Intra-Ferrari Lead Battle Heats Up At Hour 9

James Calado led at the nine-hour mark of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to maintain Ferrari’s advantage over the Hypercar field with the factory No. 51 499P ahead of Philip Hanson’s AF Corse Ferrari, despite the pair exchanging positions under the cover of darkness.

With just over eight hours elapsed, Calado took the lead of the race after the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Hanson locked up his Soft compound Michelin tires into Mulsanne Corner and took to the runoff while the No. 51 works 499P slipped by to take control of the field.

Hanson, however, benefited from a pit stop two seconds faster than that of the No. 51 Ferrari, placing him back at the head of the field near the end of the eighth-hour race before Calado retook the lead on track just before the nine-hour mark.

The No. 50 Prancing Horse, which led at the six-hour mark, lost ground as one of a handful of cars assessed a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement during the race’s second full-course yellow period. Nicklas Nielsen ran third, just under 40 seconds off the lead.

Porsche Penske Motorsport ran fourth with their No. 6 entry of Kevin Estre forced to make an extra trip into the pits for a slow puncture while running third. Nick Tandy’s No. 4 Porsche, meanwhile, was fifth.

Cooler temperatures into the evening hours meant Hypercar competitors began the crossover onto the Michelin Soft tire offering in the eighth hour, though Ferrari and Porsche remained the primary contenders, despite the change in tire compound.

As darkness fell on the track, multiple cars were handed drive-through penalties for yellow flag infringements during the race’s second full-course yellow period, including the front-running No. 50 Ferrari.

The No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry and No. 311 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, were both also made to serve drive-throughs for yellow flag infringements with the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar. The No. 34 Inter Europol Competition LMP2 machine and No. 81 TF Sport Corvette LMGT3 entry were also found to have violated yellow flag procedures.

Later on, the No. 35 Alpine was handed a drive-through for causing a collision with the No. 94 Peugeot after Paul-Loup Chatin ran into the back of the 9X8 under braking into Mulsanne corner at the beginning of the seventh hour.

Just prior to midnight local time and at the top of the eighth hour, the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8 had to make an extra pit stop with a 15-second hold after being caught speeding in pit lane.

VDS Panis Racing’s Franck Perera comfortably controlled the LMP2 field, while the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine ran second with Jakub Smiechowski at the wheel. The class remained stable as the clock moved into Sunday morning, with United Autosports’ No. 22 and IDEC Sport’s No. 28 entries in contention for third behind the leaders.

AO by TF remained in control of the LMP2 Pro-Am field, with PJ Hyett at the wheel of the No. 199 Oreca ahead of Giorgio Roda’s No. 8 Proton Competition machine.

LMGT3 remained a two-horse battle into the ninth hour with the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz leading the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Ahmad Al Harthy. WRT had been controlling the class until the close of the eighth hour.

The No. 33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R was significantly delayed during a routine pit stop in the seventh hour when its left rear wheel became stuck, resulting in the car losing multiple laps after being rolled into the garage before eventually rejoining the field.