LM24 Hour 8: Midnight lull sees Ferrari lead swap

Sunday morning has arrived, and the night hours are in full swing at Le Mans. 

The eighth hour of the race was relatively subdued – the only notable moments were a series of penalties handed out by race control, most of which were for yellow flag infringements.

Most significant was for the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari, which dropped from second and 6.5s off the leading No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, to fifth, behind the No. 51 Ferrari, No. 6 Porsche and No. 20 BMW, 35s off the lead.

It has set up a chase for Nicklas Nielsen, who is pushing hard to climb back into the top three. However, up ahead, Kevin Estre appears to have found pace in the No. 6 Porsche. 

With the track cooler and the window for soft tires open, Penske can sniff a chance to get back in the fight. After sitting 36s off the leader early in the hour, by the end, he managed to reduce the margin to 12s after Phil Hanson climbed aboard the No. 83.

In response to Estre’s heave, Ferrari opted to instruct Hanson and James Calado in the second-place No. 51 to switch places, presumably to allow the No. 51 to build a lead. 

As the hour expired, the two cars were close, but hadn't switched, though further radio chatter made it clear that a lead change is expected early in the next hour.

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Elsewhere, there was further woe for the No. 35 Alpine, which was handed a penalty for causing a collision with the No. 94 Peugeot. This dropped the car to 18th in class and off the lead lap. 

The other classes were pretty static, with the No. 48 VDS Panis ORECA  holding a minute lead on the recovering No. 43 Inter Europol example and a 90s gap on the No. 28 IDEC Sport ORECA.

In LMGT3, the gap out front is comfortable, too, with Ahmad Al Harthy now back in the No. 46 WRT BMW. The Omani is lapping 54s ahead of the Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche, driven valiantly by Ryan Hardwick since the night hours began, as the team closes in on completing his drive time early. 

Richard Lietz is now aboard with the task of catching the BMW, but it’s a long way back.

The No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and the two Lexus RC F LMGT3s are also lapping quickly in positions third through fifth. 

United Autosports, meanwhile, put out a statement clarifying the reason behind the No. 95 McLaren GT3 Evo's retirement from the race. The car suffered a drivetrain issue, which driver Darren Leung, along with team members, over the radio, attempted to fix. The failure, though, "impacted the fuel delivery," leaving him "unable to engage forward drive."

United's hopes of a GT3 victory are now very slim and rest solely on the No. 59 car, which is 17th in class and off the lead lap. 

Attention, therefore, shifts to LMP2 for the team, where the No. 22 sits fifth in class, albeit more than 2.5m off the leading VDS Panis car.

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