BMW’s No. 15 Car Out After Vanthoor Crash

BMW’s No. 15 M Hybrid V8 has been eliminated from the 24 Hours of Le Mans following a crash for Dries Vanthoor in the seventh hour.

Vanthoor made heavy contact with the right-side barriers on the final part of the Mulsanne straight after light contact with the race-leading No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica.

Kubica had been in the process of putting Vanthoor a lap down when he moved across to clear a Porsche LMGT3 car, jinking into the side of the No. 15 BMW.

Vanthoor was able to get out of his stricken car unaided after parking up at the inside of Mulsanne corner, albeit reporting some pain in his left foot. He was transported to the on-site medical center for checks but was released.

The No. 15 car that the Belgian shares with Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello had been delayed by a first-hour crash for Wittmann at the Forest Esses, although the early rain allowed the car to regain some of the lost ground.

Stewards are investigating the clash between Kubica and Vanthoor, which has brought out the safety car for the first time.

The Polish driver leads the No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry of Frederic Makowiecki and the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Ryo Hirakawa.

BMW’s No. 20 car is back in the garage and 14 laps down for “further precautionary repairs at rear and floor” after an earlier replacement of the rear driveshaft and rear brakes, per a team spokesperson.

Those repairs followed Robin Frijns’ crash in that car earlier in the race.