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

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 […]

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 44^th 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.