Portugal Colonial - Toyotas take control as Le Mans heads for home straight

The established powers, Ferrari and Toyota, who have dominated the race for almost a decade were battling the new kids on the Hypercar block, Cadillac and BMW.

While the lead changed with every set of pit stops, BMW led for much of Sunday morning before Cadillac took over only for Toyotas to pounce as the end neared.

After BMW driver Robin Frijns swerved into the gravel causing a slow puncture, he pitted his No. 20 car from first to change tyres, fill the fuel tank, and allow Sheldon van der Linde to take over at the wheel.

That allowed the No. 12 Cadillac, with Frenchman Norman Nato putting in a stint in the driver seat, with team sponsor Tom Brady, the former National Football League quarterback reportedly at the track.

But the No.8 Toyota driven by Brendon Hartley was moving faster in second and pounced to overtake with the No.7 Toyota in third.

When Nato was slowed by a lower-category car, Hartley pounced to pass. The No. 7 Toyota, driven by Nyck de Vries, then passed on the inside.

The Toyotas began to pull away and began to scrap with each other both on the track and in their radio conversations with pit, which initially indicated it wanted Hartley to cede first place to an irritated De Vries before changing tack.

The BMW was next followed by the No. 51 factory Ferrari. The other factory Ferrari retired around 10.30 am local time with suspected electrical issues. The private Ferrari Corse, driven by Robert Kubica, was seventh

The Italian Hypercars are the reigning world champions and have held the Le Mans crowns since 2023.

Cadillac is chasing its first victory by a General Motors team and the first for an American brand since Ford beat Ferrari in 1966.

They lost their lead car, No. 38, with steering failure at 8am.

From the early hours of the morning, while spectators had spent a chilly night in the stands looking haggard, Hypercars hurtling along at 340 km/h amid deafening noise trying to avoid costly driving errors.

The No. 15 BMW, which started from pole position on Saturday in front of 400,000 people under a scorching sun, collided with a backmarker, had to pit for repairs and plummeted down the standings.

Ferrari also made a few mistakes, ranging from four-second penalties for a minor infringement to close calls in traffic.

The end of the morning was further disrupted by a spectacular but minor accident involving a Porsche GT driver, which caused the race to be halted and the safety car to be deployed for an hour.

J.V.Jacinto--PC