LM24, Hour 20: Cadillac leads close lead fight with four hours to go

Cadillac is back in charge with four hours to go in the 94th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The restart following the race’s second safety car, as the hour began, saw the No. 20 BMW lead the field, with Robin Frijns driving. But a mistake at the next round of pit stops for the Dutchman, who went through the gravel on the way to pit in, was costly, and he emerged down to fourth when the cycle was complete.

The top four, all on the Michelin medium, are now covered by just 6 seconds, with the No. 12 Cadillac of Nato shuffled to the front. But Nato has his mirrors full, as he is being hunted down by the two Toyota TR010s, which have been rapid over the past hour and look on rails as the temperature rises.

Kaumi Kobayashi set the race’s fastest lap in pursuit of the Cadillac, only to have his time bettered by Ryo Hirakawa behind in the sister No. 8 (3m25.041s on lap 306), which had been the stronger of the two in the first half of the race. It’s extremely close and will almost certainly go down to the wire, with the No. 8 now back ahead of the No. 7 after gaining four seconds with a quicker stop.

Fifth and sixth are the No. 51 and No. 83 Ferraris, 37 and 51 seconds back, respectively, ready to snatch a podium finish if there’s drama ahead.

It’s close for the lead in the other classes too. In LMP2 the top three are within 2.4 seconds, with Julien Andlauer soaking up pressure from the two Inter Europol ORECAs behind, driven by Reshad de Gerus and new Ford Racing signee Nick Yelloly.

TF Sport’s lead in LMGT3 has ebbed and flowed since the restart, with Nicky Catsburg in the No. 33 pulling a 6-second gap over Dudu Barrichello in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, only to see it shrink again to 1.7 seconds at the end of the hour.

Akkodis ASP also shouldn’t be counted out with its No. 78 Lexus that’s 10 seconds adrift. The No. 27 pole-sitting THOR Aston Martin is also in the game, 21 seconds back.

HOUR 20 RESULTS