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24H Le Mans

Toyota Leads as Gomes Crashes Out in Hour 4

Marcos Gomes crash brings out first safety car period of 24 Hours of Le Mans…

Image: ACO

The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi leads the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the race has been slowed under the first safety car period due to a heavy crash by the No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Marcos Gomes.

Gomes lost control of his Northwest-sponsored Aston Martin at the entrance to Indianapolis, spinning in the left-side gravel trap before ending up deep into the tire barriers.

The Brazilian, who climbed out of the car under his own power, was running second in the GTE-Am class at the time.

Kobayashi holds the overall lead in the fourth hour despite the No. 7 car having made two unscheduled stops for punctured tires in the early stages, which has compromised its stint length.

The No. 8 Toyota, meanwhile, has regained second after  the No. 708 Glickenhaus 007 of Oliver Pla punted Sebastien Buemi on the first green flag lap of the race.

Andre Negrao runs in third in the No. 36 Alpine A480 Gibson, with the pair of Glickenhaus entries in 12th and 13th overall.

The top three cars have all been split up behind different safety cars.

LMP2 is being led by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 Gibson of Franco Colapinto after Anthony Davidson beached his No. 38 JOTA Sport Oreca 07 Gibson from the class lead. 

Davidson’s co-driver Antonio Felix Da Costa ran as high as second overall early on, showing impressive form, although it now runs one lap behind in 14th.

AF Corse holds early control of GTE-Pro, with the No. 52 Ferrari 488 GTE of Daniel Serra ahead of teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi, while the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Earl Bamber is third in class.

The privateer Proton Competition-run Porsche has so far outpaced the pair of factory Porsches, which are fifth and sixth among the contingent of entries.  

The No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin of Dylan Pereira is out front in GTE-Am ahead of Cetilar Racing’s Ferrari.

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

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