Le Mans 24h, H21: Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari battle it out for the win

This three-hour period began under the safety car following the earlier crash of the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the prestigious World Endurance Championship round, with two Hypercars being hit by problems despite the reduced speed.

First, Nico Muller went off at Indianapolis at the wheel of the #93 Peugeot, seemingly disturbed by a wobble for the car ahead. It was running in 15th place.

Later, the #3 Cadillac briefly stopped on the Mulsanne straight as it held 11th position. It limped back to the pits and had to retire due to an apparent oil leak.

When the green flag was waved at 10:32am local time, Earl Bamber's #2 Cadillac led the race from the #5 Porsche, the #83 and #50 Ferraris, and the #7 Toyota – with no fewer than ten cars on the lead lap, and therefore close to each other.

The two lead Ferraris started to squabble over third place, with Antonio Fuoco's #50 machine overtaking Robert Shwartzman's #83 entry at the Michelin chicane before the AF Corse driver hit back at Mulsanne corner. They briefly went three-wide with Kamui Kobayashi's Toyota, but the prancing horse's representatives remained ahead.

As the #311 Cadillac's race took a turn for the worst with a violent off for Pipo Derani at Indianapolis – he hobbled back to the pits, where the car spent the best part of two hours – Kobayashi briefly slowed down, with the #8 Toyota getting up to fifth place.

Fuoco was on a mission with the #50 Ferrari and found a way past Shwartzman on the approach to Mulsanne corner, before overtaking Frederic Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche to take second place.

WHAT A BATTLE ! Between #6 Porsche & Ferrari #51! 🥊#LeMans24 #WEC pic.twitter.com/PVg5bd2wvg

— 24 Hours of Le Mans (@24hoursoflemans) June 16, 2024

The Penske-run car subsequently lost some time in the pits – notably due to a drive-through penalty for a slow-zone infringement, which the #38 Jota Porsche and the #19 Lamborghini also had to serve – and is now running just eighth, despite briefly leading the race not so long ago.

At that stage, the #2 Cadillac was still leading at the hands of Bamber with a nine-second gap to the #50 and #83 Ferraris, the #8 Toyota, the #6 Porsche and the #7 Toyota.

Buemi overtook Shwartzman with a bold move around the outside at Mulsanne, bringing the #8 Toyota up to third place, and things went from bad to worse for the #83 Ferrari, which pitted not long later with plumes of smoke emanating from its brakes. Although it has not officially retired, this outcome seems likely.

While James Calado's #50 Ferrari let Miguel Molina's #51 sister car through, Buemi (Toyota #8) did the same for Kobayashi's #7. The Japanese veteran driver and team principal went on to achieve the fastest lap of the race so far, a 3m28.756s, at the end of a remarkable 2.5-hour stint at the wheel. Jose Maria Lopez subsequently took this car over, but suffered a slow puncture which cost it some time.

At 1pm, the #2 Cadillac driven by Alex Palou still led, four seconds ahead of the #50 Ferrari with Molina at the wheel, Brendon Hartley's #8 Toyota being a further eight seconds away. Kevin Estre's #6 Porsche and Alessandro Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari were battling it out for fourth, and the top nine cars remained on the lead lap.

The LMP2 class remains hotly contested, with a tight battle between Inter Europol's #34 entry and Vector Sport's #10 car. The former took the lead as Clement Novalak overtook Patrick Pilet when the veteran put two wheels in the gravel at the exit of Indianapolis corner.

However, the latest round of pitstops thrust IDEC Sport's #28 machine into the lead, with Reshad de Gerus, Paul Lafargue and Job van Uitert having little margin for comfort due to the five cars chasing them fewer than 40 seconds behind.

In GT3, the #81 Corvette from TF Sport and United Autosports' #59 McLaren were hit by trouble as they stopped on track – the latter retired. Meanwhile, the battle for the win is now a duel between Manthey's #91 Porsche (Lietz-Shahin-Schuring) and WRT's #31 BMW (Farfus-Gelael-Leung), with just two seconds between them.

2024 Le Mans 24 Hours - Hour 21 results

POS	#	CLASS	TEAM	CAR	LAPS	GAPS
1	2	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	264	-
2	50	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	264	4.298
3	8	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	264	16.072
4	51	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	264	31.664
5	6	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	264	32.158
6	7	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	264	51.693
7	12	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	264	1:11.961
8	5	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	264	1:15.720
9	38	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	264	1:26.542
10	94	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	263	1:54.723
11	63	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	262	2 laps
12	93	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	262	3:29.788
13	19	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	262	26.780
14	11	Hypercar H	ISOTTA FRASCHINI	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C	257	7 laps
15	28	LM P2	IDEC SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	12 laps
16	34	LM P2	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	42.695
17	37	LM P2	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	43.187
18	22	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	49.588
19	10	LM P2	VECTOR SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	49.868
20	183	LM P2 P/A	AF CORSE	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	1:02.951
21	14	LM P2 P/A	AO BY TF	Oreca 07 - Gibson	251	13 laps
22	33	LM P2 P/A	DKR ENGINEERING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	250	14 laps
23	25	LM P2	ALGARVE PRO RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	250	1:07.963
24	65	LM P2 P/A	PANIS RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	249	15 laps
25	83	Hypercar H	AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	248	16 laps
26	47	LM P2 P/A	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	248	1:46.981
27	24	LM P2	NIELSEN RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	246	18 laps
28	99	Hypercar H	PROTON COMPETITION	Porsche 963	244	20 laps
29	91	LMGT3	MANTHEY EMA	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	238	26 laps
30	31	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	238	2:15.228
31	88	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	238	3:14.688
32	87	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	238	5.079
33	85	LMGT3	IRON DAMES	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	238	9.005
34	44	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	238	21.895
35	78	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	238	1:52.687
36	86	LMGT3	GR RACING	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	238	1:59.157
37	55	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	237	27 laps
38	777	LMGT3	D'STATION RACING	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	237	55.085
39	155	LMGT3	SPIRIT OF RACE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	237	1:15.974
40	82	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	236	28 laps
41	311	Hypercar H	WHELEN CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	233	31 laps
42	70	LMGT3	INCEPTION RACING	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	233	44.888
43	92	LMGT3	MANTHEY PURERXCING	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	233	1:04.463
44	23	LM P2 P/A	UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	Oreca 07 - Gibson	228	36 laps
45	81	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	225	39 laps
46	60	LMGT3	IRON LYNX	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	217	47 laps
47	77	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	185	79 laps
48	20	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	92	172 laps
49	3	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	223	41 laps
50	59	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	220	44 laps
51	95	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	212	52 laps
52	4	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	211	53 laps
53	27	LMGT3	HEART OF RACING TEAM	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	196	68 laps
54	45	LM P2 P/A	CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR	Oreca 07 - Gibson	149	115 laps
55	66	LMGT3	JMW MOTORSPORT	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	112	152 laps
56	30	LM P2 P/A	DUQUEINE TEAM	Oreca 07 - Gibson	112	0.000
57	46	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	109	155 laps
58	15	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	102	162 laps
59	36	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	88	176 laps
60	9	LM P2	PROTON COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	86	178 laps
61	35	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	75	189 laps
62	54	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	30	234 laps