Ferrari Captures Lead with Six Hours Remaining

Antonio Giovinazzi led the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari AF Corse with six hours of racing remaining, while Porsche and Glickenhaus both encountered drama.

The Italian driver held an advantage of nearly one minute aboard the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, leading ahead of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi.

Ferrari moved to the lead of the race on Sunday morning when Toyota splitter damage allowed Giovinazzi’s co-driver Alessandro Pier Guidi to close down the gap.

A subsequent nose change for the Toyota during the next round of stops allowed the Ferrari to vault to the lead.

James Calado and Giovinazzi then extended the gap to the Toyota, with Richard Westbrook completing the top three in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Scott Dixon ran fourth aboard the No. 3 Cadillac, while the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 rounded out the top five in the hands of Paul di Resta.

Porsche Penske Motorsport saw its remaining podium challenger fall away when Kevin Estre spent nearly 45 minutes in the pits after suffering floor damage.

The Frenchman, driving the No. 6 Porsche 963, ran through the gravel and made light contact with the barrier after attempting to pass the No. 31 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson at the Porsche Curves.

The car since rejoined the race, but is running 13 laps down in 20th place overall.

Glickenhaus also encountered trouble as both of its cars went off at Indianapolis in separate incidents.

Olivier Pla first suffered suspension damage when he hit the barriers aboard the No. 708 Glickenhaus 007 Pipo, while Franck Mailleux spun at the same spot an hour later.

Both cars continue to circulate in eighth and ninth position overall.

In LMP2, Inter Europol Competition retained the class lead in its ongoing battle with Team WRT.

The No. 43 car, currently in the hands of Albert Costa, held an advantage of 41 seconds over Rui Andrade.

The two cars traded the lead back and forth, with Robert Kubica initially capturing the lead passing Kuba Smiechowski at the Daytona Chicane.

Inter Europol subsequently took the lead back with a shorter pitstop when Costa was installed. The Spaniard extended the gap, despite a slight run through the gravel at Mulsanne corner.

ORT by TF’s No. 25 Aston Martin Vantage AMR led but due a pitstop, while the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R sat in second ahead of the No. 56 Project 1 – AO Porsche 911 RSR-19.