Porsche races Toyota as it reaches the equator

After all the drama caused by the rain and the safety car of the previous two hours, the track was completely dry after 1am on Sunday local time. Initially, all eyes were on Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari and Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac as they battled for fourth place in a fast-paced battle, changing positions several times before the Italian held on to the lead.

The leading No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi had a 20-second lead over Andre Lotterer in the No. 6 Porsche, a gap of just 1.2 when Laurens Vanthoor chased the Swiss at the start of the tenth hour. Two drivers distanced themselves from the others ahead.

Here’s how the race went until 9 o’clock:

Moderate rain returned in the twelfth hour, and then the difference between the two cars leading the classification remained. They pulled into the pits and Brendon Hartley took the wheel of the No. 7, 16 seconds ahead of Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche, which in turn was 42 seconds ahead of the No. 7 Toyota of Jose Maria “Pechito” Lopez.

There was a short full course yellow at 3:13 a.m. local time, but when the green flag was returned, Estre chased after Hartley, taking a couple of seconds to lap. 15 minutes before the halfway point of the race, SC started again: just at the moment when Estre was 9 seconds behind Hartley. Third place finisher Lopez was well behind the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina.

Hartley lapped ahead of Estre, which didn’t matter as they joined the same safety car train, with the first one still ahead. Two-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou stayed on the track and moved up to third in the second-place Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.

The #51 Ferrari of attacking Alessandro Pier Guidi overtook the #83 Ferrari of Yifei Ye, having lost the test lead after being out too long on slippery tyres, to take fourth place ahead of Lopez and Molina, staying clear of SC.

In LMP2 Cool Racing Oreca, the number 37 Oreca, which was leading, suffered a spin due to Ritomo Miyata driving the car just after the start of the tenth hour, while leader Patrick Pilet was penalized through for a slow-traffic violation. Zone number 10 on the Vector Sport website.

There was even more drama when David Heinemeier Hansson crashed the second-place Nielsen Racing #24 car into the #77 Mustang at the Esses Circuit, leaving both in the gravel. All of this put the No. 183 AF Corse of Argentinian Nicholas Varrone and Nolan Siegel in the No. 22 United Autosports car into the race lead, although Siegel pitted just as Safety came out, dropping to fourth behind the no. 37. and No. 34. Heinemeier Hansson returned to the track and started again, this time in the Porsche corners, just before Colin Brown lost his left-rear tire on the #45 Crowdstrike.

In the LMGT3 class, one of the main protagonists of the race, the #66 Ferrari JMW, stalled in the Porsche corners at the beginning of the tenth hour, and Salih Yoluk was unable to restart. In a further blow to Ferrari’s hopes in this category, Jordan Taylor was hit on the gravel section of the first Mulsanne chicane by Grégoire Saucy’s McLaren 720S, although no action was taken by the stewards.

Former leader Klaus Bachler in the #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 was given a drive-through penalty for an offense in the slow zone. This placed him second behind the #91 Porsche and put him in contention with the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus of Kelvin van der Linde. When the rain returned, the #92 car dominated again, with Joel Sturm ahead of Morris Schuring’s #91.

Nicolas Costa was third in the No. 59 United Autosports McLaren, ahead of the Lexus pair. He stayed on the sidelines as Manthey’s cars passed under the safety car to take the McLaren lead midway through the race, but was back in third place when he went a lap later.