On the stroke of 18 hours, it’s the #51 Ferrari 499P that leads the sister #83 car by six seconds.

A distant third is the #50 Ferrari 499P for the Scuderia, more than 40 seconds in arrears.

Earlier in the race, the #83 led and handed first place to the #51 car, but when the #83 asked for the favour to be returned with six-and-a-half hours to go, it fell on deaf ears initially.

Robert Kubica complained over the radio to be let through into the lead, but was stonewalled in the first instance.

“Robert at the moment, we follow,” his engineer radioed.

“We are looking into what the best possible strategy is, and we’ll come back to you.”

Kubica replied: “Yeah, but it’s already not fair since 10 hours. We let them by twice, we shortened our stint to give them the priority, and now… I think I am clearly faster. Why do I have to wait?”

His engineer said, “They are on it” in reply, and “Your point is clear and we have forwarded it.”

Race leader Antonio Giovinazzi was told to push on, albeit without risk.

“Let’s try to do our best. Open the gap. Try to do our best. Open the gap. Again, no risk. We are here for points, so no risk but try to open the gap please.”

Giovinazzi was later told to led Kubica by but the Polish driver was baulked by a slow zone and traffic that meant he settled into second.

Pit stops followed, at which point the gaps blew out and the radio chatter died down from Kubica.

Although all three Ferrari 499P Hypercars run under the AF Corse banner, the #50 and #51 cars are the team’s designated entries for the manufacturers’ championship.

The #83 Ferrari 499P carries a yellow scheme to differentiate itself from the iconic red pair.

Kubica is vying for his first 24 Hours of Le Mans win with Ye Yifei and Phil Hanson. Giovinazzi is joined by Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado.

Australia’s Matt Campbell sits fourth overall and a little more than 50 seconds behind the race leaders in the #6 Porsche 963 he shares with Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre.

In LMGT3, Martin Berry is 14th and three laps down in the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG while the #63 Stephen Grove/Brenton Grove/Luca Stolz car is 17th and five laps down.

Yasser Shahin’s #31 BMW Team WRT M4 was retired after it hit a rabbit during the night.