LM24 Hour 7: No.20 BMW cycles into the lead

Due to the stint times, the pit cycle at the end of the seventh hour saw the No. 20 BMW take a turn at the head of the field. 

As the hour ticked over, the No. 20 led the No. 8, which has been metronomic since Sebastien Buemi’s last full service for a new set of Mediums. The gap has been coming down quickly, though, and is just half a second with the night hours in full swing. A battle is on for the overall lead as we creep into the eighth hour.

The No. 30 Cadillac is now third and 45 seconds off, with the No. 12 sister car fourth and the No. 50 Ferrari completing the top five with Nicklas Nielsen just over two minutes off the lead after 116 laps.

The best of the Alpines is now down to 10th, with Les Bleus’ A424S fading after an encouraging start. But there’s a long way to go, and the team still holds hope.

“We split the strategy between the two cars. But it’s been so calm. We’ve used the Medium on one and Hard on the other to have an overview of the race. We managed the gaps, and Victor in No. 36 has done an incredible job of keeping us in the race. We will see what the night brings,” Alpine Endurance Team boss Philippe Sinault said.

At the bottom of the Hypercar pile, the No. 15 BMW, which lost time after a puncture following contact for Dries Vanthoor, is back out and circulating two laps down after its rear bodywork repairs.

Duqueine leads CLX in LMP2, with the teenage trio continuing to enjoy an incredible run in their first race together at Le Mans.

The Inter Europol No.343 is third, after Forestier by Panis’ ORECA, which had been second, fell to fifth after a costly spin for Louis Rousset at the first Mulsanne Chicane. It is currently a few seconds back from the Vector Sport ORECA, which has had a quiet but impressive start to this one. AO by TF still controls Pro/Am, and IMSA legend Dane Cameron is in.

It’s now Manthey’s No. 91 back in front of LMGT3 after the most recent round of stops. Timur Boguslavskiy, a Silver, has been making ground as many teams are currently running with Bronze-graded drivers in their cars in a bid to burn through their minimum drive time before the morning.

The two Akkodis Lexus RC Fs complete the top three. The No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin is fourth, running just 7s in front of the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette, which has Ben Keating strapped in again.

The only other news of note in LMGT3 is that the No. 61 Iron Lynx AMG has been formally retired with suspension failure. We now have two cars greyed out on the timing screen.

HOUR 7 STANDINGS