24h Le Mans
Alpine Endurance Team lost both hypercars in the space of an hour as engine trouble brought the French outfit's aspirations crashing down. A serious accident involving the #15 BMW hypercar resulted in the race being neutralised for well over an hour up to midnight. Fireworks on the track and in the night sky.
Alpine Endurance Team’s hopes went up in smoke – literally as far as the #35 was concerned – when the French hypercar caught fire at Arnage after four-and-three-quarter hours of racing. Driver Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen managed to get out, but the car shared with Frenchmen Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi became the first top-class entry to retire. Some 40 minutes later, the #36 sister car was also eliminated with engine trouble.
Renger van der Zande in the #3 Cadillac V-Series.R ran off at Forest Esses and collided with the barrier but was able to continue.
The #65 Panis Racing LMP2 prototype suffered door issues which required a replacement to be fitted.
In LMGT3, Sarah Bovy’s #85 Lamborghini Huracán was sent into a spin after contact with the #4 Porsche 963 driven by Mathieu Jaminet for which the German factory car was penalised, but both cars eventually lost some time in the pits to repair the damage.
After five hours, the class was still led by the #46 BMW with multiple world champion motorcyclist Valentino Rossi now at the wheel. The Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3s run by Manthey PureRxcing and Manthey EMA had made great strides up the standings to sit behind The Doctor.
At the quarter-way point, the leading Hypercars had completed 95 laps. Heavy rain began to fall as the clock ticked towards 10 pm, sending the competitors scurrying to the pits to seek wet-weather tyres. The Ferrari factory team made the choice to keep the #50 499P on softs and switched the mediums on the #51 to softs. The AF Corse Ferrari, however, was switched to wets.
Grip became difficult, however, and a number of drivers had trouble keeping their machines pointing in the right direction. The United Autosports #95 McLaren went off into the gravel at the Dunlop Chicane, while the USA team’s #23 Oreca went straight on at Arnage. The COOL Racing #37 Oreca, leading the LMP2 class at that point, spun on entering the pit lane while the Duqueine #30 Oreca, with John Falb, at the wheel.
A Full Course Yellow was called as Iron Lynx’s Claudio Schiavone spun the #60 Lamborghini Huracán and collided with the barrier. Despite nose damage, Schiavone managed to return to the garage. Sébastien Bourdais spun off on his out-lap but successfully reversed the #3 Cadillac out of the gravel.
After the green flags came back out, Team WRT’s Maxime Martin in the LMGT3 class-leading #46 BMW collided with the United Autosports USA #23 Oreca driven by Ben Keating on exiting the Porsche curves. The inquiry resulted in a warning for the Belgian.
The Inception Racing #70 McLaren, that started the race on LMGT3 pole, entered the pit with steam billowing out of the engine compartment.
Drama struck as race leader Robert Kubica in the AF Corse #83 Ferrari was racing door-to-door with Dries Vanthoor in the BMW hypercar through the kink at the end of the Mulsanne Straight. Kubica appeared to force the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 into the barrier at Mulsanne Corner. With the driver in some discomfort and the car’s front wheels askew, the curtain will undoubtedly come down on the #15 garage. With significant damage to the barriers, the safety cars were introduced following the collision, neutralising the race, and the stewards have called an investigation.
A broken steering rack kept the Proton Competition #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 in the garage after Zacharie Robichon had hit a kerb with rather too much force at Dunlop. The car returned to the track for testing purposes. The LMP2 class, however, saw its first retirement as Proton Competition pulled the plug on the #9 Oreca 07-Gibson.
Safety Car A was about to be removed from the circuit as midnight approached, but the gap held by the leading #87 Ferrari over its chief rivals was almost wiped out by the procedure, with a penalty for Kubica's part in the incident to follow.
#54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 | Vista AF Corse | Flohr/ Castellacci/Rigon – Accident damage
#35 Alpine A424 | Alpine Endurance Team | Chatin/Habsburg-Lothringen/Milesi – Engine failure
#9 Oreca 07-Gibson | Proton Competition | Ried/Capietto/Viscaal – TBC
#36 Alpine A424 | Alpine Endurance Team | Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere – Engine faiilure
#15 BMW M Hybrid V8 | BMW M Team WRT | Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann – Accident damage
