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 the AF Corse driver hit back at Mulsanne corner. They briefly went three-wide with Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota, but the prancing horse’s representatives remained ahead.

Fuoco was on a mission with the #50 Ferrari and found a way past Shwartzman on the approach to Mulsanne corner, before overtaking Frederic 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 Jota 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.

2024 Le Mans 24 Hours – Hour 21 results