24 Hours of Le Mans: Mano a mano in the first third of the race!

After eight hours of racing, spectators at the 24 Hours of Le Mans are still being treated to a stunning duel between G-Drive Racing’s #26 Aurus 01 and Signatech Alpine Matmut’s #36 Alpine A470, both designed by ORECA Technology. Little by little, the #26 increased the gap with the Alpine and continued to demonstrate its domination in LMP2, a class whose top 5 is monopolised by ORECA chassis.

In LMP1, Thomas Laurent at the wheel of the #3 Rebellion R12 executed a fantastic overtaking of the #11 BR1 and grabbed the provisional third spot. Unfortunately, eight minutes later he fell victim to an incident in the second chicane of the Mulsanne Straight. Thanks to the responsiveness of the team’s mechanics, changing out the front block only took five minutes.

For quite some time, and between each of the neutralisations, a game of musical chairs played out in front of the public thanks to the #36 Alpine A470 repeatedly alternating with the #26 Aurus 01, trailed by the Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #38 in third position.

At 22:30, as the two lead cars made simultaneous pit stops, the #36 took eight seconds longer refuelling than the #26, allowing G-Drive Racing to carve out a comfortable gap.

At 23:00, the top 5 was still comprised of all ORECA 07s: G-Drive Racing’s #26, Signatech Alpine Matmut’s #36, DragonSpeed’s #31 and Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #38 and #37.

ed, #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing, #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing.