How are you holding up?
With four hours remaining, the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the most open in recent years, with just 10 seconds covering the top four. Barring any catastrophic events it will be either BMW, Cadillac or Toyota. But we all know Le Mans, don't we? The race has a habit of choosing its own winners. Who will it be?
Elsewhere, there have been some major casualties. Let's take a quick recap.
A poorly timed Full Course Yellow dented the advantage held by the #12 Cadillac at the head of the field, since our last update. The Hertz Team JOTA entry was due a routine pit stop, but was caught speeding under FCY - resulting in a drive-through penalty and then come in for fuel – and that's exactly what the American marque had to do.
It then had to make an additional pit stop, compromising its overall strategy and bringing three other cars into the fight.
First, the BMW scampered past. Then, with six and a half hours remaining, the #8 Toyota appeared in the Cadillac's rear view.
After struggling for traction out of some of the slower corners on the 13.626km Circuit de la Sarthe, Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota lined up a move on the Cadillac through the kinks and completed the pass just before the pair hurtled into Indianapolis, while simultaneously working their way past an LMP2 car. Hartley could smell blood – this race wasn't over yet for the Japanese team.
When the #8 came into the pits, the Kiwi handed over to Ryō Hirakawa, but the front-left corner was inspected by the mechanics while the wheel and tyre were removed.
The same area was checked again at the following pit stop. The additional inspection time while stationary dropped the #8 into the clutches of the sister #7 Toyota, which eventually slipped past during the pit-stop sequence when both cars stopped together.
Once the team was satisfied with the condition of the #8, both red-and-white machines returned to the track and found themselves within touching distance of the BMW and Cadillac ahead, aided by a subsequent Safety Car period - which bunched the entire field back up again.
Kamui Kobayashi, the two-time event winner now at the wheel of the #7 TR010 Hybrid, sensed an opportunity. Within four laps of the Safety Car returning to the pits, he had caught the Cadillac and was sitting on the Detroit machine's gearbox, setting the fastest lap on lap 303 in the process.
The #20 BMW, driven by Robin Frijns, initially scampered away. However, entering the pits, the Dutchman pushed too hard and took a high-speed excursion across the gravel. The resulting checks by the team for potential damage slightly lengthened the pit stop time, dropping the #20 behind both Toyotas and the leading Cadillac.
The Toyotas are pushing in second and third. Cadillac is trying to hold the lead and BMW has the pace to catch back up. It's a race to the finish and there is only eight seconds blanketing the quartet.
Over on the other side of the BMW garage, the #15 encountered further misery. Following a Full Course Yellow, the car could not deactivate its speed limiter and it became stuck at 80kph. It managed to limp back to the pits, but its torrid race only worsened.At least it was still circulating. Others weren't so fortunate.
Shortly after publishing our previous report, the #38 Cadillac was officially retired following its ongoing power steering issues. The American squad called time on its race, with the shutters coming down at 08:00 local time.
With seven and a half hours remaining, the #17 Genesis suffered suspension failure exiting Tertre Rouge. A Full Course Yellow was deployed to recover the stricken Korean machine, which had come to rest on the outside of the corner.
Fans around Circuit de la Sarthe sympathised with the new team, which had impressed throughout the week with both its pace and its connection with the fans. The #19 remains in 14th place, and the team will have everything crossed that it can still make the finish.
An hour later, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P also came to a halt at Tertre Rouge, the Italian machine stopping on the inside of the corner with suspected electrical issues.
Ferrari's hopes now rest with an unlikely contender. Few would have predicted that the #83 AF Corse entry – which had struggled near the foot of the order earlier in the race – would now be battling for a top-five finish alongside the remaining #51 factory 499P.
French fans will have to wait at least another year for a home victory. Alpine, contesting its "Last Dance" at Le Mans, performed admirably in the cooler conditions, but as temperatures and pace increased, it could not match the Toyotas and Ferraris ahead. Seventh place was what the French marque was holding out for.
As for the legion of British supporters, a top-10 finish for Aston Martin remained firmly on the cards, with the #007 running eighth overall ahead of the WTR run Cadillac and second Alpine in 10th.
Duqueine appeared to have the LMP2 category under control, but a trip through the gravel for the #30 gave the class leaders an almighty scare. Along with the Safety Car, its advantage was slashed to just a matter of seconds over the pair of Inter Europol Competition entries.
The #343 held the edge over the #43 as the Polish machines charged around Le Mans in pursuit of the black Duqueine.
Will it be another Inter Europol Competition victory, or can Doriane Pin guide Duqueine to its first Le Mans win – and become the first female driver in nearly 50 years to stand on the overall LMP2 podium? Five seconds cover the trio…
Meanwhile, Jonas Ried in the #9 Proton Competition car took a trip across the grass at the Ford Chicane, smashing through a Motul advertising board. The sign attached itself to the front of the ORECA and, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake it loose.
After stopping on the inside of Tertre Rouge, marshals were eventually able to remove the wayward branding safely, allowing him to continue.
As the clock ticked under six hours to go, steering failure struck the #91 Manthey Porsche on the exit of the Daytona chicane on the Mulsanne Straight.
Unable to correct the car, Ayhancan Güven suffered a sizeable impact with the barriers. The Turkish driver emerged unharmed, but the accident brought his race to an end.
A Safety Car was deployed while marshals and recovery crews cleared the damaged Porsche and debris from the circuit – a cruel blow for a team that had been fighting for a top-five finish in class.
Although the clean-up took the best part of an hour, it has compressed the field nicely with just four hours remaining. The bright yellow #33 TF Sport Corvette lead but there is is just 10 seconds separating them at the front and #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin second and #78 Akkodis ASP Team in third. Three marques - one winner Join us for the finish at 16:00 local time to see how the race plays out.
Top 5 after 20 Hours:
Category Leaders:
LMP2: Oreca 07-Gibson #30 Duqueine Team – Doriane Pin / Julien Andlauer / Richard Verschoor – 298 laps
LMGT3: Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #33 TF Sport – Ben Keating / Jonny Edgar / Nicky Catsburg – 277 laps
Fastest Lap: Rio Hirakawa (Toyota TR010 – Hybrid #8 Toyota Racing) – 3:25.041
Retirements :
