Yahoo Autos LM24, Hour 16: Preparing for a restart
There’s great news on the horizon: The rain has lifted over the Circuit de la Sarthe, and Race Control has begun the process of restarting the 24 Hours of Le Mans with eight hours to go.
Race Director Eduardo Freitas has begun the process of merging and pass-arounds, so the race should resume after a Safety Car intervention that has lasted for over four hours due to rain and poor visibility.
That is now the record for the longest single Safety Car intervention in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, and we’ve now passed the point of the longest amount of time spent behind the Safety Car in total.
When the race resumes, Ryo Hirakawa will have the overall lead in the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID, over second-placed Laurens Vanthoor in the No.6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in second, Nicklas Nielsen in the No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P in third, and Nyck de Vries in the No.7 Toyota in fourth.
Robert Kubica in the No.83 AF Corse Ferrari and Jenson Button in the No.38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche will restart fifth and sixth overall.
Ben Barnicoat is now aboard the LMP2-leading No.183 AF Corse ORECA 07-Gibson and will restart ahead of Bijoy Garg in the No.22 United Autosports car. Stephane Richelmi is third in the No.10 Vector Sport car.
Likewise, Klaus Bachler and Richard Lietz have been plugged into the leading No.92 and No.91 Manthey Racing Porsches and will restart first and second in LMGT3.
With Bronze-rated Hiroshi Hamaguchi restarting third in the No.95 United Autosports McLaren, expect Jack Hawksworth and Sean Gelael to try and get past him in the No.87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus and No.31 Team WRT BMW, respectively.
