Le Mans.– The first hour of 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 They show that the Balance of performance (intended to balance the performance of cars) seems to work… and that we are facing an exciting race. He Porsche #6 He started first, but was surprised by the two Ferraris, which ran first and second for several laps before the #51 fell several places after the stops (he had a penalty for an infraction in qualifying). After the first hour, Miguel Molina’s #50 (with Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel) was leading, although with a 10-second penalty pending for Unsafe release.
In third position was the #3 Cadillac, with the #8 Toyota making a great comeback to go from 11th to 4th thanks to Buemi, ahead of the #51 Ferrari, fifth with Giovinazzi.
Summary of the first hour of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans in HyperCar
The rain gave a respite to allow a dry (and in fact sunny) start to the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and after the previous ceremony and the flag-waving by Zinedine Zidane, the race started with the #6 Porsche of Vanthor in front. However, Molina’s #50 Ferrari, in the hands of Nielsen, took the lead, although the Porsche did not give up.
But on lap 3, far from managing to regain the lead, the other Ferrari, Giovinazzi’s #51, overtook him to give the Cavallino team a momentary double. Behind, the #8 Toyota was advancing quickly with Buemi at the wheel, starting 11th and on the third lap he was already sixth. The other Toyota, the #7, condemned to start last after Kobayashi caused a red flag in qualifying, did not manage to gain positions until lap 5 with De Vries, who had crashed in the warm up, at the controls.
With Marco Wittman in charge, the #15 BMW was the first victim of the circuit, and after crashing in the Esses and touching the barriers, he had to go through the pits, where he lost valuable time that caused him to fall even behind the LMP2 cars.
The fight for the lead was livened up thanks to the doubles, which Nielsen managed to manage with talent to leave his teammate Giovinazzi’s #51 behind. And on lap 9, both gave Ferrari a moment of glory with several position exchanges, although then the #50 maintained its first place.
On lap 12, after 43 minutes of racing, the two Ferraris stopped and in turn the #6 Porsche stopped, as well as the #3 Cadillac and the #8 Toyota. The Porsche’s stop was two seconds faster, which allowed it to take the lead. The Cadillac was very close to the #50 Ferrari, which resumed driving just as the yellow car passed by it in the pitlane lane. After the turn of stops, Buemi was already fourth with the #8.
The #99 Porsche Proton, which 2016 Le Mans winner Neel Jani started, returned to the garage after just 45 minutes on the clock, with problems.
Race management announced an investigation into possible Unsafe Release of the Ferrari #50, and the #6 Porsche saw Ferrari regain first position. Finally # 50 received a 10-second penalty to serve at the next pitstop, but he maintained first place at the end of the first hour. The #51, which had served a penalty for an infraction in qualifying, had fallen to fourth place, although very close to the Toyota that was fourth.
An impressive comeback from 12th on the grid helped Robert Kubica move up to seventh in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. There, at the end of the first hour, the #16 Toyota could only have climbed to 16th place.
Summary of the first hour of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2
In LMP2, the #14 of AO by TF in the colors of Spike, the purple dragon, maintained the lead from pole position, and led the field through the first few laps. More exciting was the fight behind him, and the #28 of Idec, the #65 of Panis Racing and the #22 of United Autosports were engaged in a three-way battle for second place.
Near the halfway point of the first hour, the first pitstops began to arrive, changing the leaderboard, and Proton’s #9 inherited first place. The #23 of United Autosport was left stopped in the gravel after Ben Keating went off, causing a slow zone on the straight and part of the first sector. Keating was able to continue after receiving outside help in the form of a crane.
The quick pit stop helped Bent Viscaal take the lead in the #9 Proton ORECA 07 and stay there at the end of the first hour, ahead of the #65 Panis Racing car of Mathis Beche and the #22 United Autosports car of Oliver Jarvis. .
Pole sitter Louis Deletraz had led comfortably in the first stint in the #14 TF Oreca AO, but a driver change in the pits saw PJ Hyett rejoin the grid in the bottom half of the top 10.
Summary of the first hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 on LMGT3
In LMGT3, the #70 Inception, with Schandorff, held on to first place from the pole, while Alex Riberas moved the #27 Heart of Racing to fourth place, and Juncadella lost ground with the #81 TF Sport Corvette falling out of the top 10 As the laps went by, the #77 of Proton Competition got very close to the leader, and both entered the pits at the same time, one close to the other.
After the first hour, LMGT3 is still led by Frederikl Schandroff in the Inception McLaren 720 GTR #70, although Barker, who had started fourth, is still there. He made rapid progress in the opening laps to snatch second place from Aliaksandr Malkyhin, whose #93 Manthey PureRXcing Porsche 911 GT3 continued to lose positions in the first hour.
At the end of the first hour, Layer Ten Voorde was in third place with the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3.
