The Mission H24 project has unveiled details on a new prototype of their hydrogen-electric racer which aims to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the first ever zero-emission entry.

New images of the zero-emission hydrogen endurance racer has showcased a vastly different aerodynamic design language, as further technical details and future milestones have been outlined by H24.

It will utilise a 400 kW lithium battery, with the integration of a motor and drivetrain targeted at a maximum 872 hp output, plus two hydrogen fuel tanks which will collectively store 7.8 kg of hydrogen at 700 bars, for a total weight of around 100 kg.

The target weight will be 1300 kg and a top speed of 320 kph, on Michelin tyres, as the ongoing objective to match GT3 levels of pace remains.

President of the ACO and co-president of the H24 project, Pierre Fillon, said: “After introducing hydrogen to the racetrack, MissionH24 is now entering a new phase: bringing hydrogen to competitive racing.

“This new prototype clearly intends to rival the other forms of energy in the field. Hydrogen technology is safe, reliable and can perform.

“The ambition is now to provide the first zero-emission winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Jean-Michel Bouresche, president of the H24 project, added: “MissionH24 begins a new chapter today: the design, building and development of a brand- new electric-hydrogen prototype in association with our technical partners TotalEnergies, Michelin, Symbio and Plastic Omnium.

Both H24 drivers Norman Nato and Stephane Richelmi also shared their thoughts on the announcement.

“I’m delighted to reach a new milestone in the development of this hydrogen prototype, said Nato.

“I joined the project five years ago and the technology has progressed. Each stage is a new leap forward.

“This new prototype will, I am sure, be another big step. I can’t wait to drive it.”

Richelmi, who drove the outgoing version for a demonstration lap around La Sarthe prior to the Centenary Le Mans start, said: “I’ve been fortunate to play a part in MissionH24’s continual progress since I joined in early 2021.

“As a driver, it’s a great opportunity to develop electric-hydrogen technology in racing and assist this transition towards more sustainable forms of energy.

“This new prototype is evidence that hydrogen is indeed one of tomorrow’s mobility solutions.”

The project has undergone progression since its inception in 2018, including track outings in the Michelin Le Mans Cup – including all four events in 2022 – composed of GT3 and LMP3 cars.

The general design will be finalised in March 2024, followed by a mock-up for June 2024, which will be the month hosting the 101st edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

From October 2024, power unit assembly and bench-testing will take place for the drivetrain and motor components, as January 2025 will mark the car’s assembly and its maiden track tests.

In the meantime, H24 have said the name will be shared via their social media on 13 November.

Ferrari winning the 2023 centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was a great story, as it beat Toyota and ended the Japanese-German team’s five-year winning streak at the event. But could the Italian manufacturer have achieved it without the pre-Le Mans week Balance of Performance (BoP)?

First, let’s take a step back. The ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) issued its initial 2023 season BoP before the 1000 Miles of Sebring, based on simulation data for all seven cars competing in this year’s championship. 

Using simulation data is a new way of determining BoP, with the “traditional” way being based on lap times. The simulated data was able to take in thousands of scenarios — more than could ever be gained by lap time data — and so it was based on a car’s ultimate potential, not its current performance.

This meant that the BoP would, theoretically, be set pre-Sebring. In addition, because of the Sebring track’s unique nature, a different BoP was set for the rounds at Portimao, Spa, and Le Mans. It could then be adjusted after Le Mans, for Monza, if any changes needed to be made, which was made clear to the teams.

While it may seem bizarre to set the BoP before any competitive action has taken place, there was good reason: to prevent any ‘sandbagging’ taking place and therefore getting a more favourable BoP for later rounds, namely Le Mans. This was possible because the BoP was based on simulation data, not lap times, which can be manipulated via sandbagging.

However, on the Wednesday before Le Mans race week, the ACO issued an updated BoP table, which it called a “correction”, as the performance gaps between teams were “greater than initially anticipated”.

This gave Toyota a 37kg weight penalty, and 24kg to Ferrari, while the LMDh-rules cars of Cadillac and Porsche received 11kg and 3kg respectively. The Peugeot 9X8, Glickenhaus 007, or Vanwall 680 did not receive any weight changes.

This change was done because the ACO deemed it necessary, without manufacturer agreement.

A source has told MotorsportWeek.com that for every 10kg of BoP weight in a Hypercar, it costs a car 0.2 seconds a lap. Doing the maths, it cost Toyota around 0.74s a lap, Ferrari 0.48s, Cadillac just over 0.22s a lap, and Porsche around 0.06s.

And, relative to each other, the Ferrari was 0.26 faster than the Toyota over a lap compared to the BoP used at Portimao and Spa. Over the race, 342 laps, this gave Ferrari an 88.920s advantage. The #50 Ferrari 499P prevailed over the the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid by 81.793s.

So, logic states that, if everything else was exactly the same, Ferrari would not have been able to beat Toyota at Le Mans this year.

However, if we take the best 100 laps — and thereby excluding any laps done under slow zones or the safety car — from the two leading cars, the #51 Ferrari 499P and #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, we get a different picture.

The #51 Ferrari’s average, comprised from those top 100 laps, was a 3:29.701. #8 Toyota’s was 3:30.154. This is a gap of 0.453 on average in Ferrari’s favour.

If we take away the time lost via the BoP weight penalty, Ferrari’s average comes down to 3:28.221, while Toyota’s is 3:29.414. This reduces the average gap down to 0.193 — again in Ferrari’s favour.

So, really, it’s down how you interpret the data as to whether Ferrari could have beaten Toyota without the BoP change. Total race? No — but it would have been very very close. Average lap time? Yes, with a gap of just under two tenths per lap on average in Ferrari’s favour.

Charles Leclerc says that he has a desire to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future.

Leclerc was present at the French venue last weekend to witness Ferrari win the famous race on its debut with the 499P car.

Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Ferrari F1 reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi were behind the wheel throughout the event and ended Toyota’s five-year streak of wins at Le Mans.

When asked by Eurosport if he would be interested in taking part in the race at some point in his career, Leclerc said: “I mean, why not? Why not?

“I would love to, it’s an incredible event. For sure, one day in my life I want to tick that box. When will it be I don’t know.”

On the current F1 grid, two drivers have prevailed at the race – Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

Leclerc’s F1 rival Max Verstappen has also spoken of his desire to compete in endurance championships once he calls time on his F1 career.

Ferrari’s victory at the 2023 Le Mans race offers the Italian manufacturer a chance to celebrate amid a difficult start to its F1 campaign.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Leclerc added, speaking about Ferrari’s victory.

“Obviously, especially having a Ferrari winning, it’s incredible. It’s incredible, a return after so many years.”

Leclerc will be back competing this weekend at the Candian Grand Prix, the eighth round of the 2023 F1 season.

James Calado told a packed 24 Hours of Le Mans post race press conference that he was “properly on the limit” in the morning when the #51 Ferrari 499P driver was battling with Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

“Yeah, well, I think Brendan will tell you also — we were properly on the limit,” said the Brit.

“There was nothing spared there. We were pushing sd hard as we could and that time, both cars were very, very similar in terms of pace,” he added.

Calado had a hard fought bought with Kiwi, and two-times Le Mans winner Brendon Hartley, in the morning hours of the 24 hour race, where the gap came down at one point to just 1.5 seconds to the leading cars, after more than 19 hours of racing.

“I think we are quite surprised we made it to the end, because that was our biggest fear,” he continued.

“I’ve got to say the team did an amazing job, also strategy wise. It’s only our fourth race with this car. So it’s an amazing achievement. Whatever happened, I was proud of the guys, these two didn’t amazing job as well. So thankful to Ferrari and yeah, it was a great race.”

Asked in a Q&A session after the press conference about when Hartley was catching him, Calado told media he realised he had to risk it or risk losing the lead.

“The gap was coming down to Brendon and I thought, okay this is it,” he said.

“I just need to risk a little bit more and push as much as I can. He was gaining a lot in the slow zone areas. I don’t know how but he did, because I was properly on the limit.

“I don’t think we could have gone any quicker to be honest with you. That was pretty much all we had. They put pressure on us to whole time and it made a good show. So yeah, they’re very very strong.”

Speaking to MotorspoirtWeek.com after the press conference, Calado expanded on the pace similarities and differences with Toyota. 

“i think it’s very close in terms of pace, it’s especially when Brendan was buying me. It was very, very equal. At times they were faster in the warmer conditions and at times, we were quicker in the cooler conditions. So yeah, it was very equal,” said the Brit.

Calado’s teammate Antonio Giovinazzi was then asked where Ferrari found the pace they had at Le Mans compared to the other rounds.

Ii think we showed in the previous races that we had fast car,” said the Italian. 

“We put the car on pole in Sebring,” he continued. “And in Spa for a few minutes. But maybe we miss a little bit of experience from Toyota, especially on tyre degradation and everything. 

“Maybe Le Mans was not the worst track for tyre degradation, and this helps us to be more fast and and put more together. We were worried just about a long distance, 24 hours, reliability and everything. But we were lucky and we put all together,” concluded the Italian.

Calado agreed with his teammate’s assessment. “Our car is definitely still hard on tyres. But Le Mans is a track with very low energy, which goes through these tires. So we were able to use, the soft, the medium, without any big deg issues.

“Here, it was still not easy. I mean to do triple stinting, for us was really on the limit,” he concluded.

Despite taking an LMP2 class win that saw them lead the category for the majority of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Swiss driver Fabio Scherer told reporters after the race that the Inter Europol squad are ‘the underdog team.’

Up against seasoned LMP2 competitors such as WRT and United Autosports, the #34 Inter Europol Oreca-07 Gibson of Albert Costa, Jakub Smiechowski and Scherer ended up class winners at Le Mans. Scherer told reporters that despite his team being underdogs, having the right people can help fight the bigger outfits, and that was proven today at Le Mans.

“For sure we are the underdog and we are the family team,” he said. “But if you have the right people and you know what to do you can destroy the big ones and it feels even better to win against the big ones for me.”

The #34 Inter Europol car took to the head of the LMP2 field within five hours of racing at Le Mans, as cars from experienced outfits like United, Prema and even Jota had major incidents that dropped them out of winning contention.

The team’s near minute lead was slashed in the final hours as the #34 Oreca-07 Gibson machine had to serve a drive through penalty for an earlier safety car infringement, slashing the advantage to 20 seconds. Scherer had his grievances when it came to the penalty, but preferred to focus on the positives. 

“I don’t want to speak about it because we won and it doesn’t matter at the moment,” he said.

On the team’s sensational win, Scherer knew a class victory was on the cards upon arriving at Le Mans last weekend.

“When I came here, to be honest I thought we could have a chance. Because I know in Spa we had one of the quickest cars. I knew we would be quite well suited for here as well and through the week it came more and more as our long run pace was always quick.”

The chasing pack was led by the #41 WRT entry and when asked by MotorsportWeek.com how it felt to be chased by former F1 ace Robert Kubica, Scherer said it was one of Kubica’s teammates he was more concerned about.

“For me, it was more [Louis] Delétraz because it was a Swiss rivalry and he’s more or less my age,” said Scherer.

As the chequered flag fell on Le Mans, Scherer won his Swiss rivalry as his #34 Inter Europol team finished 21 seconds ahead of their #41 WRT rivals to pick up their first Le Mans class win.

The #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nicky Catsburg, Nicolas Varrone and Ben Keating have taken victory in the GTE-Am class at Le Mans.

Having taken the pole in the GTE-Am class thanks to a stellar lap in Hyperpole courtesy of amateur maestro Keating, the #33 crew were much fancied to take a class victory in the 91st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, the #33 crew’s journey to victory was anything but simple.

Despite leading the GTE-Am category after the first hour of running, the #33 Corvette had to replace the right-front damper, dropping it two laps down from the leading pack with 22 hours of the race left to run.

Despite the uphill battle and missing out on a safety car pass around to reclaim their two lap disadvantage, the #33 Corvette charged on. With 19 hours left to run, Varrone was lapping four to five seconds quicker than the class leaders, paving the way for an incredible fight back.

The fight back was exemplified by amateur racer Keating’s triple stint in the night time hours, which laid the foundations for the crew’s rise up the ranks and with six hours left to run, the #33 Corvette was back in the lead of the GTE-Am class.

Back in class-winning contention, the Corvette team stretched their advantage to take the chequered flag two minutes ahead of the second-placed #25 ORT By TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with the #86 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 of GR Racing a further 57 seconds back in third.

The #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-07 Gibson overcame a late challenge from the #41 WRT entry to emerge victorious in LMP2 at the 91st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer and Jakub Smiechowski took class victory for the Polish #34 squad by keeping their noses clean in a race where countless rivals fell foul of mixed conditions. But the #34 entry had to overcome radio issues, a drive through penalty and even a broken foot throughout the 24 hours.

With rain in the early evening and night time, several high profile runners in the LMP2 field dropped out of the race in a series of crashes caused by wet and damp conditions.

As rain and nightfall fell, the likes of Daniil Kyvat in the #63 Prema, Ben Barnicoat in the AF Corse #80 machine, Jan Magnussen in Interpol’s #32 car and the much fancied #28 Jota effort all went off the road, either into retirement or down the LMP2 order.

No such issue befell the #34 Inter Europol Machine, but there were other mitigating factors that almost prevented the team from relinquishing the class lead they first took in the fifth hour of the race and rarely dropped out thereafter. The #34 Oreca-07 Gibson outfit encountered issues with radio communication and saw a heroic effort from Scherer. The Swiss driver suffered a suspected broken foot after being run over in pit-lane, with the majority of the race yet to run. This didn’t stop him from continuing to put in impressive stints for the team, enabling the #34 to stretch out to a minute plus lead over the #41 WRT car.

However, a drive-through penalty taken in the closing hours of the race, as a result of a safety car infringement slashed the #34’s advantage down to 20 seconds. As the final hour drew to a close, the #41 WRT of Louis Delétraz cut the lead to approximately 12 seconds as another penalty started to loom over the #34 car, this time for a potential pit-lane infringement.

The second penalty wasn’t forthcoming and the injured Scherer held on to hand the Inter Europol squad a hard-fought LMP2 victory.

Ferrari have won the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Italian manufacturer’s 10th win and their first in 50 years, in the 499P’s debut year, plus the centenary of the Le Mans race itself.

Alessandro Pier Guidi brought the car across the line to send the Ferrari team, and his teammates in the #51 Ferrari 499P, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado, into raptures. 

While Ferrari did take pole for the race, it was the sister car, the #50 of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, and Miguel Molina. What ensued after the start was a crazy, crazy race — one that will surely go down in history as one of the great Le Mans races.

Calado started the #51 second, but soon dropped down to fourth as Toyota showed their pace, with Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid taking the lead with Nielsen second, Buemi’s teammate, Mike Conway, in the #7 Toyota third, and Calado fourth.

However, the race was soon neutralised as Jack Aitken crashed the #311 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R on the opening lap at the first chicane.

When the race restarted after the new safety car procedure had been used for the first time, Conway soon took Nielsen. However, the Dane attacked back and took the position off him at Mulsanne Corner the following lap.

At the end of the first hour, Buemi led from Calado. Buemi soon pitted, however, promoting Calado to the lead of the race for the first time.

Nielsen’s undercut worked a treat, meanwhile, and once the pitstop cycle had shaken out, with Calado pitting last, the order was Nielsen, with Sebastien Bourdais a surprise second in the #3 Cadillac V-Series.R. Buemi was third with Calado fourth, but had Earl Bamber in the sister #2 Cadillac right on his gearbox and threatening to take fourth off the Brit.

A spate of crashes then occured, which required slow zones situated around the track to assist in clean up and car recovery. Rodrigo Sales crashed his #14 Nielsen Oreca 07-Gibson heavily at the Dunlop curve, making the car the race’s first retirement. Ricky Taylor then came acropper in the #13 Tower Oreca 07-Gibson on the Mulsanne Straight, requiring another slow zone.

Amid this, Calado led by 3.7 seconds from Bamber — but not for long, as another slow zone was required again at Dunlop curve, as three cars were involved in a crash entering the slow zone. 

Bourdais, Ulysse de Pauw in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, and the #55 GMB Aston Martin Vantage AMR with Gustav Birch onboard were all involved in the crash, with Bourdais’ Cadillac requiring new rear bodywork. However, the other two GTE-Am cars were instant retirements.

At this point, the #51, now with Antonio Giovinazzi behind the wheel, slipped out of the top 5 in the Hypercar class. It would return to the top 3 at the end of the third hour, in second, behind teammate in the #50 car Antonio Fuoco.

While both Ferraris had pace, especially the #50, the two would flit in out of the lead, as almost every car in Hypercar cycled round to lead the race at some point in the opening hours of the French endurance classic.

At the end of the seventh hour, Pier Guidi would lead the race having taken over from Giovinazzi sometime earlier. However, the Italian spun the car intop the gravel at the first chicane, requiring the marshals to lift him and the car out.

While normally this would have cost them at least a few laps, luck was on their side. One of their major challengers, the #7 Toyota, with Kamui Kobyashi at the wheel, came together with the #66 JMW Ferrari, the #35 Alpine, and the #39 Graff at Tertre Rouge, in a curious incident that was, by this point, cloaked almost completely by darkness.

The result of this incident, which may have been caused by the slow zone to recover Pier Guidi’s stricken, beached Ferrari, was that a driveshaft in the #7 Toyota broke, making it impossible for Kobyashi to get it back to the pits.

The safety car then came out to recover the four cars involved in the Tertre Rouge incident, ensuring Pier Guidi’s mistake didn’t cost him anything other than a few positions, lying fifth in the safety car queue.

However, drama for the teamcar soon ensued, with an ERS cooling problem caused by a stone puncturing the radiator. It was pushed back into the garage and lost 20 minutes while the leak and radiator was fixed, taking them out of contention.

At this point, the contenders for the race were emerging: the #51 Ferrari, the #94 Peugeot of Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes, and Nico Muller, and the remaining #8 Toyota.

However, at the half way mark, Menezes also took the Peugeot out of contention, nosing into the barriers at the first chicane and trundling slowly back to the pits for new bodywork and suspension repair.

With others falling by the wayside, including the Porsches, this put the race between the #8 Toyota, and the #51 Ferrari.

Over the next half of the race, the two contenders duked it out, trading places and gaps when the other got the upper hand. At one point the Toyota, with Ryo Hirakawa at the wheel, had a large — for this race – 40 second lead.

However, in the full darkness with only headlights to light much of the track, Hirakawa hit something — maybe debris, possibly a squirrel — and damaged the nose on his Toyota. This caused Pier Guidi to close in, and by the time both stopped, on the same lap, Pier Guidi was able to jump the Japanese driver, with Tioyota changing their car’s nose at the stop.

From this moment on, 14 hours into the race, Ferrari were able to control the pace of the race., leading at the top of every remaining the hour. Toyota got close, with Brendon Hartley catching Giovinazzi at one point and closiung the gap to 9 seconds in the last couple of hours.

However, Hartley, who’d been in the car for a triple stint, was replaced at the wheel of the Toyota by Hirakawa. Before he climbed out of the car for the final time at Le Mans in 2023, the Kiwi told his teammate that the rear brakes had a tendency to lock up the rear wheels. He handed over the car to the Japanese driver with a gap of around 15 seconds after Hirakawa exited the pit lane.

However, Hirakawa wasn’t able to treat the brakes as well as his teammate, and just a few laps into his stint, he locked the rear wheels braking for Arnage, nosing the barrier then also hitting it with the rear of the car for good measure. He managed to get it back to the pits, where the team replaced the front and rear bodywork, but it dropped them over two minutes back from the Ferrari, ending Toyota’s 2023 challenge.

For the rest of the race, with an hour and a half remaining, Ferrari controlled the pace, and despite a scare at the final pitstop where the car would not refire in the pitlane, Alessandro Pier Guidi crossed the line to win his, James Calado’s and Antonio Giovinazzi’s first overall Le Mans win, in the race’s centenary year.

Second was the #8 Toyota GR010 of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa, and Brendon Hartley. They challenged for the lead throughout the race after starting fifth, with Buemi moving up from there at the start to lead at the end of the first lap when the safety car came out for the barrier repair at the first chicane, as a result of Aitken’s accident.

While Toyota had pace over the majority of their Hypercar rivals, they couldn’t quite challenge Ferrari, with the 499P being especially fast in a straight line. As early challengers Porsche and Peugeot fell away, with the latter finishing ninth, 22nd, and 54th, while Peugeot finished eighth and 27th, the Toyota challenge came to the fore in the second half of the race, taking the fight to Ferrari.

Hirakawa had a 40 second lead at one point, earned through pit stop strategy and luck in slow zones, but Giovinazzi was able to reel the Japanese driver back in, chipping away at the lead until it was just 1.5 seconds when they stopped. Hartley replaced Hirakawa at the stop, and he tried to chase Giovinazzi’s replacement Pier Guidi, as the Ferrari had jumped Toyota to the lead while the Toyota crew fitted a new nose to the car.

And that was how it finished, Ferrari confidently controlling the pace at the front and never letting the gap get below 9 seconds. Hirakawa’s spin did briefly put Toyota on tenterhooks as it looked like the car might need to be pushed into the garage, but in the end they were able to fix the car on the pit apron and send Hirakawa back out, to finish third, a minute and 21 seconds behind Ferrari.

In third was the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook, a lap down on Ferrari and Toyota. The Cadillac team was strong all race – the sister car, #3 Cadillac, finished fourth, in the hands of Scott Dixon, Renger Van der Zande, and Sebastien Bourdais — but the Chip Ganassi-run cars did not have the pace to challenge the LMH-rules cars of Toyota and Ferrari.

The two cars started sixth and eighth, and diced with the Porsches, two of which started ahead of them, early on. As the Porsches fell away with reliability issues, the Cadillacs – with the same spec hybrid units and gearboxes — managed to have a mostly trouble-free race, taking third and fourth in a good display for the American team.

Fifth was the delayed #50 Ferrari of Fuoco, Nielsen and Molina, five laps down on their winning teammates. The #50 had provided ample competition to the teamcar early on, but the radiator damage put paid to any serious challenge, with fifth the best that could be managed after leaving the pits with the damage repaired.

With just two hours to go at Le Mans, Antonio Giovinazzi leads at Le Mans for Ferrari – but Toyota’s Brendon Hartley is just 14 seconds behind.

The #51 Ferrari 499P, which currently has Giovinazzi behind the wheel, has led the race solidly since early this morning, when the Italian’s teammate, Alessandro Pier Guidi, reined in Hartley’s #8 Toyota GR010 hybrid teammate Ryo Hirakawa and jumped him in the pits.

However, the #8 Toyota, with Hartley, Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi at the wheel throughout the race, haven’t been far behind. Giovinazzi is currently being caught by Hartley, with the gap coming down by a tenth or two at least every lap, and has gone from 14 seconds to under 10 in around 40 minutes.

They both have at least another two stops to make, with strategy sure to play a part at each team to get their car to the finish first.

As if to prove a point, Hartley set the car’s fastest lap, a 3:27.855, a few minutes ago, then improved it by a few thousands a couple of laps later, with a 3:27.847.

Richard Westbrook sits third, a lap down on Giovinazzi, with the Brit behind the wheel of the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. It has been in third since the darkness hours of the night, but doesn’t seem to have the pace of the two cars ahead to challenge for the win.

Westbrook’s teammate Renger van der Zande is fourth in the sister #3 Cadillac, a further lap down on its teamcar.

Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari is fifth, six laps down after ERS issues caused by a stone hitting the radiator and causing a cooling leak.

The leading Porsche is sixth, with Fred Makowiecki roughly 40 seconds down on Nielsen.

Albert Costa leads LMP2 in the #34 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. The car had a drivethrough penalty for a safety car infringement about an hour ago, but managed to keep the lead, with a 1:19 gap to Robert Kubica in second in the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson. Polesitter Paul Loup Chatin is third in the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson, a further lap off Scherer and Kubica.

In GTE-Am, Nicky Catsburg leads in the #33 Corvette C8.R, with a gap of 54 seconds to the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19. The #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR is third with Charlie Eastwood at the wheel.

Two hours to go and Le Mans is set up for a nailbiting finale

With just two hours to go at Le Mans, Antonio Giovinazzi leads at Le Mans for Ferrari – but Toyota’s Brendon Hartley is just 14 seconds behind.

The #51 Ferrari 499P, which currently has Giovinazzi behind the wheel, has led the race solidly since early this morning, when the Italian’s teammate, Alessandro Pier Guidi, reined in Hartley’s #8 Toyota GR010 hybrid teammate Ryo Hirakawa and jumped him in the pits.

However, the #8 Toyota, with Hartley, Hirakawam abnd Sebastien Buemi at the wheel throughout the race, haven’t been far behind. Giovinazzi is currently being caught by Hartley, with the gap coming down by a tenth or two at least every lap.

They both have at least another two stops to make, with strategy sure to play a part at each team to get their car to the finish first.

As if to prove a point, Hartley set the car’s fastest lap, a 3:27.855, a few minutes ago, then improved it by a few thousands a couple of laps later, with a 3:27.847.

Richard Westbrook sits third, a lap down on Giovinazzi, with the Brit behind the wheel of the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. It has been in third since the darkness hours of the night, but doesn’t seem to have the pace of the two cars ahead to challenge for the win.

Westbrook’s teammate Renger van der Zande is fourth in the sister #3 Cadillac, a further lap down on its teamcar.

Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari is fifth, six laps down after ERS issues caused by a stone hitting the radiator and causing a cooling leak.

The leading Porsche is sixth, with Fred Makowiecki roughly 40 seconds down on Nielsen.

Albert Costa leads LMP2 in the #34 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. The car had a drivethrough penalty for a safety car infringement about an hour ago, but managed to keep the lead, with a 1:19 gap to Robert Kubica in second in the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson. Polesitter Paul Loup Chatin is third in the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson, a further lap off Scherer and Kubica.

In GTE-Am, Nicky Catsburg leads in the #33 Corvette C8.R, with a gap of 54 seconds to the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19. The #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR is third with Charlie Eastwood at the wheel.

James Calado has a narrow lead in the #51 Ferrari 499P after 20 hours of racing in the 91st running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In the 19th hour of the race, the #51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi pitted with a minute-long lead over the #8 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid of Sebastian Buemi. But the lead was eroded when Pier Guidi couldn’t get the #51 Ferrari going again. Alessandro Pier Guidi had to perform a full power cycle to get going again, and emerged 5.8 seconds behind Buemi.

However, it wasn’t long until Pier Guidi was able to retake the lead, capitalising on the Mulsanne straight when Buemi was held up by the #100 Walkenhorst Ferrari GTE-Am machine at the first chicane. The #51 Ferrari was able to extend its lead to beyond five seconds heading into the next cycle of pit stops, and to the relief of the Scuderia, the issue that befell their previous stop didn’t reoccur, and Pier Guidi held its lead against the #8 Toyota, which now has Brendon Hartley at the wheel.

Calado has now inherited the #51 Ferrari and leads by just under five seconds. Hartley remains in second place in the #8 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid. In third is Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, with the sister #3 Cadillac of Renger Van Der Zande two laps off the lead in fourth. The top five is completed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 piloted by Jean-Eric Vergne, three laps down on the leaders.

Amidst the drama at the front, the #38 Jota Porsche 963 with Antonio Felix Da Costa at the wheel found the wall at the exit of Indianapolis. The incident triggered a slow zone and prompted the Jota squad to replace the nose on their customer 963 machine.

Benefiting from the slow zone was LMP2 leader Fabio Scherer in the #34 Inter Europol, who gained around a minute when Louis Delétraz in the #41 WRT entry had to make an extra run through the slow zone. The top three in LMP2 is rounded out by Laurents Hörr in the #48 Idec Sport car.

The fight for the lead in GTE-Am continues to be an enthralling spectacle. Sarah Bovey leads in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR ahead of Michael Dinan in the #25 Ort By TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR machine. Third in GTE-Am belongs to the #33 Corvette of C8.R of Nicolas Varrone.

Michael Fassbender has crashed out of GTE-Am in his #911 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR with a hard hit against the wall at the Porsche Curves after an excessive bout of oversteer. The car was recovered to the pits, but it won’t be a Hollywood ending for the Proton crew, as the #911 car’s race is done.

The Garage 56 Nascar entry continues to impress. The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 currently lies 34th overall with Jenson Button at the wheel.

With four hours remaining, work continues to fix the barriers damaged by Fassbender’s Porsche and overall victory in Le Mans’ centenary race is far from being decided. Will Ferrari claim their first overall win since 1965, or will it be six in a row for Toyota?