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Toyota extends advantage over BMW in the evening

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Toyota extends advantage over BMW in the evening

Toyota continues to lead the Le Mans 24 Hours at the end of the fourth hour, cementing its advantage over Cadillac and BMW in the Hypercar class.

After an undercut catapulted the #8 Toyota TR010 at the head of the pack in the opening hour, Sebastien Buemi quickly pulled away from the chasing pack, building an advantage of nearly half a minute through his triple stint.

Hartley took over the driving duties at the beginning of the third hour and carried on the work of his team-mate Buemi, with the gap continuing to hover around the 30s mark as the clock struck 8pm in France. However, the #8 Toyota remains on a different strategy to most of the Hypercar field.

Jack Aitken propelled Jota’s #38 Cadillac V.Series.R to second, passing the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde at the second Mulsanne chicane halfway through the fourth hour. However, the #20 BMW surged back ahead during the final pitstop before the hour.

The other Jota Cadillac driven by Louis Deletraz remains fourth, despite having briefly got ahead of the sister car in the second hour.

All three cars behind the leading Toyota were caught out by the timing of a virtual safety car at the beginning of the fourth hour. After coming in for emergency service, the trio were forced to bring their cars back to the pits for full service. The two Jota cars, along with the other Caddy entered by Wayne Taylor Racing, remain under investigation for the emergency stop.

Behind, Charles Milesi ran fifth in the #35 Alpine A424, while Antonio Fuoco remained fifth despite suffering a spin in the #50 Ferrari 499P.

Rafaelle Marciello held seventh in the #15 BMW ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #101 WTR Cadillac and Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine.

The #51 Ferrari dropped to 10th place after Alessandro Pier Guidi picked up a drive-through penalty for causing a collision with the #9 Proton LMP2 car of Jonas Reid. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari copped up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in a tough start to Scuderia’s title defence.

In LMP2, Duqueine moved to the front when Richard Verschoor took over the driving duties in the third hour. As the designated gold-rated driver in the #30 Oreca 07, Verschoor extended his advantage at the front, before handing over the car with a comfortable advantage to Doriane Pin.

Bijoy Garg propelled the #343 InterEuropol car to second, with the Polish team able to go a lap longer on fuel than most of its rivals. 

Meanwhile, Manthey snatched the LMGT3 lead from ASP as reigning DTM champion Ayhancan Guven stormed through the field on an offset strategy in the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Guven has built a significant lead over the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Jose Maria Lopez, while Mattia Drudi propelled the polesitting #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 back to second place after the car dropped down the order in the hands of gentleman driver and team owner Ian James.

The #92 Porsche suffered an early setback, losing three laps due to a broken tie rod in the second hour.

Le Mans order after four hours

POS NO TEAM CLASS LAPS GAP INTERVAL
1 8 Toyota Racing HYPERCAR 67    
2 20 BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR 67 29.834 29.834
3 38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota HYPERCAR 67 33.19 3.356
4 12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota HYPERCAR 67 59.973 26.783
5 35 Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR 67 1’25.863 25.89
6 50 Ferrari AF Corse HYPERCAR 67 1’26.522 0.659
7 15 BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR 67 1’27.731 1.209
8 101 Cadillac WTR HYPERCAR 67 1’28.399 0.668
9 36 Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR 67 1’37.565 9.166
10 51 Ferrari AF Corse HYPERCAR 67 1’50.681 13.116
11 7 Aston Martin Thor Team HYPERCAR 67 1’57.962 7.281
12 7 Toyota Racing HYPERCAR 67 1’59.156 1.194
13 83 AF Corse HYPERCAR 67 2’02.924 3.768
14 17 Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR 67 2’08.289 5.365
15 19 Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR 67 2’11.580 3.291
16 9 Aston Martin Thor Team HYPERCAR 67 2’41.538 29.958
17 94 Peugeot Totalenergies HYPERCAR 67 3’13.214 31.676
18 93 Peugeot Totalenergies HYPERCAR 66 1 Laps 1 Laps
19 30 Duqueine Team LMP2 64 3 Laps 2 Laps
20 343 Inter Europol Competition LMP2 63 4 Laps 1 Laps
21 29 Forestier Racing by Panis LMP2 63 4 Laps 0.304
22 37 CLX Motorsport LMP2 63 4 Laps 2.645
23 28 IDEC SPORT LMP2 63 4 Laps 11.922
24 43 Inter Europol Competition LMP2 63 4 Laps 11.679
25 26 Vector Sport LMP2 63 4 Laps 23.822
26 24 Nielsen Racing LMP2 63 4 Laps 11.351
27 9 Proton Competition LMP2 63 4 Laps 19.68
28 22 United Autosports LMP2 63 4 Laps 0.435
29 183 AF Corse LMP2 63 4 Laps 2.062
30 99 AO by TF LMP2 63 4 Laps 7.746
31 14 TDS Racing LMP2 63 4 Laps 17.13
32 4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR LMP2 63 4 Laps 28.064
33 25 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 62 5 Laps 1 Laps
34 44 Proton Competition LMP2 62 5 Laps 27.422
35 48 RD Limited LMP2 62 5 Laps 51.196
36 222 United Autosports LMP2 62 5 Laps 52.401
37 91 Manthey DK Engineering LMGT3 59 8 Laps 3 Laps
38 87 Akkodis ASP Team LMGT3 59 8 Laps 4.595
39 27 Heart of Racing Team LMGT3 59 8 Laps 12.953
40 21 Vista AF Corse LMGT3 59 8 Laps 8.449
41 23 Heart of Racing Team LMGT3 59 8 Laps 0.308
42 74 Kessel Racing LMGT3 59 8 Laps 0.46
43 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx LMGT3 59 8 Laps 4.008
44 78 Akkodis ASP Team LMGT3 59 8 Laps 10.811
45 77 Proton Competition LMGT3 59 8 Laps 11.963
46 69 Team WRT LMGT3 59 8 Laps 23.751
47 150 Richard Mille AF Corse LMGT3 59 8 Laps 3.948
48 32 Team WRT LMGT3 59 8 Laps 11.744
49 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF LMGT3 59 8 Laps 1.784
50 10 Garage 59 LMGT3 59 8 Laps 4.502
51 33 TF Sport LMGT3 59 8 Laps 7.196
52 58 Garage 59 LMGT3 58 9 Laps 1 Laps
53 2 TF Sport LMGT3 58 9 Laps 11.477
54 54 Vista AF Corse LMGT3 58 9 Laps 0.179
55 59 Racing Spirit Of Leman LMGT3 58 9 Laps 10.436
56 88 Proton Competition LMGT3 58 9 Laps 31.786
57 79 Iron Lynx LMGT3 58 9 Laps 11.397
58 57 Kessel Racing LMGT3 58 9 Laps 33.015
59 92 The Bend Manthey LMGT3 55 12 Laps 3 Laps
60 3 DKR Engineering LMP2 55 12 Laps 32.364
61 61 Iron Lynx LMGT3 51 16 Laps 4 Laps
62 13 13 Autosport LMGT3 49 18 Laps 2 Laps

 

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