Toyota and Porsche compete for the lead after half of the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, fourth act of FIA World Endurance Championship. The Japanese and the Germans compete for supremacy with the unknown of rain increasingly present.
The night began with a very long Safety Car after an impact with the barriers preceding the braking of Mulsanne. There BMW no. 15 by Dries Vanthoor was significantly damaged after contact with the Ferrari no. 83 of AF Corseprovisional leader of the competition with the Polish Robert Kubica.
The former F1 driver was found guilty of the incident, a fine of 30 second penalty was inflicted on the private prototype managed by the Amato Ferrari team. The recognizable 499P n. 83 then handed over the baton to Toyota, virtually at the top with the restart of the competition and the return of the rain.
The Japanese pulled ahead of the Porsche no. 6 and the sister car no. 7, last on the starting grid after a qualifying to forget. The night, in the meantime, put an end to any dream of glory on Alpine’s part, with both prototypes out after having played a decent first part of the challenge.
Everything is still in the balance in the overall ranking of the 24h Le Mans, Toyota remains leader with car no. 8 ahead of Porsche no. 6. The event was virtually neutralized given the heavy rain which completely changed the conditions on the track in just a few minutes.
Ryo Hirakawa/Sébastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley (Toyota GR n.8) therefore temporarily lead the 24h Le Mans before Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor/André Lotterer (Porsche Penske Motorsports no. 6) and its sister car n. 7 Of Kamui Kobayashi/Nick De Vries/Mike Conway. Ferrari is provisionally in fourth place with crew no. 50, the Red precedes Cadillac Racing n. 2, Ferrari no. 51 and AF Corse Ferrari n. 83.
In LMGT3 the arrival of bad weather and night saw Manthey’s Porsches shine. Car no. 91 and twin n. 92 took advantage of the exit of the BMW M4 GT3 no. 46 of Team WRT, out against the barriers of the first sector after the ‘Dunlop Bridge’ following an error by Ahmad Al Harthy. The native of the State of Oman lost control of the car shortly after leaving the pits, betrayed by cold tires and a track that was still not in perfect condition after a short period of rain.
Pure Rxcing Porsche n. 92 sets the pace in GT with Alex Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler despite a sanction, while in LMP2 the interim leadership of ORECA is worth mentioning n. 183 AF Corse Of François Perrodo/Nico Varrone/Ben Barnicoat.
