After fighting through the field following a difficult qualifying, the team entered the final third of the race as part of an intense Hypercar contest with Cadillac, Ferrari and Porsche for honours in the fourth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

At the 16-hour mark, the #8 GR010 HYBRID of World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa led the race with José María López, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries not far behind in fourth in their #7 GR010 HYBRID.

Rain had already played a part earlier in the race and showers forced the cars on to wet tyres several times, including at the end of the sixth hour. At that stage, Ryo in the #8 was pushing for the podium while Nyck was aiming for the top six in the #7. Both cars stopped for wet tyres before a full course yellow neutralised the race. The rain began to ease and, soon after, both cars returned to slicks.

Later in the seventh hour a safety car was called to allow for barrier repairs, closing the Hypercar field up with Ryo running third and Nyck in ninth, and everything still to fight for. The safety car stayed out for more than an hour as night – and more rain – fell on La Sarthe.

As soon as the race went green, the team called both cars in for wet tyres. Ryo showed impressive speed in the difficult conditions to move up to second and close on the lead #83 Ferrari. Midway through the ninth hour, he took the lead and Nyck moved into third, thanks to a 30-second stop-go penalty for the #83 Ferrari.

Ryo continued to conquer the conditions and, at the next driver changes early in the 10th hour, he handed over the #8 to Sébastien with a 12secs lead, while Kamui took the wheel of the #7 in third but suffered an ill-timed slow zone and slipped 45secs behind the second-placed #6 Porsche.

More rain arrived early in the 12th hour and both GR010 HYBRIDs switched back to wet tyres and changed drivers. Brendon took over the race-leading #8 and José returned to the cockpit of the third-placed #7.

Heavier rain shortly before half distance – at 4am – created treacherous conditions, with standing water on track and very poor visibility, particularly in the darkness. The bad weather continued even as the sun rose above the Circuit de la Sarthe, so the safety car remained on track for a prolonged period.

The 16-hour mark was reached behind the safety car and, at that point, Ryo was behind the wheel of the leading #8 and Nyck was in fourth in the #7.