Le Mans (AFP)
The Toyotas still dominated the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday after dark, maintaining their advantage over the Rebellions who occupied 3rd and 4th place.
The rain, the appearance of which was feared at the start of the race, still did not appear.
From the start given at 2:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. GMT) in front of empty stands due to coronavirus, Japanese cars took control of operations taking turns in the lead at the option of pit stops.
They still preceded the two cars of the Swiss Rebellion team seven hours later, the only ones appearing to be able to challenge them to the final victory.
It was the # 7 Toyota of crew Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José-Maria Lopez which led around 9:30 p.m. after 108 laps of the race.
Starting from pole position, it was followed just one lap by the N ° 8 of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley.
The Rebellion N ° 1 of Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato was 3rd and the N ° 3 of Berthon / Delétraz / Dumas at 2 laps.
The endurance test takes place this year in September, and not June as usual, after being postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Rebellions appear to be the only ones able to prevent Toyota from stealing a third consecutive victory in the Sarthe.
In particular, they could take advantage of the "performance balance" (BoP), designed to slow down the fastest cars to give others their chances.
- The revenge of "Koba"?
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But the crew of the Toyota N ° 7 is keen to take revenge on their loss last year in the final laps of the race against the sister car.
Three times 2nd in 2019, 2018 and 2017, "Koba", a former Formula 1 driver, intends to climb this time on the top step of the podium on Sunday.
In the last two years, it is the double F1 world champion Fernando Alonso who had this honor with Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
The Spaniard is now preparing his return to F1 with Renault next year and has skipped the Le Mans event.
He ceded his seat to New Zealander Brendon Hartley, winner with Porsche in 2017.
The peculiarity of Le Mans is also the presence of amateur drivers, or "bronze", one of whom must appear in the crew of LM GTE AM cars.
This year there are only 5 cars entered in the premier LMP1 category, 24 in LMP2, 22 in LM GTE AM and 8 in LM GTE PRO, or 59 in total.
Only one abandonment was to be deplored at 9:30 p.m.
- Long night -
"Professional drivers know how to deal with traffic, but during the night free practice session on Thursday, it was a bit of a mess," said Sébastien Buemi, who explains it by the lower number of races contested because of the pandemic.
"The amateur pilots do not know where to go, they drive in the middle, it is very dangerous. And in addition, this year, we will have eleven hours of night driving", recalls the Swiss driver.
And that's without counting on rain, or even hail, which could occur, further reducing visibility and grip.
In LMP2, the race was much more contested than in LMP1.
It was Aurus de Vergne / Rusinov / Jensen who led just ahead of Oreca de Brundle / Owen / Van Uitert.
In LM GTE PRO, the field is reduced to its bare minimum with the absence of Corvettes, Fords and other BMWs, but Porsches, Aston Martins and Ferraris should fight at loggerheads for first place in the category, a similar situation in LM GTE AM.
After seven hours of racing, a Ferrari led in LM GTE PRO (Bird / Molina / Rigon) and an Aston Martin in LM GTE AM (Dalla Lana / Farfus / Gunn).
If this edition does not offer an exceptional field, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the organizer of the 24 Hours, is looking towards the future.
The new Hypercar category, which is due to make its appearance in 2022, seems likely to attract other major manufacturers: in addition to Toyota, Peugeot has already announced its return to Le Mans with these new cars.
© 2020 AFP