The fifteenth hour started with a bang, as the #39 DKR Lola in the hands of Romain Brandela, after spinning at pit exit, had a monstrously stupid ‘moment’ at the Dunlop Esses, simultaneously taking out both the second (#55 AF Corse F458) and fifth (#88 Proton Competition Porsche ) placed GTE Am cars. The #88 sustained frontal damage and slowly made its way back to the pits as the DKR Lola was wheeled into its garage.
On return to the track, one of Brandela’s mechanics was taken out in true Benny Hill style while the car was dolleyed out of the garage. Romain would then continue his mini rampage by swerving in front of the #8 Toyota at the Dunlop Chicane, and skipping the first chicane at Mulsanne, a close shave! To top it off, the right rear light cluster on the Lola wasn’t working, and the car was given a warning by Race Control.
The #1 Audi came in after 20 minutes of the hour and was briefly worked on at the front end by a pair of mechanics, before being wheeled back into the garage for a four minute check-up and a quick fix to the carbon pedal issues the car was suffering. It was then sent on its way with Tréluyer now behind the wheel.
The #88 was shown on the monitors with major frontal damage. After such a competitive run this must have come as a huge disappointment to the team, and inflicted so needlessly. When the car did return to the track it was 9th in class. Meanwhile, Tommy Kendall beached the #93 SRT Viper in the gravel at Mulsanne.
Romain Dumas in the #92 Porsche 991 was on the move as the sun started to show its face. The Frenchman easily put a lap on the #97 Art Aston before blasting past the #98 Aston a few corners later.
The reason the #8 Toyota had lost so much time during the rainy conditions earlier in the race, under the Safety Car, was revealed to Sam Collins on Radio Le Mans. Apparently the two Toyotas were using different tyre compounds at the time, and the ones fitted to the #8 hadn’t performed as effectively under the wet conditions.
Olivier Pla’s pace was rising as dawn broke. His best lap was a 3:40.746, just .046 slower than the fastest LMP2 lap of the race set by Oliver Turvey during a battle through the night with Jann Mardenborough.
Jota Sport’s luck wouldn’t continue though, as Lucas Luhr was spotted buried in the gravel at the Dunlop Esses. When the #38 Zytek returned to the pits it was swiftly pushed back into the garage for a check-up as the 15th hour ended, and it would stay there for an extended period and steadily falling down the order to 16th overall, 8th in LMP2.
Pla’s laps were once again getting quicker in the Oak, setting the best LMP2 time of the race with a 3:40.203 at just after six in the morning. It must have been the start of happy hour!
After lengthy repairs, the #45 Oak Racing ‘Art’ car was able to rejoin the race with Jean-Marc Merlin at the wheel. He slotted in a lowly 45th overall.
After a period of little activity, drama in the GTE ranks ensued. The lead GTE Pro car of Richard Lietz was taken back into the garage for repairs to the front end and would rejoin the race in second place in class– trailing the lead Aston by 46 seconds. The car that had been second at the time, the #99 AMR Vantage V8, then had a trip through a gravel trap, followed by the #70 Larbre Corvette performing a short, but graceful spin through the Porsche Curves.
LMP2 also saw its own small drama in the form of the #32 Lotus of Dominik Kraihamer, who went off in sympathy at Mulsanne Corner, damaging the front of the car.
Olivier Pla may be hard-charging at the front, but Mike Conway sitting fourth in LMP2 in the #26 ADR-Delta Oreca was not only matching his times, but occasionally getting the better of him. A 3:38.807 was his best lap, set as the race moved towards full daylight, and was the best lap in LMP2 by a margin of 1.5 seconds.
Boutsen Ginion’s Oreca was handed a 30 second stop-and-go penalty for Rodin Younessi speeding in the pitlane, while the TV monitors cut to the #98 Aston Martin, sitting 9th in GTE-Pro, having it’s undertray worked on by mechanics to cap off Hour 16.
Stephen Kilbey
