GTE Pro looked set to be dominated by the AF Corse Ferraris, but with great strategy and driving, the #63 C8.R Corvette managed to stay in the mix as the conditions began to play into the debuting C8.R's hands, Nicky Catsburg particularly enjoying the nighttime conditions during a fast triple stint.

A possible 1-2 win for AF Corse was thwarted by a left-rear suspension failure for the #52 car night, which caused it to tumble down the order. On Sunday morning, a delaminating puncture for Sam Bird cost the car even more ground.

That meant the race turned into a two-horse race between the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the #63 Corvette C8.R.

In the warmer afternoon conditions, the #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Come Ledogar gradually pulled away and took the entry's second win in three years, after winning in 2019 and finishing second last year.

It was the second GTE Pro win for Pier Guidi and Calado, who were also part of the winning crew in 2019, while Frenchman Ledogar took his first-ever Le Mans class win.

Catsburg, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor took a solid second place in class, 41 seconds behind.

Porsche endured another character-building Le Mans, both the #92 and #91 factory cars losing ground early on and lacking the outright race pace to do much about it.

In the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, which was rebuilt on Friday after a shunt in Hyperpole, Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen beat their teammates in the #91 car to a distant podium berth, one lap down on the winning Ferrari.

Initially it was the Proton-run #79 WeatherTech car which led the Weissach marque's charge in the hands of Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber, but the car retired overnight after a crash by third driver Cooper MacNeil damaged the chassis.

The other privately entered Porsche, the #72 HubAuto entry which Dries Vanthoor sensationally drove to pole, also had a troubled run. At the start Maxime Martin collided with a LMP2 car, a time loss from which the car never recovered. A broken drivetrain, which made the younger Vanthoor sibling grind to a halt, sealed the car's fate.

The second #64 Corvette bore the brunt of the reliability issues in its class. First it had to replace a broken diffuser after Nick Tandy was stunningly tapped from behind by Calado as the field left the ceremonial grid, before the race had even started.

It then lost over an hour with a nighttime clutch issue, and disappeared into the garage a third time in the morning hours with an alternator problem.