The sun was shy on the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans Saturday, quickly giving way to clouds and nightfall. The calm day foreshadowed a tempestuous night, a prediction confirmed around 23:00 with the arrival of rain. Text: Luca W. © Images: 24h-lemans ©
First safety car deployment
Robert Kubica, leading the hypercar category in his #83 Ferrari 499P, made slight contact with the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 driven by Dries Vanthoor while overtaking. This small steering input had significant consequences, as the BMW heavily crashed into the barriers, ending its race at the Circuit de la Sarthe. As a result, the #83 Ferrari, clearly responsible for the accident, received a 30-second penalty, losing the lead.
The dangerous situation on the Hunaudières straight left race direction with no choice but to deploy the safety car, which remained on track for 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Regularity is key in endurance racing, a quality that surely defines the Toyota Gazoo Racing team. They managed to position their 2 hypercars in the top three, with Sébastien Buemi in the #8 car leading, followed by Laurens Vanthoor’s #6 Porsche 963 and Kamui Kobayashi’s #7 Toyota GR010.
At 00:48, Ahmad Al Harthy lost control of his #46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 at the exit of the Dunlop chicane, ending Valentino Rossi’s hopes of finishing the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans as well. In the meantime, Michelle Gatting was on an impressive stint, managing to climb up to second “virtual” position.
Rain sets the pace in the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans night
As time goes by, the rain intensifies, triggering the safety car at 03:44 for obvious safety reasons. The insomniac spectators had to wait 4 hours and 28 minutes for the safety car to allow drivers to fight again. Teams used this time to allow their Bronze drivers to reach the minimal amount of driving time.
For more than 4 hours, positions were frozen: in the hypercar category, the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley leads after the #83 Ferrari penalty. Close by is Kévin Estre’s pole-sitting #6 Porsche 963, and the #7 Toyota of José Maria Lopez.
In LMP2, the #183 AF Corse is leading in front of the #22 United Autosports and #37 COOL Racing.
In the LMGT3 category, Manthey Pure Rxcing’s Porsches 911 lead the pack, followed by the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.