Yahoo Autos Cadillac leads Petit at 3/4 distance while championship intensifies
As the 26th Motul Petit Le Mans moved into darkness, the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R looked stronger and stronger int he hands of Sebastien Bourdais. The Frenchman was in the lead and putting a gap on second place Louis Deletraz in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura when a full-course caution came out just prior to the race entering its final quarter.
With the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin of Andy Lally was beached in a gravel trap after contact with the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari but a full-course caution not yet called, many cars dove for the pits. Bourdais maintained his position, but Jack Aitken managed to get the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R out ahead of the No. 10, now in the hands of Filipe Albuqeurque. That puts Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani back into the championship lead, but it’s shaping up to be a mirror of 2021 when the same teams battled to the finish for the title.
The LMP2 championship fight isn’t officially over, but if the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA can make it to the end trouble-free, the championship will go to Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin. Mikkel Jensen was chasing Chatin when he threw the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA off the track, necessitating a trip behind the wall for extensive repairs.
The No. 52 in the hands of third driver Alex Quinn led as the race headed into its final quarter over the No. 18 Era Motorsports ORECA driven by Christian Rasmussen and the No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA with Josh Pierson at the wheel.
There are two cars on the lead lap in LMP3, the No. 30 Jr II Ligier still leading in the hands of Garett Grist. Felipe Fraga is at the controls of the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier in pursuit of Grist.
Winward Racing and Korthoff/Preston Motorsports have been waging an intense battle of Mercedes AMGs for GTD supremacy. That battle broke off with the yellow and Winward going on a different strategy, but will likely resume. Mike Skeen led at the two-and-a-half to go mark, followed by Thomas Merrill in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 and Gunnar Jeannette in the No. 80 AO Racing Porsche.
After starting last due to a qualifying penalty, the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán has made its way to the front of GTD PRO, with Skeen as a buffer between Jordan Pepper and Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage. Patrick Pilet is also near the front and was running third in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911.
Retirements since the halfway mark include the No. 3 Corvette Racing C8.R and the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW.
