Peugeot Moves into Lead as Heavy Rain Causes Chaos

Gustavo Menezes led the 24 Hours of Le Mans with four hours completed as the race sat under a lengthy safety car period following a downpour of rain.

The No. 94 Porsche 9X8 ran at the head of the field ahead of the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre and the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid driven by Jose Maria Lopez.

Menezes moved to the lead of the race after the No. 50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco pitted under a safety car triggered by a rain shower.

The American driver completed a pass on the sister No. 51 Ferrari driven by Antonio Giovinazzi at the Porsche Curves to claim second place minutes before the rain fell.

The sudden downpour caught out several cars at the entrance to the Porsche Curves, with the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R of Scott Dixon, Esteban Gutierrez in the No. 709 Glickenhaus 007 Pipo and the No. 86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 aquaplaning off the circuit.

The No. 83 Richard Mille Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Lilou Wadoux also slid off and made contact with the barrier at high speed.

A WEC spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that Wadoux walked away from the incident, but underwent precautionary checks.

The No. 8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley and Nick Tandy’s No. 75 Porsche completed the top five, ahead of Hertz Team JOTA driver Yifei Ye and the No. 50 Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina.

Ye and Fuoco ran as high as second and third under safety car initially but dropped back after pitting along with Alex Lynn and Antonio Giovinazzi in seventh and eighth.

Both Ferraris moved onto slicks after initially opting for wet tires at the start of the safety car period, while Lynn came back in after co-driver Bamber opted to pit for wet tires moments before the safety car emerged.

In LMP2, Alpine Elf Team led the class in one-two formation. Memo Rojas’ No. 35 Oreca 07 Gibson ran in first place, ahead of the sister car in the hands of Julien Canal.

United Autosports ran third with their No. 23 car driven by Oliver Jarvis with Duqueine Team and the No. 41 Team WRT car of Rui Andrade fourth and fifth.

The No. 22 United Autosports Oreca suffered a setback when Frederick Lubin made heavy contact with the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche exiting Tertre Rouge.

Lubin ran off track, lost control and smashed into the side of the Porsche, piloted by Mikkel Pedersen. Both cars suffered heavy damage, but have since rejoined the race.

In GTE-Am, Porsche held the top three positions in the category led by the No. 85 Iron Dames machine of Sarah Bovy.

The Belgian driver initially held second position under the safety car, but moved into the lead when Pera’s No. 86 GR Racing Porsche hit the barrier in the rain.

PJ Hyett and Martin Rump sat in second and third for Project 1-AO and Proton Competition, just ahead of the No. 72 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR in the hands of Arnold Robin.

The No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche of Claudio Schiavoni caused another large incident in an eventful race so far when the Italian dropped a wheel onto the grass at entry to Tertre Rouge and spun into Ryan Hardwick’s Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche.