Yahoo Autos 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans - The Live Blog
Hour 0:00: This is an odd year at the world's greatest test of automotive endurance. With Porsche's recent exit, just Toyota is left as a factory entrant in LMP1, but the class has more significant privateer entries than it has at any other point in the FIA World Endurance Championship era. Fernando Alonso's #8 is the favored of the two Toyota entries, but just two simple issues could open the overall race to a private team with no factory affiliation for the first time in a very long time.
In LMP2, the year is much more traditional. A tight, wide open field could go to almost anyone, and nearly every car has at least one driver that would not be out of place in an IndyCar on the entry list. The class is 15-deep, and every entry should have a real shot to win the race in-class; If the relatively untested field of LMP1 privateers fail, they will have the chance to win the race overall.
GTE, still split here into GTE-Pro and GTE-Am as it has been throughout the FIA WEC era, makes up exactly half of the grid, but debuts for Aston Martin and BMW may have some issues keeping up with better-tested cars from Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, and Ford. It is the Porsches, decked out in tribute liveries and unburdened by the company's focus on LMP1 of previous years, that have led throughout the weekend. Whether or not that continues through the race is about to be decided.
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