Shortly after 8 a.m. this morning, the #311 Cadillac V-Series.R stopped in the middle of the Dunlop Curve. The failure was definitive, and the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will record the 10th retirement. Only two of the four American prototypes remain at the start: the #12 Cadillac, which started from pole position, is in 6th place overall. The #38 is also on the lead lap, in 9th place.

The Ferraris regularly lap one to two seconds faster than their rivals. It's the numerous errors and penalties that keep the suspense alive, even though the Ferraris seem to have the upper hand this year. Since the start of the race, repeated errors have cost them various penalties. This gives some hope to the #6 Porsche 963 or the #8 Toyota, currently in the best position in their wake. The #51 Ferrari 499P (Calado / Pier Guidi / Giovinazzi) and #83 (Kubica / Ye / Hanson) are battling it out at the front of the race, sometimes less than a second apart. The third (#50 of Fuoco / Molina / Nielsen) is fighting hard to join the party. Another error (Pier Guidi in the #51) puts the #83 back in pole position shortly after 11 a.m. At noon this Sunday, it's legitimate to wonder which Ferrari will win this 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The fall of the chronos

The early morning seemed to suit the BMW M Hybrid V8: in the #15, Dries Vanthoor set the race lap record on lap 262 (3:26.930): the race lap record by a Hypercar was beaten (2023, Fuoco in a Ferrari 499P). It suited the defending champions even better, and the record didn't stand for long. Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari 499P #50) tried to catch up with his sister cars and set a 3:26.817 on his 264th lap. Robert Kubica responded four laps later by taking the fastest time (3:26.562). Giovinazzi in the #51 was running at the same pace.

The competition tried to pick up the pace and Jules Gounon made a mistake braking at Mulsanne: the #36 Alpine A424 was stuck in the gravel trap. The BMWs managed to get close to their times, but these were occasional performances. René Rast set the best time for the #20 BMW M Hybrid on lap 279: 3:26.724. Sébastien Bourdais tried to bring his Cadillac (#38) up to par, as did Pascal Wehrlein and his Porsche (#4) (3:26.743 and 3:27.077 respectively, lap 285). As midday approached, Sébastien Bourdais brought his #38 Cadillac V-Series.R to a new race lap record of 3:26.063 on lap 310.

With four hours to go, Inter Europol Competition (#43) and VDS Panis Racing (#48) are firmly established in the top two places in the LMP2 class. One lap back, the last step of the provisional podium is held by the #9 Iron Lynx – Proton. The #199 (Ao by TF) and #28 (Idec Sport) Oreca 07 – Gibson are the only ones in a position to challenge it. The disappointment comes from the British team chosen by McLaren to operate these Hypercars from 2027: the two United Autosports cars are far from the podium.

It's quite unusual, but the LMGT3 class isn't the closest of races. The gaps at the front no longer offer direct confrontations on track. In 4th place in the class, the #87 Lexus receives a penalty (passing through the pit lane at reduced speed and without stopping). Shortly after 11 a.m. this Sunday, Finn Gehrsitz loses control of the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 in the Porsche curves. He manages to reach his pit but the car will not be repaired. Drudi (Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing) passes Hawksworth (Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team) shortly before 10 a.m. to gain 4th place. At the front, the #92 Porsche is more than a minute ahead of the #21 Ferrari, which itself is almost 50 seconds ahead of the #81 Corvette.

Top 5 at 12:00 (overall ranking):

1. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse – Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson, 320 laps

2. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina, at 33”938

3. Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi, at 46'658

4. Porsche 963 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / Laurens Vanthoor / Matt Campbell, at 56”938

5. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn, at 2'19''314

Leaders of other categories:

• LMP2: Oreca 07-Gibson #43 Inter Europol Competition – Jakub Smiechowski / Tom Dillmann / Nick Yelloly (304 laps)
• LMGT3: Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm – Ryan Hardwick / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz (287 laps)

Dropouts at 12:00:

• Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team – Arnold Robin / Jack Hawksworth / Finn Gehrsitz, 11:25 a.m., off track
• Cadillac V-Series.R #311 Cadillac Whelen – Jack Aitken / Felipe Drugovich / Frederik Vesti, 08:21, direction
• Oreca 07-Gibson #18 IDEC Sport – Jamie Chadwick / Mathys Jaubert / André Lotterer, 07:31 wheel loss
• Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #54 Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon, torque sensor
• Cadillac V-Series.R #101 Cadillac WTR – Ricky Taylor / Jordan Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque, 04:27, engine
• Oreca 07-Gibson #24 Nielsen Racing – Naveen Rao / Cem Bolukbasi / Colin Braun (LMP2 Pro/Am), 4:00 a.m., track exit
• BMW M4 LMGT3 #31 The Bend Team WRT – Yasser Shahin / Timur Boguslavskiy / Augusto Farfus, 03:52, breakdown
• BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde, 03:38, mechanical problem
• Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 #60 Iron Lynx – Andrew Gilbert / Fran Rueda / Lorcan Hanafin, 10:24 p.m., engine failure
• McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #95 United Autosports – Darren Leung / Sean Gelael / Marino Sato, 10:23 p.m., breakdown
• Ford Mustang LMGT3 #88 Proton Competition – Stefano Gattuso / Giammarco Levorato / Dennis Olsen, 7:53 p.m., off the track

Best lap:  Sébastien Bourdais (Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA), 3'26''063 on lap 310.