24 Hours of Le Mans, the highlights after sixteen hours

The race, now two thirds of the way through, is all set to enter its decisive phase after a tough, dramatic and drama-filled night, from the perspective of each of the different teams involved. The puncture that forced the #71 488 GTE to limp around almost an entire lap and remain in the pits for another three, the withdrawals of the WeatherTech Racing cars and the #75 Iron Lynx, the comeback staged by Luzich Racing and the tenacity of the #51, battling for the victory, are all moments captured in the images that we bring you, together with drivers’ comments from the heat of the action.

Giancarlo Fisichella, AF Corse # 54: “After two hours we had a particular gearbox issue that saw us drop twelve minutes - basically three full laps. The car is not bad, the times are quite good and I had some good stints. Unfortunately, when I was behind the Aston Martins, both Pro and Am, I had the impression of being up against a different class. The goal is to finish the race, to salvage something and try to finish in the top ten.”

James Calado, AF Corse # 51: “The Aston Martins are really fast, or at least one of them. What lies ahead will be the most difficult challenge that we have experienced so far. They have a much higher speed than ours on the straight, so we will have to try to be smarter with the strategy and pit stops. We should have a two-lap advantage in terms of fuel but there is still a long way to go before the chequered flag. I have tried to drive avoiding any risks, without using the curbs, sacrificing performance a little so as not to compromise the reliability."

Emmanuel Collard, AF Corse # 83: "The stint was a good one and we have been very consistent with the pace and we have been able to produce laps of 3’55" - 3’56". If we have to compare ourselves with the Aston Martins, we are slower. We’ll see how things turn out at the end of the race, but they seem to be faster.”