Corvette, Ferrari Out Front in GTE-Pro With Six Hours to Go

Photo: MPS Agency

Corvette Racing leads GTE-Pro with six hours remaining in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, currently engaged in a battle with AF Corse for the class lead.

Mike Rockenfeller took over the top spot shortly before the end of the 18th hour when Daniel Serra pitted to hand over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo to Alessandro Pier Guidi.

The Ferrari is on a different pit stop strategy to the rest of the GTE-Pro frontrunners, and is set to re-take the lead when Rockenfeller next pits the No. 63 Corvette C7.R. He was 25 minutes into hit stint as the clock hit six hours to go.

Porsche has its Nos. 93 and 91 entries in third and fourth, both within 24 seconds of the Corvette, ahead of the four Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entries in fifth through eighth.

Rebellion Racing encountered further setbacks to its No. 3 R13 Gibson during the 17th and 18th hours, including a three-minute stop-and-hold penalty and a spin.

Gustavo Menezes was forced to sit in pit lane for three minutes for a tire rules infringement, centering on the Swiss squad’s illegal use of ‘reintroduced’ tires prior to new tires of the same compound.

Shortly after heading back out on track, Menezes spun into the gravel trap at the Porsche Curves, dropping him back further.

The No. 3 Rebellion now runs in fourth, six laps off the pace, but still two laps ahead of the sister No. 1 entry.

SMP Racing is the best-placed non-hybrid team, with its No. 11 BR Engineering BR1 AER running third, four laps behind the pair of Toyota TS050 Hybrids at the front of the field.

Mike Conway is currently at the wheel of the No. 7 Toyota, while Kazuki Nakajima is 1:40 behind in the No. 8 car.

Ben Keating had an off-track excursion in the GTE-Am-leading Keating Motorsports Ford GT, but managed to stay out front.

The American ended up in the gravel at the Dunlop Chicane in the customer Ford that has been leading the class since the fifth hour, but is still half a lap ahead of Team Project 1’s Patrick Lindsey despite a brake change.

G-Drive Racing has held onto its LMP2 class lead with Roman Rusinov currently at the wheel of its Aurus 01 Gibson, while Signatech Alpine Matmut runs second, around three minutes back.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.