Le Mans 4hr report: No. 83 Ferrari stars in opening stages while Rossi leads in LMGT3

Hypercar - Leader: Shwartzman for No.83 Ferrari

• Laurens Vanthoor led from pole position in No.6 Porsche Penske 963 but was quickly swamped by both Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar driven by Nicklas Nielsen in No.50 and Antonio Giovinazzi in No.51
• But when No.51 served pre-race penalty and No.50 was sanctioned for an unsafe pit-release and Vanthoor re-took the lead
• Nielsen and Giovinazzi then quickly re-assert their authority and get back to running in a formation 1-2
• But rain arrives after 1hr35mins of racing with majority of field electing for a conservative approach to switch to wet weather tyres. But rain only affects parts of the track and slicks remain the quickest option as Nielsen and Robert Kubica in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari battle for the lead
• Kubica hands over to teammate Robert Shwartzman who exits pits in slow zone period and is able to extend gap to the No.5 Porsche Penske Porsche (Michael Christensen) and the No.50 Ferrari which sees Antonio Fuoco take over in the cockpit before Miguel Molina also takes time at the wheel in second place
• The re-built Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 in hands of Will Stevens makes hay in treacherous conditions and remains on slicks to place third after two hours but drops back to eighth position as the fifth hour arrives
• Sebastien Buemi No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR 010 Hybrid Hypercar was in the lead battle but elected to switch to wet weather Michelins as first showers hot the track. This dropped him back in to the pack but he came back through competently and led again during pit stops
• Brendon Hartley takes over from the Swiss ace and is positioned second and hunting the leading No.83 AF Corse Ferrari of Shwartzman as fifth hour arrives
• But the off-set pit stops mean that after four hours third and fourth positions are taken by the Porsche Penske cars with No.5 leading No.6
• Completing the top six in Hypercar is the No.8 Toyota of Hartley in fifth and No.38 Hertz Team Jota Porche in sixth.
• Cadillac Racing have tough start to the race as No.2 and No.3 Chip Ganassi run cars drop down the field and run 11th and 19th respectively, while the Action Express V-Series.R is 14th
• The No.20 BMW M Team V8 endures lengthy pit stop of 25-minutes for repairs after Robin Frijns impacts barriers at the Ford Chicane in the third hour. Former LMP2 winner is forced to endure ultra-slow lap back to pits with damaged suspension and bodywork
• Proton Competition suffer issues with the driver hatch door again after similar issues last month at Spa. Car drops to very rear of Hypercar field as a result

Endurance Defined. Legends to be Made. The 92nd Le Mans 24 Hours is Go!#WEC #LeMans24 #Rolex pic.twitter.com/YURaEuzsYB

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 15, 2024

LMGT3 - Leader: Rossi for No.46 BMW

• Pole-sitting Inception Racing McLaren leads early stages in hands of Frederik Schandorff but he comes under major pressure from the No.77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang of Ben Barker
• JMW Motorsport moves in to the lead after the second pit-stops as Larry Ten Voorde in British run Ferrari 296 LMGT3 heads the No.88 Proton Ford Mustang of Dennis Olsen in close battle for the lead
• But then the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 RSR driven by Le Mans rookie Morris Schuring cycles through to the lead as a variety of strategies starts to play out
• The Dutch youngster led No.46 Team WRT BMW in the hands of Ahmed Al Harthy and in third place ran the JMW Ferrari with Salih Yoluc at the wheel
• But Al Harthy took over in the lead in the fourth hour and put BMW in a strong position in the first phase of the race in car he shares with Maxime Martin and crowd favourite Valentino Rossi
• Rossi takes over just before the four mark and take lead of the LMGT3 class ahead of the JMW Ferrari with Yoluc seven seconds behind.
• Third is the Manthey EMA Porsche now with Spa winner Yasser Shahin at the wheel.
• The rest of the LMGT3 category, racing at Le Mans for the first time ever, is: Iron Dame Lamborghini in fourth; GR Racing Ferrari in fifth and former leader Akkodis ASP Lexus in fifth with the No.87 car as Takeshi Kimura drives
• Thomas Flohr crashes out at the Dunlop Chicane in the third hour as he loses control of the No.54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 and suffers heavy damage to rear of the car which is the first retirement of the race

Valentino Rossi makes his official Le Mans debut in #46!!

Watch live on https://t.co/IPZa0nvsLu.#WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/RWwVl90O3k

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 15, 2024

LMP2 - Leader: Cullen for Vector Sports 

• Polesitter Louis Deletraz opens up good lead until rain arrives when the No.37 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson driven by Malthe Jakobsen takes over at the front
• But the Vector Sports team surges to the front as the rain hits the track with Patrick Pilet and then Ryan Cullen spending time at the front as they capitalise by staying on slick tyres when others take wets
• At the four-hour mark Vector, with Cullen aboard, Vector enjoy a 38-second advantage over the Ritomo Miyata driven No.37 Cool Racing entry
• In third place is the No.22 United Autosports entry which ran strongly from the start in the hands of Oliver Jarvis. But it loses some time when Nolan Siegel contacts Rene Binder in DKR Engineering car at Dunlop Chicane just before the fifth hour arrives
• Completing the top six is the Nielsen Racing car driven by Kyffin Simpson, the AF Corse Oreca-Gibson of Francois Perrodo and the early leading ‘Spike’ AO by TF Sport car driven by Alex Quinn 
• The sister No.23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson loses major time in first hour when Ben Keating spins at Dunlop Chicane and gets stuck in gravel trap. The No.23 cars difficult start is compounded by an alternator issue in the fourth hour and other spins for reigning LMGTE Am champion Keating
• The No.47 Cool Racing laps last after spending lengthy pit stop after having hole punched in radiator by a stone on the first lap of the race

Click HERE for results