Photo: Charly Lopez/DPPI
Nine Hypercars remain on the lead lap heading into the final three hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in one of the most competitive races in the event’s history.
The No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series of Alex Palou led the way, although was due a pit stop shortly, after going off-sequence on pit strategy following the most recent safety car period.
The two-time IndyCar Series champion held a 4.298-second advantage over the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Miguel Molina, with Brendon Hartley third in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Porsche Penske Motorsport’s strongest contender, the No. 6 Porsche 963, ran in fourth with Kevin Estre just marginally ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 51 Ferrari.
Jose Mariz Lopez ran sixth, ahead of the highest of the Hertz Team JOTA Porsches with Callum Ilott at the wheel.
The No. 5 Penske Porsche of Michael Christensen was eighth, with Oliver Rasmussen ninth in the No. 12 JOTA Porsche.
Ferrari’s chances of victory were compromised with four hours to go when Robert Shwartzman’s No. 83 satellite entry suffered electrical problems while in pit lane.
While yet to be retired, the car has dropped outside the top 25 overall.
The No. 311 Action Express Racing Cadillac, meanwhile, suffered a significant setback when Pipo Derani slammed into the barriers at Indianapolis.
The Brazilian was able to limp the car back to the pits where extensive repairs were made, although costing nearly 30 laps.
The same fate hit Felipe Nasr at the same corner about an hour earlier, although the No. 4 Penske Porsche was retired on the spot, reducing Penske’s chances to its Nos. 5 and 6 cars.
There was also trouble for the No. 3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais, which stopped on track while under the third safety car phase for the overturned No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Daniel Mancinelli.
The Frenchman limped the U.S.-based Cadillac back to the pits although it was later retired due to a punctured oil tank.
LMP2 was led by the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson of Reshad de Gerus, who held a 14-second lead over the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Vlad Lomko.
Malthe Jakobsen ran in third in the No. 37 Cool Racing entry.
Manthey EMA held control of LMGT3 with the No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Morris Schuring with a narrow two-second advantage over Augusto Farfus in the remaining No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.
The No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Dennis Olsen ran third.
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