Multiple Incidents as Rain Returns in Seventh Hour

Heavy rain returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans during the seventh hour and caused several incidents including a spin into the gravel for GTE-Am leader JMW Motorsport.

After a tangle with two other cars, Giacomo Petrobelli lost control of the No. 66 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on slick tires at Corvette and became beached, while several other cars including two Hypercar-class Porsche 963s also ran wide but kept going.

The incident elevated the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 to the GTE-Am category lead, with Matteo Cairoli running 56 seconds behind in second place for Project 1-AO.

There was further action in the wet conditions at Indianapolis where the Nos. 22 and 9 Oreca 07 Gibsons from United Autosports and Prema ran wide into the run-off.

United driver Frederick Lubin was able to return to the track, but the Prema car of Filip Ugran was struck by the Racing Team Turkey Oreca from the LMP2 Pro-Am class.

Only a few minutes prior, just before the rain, United’s sister No. 23 United Oreca clashed with the No. 28 JOTA Oreca at Tertre Rouge.

The JOTA car driven by Oliver Rasmussen incurred front-end damage after hitting the barriers but the Danish driver was able to bring it back to the pits at reduced pace.

The rain also contributed to the Walkenhorst Motorsport Ferrari from the GTE-Am class spinning into the gravel at the second Mulsanne chicane.

At the head of the field, all of the Hypercar runners pitted for wet tires and it was Alessandro Pier Guidi who remained as the leader despite taking an additional lap on slicks than most of the contenders.

With the six-and-a-half-hour mark approaching, the driver of the No. 51 Ferrari 499P led from Loic Duval in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 by 29 seconds.

Kamui Kobayashi was third in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, ahead of the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Richard Westbrook and the No. 50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen.

Before the rain arrived, Antonio Giovinazzi took the lead for the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse crew after a strategic switch to put him ahead of Miguel Molina aboard the No. 51.

There was a 30-second difference between the pit stops for the Ferraris when they switched to wet tires after the No. 50 car needed to undergo an electrical reset.

Jimmie Johnson was at the helm of the NASCAR Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 when the downpour hit and was running 41st overall after adopting the team’s specialist Goodyear ‘monsoon’ tires.

The incidents under the second bout of rain were managed by local yellow flags and slow zone periods, rather than the safety car which was used during rainfall in the third and fourth hours.