AutoAction
FREE DIGITAL MAGAZINE SIGN UP

Toyota just ahead of Porsche at midway

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: June 16, 2024

The 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours competitors are halfway home with Toyota leading Porsche as drivers currently tackle both rain and the darkness.

Kiwi Brendon Hartley holds a 10s lead in the #8 Toyota over the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport machine steered by Kevin Estre.

A minute back is the sister Toyota of Lopez, while the leading Ferrari is the #50 of Molina in fifth.

Australia’s Matt Campbell sits just inside the top 10 with co driver Michael Christensen currently behind the wheel of the #5 Porsche a lap down in 10th.

Leading LMP2 is the AF Corse machine of #183 steered by Nicolas Varrone by a lap ahead of the #22 United Autosports machine of Nolan Siegal 

Australia’s Yasser Shahin is in the thick of the fight for LMGT3 honours with the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche sitting second, just 5s behind leader Joel Sturm.

Ferrari had been in control during the early hours, but the race-leading #83 led by Robert Kubica was slapped with a 30s stop go penalty for a collision that took out the #15 BMW.

Fries Vanthoor was steering the BMW but slight contract with Kubica sent him hard into the barriers on the final part of the Mulsanne straight.

As a result the #83 Ferrari now with Yifei Ye behind the wheel, whilst the damage was so big it created a huge 90-minute Safety Car period as the barriers were repaired.

The hard rain shower arrived when darkness fell and the penalty allowed Ryo Hirakawa to surge into the lead in the #8 Toyota and that remains the case with the race entering the second half.

Photo by JEP / LAT Images

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.

Podcast: SVG goes back to back

Shane van Gisbergen has gone back-to-back with a win in Sonoma, while his antipodean mates – Will Brown and Cam Waters – had mixed debuts in the NASCAR Cup Series… but both showed enough to stay on the radar or the US teams looking for the next Giz?

Plus, we’ve got all the latest news on Supercars, F1, IndyCar, and whatever else came to our minds at the time. We also look at the Darwin Supercars and the hypercars at Le Mans for the 24-hour race.

Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here

    

Shares

Recent Stories

array (
  0 => 
  WP_Term::__set_state(array(
     'term_id' => 11,
     'name' => 'Latest News',
     'slug' => 'latest-news',
     'term_group' => 0,
     'term_taxonomy_id' => 11,
     'taxonomy' => 'category',
     'description' => '',
     'parent' => 0,
     'count' => 13814,
     'filter' => 'raw',
     'cat_ID' => 11,
     'category_count' => 13814,
     'category_description' => '',
     'cat_name' => 'Latest News',
     'category_nicename' => 'latest-news',
     'category_parent' => 0,
  )),
  1 => 
  WP_Term::__set_state(array(
     'term_id' => 1923,
     'name' => 'WEC',
     'slug' => 'wec',
     'term_group' => 0,
     'term_taxonomy_id' => 1923,
     'taxonomy' => 'category',
     'description' => '',
     'parent' => 660,
     'count' => 82,
     'filter' => 'raw',
     'cat_ID' => 1923,
     'category_count' => 82,
     'category_description' => '',
     'cat_name' => 'WEC',
     'category_nicename' => 'wec',
     'category_parent' => 660,
  )),
  2 => 
  WP_Term::__set_state(array(
     'term_id' => 2029,
     'name' => 'ZZZ-Email',
     'slug' => 'email',
     'term_group' => 0,
     'term_taxonomy_id' => 2029,
     'taxonomy' => 'category',
     'description' => '',
     'parent' => 2031,
     'count' => 4659,
     'filter' => 'raw',
     'cat_ID' => 2029,
     'category_count' => 4659,
     'category_description' => '',
     'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-Email',
     'category_nicename' => 'email',
     'category_parent' => 2031,
  )),
  3 => 
  WP_Term::__set_state(array(
     'term_id' => 2031,
     'name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds',
     'slug' => 'zzz-rssfeeds',
     'term_group' => 0,
     'term_taxonomy_id' => 2031,
     'taxonomy' => 'category',
     'description' => '',
     'parent' => 0,
     'count' => 4060,
     'filter' => 'raw',
     'cat_ID' => 2031,
     'category_count' => 4060,
     'category_description' => '',
     'cat_name' => 'ZZZ-RSSFeeds',
     'category_nicename' => 'zzz-rssfeeds',
     'category_parent' => 0,
  )),
)
84091
Ford Returns to Le Mans: Mustang GT3 Dares to Dream | Ford Performance Movie

Ford Returns to Le Mans: Mustang GT3 Dares to Dream

Ford has released a special Return to Le Mans film shot in an unusual and striking animation style as a young boy dreams about seeing Mustang GT3 as it returns […]

Burswood Park, WA. Image: Google Maps

Perth Street Race confirmed for 2026 in WA Newspaper

The Sunday Times in Western Australia has confirmed this morning that the Cook Government and Supercars Australia are developing a street race concept in the Burswood Park area for 2026, […]

Read excited for finale

The Hydraulink Jim Read Racing is full excitement to finish the 2023/24 National Drag Racing Championship on a high at Willowbank this weekend. The final round of the 2023/2024 Australian […]

Cameron McLeod at PremiAir Supercar Garage in Darwin

McLeod PremiAir endurance co-driver announcement imminent

Young gun Cameron McLeod has been visible in Nulon gear at Darwin, reinforcing the view that he will soon be announced as Tim Slade’s endurance co-driver for PremiAir Racing. The […]