Le Mans 24h, H21: Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari battle it out for the win

This three-hour period began under the safety car following the earlier crash of the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the prestigious World Endurance Championship round, with two Hypercars being hit by problems despite the reduced speed.

First, Nico Muller went off at Indianapolis at the wheel of the #93 Peugeot, seemingly disturbed by a wobble for the car ahead. It was running in 15th place.

Later, the #3 Cadillac briefly stopped on the Mulsanne straight as it held 11th position. It limped back to the pits and had to retire due to an apparent oil leak.

When the green flag was waved at 10:32am local time, Earl Bamber's #2 Cadillac led the race from the #5 Porsche, the #83 and #50 Ferraris, and the #7 Toyota – with no fewer than ten cars on the lead lap, and therefore close to each other.

The two lead Ferraris started to squabble over third place, with Antonio Fuoco's #50 machine overtaking Robert Shwartzman's #83 entry at the Michelin chicane before he hit back at Mulsanne corner. They briefly went three-wide with Kamui Kobayashi's Toyota, but the prancing horse's representatives remained ahead.

As the #311 Cadillac's race took a turn for the worst with a violent off for Pipo Derani at Indianapolis – he hobbled back to the pits, where the car spent the best part of two hours – Kobayashi briefly slowed down, with the #8 Toyota getting up to fifth place.

Fuoco was on a mission with the #50 Ferrari and found a way past Shwartzman on the approach to Mulsanne corner, before overtaking Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche to take second place.

The Penske-run car subsequently lost some time in the pits – notably due to a drive-through penalty for a slow-zone infringement, which the #38 Porsche and the #19 Lamborghini also had to serve – and is now running just eighth, despite briefly leading the race not so long ago.

At that stage, the #2 Cadillac was still leading at the hands of Bamber with a nine-second gap to the #50 and #83 Ferraris, the #8 Toyota, the #6 Porsche and the #7 Toyota.

Buemi overtook Shwartzman with a bold move around the outside at Mulsanne, bringing the #8 Toyota up to third place, and things went from bad to worse for the #83 Ferrari, which pitted not long later with plumes of smoke emanating from its brakes. Although it has not officially retired, this outcome seems likely.

While James Calado's #50 Ferrari let Miguel Molina's #51 sister car through, Buemi (Toyota #8) did the same for Kobayashi's #7. The Japanese veteran driver and team principal went on to achieve the fastest lap of the race so far, a 3m28.756s, at the end of a remarkable 2.5-hour stint at the wheel. Jose Maria Lopez subsequently took this car over, but suffered a slow puncture which cost it some time.

At 1pm, the #2 Cadillac driven by Alex Palou still led, four seconds ahead of the #50 Ferrari with Molina at the wheel, Brendon Hartley's #8 Toyota being a further eight seconds away. Kevin Estre's #6 Porsche and Alessandro Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari were battling it out for fourth, and the top nine cars remained on the lead lap.

The LMP2 class remains hotly contested, with a tight battle between Inter Europol's #34 entry and Vector Sport's #10 car. The former took the lead as Clement Novalak overtook Patrick Pilet when the veteran put two wheels in the gravel at the exit of Indianapolis corner.

However, the latest round of pitstops thrust IDEC Sport's #28 machine into the lead, with Reshad de Gerus, Paul Lafargue and Job van Uitert having little margin for comfort due to the five cars chasing them fewer than 40 seconds behind.

In GT3, the #81 Corvette from TF Sport and United Autosports' #59 McLaren were hit by trouble as they stopped on track – the latter retired. Meanwhile, the battle for the win is now a duel between Manthey's #91 Porsche (Lietz-Shahin-Schuring) and WRT's #31 BMW (Farfus-Gelael-Leung), with just two seconds between them.

2024 Le Mans 24 Hours - Hour 21 results

POS	#	STATUS	CLASS	TEAM	CAR	LAPS	GAPS	PITS
1	2	RUN	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	264	-	23
2	50	RUN	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	264	4.298	22
3	8	RUN	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	264	16.072	24
4	51	RUN	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	264	31.664	24
5	6	RUN	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	264	32.158	24
6	7	RUN	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	264	51.693	27
7	12	RUN	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	264	1:11.961	23
8	5	RUN	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	264	1:15.720	20
9	38	RUN	Hypercar H	HERTZ TEAM JOTA	Porsche 963	264	1:26.542	26
10	94	RUN	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	263	1:54.723	26
11	63	RUN	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	262	2 laps	21
12	93	RUN	Hypercar H	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES	Peugeot 9X8	262	3:29.788	25
13	19	RUN	Hypercar H	LAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	Lamborghini SC63	262	26.780	23
14	11	RUN	Hypercar H	ISOTTA FRASCHINI	Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C	257	7 laps	25
15	28	RUN	LM P2	IDEC SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	12 laps	27
16	34	RUN	LM P2	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	42.695	26
17	37	RUN	LM P2	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	43.187	25
18	22	RUN	LM P2	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	49.588	26
19	10	RUN	LM P2	VECTOR SPORT	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	49.868	27
20	183	RUN	LM P2 P/A	AF CORSE	Oreca 07 - Gibson	252	1:02.951	25
21	14	RUN	LM P2 P/A	AO BY TF	Oreca 07 - Gibson	251	13 laps	24
22	33	RUN	LM P2 P/A	DKR ENGINEERING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	250	14 laps	27
23	25	RUN	LM P2	ALGARVE PRO RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	250	1:07.963	26
24	65	RUN	LM P2 P/A	PANIS RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	249	15 laps	31
25	83	IN	Hypercar H	AF CORSE	Ferrari 499P	248	16 laps	21
26	47	IN	LM P2 P/A	COOL RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	248	1:46.981	25
27	24	RUN	LM P2	NIELSEN RACING	Oreca 07 - Gibson	246	18 laps	26
28	99	IN	Hypercar H	PROTON COMPETITION	Porsche 963	244	20 laps	24
29	91	RUN	LMGT3	MANTHEY EMA	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	238	26 laps	24
30	31	RUN	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	238	2:15.228	23
31	88	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	238	3:14.688	25
32	87	RUN	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	238	5.079	23
33	85	RUN	LMGT3	IRON DAMES	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	238	9.005	22
34	44	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	238	21.895	24
35	78	RUN	LMGT3	AKKODIS ASP TEAM	Lexus RC F LMGT3	238	1:52.687	27
36	86	RUN	LMGT3	GR RACING	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	238	1:59.157	26
37	55	RUN	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	237	27 laps	25
38	777	RUN	LMGT3	D'STATION RACING	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	237	55.085	24
39	155	RUN	LMGT3	SPIRIT OF RACE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	237	1:15.974	24
40	82	RUN	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	236	28 laps	24
41	311	RUN	Hypercar H	WHELEN CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	233	31 laps	21
42	70	RUN	LMGT3	INCEPTION RACING	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	233	44.888	25
43	92	RUN	LMGT3	MANTHEY PURERXCING	Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3	233	1:04.463	27
44	23	RUN	LM P2 P/A	UNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	Oreca 07 - Gibson	228	36 laps	27
45	81	RUN	LMGT3	TF SPORT	Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R	225	39 laps	25
46	60	RUN	LMGT3	IRON LYNX	Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2	217	47 laps	22
47	77	RUN	LMGT3	PROTON COMPETITION	Ford Mustang LMGT3	185	79 laps	18
48	20	IN	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	92	172 laps	10
49	3	Ret	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	Cadillac V-Series.R	223	41 laps	22
50	59	Ret	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	220	44 laps	23
51	95	IN	LMGT3	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo	212	52 laps	21
52	4	STOP	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	Porsche 963	211	53 laps	24
53	27	Ret	LMGT3	HEART OF RACING TEAM	Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3	196	68 laps	17
54	45	STOP	LM P2 P/A	CROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR	Oreca 07 - Gibson	149	115 laps	16
55	66	STOP	LMGT3	JMW MOTORSPORT	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	112	152 laps	14
56	30	STOP	LM P2 P/A	DUQUEINE TEAM	Oreca 07 - Gibson	112	0.000	14
57	46	STOP	LMGT3	TEAM WRT	BMW M4 LMGT3	109	155 laps	10
58	15	STOP	Hypercar H	BMW M TEAM WRT	BMW M HYBRID V8	102	162 laps	10
59	36	Ret	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	88	176 laps	10
60	9	STOP	LM P2	PROTON COMPETITION	Oreca 07 - Gibson	86	178 laps	10
61	35	STOP	Hypercar H	ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM	Alpine A424	75	189 laps	8
62	54	STOP	LMGT3	VISTA AF CORSE	Ferrari 296 LMGT3	30	234 laps	3