24h Le Mans
We are now two-thirds into the race and the two Toyotas are still well out front, while Alpine and Glickenhaus battle it out for third place.
The #7 Toyota was more than 30 seconds ahead of the #8 sister car when Kobayashi went straight on at Indianapolis at 04:30. He managed to avoid hitting the tyre barrier and got quickly back on track, but the gap was cut to 8 seconds. As the hours went by, the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid continued to extend its lead over its stablemate. With cars going in and out of the pits, the #708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH briefly moved into third place at 05:10 this morning. However, as things stand now, the #36 is four laps behind the leaders and looks poised to take the third step on the podium.
Kevin Magnussen (#49 Oreca 07 - Gibson) won’t make the podium in his début 24 Hours of Le Mans. At 04:48, his father Jan was tagged by the #26 Aurus 01-Gibson in the Forest Esses, causing a puncture and forcing the High Class Racing #49 Oreca into the outside rail. A long crawl back to the pits for the Dane. Son Kevin, former Formula One driver, took to the wheel when the car eventually returned to the track but he was soon back in the garage: “The engine’s dead!” he proclaimed. Apparently not, however, as the car set off again just after 07:00.
P3 in class going into the 14th hour, the United Autosports #22 Oreca 07-Gibson started to lose ground, hampered by alternator issues. The two Team WRT prototypes were in the lead at 08:00, the #31 thirty seconds or so ahead of the #41. The remaining JOTA car (#28) is one lap behind in third place.
In this class, two cars have scuppered their chances of scoring any points at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #64 C8.R Corvette lost almost an hour and a quarter with clutch problems, while the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo fell foul to mechanical issues and is now half an hour behind its sister car, which currently leads the class. The #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and the #92 and #91 Porsche RSR-19 (in that order) are ready to pounce if the #51 AF Corse Ferrari trips up.
In the dead of night, the Rinaldi Racing #388 Ferrai 488 GTE Evo got bogged down in the Dunlop gravel pit. At 08:00, the top three that had been unchanged for several hours was overturned when the #83 Ferrari of Perrodo/Nielsen/Rovera which had been ahead was hit with a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The #33 Aston Martin in the hands of Keating/Pereira/Fraga and the #80 Ferrari of Cressoni/Mastronardi/Ilott quickly filled the space.
