At half past nine on Sunday morning, the 24-hour race in Le Mans produced a moment of shock: the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from the Heart of Racing Team was on its roof in the Indianapolis curve. Daniel Mancinelli, who was driving the racing car at the time, crashed violently into the tire wall with the rear of the car and was thrown back, causing the vehicle to overturn.
The LMGT3 car of James, Mancinelli and Riberas was just lapped by the #51 Ferrari (Pier Guidi/Giovinazzi/Calado), which is looking to repeat its 2023 Le Mans victory this year. During the evasive maneuver, Mancinelli came across a slightly damp patch of the track, lost control of the car and flew off in the high-speed passage. The safety car was immediately called onto the track so that the car could be recovered and cleaning and repair work could be carried out on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Daniel Mancinelli uninjured after horror crash
Mancinelli let the spectators breathe a sigh of relief when he was able to free himself from his Aston Martin and reported over the radio that he was OK. About an hour after the serious crash, Aston Martin gave the all-clear and reported: “After an accident involving the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3, Daniel Mancinelli is safe and sound and has been released from the race track’s medical center.”
The Heart of Racing team was extremely disappointed. Emotional scenes were seen in the garage after the accident and the retirement of the #27 Aston Martin: shock, pain, frustration and tears were written on the faces of the mechanics and team officials. In the race, the Aston, which qualified in sixth place in the LMGT3 class in the Hyperpole qualifying, had worked its way into a good starting position and was fighting for a top-5 class result – which made the disappointment after the retirement all the greater.
Aston Martin is planning a major attack in the WEC for 2025: the British manufacturer wants to enter the top class of the World Endurance Championship with two hypercars. You can read all about the new entry here:
A rainy night and a nerve-wracking morning in Le Mans
Anyone who treated themselves to a nightly rest from the intense 24 hours of racing action had missed very little: Due to the heavy rain during the night, the race was frozen behind the safety car for more than four hours from just before 4 a.m. That was too long even for the safety cars, all three of which had to come into the pits to refuel.
Shortly after 8am, the field was reunited and racing could finally continue. At this point, the Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) was leading in the Hypercar class, and the AF Corse #183 (Perrodo/Barnicoat/Varrone) and in the LMGT3 class the Manthey Porsche #92 (Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler). The Manthey Porsche spent some time in the garage in the morning due to a gearbox problem and lost several laps.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans enters its final phase on Sunday afternoon. All the latest news on and off the track can be found in our live ticker:
On Sunday morning, it was not only the GT3 Aston Martin that crashed, there was also a retirement in the Hypercar class. The Porsche-Penske #4 with Felipe Nasr at the wheel flew off on its slick tires on a slightly damp track near Indianapolis (at the same spot as Mancinelli) and hit the tire wall sideways. After that, five of the six drivers who started Porsche competing in the Hypercar class.
During the safety car phase triggered by the Aston Martin, Nico Müller also lost his #93 Peugeot 9X8. The two-time DTM runner-up was able to drive back to the pits on his own after the unusual incident and is still in the race. Not so the #83 Ferrari 499 P driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Ye Yifei. At 12 o’clock the car came in for a pit stop, emitting heavy smoke – the end of the day for the private Ferrari, which had been leading for a long time until it was given a 30-second penalty following the accident with Dries Vanthoor’s BMW.
Things got really bitter for Alpine on Saturday evening. Both cars (#35 with Habsburg, Milesi, Chatin and #36 with Schumacher, Lapierre, Vaxiviere) had to retire before midnight. You can read what the team around Mick Schumacher said about the failure at the 24-hour classic here: