The No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR from the Porsche GT Team leads the GTE-Pro class after the first 16 hours. Customer teams WeatherTech Racing and Hardpoint are in a good position in the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Porsche GT Team leads the GTE Pro class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After a strong drive through the night, Kévin Estre, Michael Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR have a lead of more than a minute with around eight hours to go. The trio from France, Denmark and Belgium had already achieved a class victory together in the world's largest endurance race in 2018. The sister car with the number 91 is in fourth place after almost 16 hours of driving. In the GTE-Am class, the customer teams WeatherTech Racing and Hardpoint have realistic chances of winning.

“Our goal was to get through the night well. We managed that very well,” says Alexander Stehlig, Head of Factory Motorsport FIA WEC. “The pace in the race is extremely high and the competition is very close. What is unusual is that there was not a single use of the safety cars and not a single full course yellow phase in the first 16 hours of racing. This means that for a very long time people really always drove at the limit. That's tough – not only for the drivers, but also for the material. For this reason, we had to change the brakes on the number 92 car relatively early. That's behind us now. Now it's eight hours full throttle. It will be a sprint to the end.”

The Le Mans night passed without major incidents for almost all participants in the 90th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Estre, Christensen and Vanthoor drove a consistently fast pace and were able to gain a lead of over two minutes at times. Manthey's emergency crew completed a routine brake change early in the morning. This reduced the lead at the top. In the sister car, colleagues Gianmaria Bruni (Italy), Frédéric Makowiecki (France) and Richard Lietz (Austria) were able to drive at a similarly strong pace, although the team lost a drive-through penalty, among other things. However, start number 91 is still on the lead lap and therefore still has good chances of a podium finish.

In the GTE-Am category, the customer teams WeatherTech Racing and Hardpoint seamlessly continued their impressive performance into the night. The two Porsche 911 RSR with the numbers 79 and 99 took turns leading the race over long stretches. At the 16-hour mark, the two cars are in second and third place, only slightly behind the leaders. The racing 911 from Proton Competition, in which Hollywood star Michael Fassbender celebrates his Le Mans debut, is already eleven laps behind. Project 1 car number 46 retired after several incidents.

Driver comments on the starting phase
Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR #92):“It's a tough race in which we always have to fight enormously. We initially lost some ground because our competitors' cars worked better in the sunshine and high track temperatures. In the cooler night we turned the tables and got a big lead at the front. Around 6:00 a.m. in the morning we completed our brake change and lost about a minute in the process. But the others will definitely have to go to the garage again. It will definitely balance itself out again.”

Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 911 RSR #91):“I drove a difficult double stint early in the morning. There was a slow zone almost the entire time. I was barely able to keep our tires warm there. As a result, there was always severe understeer. We certainly lost some time, but I couldn't do anything about it. Now the sun is back. That should help us in terms of tire usage.”

Alessio Picariello (Porsche 911 RSR #99):“So far, everything is going according to plan for us. Our tires offer good consistency. We always have a lot of grip in the first stint, but we can still set a good pace at the end of a double stint. Unfortunately, we had some bad luck with a slow zone. We made our pit stop while the track was still clear, while the competition stopped later when everyone had to slow down. We lost about a minute in the process. Now we're stepping on the gas to catch up. Our car runs great