16-hour round-up –Wet weather puts the 24 Hours of Le Mans on hold

Racing on the back-burner

Race Management introduced the introduction of the protection vehicles at 3:45 am because the regular rain become a deluge. The go-slow continued by the evening and thru dawn, suspending any significant competitors. Race management swapped palms between the Porsche Penske Motorsport #6 Porsche 963 and the Toyota Gazoo Racing #8 and #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrids as they entered and left the pits whereas the staff bosses and mechanics gazed desperately on the management screens, pleading for the signal of a restart.

Within the meantime, Lamborghini Iron Lynx’s Romain Grosjean within the #16 Lamborghini SC63 occupied himself with a plumbing job in his cockpit.

Because the clock ticked in direction of 8:00 am, the protection automotive process was winding down with the race because of restart within the seventeenth hour.

Standing Quo in LMP2

Throughout the neutralisation interval, the AF Corse #183 Oreca 07-Gibson led the LMP2 subject across the sodden observe, forward of the COOL Racing #37 and the Inter Europol Competitors #34.

Porsche one-two in LMGT3

The chief of the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Groups, Manthey PureRxcing, holds high spot with its #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 behind the protection vehicles, forward of the Manthey EMA #91 Porsche, adopted by the #27Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 of Coronary heart of Racing Workforce. Sadly, Workforce WRT’s #46 BMW M4 LMGT3, whose line-up included MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, is out of the race. An earlier accident by teammate Ahmad Al Harty resulted within the automotive’s retirement.

High 5 after 16 hours

1. #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa | 196 laps

2. #6 Porsche 963 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor | +1.053

3. #50 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse | Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen | +2.300

4. #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing | López/Kobayashi/de Vries | +3.895

5. #83 Ferrari 499P | AF Corse | Kubica/Shwartzmann/Ye | +13.780

Different class leaders

​Retirements

• #54 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 | Vista AF Corse | Flohr/ Castellacci/Rigon – Accident injury
• #35 Alpine A424 | Alpine Endurance Workforce | Chatin/Habsburg-Lothringen/Milesi – Engine failure
• #9 Oreca 07-Gibson | Proton Competitors | Ried/Capietto/Viscaal – TBC
• #36 Alpine A424 | Alpine Endurance Workforce | Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere – Engine failure
• #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 | BMW M Workforce WRT | Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann – Accident injury
• #30 Oreca 07-Gibson | Duqueine Workforce | Falb/Allen/Simmenauer (LMP2 Professional/Am) – Engine failure
• #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 | Workforce WRT | Al Harthy/Rossi/Martin – Accident injury
• #45 Oreca 07-Gibson | Crowdstrike Racing by APR | Kurtz/Braun/Catsburg (LMP2 Professional/Am) – TBC

Quickest lap

Antonio Fuoco, #50 Ferrari 499P – 3:29.208 (lap 46)