Le Mans 24h, H12: Thrilling class battles at halfway
While the Toyotas continued unruffled at the front of the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an intra-team rivalry has just sparked LMP2 to life, and Ferraris and Aston Martins are battling over GT classes.
In LMP1, Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid led teammate Brendon Hartley by about 1.5 laps, while Gustavo Menezes is leading the Rebellion Racing charge, ahead of Romain Dumas in the second Rebellion but two laps off the lead.
Dumas will have 10sec added to his next pitstop due to going too fast in a slow zone while a car was being retrieved.
Thanks to a 55sec pitstop to change his rear wing, Will Owen in the #32 United Autosports Oreca now finds himself hanging on to the lead of the LMP2 class by barely one second ahead of his teammate ex-Formula 1 driver Paul di Resta, and just past the 12-hour mark, di Resta slipped ahead.
The pair are a lap ahead of JOTA Sport’s #38 car currently steered by another ex-F1 driver Anthony Davidson. The G-Drive Racing #26 Oreca of Roman Rusinov was holding third, around a minute ahead of the JOTA car but two hours ago Rusinov lost power, limped back to the pits, and fell to fifth behind Panis Racing’s #31 car.
The #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing has been disqualified for outside assistance while Gabriel Aubry was trying to get the car restarted after stopping on track, and that has allowed DragonSpeed into sixth in class, Renger van der Zande currently at the wheel.
Alex Lynn pulled the #97 Aston Martin Vantage into the pits at 10.50pm local time after a triple stint, and fell only to second after handing off to Maxime Martin, thereby retaining third ahead of Miguel Molina who had taken over the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488.
When Alessandro Pier Guidi pitted a lap later in the #51 Ferrari 488 he finished his out-lap 7sec ahead of Martin. However, it took just a couple of laps for the British car to move back to the front ahead of the Italian machine, and with Daniel Serra at the wheel, the Ferrari continued to lose time to Martin.
After their 10th stops, when Harry Tincknell took over the #97 Aston from Martin, Serra retained the lead and then started pulling away.
Just before the 11-hours-expired mark, suddenly Sam Bird in the third-placed #71 Ferrari was trickling slowly back to the pits with a right-rear puncture that allowed the Marco Sorensen-driven #95 Aston Martin into third, and the Risi Competizione Ferrari into fourth.
AF Corse pulled the #71 into the garage for an inspection and a brake service and it has now fallen to sixth behind Gianmaria Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR.
In GTE Am, TF Sport’s #90 Aston Martin Vantage has been leading the similar car of #98 machine of Aston Martin Racing almost throughout the past four hours, with Charlie Eastwood and Augusto Farfus rarely more than 10sec apart, but two minutes ahead of AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari 488, currently piloted by Emmanuel Collard.
Related video
Le Mans 24h, H8: #7 Toyota leads into the night
Le Mans 24h: #7 Toyota drops down order with turbo issue
Celebrating the weird and wonderful monsters of sportscar racing
Few disciplines of motorsport offer better possibilities to build a colossus of the track than sportscars. For Autosport's recent Monsters of Motorsport special issue, we picked out some of the finest (and not so fine) that have graced sportscar classics including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring
The remarkable fixes Toyota used to avert another Le Mans disaster
The 1-2 finish achieved by Toyota at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours was a result that will have surprised few, given its status as pre-event favourite. But the result was anything but straightforward, as worsening fuel pressure concerns required the team's drivers and engineers to pursue "creative fixes" on the fly. Here is the full story of how it reached the end without a lengthy pit visit
Inside the Le Mans finish too barmy for Hollywood
Team WRT has been at the forefront of GT racing for years and made a successful move to prototypes for 2021, capped by an LMP2 win on its Le Mans debut. It could've been even better had the race been one lap shorter, when its cars ran 1-2, but the stranger-than-fiction reality has spurred the team to reach greater heights.
Why Toyota's Le Mans victory was not as simple as it looked
Toyota scored its fourth Le Mans 24 Hours victory and a 1-2, with the #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez beating the #8. But although it looked straightforward from the outside, Toyota faced serious problem that had to be solved with some quick-thinking and ingenuity.
What we've learned from the Le Mans 24 Hours so far
The new dawn for the FIA World Endurance Championship has arrived at Le Mans, as Hypercars prepare to duel for victory in the world's oldest endurance race. Motorsport.com picks out the 10 things we have learned in the build up to the race.
Le Mans 2021: The team-by-team guide
After a two-month delay due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours is set to get underway with the start of the Hypercar era at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
The ex-F1 drivers making a name for themselves in LMP2 at Le Mans
Kevin Magnussen will make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut this weekend alongside father Jan in LMP2. But the Danes won't be the only ex-F1 drivers to appear in the hotly contested category this year.
Can Toyota's #7 crew break its Le Mans curse?
One Toyota, normally with the number 7 on the side, always seems to attract the bad luck in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez are hoping for a change in fortune this time around, but face significantly more unknowns than in recent years