2021 Le Mans 24 Hoಌurs: Overall Classification after 9hrs of 24hrs

Toyota maintained a firm grip on the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours as the fight for glory whittled down to a head-to-head between the two factory Hybrid cars for the time being after Alpine los๊t crucial ground with a sꦆpin.

Save for a frantic first few minutes when the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid was spun around at the very first turn, stalled and then collided with an LMP2 🐻car at Arnage,  the Japanese giants have otherwise enjoyed a fairly trouble-free race so far with the #7 car having held the lead from the start.

The car - shar🃏ed by Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway - is𓄧 out of sync with the #8 car after Conway pitted earlier than expected for its tenth stop, but the margin between the pair remains around 1m 20secs after 9 hours.

Glickenhaus held the final podium position at the turn of the ninth hour as it continued to exceed cautious expectations on reliability, but 🧸has since been overtaken again by the recovering Alpine, which picked up a puncture while overtaking a Porsche and promptly spun into the gravel trap. Needing a grabber to get it out of the kitty litter, the Alpine dropped two laps but is now back to third.

Top sportscar outfit-turned-Le Mans LMP2 rookies Team WRT took control of the intermediate category having held a 1-2 spot for most of the three-hour stint, l🥂ed by the Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei Oreca.

United Autosports USA leads the chase in seventh, followed by another first-time Le Mans 24 Hours team, Panis Racing - headed up by ex-F1 driver Olivier Panis - wh𝔍ile the #28 Jota and Interpol Competition Oreca-Gibson roun💮d out the overall top ten.

However, there was disappointment for thre Team Racing Nederland car - which was running as high as second in class earlier in the race - after it collided with the JMW Ferrari and spent a lengthy period in th🍸e gravel trap.

In GTE Pro, AF Corse began to pu🍰ll a gap courtesy of the #51 488 GTE of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Come Ledogar, followed by the leading #63 Corvette and the #92 Porsche.

In GTE Am, AF Corse is also heading up the gentleman class steered by Nickles Nielsen, Fran🦩cois Pe𓄧rrodo and Alessio Rovera.