Frederick Lubin lost control out of Tertre Rouge and into Antares, and when he spun, he slammed into the right side of an unsuspecting Mikkel Pedersen in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19.

So far, the Tower Motorsports #13 and Nielsen Racing #14 have retired after the crashes of Ricky Taylor and Rodrigo Sales, respectively. The United Autosports #22, Inter Europol Competition #32, and the DKR Engineering #43 have had extended stays in the garage.

Maxime Martin had an incident with the #708 Glickenhaus 007 of Ryan Briscoe, where Martin was hit approaching a slow zone – this necessitated suspension repairs aboard the Belgian-flagged #43, which had trouble getting started on the formation lap at the very start.
The lead in GTE-Am went into freefall as localised monsoon conditions in the Porsche Curves led the #86 GR Racing’s lead to an abrupt halt. The only car in the 3:52’s, GR’s advantage was building well, 47 seconds the advantage of his Porsche over the #85 Iron Dames Porsche of Rahel Frey.

On approach to the entry of the Porsche Curves, standing water claimed several victims, including Riccardo Pera in the GR Porsche, pirouetting several times before finding the barrier to driver’s right with the rear of the 911 RSR-19.



The car made it to the pits, leaving the field to pit for wets under a safety car and the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by Davide Rigon at the top of the class. Iron Dames are placed second, Sarah Bovy now aboard, and third is currently held by P.J. Hyett, first time aboard the distinctive Dino-liveried #56 Porsche.

The hour saw plenty of drama. Claudio Schiavoni, having just taken over the top three #60 Iron Lynx Porsche, took too much kerb to drivers’ left on the run to Tertre Rouge. The yellow Porsche skewed across the track, collecting the #16 Wright Motorsport run Proton Porsche entry that was rising through the top ten, driven by Ryan Hardwick and in its own fight for position with another Proton Porsche. Both cars were retired with significant damage.

Indeed, Proton’s Porsches seem to have a target painted on their liveries. The next casualty was the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing car, on the receiving end of a skewing LMP2 prototype, again on the run to Tertre Rouge.

The #22 United Autosports LMP2 car was out of shape as it moved to pass the slower GTE car, pitching hard across the track to make heavy contact with Mikkel Pedersen, who limped the heavily damaged Porsche back towards the pits.

Jenson Button’s pace in the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 Innovative Car was carving the F1 Champion’s way up through the GTE-Am field, tackling wet conditions for the car for the first time this week. The constant stop/go nature of the race so far is in no way helping the car’s expected performance between the LMP2 and GTE pace. Currently 44th overall, the ZL1 is splitting the GTE-Am field.

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LM24, Hour 4: Peugeot holds station up front

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | June 10, 2023 2:13 PM ET

The fourth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours saw things settle down, but only because the safety car period called for rain and incidents in Hour 3 lasted the entire hour.

The biggest headline of the hour was the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 holding the lead under safety car conditions after the most recent Hypercar pit stops early in the hour. Californian ace Gustavo Menezes’s efforts climbing the order on slick tires in the rain paid off, the French marque is an unlikely early leader in this race.

While the No. 94 was enjoying life at the front, it was not a good hour for the sister car. After changing to slicks under safety car, Jean-Eric Vergne in the No. 93 had a spin at Mulsanne Corner while tip-toeing and came to a stop in the gravel. The Frenchman ended up beached and required outside assistance to rejoin as Hour 5 approached. He is now two laps down and 14th in Hypercar after losing so much time being extracted by a manitou.

By the end of the hour, the No. 94 Peugeot retained the lead with Menezes still driving. The No. 6 Penske Porsche of Kevin Estre was up to second, with the No. 7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopez third. The No. 8 Toyota and No. 75 Porsche made up the top five.
In LMP2, it’s an Alpine 1-2 as we head into Hour 5. The No. 35 of Memo Rojas leads the No. 36 of Julien Canal. The No. 23 United Autosports ORECA of Oliver Jarvis is third.

GTE Am has the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche now at the front. The “Rexy” Project 1 Porsche is second and continues to be an early contender. The No. 911 Proton Competition Porsche, with Martin Rump now aboard in place of Richard Lietz who took the start, is third. The Pescarolo-liveried TF Sport Aston Martin is fourth with the bright orange ORT by TF Vantage fifth.

The Hendrick Motorsports Camaro is 44th overall, behind the 10th-place GTE Am team. Jenson Button is now in the car for his first stint in the race.

Crucially, the rain has now stopped, the track is drying and the expectation is that we will go green again very soon.

HOUR 4 STANDINGS
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2023 LM24, Hour 4: Yes, Peugeot Has Its Moment Up Front!

Menezes leads in the #94 9X8; Alpine Elf Team leads LMP2, Iron Dames to the top in GTE Am!

10 June 2023, 7:15 PM
Much of this fourth hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been run behind the Safety Car due to barrier repairs, necessitated by multiple incidents in the Porsche Curves at the bottom of the third hour.

But it gave us a wonderful moment – the fifth different manufacturer to lead the race, Peugeot TotalEnergies!

Pit cycles under this extended Safety Car intervention put the #94 Peugeot 9X8 of Gustavo Menezes out front. If nothing else, the French manufacturer can claim it has led an extended period of the first Le Mans for the 9X8, no matter the circumstances behind it.

As the field prepares to get back to racing in the next hour, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Kevin Estre is second in Hypercar, and the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID of Jose Maria Lopez is third.

Of course, the Safety Car intervention has gone on long enough for the rain to stop, with many cars taking the chance to go back to slick tyres. Unfortunately, Jean-Eric Vergne went onto slicks and spun into the gravel at Mulsanne Corner on his out-lap.

All 16 cars are still running with 12 on the lead lap.

At the top of the hour in LMP2, the Signatech-run Alpine Elf Team Oreca 07-Gibsons are running first and second.

Memo Rojas leads in the #36, ahead of Julien Canal in the #35. Both Silver-graded drivers are getting their time behind the wheel in.

Oliver Jarvis runs third in the United Autosports #23 Oreca, while the #37 COOL Racing Oreca leads LMP2 Pro-Am (12th in class outright) and now has Malthe Jakobsen at the wheel.

All of this can change once we get back to green-flag racing!

Team WRT have changed the front and rear of the #31 Oreca that went off in the Porsche Curves escape road. DKR Engineering’s #43 Oreca is back out after Maxime Martin was hit by Ryan Briscoe in the #708 Glickenhaus Racing SCG 007.

However, the #32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca is still in the garage after Jan Magnussen went off in the torrential rain and crashed.
The race being neutralised for the hour has handed control of GTE-Am back to Porsche. Sarah Bovy now leads the race for Iron Dames, ten seconds ahead of the Project 1-AO Porsche, the #911 Proton Competition entry of Martin Rump making it a Porsche 1-2-3.

This performance is in contrast to the German marque’s performance in qualifying, where no Porsches even made it through to Hyperpole.

Davide Rigon’s pit stop and handover to Francesco Castellacci dropped the Silver #54 AF Corse Ferrari from the lead, but the experienced Italian was resigned to the challenges of this tough race so far.

“It wasn’t a very good start for us, we’re happy with the car but cannot keep up with the Porsches,” Rigon said. “The different conditions around the track are making things very difficult. We are keeping wets on at the moment because there is still so much water out there.”

Behind the leading Porsches TF Sport’s Aston Martin’s were beginning to show, Arnold Robin’s #72 Pescarolo tribute liveried Vantage two seconds off the #911 Porsche in fourth.

Michael Dinan had the wheel of the #25 Orange ORT by TF Aston Martin, the car having climbed back up the order since an extended pit call at the start of the race to adjust the car’s settings.

Jenson Button was circulating steadily under the safety car, the #24 Garage 56 entry sitting 44th overall, still trailing the top 10 GTE-Am runners, but poised with intent.

We can also confirm that Lilou Wadoux is okay after she slid off at the Porsche Curves escape road and crashed. The impact that her #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari took cut the medical light on and brought ambulances onto the scene.