LM24 Hour 2: Toyota bolsters overall lead; early trouble for Manthey Porsche

The No. 8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid leads the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the end of hour number two. Meanwhile, the Manthey Porsche team’s chances of a third consecutive LMGT3 class win were dealt a significant blow.

It came after about 80 minutes of racing when the No. 92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R was pushed into the garage as the team worked to repair a broken tie rod. Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera’s hopes of winning back-to-back races for Manthey are now in tatters after the car lost three laps to the class leaders.

But the story up front in Hypercar is the No. 8 Toyota in the hands of Sébastien Buemi. The four-time winner, who started 15th, reset the fastest lap of the race twice these last 60 minutes, turning in a 3m26.580s. With that pace, Buemi now leads the No. 20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 by 28 seconds at the interval, as he nears the end of his stint.

Behind the BMW of René Rast, Ferdinand Habsburg runs third in the No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team A424, and then it’s the two Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.Rs of Earl Bamber (No. 38) and Will Stevens (No. 12), followed by the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque.

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, No. 7 Toyota, and No. 50 Ferrari run seventh, eighth and ninth as the only cars running offset tire strategies to start – the Ferraris opted for all-hard tires except on the right front; the Toyota went with all-medium tires except on the left rear.

As we approach the start of the third hour, LMP2 leaders are making pit stops. The No. 30 Duqueine Team ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Julien Andlauer was scored as the leader ahead of the two Inter Europol Competition cars of Tom Dillmann (No. 43) and Nico Müller (No. 343).

Minutes before, Job van Uitert was leading in the No. 28 IDEC Sport ORECA. His triple stint is over and now Silver-graded co-driver Paul Lafargue is in for his first laps of the race.

A move for the lead in LMGT3 may be inevitable as the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 still leads following a solid double stint from Jack Hawksworth. His Bronze co-driver Tom van Rompuy has taken over, yet is holding his own remarkably well against BMW factory driver Dan Harper in the No. 69 WRT BMW, who’s running second.

Ben Tuck, a Silver, now runs third in the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford, ahead of the No. 32 WRT BMW and the No. 87 ASP Lexus, both now in the hands of Bronzes Darren Leung and Petru Umbrǎrescu.

The No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari (Dustin Blattner) and No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin (Ian James) trail closely in sixth and seventh.

HOUR 2 STANDINGS