LM24, Hour 13: No.20 BMW moves up as No.38 Cadillac fades from contention

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s No. 38 V-Series.R has been struck down from contention at Le Mans just as the second half of the race begun.

Sébastien Bourdais was running second behind teammate Louis Delétraz when he brought the car down to pit lane, before it was then pushed into the garage. The team spent almost 30 minutes repairing a problem with the power steering system; it was later fixed and the No. 38 JOTA Cadillac has returned to the race.

But now trailing by seven laps, the car which has dominated large stretches of the race at night has been ruled out for the victory, a devastating blow for Bourdais, Jack Aitken, and Earl Bamber.

At least for JOTA, the No. 12 Cadillac still leads the race. Louis Delétraz recently debarked from the car in favor of Norman Nato, who also got a new set of soft tires as he got underway.

He currently leads the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 (pictured above), now piloted by Robin Frijns, by four seconds.

There’s also been two significant drive-through penalties handed down to the No. 8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid and No. 101 WTR Cadillac. Both Ryo Hirakawa in the Toyota and Ricky Taylor in the Cadillac were penalized for speeding under the most recent Full Course Yellow, which has delayed both cars.

Hirakawa is now fourth, 35 seconds off the lead, and behind the No. 7 Toyota (Kamui Kobayashi) who is due a pit stop soon from third.

The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Ye Yifei runs a distant fifth, while the No. 101 WTR Cadillac still runs a respectable sixth with Jordan Taylor at the wheel, and the No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team A424 (Charles Milesi) runs seventh.

Elsewhere the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 had to take a long stop in order to change the rear clip and resolve an issue with the bodywork.

LMP2 is still as it was, with the No. 343 Inter Europol Competition ORECA 07-Gibson still leading with Bijoy Garg behind the wheel. Garg has a 17 second lead over Julien Andlauer, who’s just been plugged into the No. 30 Duqueine Team ORECA, currently running second.

The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition (Tom Dillmann), No. 26 Vector Sport (Vladislav Lomko), and No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis (Esteban Masson) cars run third through fifth. Meanwhile in LMP2 Pro/Am, the No. 4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR (Laurin Heinrich) leads the No. 14 TDS Racing (Mathias Beche) and No. 99 AO by TF (Dane Cameron) ORECAs.

And it’s currently a Heart of Racing Team 1-2 in LMGT3. The No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 (Mattia Drudi) holds a massive lead of over 50 seconds from the sister No. 23 Aston Martin (Eduardo Barrichello).

Running third at the interval is the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette, which now has Jonny Edgar aboard after a recent pit stop for fuel, tires, and a driver change after a good shift from Nicky Catsburg.

The No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari (Simon Mann) runs fourth, while the No. 74 Kessel Racing (Dennis Marschall) leads a three-car fight for fifth ahead of the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus (Petru Umbrǎrescu) and No. 57 Kessel Ferrari (Conrad Laursen).

The No. 2 TF Sport Corvette and No. 69 Team WRT BMW also received drive-through penalties for speeding under the FCY and have slipped out of the top 10.

HOUR 13 STANDINGS