Hirakawa Out Front at Sunrise; LMP2 Leaders Hit Trouble

Photo: Toyota

The No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid eked out a slight advantage over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P with nine hours to go in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while the leading LMP2 Pro-Am car and a contending LMP2 entry have both crashed out.

Ryo Hirakawa held a 10.093-second lead over the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Alessandro Pier Guidi, who gained time with a fuel-only stop in the 15th hour with the Toyota taking full service.

Hirakawa’s co-driver Brendon Hartley previously extended the lead over Pier Guidi to more than 40 seconds through a series of well-timed slow zones that played to the Toyota’s benefit.

The No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber continued to run in third, ahead of the best-placed Penske Porsche 963, the No. 6 entry of Laurens Vanthoor, in fourth.

LMP2 was led by the No. 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson of Fabio Scherer, who made a bold move around the No. 41 Team WRT entry of Robert Kubica for the top spot.

Scherer is driving with a suspected broken left foot after getting run over by the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R earlier in the race.

Drama ensued for other LMP2 contenders, with Reshad De Gerus crashing the No. 47 Cool Racing entry at the Porsche Curves in the 13th hour. While the Frenchman limped the car back to the pits, it was later retired due to tub damage.

Similar fate hit the LMP2 Pro-Am class-leading No. 80 AF Corse Oreca less than two hours later, when Ben Barincoat lost control over a curb and slammed heavily into the barriers at the same corner, ending the team’s day.

It gave the Pro-Am subclass lead to the No. 45 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca of James Allen.

GTE-Am was led by the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE of Takeshi Kimura, ahead of the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michelle Gatting.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has moved up to 29th overall in the hands of Jimmie Johnson following an impressive overnight series of stints from Jenson Button.

A heavy accident from Jonas Ried in the No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche at Indianapolis, meanwhile, resulted in extended slow zone for nearly an hour due to barrier repair.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John