Everything is rolling for the favorites: the two Toyotas, N.7 and N.8, remained in the lead of the 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans after 5 and a half hours of racing on Saturday, while the Alpine N.36 still completes the leading trio At nightfall.
Starting from pole position on the Sarthe circuit, the N.7 of the Argentinian José Maria Lopez, the Japanese Kamui Kobayashi and the Briton Mike Conway is still quietly installed at the front of the race, hardly worried by a slow puncture.
His goal: to win the event for the first time and become the first winner in the new premier class, the Hypercar, introduced this season.
If the Toyota N.8 of the Swiss Sébastien Buemi, the Japanese Kazuki Nakajima and the New Zealander Brendon Hartley trusts the second position, the start of the race was chaotic for the three-time defender of the event.
In second position on the starting grid, the N.8 - then driven by the Swiss - was hit by the Glickenhaus N.708 of Frenchman Olivier Pla at the first corner.
Sliding then forced to stop to reset his systems, it took him sixteen laps to regain his starting position from the back of the peloton.
Alpine still behind Toyota
In the third lap, the French pilot of the N.36 Alpine Nicolas Lapierre spun off to Indianapolis, condemning himself to restart in 18th place before regaining a third place more in line with his ambitions.
For the French outsider, the plan, unveiled on Friday, is simple: "
we must attack
".
“
If we leave the Toyotas alone in front, we know that they will have a waiting race and that they will be easy.
They will not push the mechanics, the drivers, the tires and they will succeed in winning as they have done in recent years,
”he explained.
All the same, there are still uncertainties regarding the reliability of the Toyota, which is competing in its first 24-hour race.
“
With the GR010, we can still discover unexpected things, warned the technical director Pascal Vasselon on Friday.
On everything that is fundamental, we are not worried, but we are not immune to a combination of circumstances that we have not yet encountered with this car.
"
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The Japanese manufacturer is well placed to know it: in the era of LMP1 hybrids between 2012 and 2020, it took until 2018 - and the departures of competitors Audi and Porsche - to win!
The N.7, she took pole and led in 2017, 2019 and 2020, before being deprived of victory by more or less incredible events.
Behind the expected leading trio, the fight is close in the LMP2 category between the Oreca N.65, N.41 and N.22.
A capricious weather at Le Mans
The race started at 4:13 p.m., after three training laps instead of one, to allow the drivers to measure a wet track after an hour of rain.
The cars will run until 4:00 p.m. Sunday, in mixed weather on Saturday and dry the next day.
While the rain returned around 6:30 p.m., before giving way to some clearings, it again intensified for a few minutes around 9:00 p.m.
The race was neutralized twice, for a total duration of just over 45 minutes, following the crashes of an LMGTE Am then the accidents of three LMP2s.
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, this edition is held at the end of August rather than mid-June, shifted in order to welcome 50,000 spectators (20% of the usual number), after a closed session in 2020.
Five Hypercars, 24 LMP2s (more standardized and slower prototypes), 8 LMGTE Pro (derived from production sports cars and representing three brands, Ferrari, Porsche and Corvette), 23 LMGTE Am (driven by amateurs for private teams) and an “
innovative
”
car
(driven by two paraplegic pilots) are entered, ie 61 crews.
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The 2021 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was also an opportunity to renew until 2027 the agreement between the International Federation of Motorsport (FIA) and the Automobile club de l'Ouest which allows the latter to organize the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since 2012.
