Satellite Ferrari heads factory cars entering final four hours

Hypercar

• The privately-run #83 AF Corse Ferrari leads the 24 Hours of Le Mans heading into the race’s final four hours, with Yifei Ye at the helm of the yellow 499P Hypercar
• The Chinese ace inherited the lead when Alessandro Pier Guidi spun away a 25-second advantage as he entered the pit-lane at the start of the 20th hour
• The Italian had already lost time by having to pit twice, with his first attempt foiled by a Full Course Yellow period meaning the pit-lane was open only for emergency stops, obliging him to come in again a lap later 
• Prior to the drama, the world championship-leading #51 car looked to be solidly in control, after Antonio Giovinazzi had fended off a challenge from a fired-up Robert Kubica, who obliterated the fastest lap to close to within a second-and-a-half of the lead but was unable to make a move. The Italian subsequently stretched his legs before handing the scarlet machine to Pier Guidi
• The #51 and #83 Ferraris also both received drive-through penalties for a yellow flag infringement, but their loss of time was mitigated by a simultaneous ‘slow zone’ for Fredrik Vesti’s stricken Cadillac on the exit of Turn One just after 08:00 
• With four hours left to run, Ye holds an advantage of 34 seconds over Nicklas Nielsen, who has taken over from Miguel Molina in the #50 entry – in which Antonio Fuoco had earlier closed the gap –  with Pier Guidi down to third, 46 seconds off the lead
• The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 Hypercar remains in touch with the pace-setting Ferraris courtesy of a stellar performance by Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell, with the German prototype still within a minute of the lead 
• The #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR010 Hybrid was next up in fifth, until a failure to secure a wheel nut caused drama for Ryō Hirakawa upon rejoining the track, with the errant nut parting company with the car – and the wheel subsequently following suit. The Japanese driver toured slowly and carefully back to the pits on three wheels, but the car was subsequently pushed back into the box
• The pole-sitting Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series. R of Alex Lynn inherited the position, but there was trouble for the sister #38 entry, as Earl Bamber picked up a puncture and subsequently a penalty for cutting the track, before stablemate Sébastien Bourdais crossed both the grass and the white line as he attempted to abort a pit entry when a Full Course Yellow was called, earning him a drive-through penalty. The local hero nonetheless went on to set a new fastest lap of the race almost half-a-second clear of Kubica’s earlier benchmark 
• Dries Vanthoor was another top experience highs and lows during the mid-morning stint; the BMW M Team WRT ace took a trip through the gravel at Mulsanne Corner prior to posting fastest lap himself; the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 currently sits seventh behind the #7 Toyota, with the second Bavarian machine just behind in eighth
• Alpine Endurance Team’s difficult home event continues, with Jules Gounon beaching the #36 A424 in the Mulsanne Corner gravel approaching the end of the 17th hour
• A puncture for the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963, meanwhile,  dropped the early race leader outside of the top ten

LMGT3

• Manthey 1st Phorm continues to lead the way in LMGT3, with the German team brushing off a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement shortly after 08:00 to extend its advantage at the front of the field. Following a solid stint by Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz holds an advantage of more than a minute over Simon Mann in the pursuing #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari with four hours remaining on the clock
• TF Sport remains in the hunt in third with its Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R, with Rui Andrade a further 14 seconds in arrears
• Zacharie Robichon occupies fourth position in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 – another car to incur a yellow flag drive-through penalty, while pole-setter Mattia Drudi was in the cockpit
• The qualifying star also engaged in an epic tussle with Lexus rival Jack Hawksworth, as the two factory drivers went toe-to-toe on more than one occasion in their crowd-pleasing duel 
• There was subsequent heartbreak for the #78 Akkodis ASP Team entry, however, as the early race leader in Hawksworth’s hands was forced out when Finn Gehrsitz went off at the Porsche Curves at the beginning of the 20th hour, damaging the RC F LMGT3’s suspension beyond repair 
• The sister Lexus also had its issues, as José María López was handed a drive-through penalty for a Full Course Yellow infraction; that car currently sits fifth with Clemens Schmid at the wheel

LMP2

• The battle for LMP2 class supremacy continues to rage between the #43 Inter Europol Competition entry and the #48 VDS Panis Racing car, with 20 seconds between the pair
• Tom Dillmann and impressive Le Mans rookie Oliver Gray traded lap times in their intriguing duel, with the former being reprimanded for going off track and gaining a lasting advantage
• Paul Lafargue is ‘best-of-the-rest’ in IDEC Sport’s sole surviving entry in third

Watch FIA WEC live or on-demand via the official FIA WEC TV app – your full-access pass to the FIA World Endurance Championship including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. Don’t miss a moment. For further information, check out the app.