The 94th running of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, the third round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign, roared into action at 16:00 local time under sunny skies and warm temperatures in north-western France
The first four hours of the race witnessed a tense and fascinating battle between BMW, Cadillac, Alpine and Toyota at the front of the 18-strong Hypercar field; at the four-hour mark, the #8 Toyota led from the #20 BMW and the two Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entries with the #38 V-Series.R ahead of the similar #12 car
Will Stevens led into the first corner of the race after deposing the pole-sitting #15 BMW, but it was actually the sister #20 BMW that ended the first lap ahead as an aggressive René Rast surged to the front
Both of the Toyota TR010 Hybrid Hypercars went off-strategy at their first pit visits, electing to stop early in order to take advantage of clear air
Sébastien Buemi thereafter made some serious progress, posting the fastest lap of the race thus far with a 3m26.580s effort on lap 20, before handing over to team-mate Brendon Hartley in the third hour at the end of a superb triple stint on a single set of Michelin medium tyres
Consistently lapping quicker than Rast, the Toyota had a clear edge on tyre wear in the high temperatures of the afternoon; the wider question is how that will translate when the temperatures drop in the mid-phase of the twice-round-the-clock contest
The #7 Toyota was on a similar strategy to the sister #8 car but went further off-sequence in the fourth hour when Nyck de Vries picked up a slow puncture and was forced to stop, dropping the car down to 16th position, albeit still on the lead lap
Triple-stinting of the innovative and sustainable MICHELIN Pilot Sport tyres was a feature through the Hypercar grid, although some cars elected to bolt on a combination of compounds
The lead regularly changed via the differing strategies of Toyota, Cadillac and BMW, as all three manufacturers enjoyed spells at the head of the order, with Jack Aitken in the #38 Cadillac making a move on the Sheldon van der Linde-driven #20 BMW after three-and-a-half hours of racing; when the Brit pitted just before the four-hour mark, the #8 Toyota in the hands of Hartley re-took the lead
There was high drama in the third hour as the #30 Duqueine Team LMP2 class-leading Oreca-Gibson, driven by Richard Verschoor, and the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar of Antonio Fuoco touched at Tertre Rouge; the resulting spin cost the Italian momentum as he slipped down to ninth place and also received a warning flag
The sister Ferrari, driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi in the fourth hour, similarly ran into trouble after making contact with the #9 Proton LMP2 car entering the Forest Esses; both were able to continue, although Pier Guidi received a drive-through penalty for the incident, dropping from sixth to ninth position
The race ran cleanly for the first four hours, with only a single Full Course Yellow required in the fourth hour to clear debris from the track; both the #20 BMW and #12 Cadillac took advantage of the short interruption to take on-board a quick top-up of sustainable TotalEnergies fuel
LMGT3
Pole-sitter Mattia Drudi led the opening stint of the race in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin before handing over to team boss and team-mate, Ian James
That elevated the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus into the lead, with ‘super-sub’ Jack Hawksworth able to stretch out an impressive early advantage that team-mate Tom van Rompuy then consolidated
The Lexus subsequently came under attack from the slightly off-strategy #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche, as Ayhancan Güven completed an eye-catching double stint to vault into contention for the lead, which he grabbed as the fifth hour arrived
The second of the Akkodis Lexus entries was also well-placed, as former world champion José María López briefly ran third ahead of the #32 Team WRT BMW with Darren Leung aboard
As the fifth hour approached, it was the Argentine in second position ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, back in the hands of Drudi who was just ahead of the Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG driven by Julian Hanses
The second Team, WRT BMW, the #69 car driven by Anthony McIntosh, battled gamely for second place in the third hour with Petru Umbrărescu in the #87 Lexus, with the Romanian coming out on top
Martin Berry had a difficult start to the race as he spun on cold tyres on his ‘out’ lap at Tertre Rouge and then hit the barrier at the first Mulsanne Chicane, forcing the Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG crew to make some first hour repairs
Early issues also struck for reigning FIA WEC champion and last year’s Le Mans LMGT3 winner, Manthey, as The Bend-entered car of Yasser Shahin, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera encountered a technical problem and lost four laps in the pits
The 13 Autosport Corvette also lost time at the end of the second hour, as it pitted for repairs following contact with a rival LMGT3 competitor
LMP2
IDEC Sport controlled the opening hours of the race as Job van Uitert led from the #30 Duqueine Team entry with Julien Andlauer at the wheel
The Duqueine entry moved ahead after the fourth pit-stop, as Verschoor recovered from his brief incident with the #50 Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar to seize the advantage; that car continued to lead with Doriane Pin aboard after four hours of action
As the #28 IDEC Sport entry was handed over to Silver-categorised driver Paul Lafargue, the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca-Gibson swept by into second place in the hands of Louis Rousset
The Polish-entered Inter Europol Competition squad ran strongly early on in third with its #343 car, as Bijoy Garg was also able to vault the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson
The initial top six in LMP2 was completed by the #43 Inter Europol Competition entry and the #9 Proton Competition car, after Harry King completed a stellar double stint before handing over to Jonas Ried
Ried subsequently dropped back after pitting for checks following contact with the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar, losing out to the CLX Motorsport car in the process
The DKR Engineering Oreca-Gibson dropped to the rear of the field after having to replace an upright due to early-race contact
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