The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been neutralized behind Safety Cars for the third straight hour, but according to Race Control, the rain should be ending as early as 7:10 AM CEST.
Positions at the sharp end of the field haven’t changed much with nine hours to go, but drivers have; beginning with the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID which is now being driven at a controlled speed by Ryo Hirakawa.
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Laurens Vanthoor has just gotten in the No.6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963; likewise Nyck de Vries has taken over the No.7 Toyota.
The two leading Ferrari 499Ps have also changed drivers with Nicklas Nielsen now back in the factory No.50 car, and Robert Kubica now in the privateer No.83.
Right at the interval, the No.7 Toyota pitted and ceded third place to the No.50 Ferrari.
Francois Perrodo still leads LMP2 in the Pro/Am No.183 AF Corse ORECA 07-Gibson – and crucially, he has now cleared his obligatory six hours of driving as the team’s Bronze-rated anchor, to open up driver deployment strategies for the rest of their race.
The No.37 COOL Racing car of Lorenzo Fluxa is still second ahead of the No.34 Inter Europol Competition car driven by Jakub Smiechowski in third.
Both Aliaksandr Malykhin and Yasser Shahin have now cleared the six-hour threshold and continue to lead LMGT3 in the No.92 and No.91 Manthey Racing Porsches, respectively.
Ian James continues to run third in the No.27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin.