LMP
Just before the start of the hour we had a succession of regular pitstops for the P1 leaders, with Jani moving the #1 Porsche through to second when Buemi pitted the #8 Toyota. Twenty minutes into the new hour and the two were back nose-to-tail again, and Buemi swept through to regain second. However, with some sections of the track under yellow zone status, there were occasions when the cars were required to move slowly, the each driver holding down the special restrictor button that prevents speeding under the yellows. Those were also perfect times for observers to note that there appeared to be fluid, or perhaps smoke, trailing from the back of the Toyota, picked out by the headlights of Jani’s tailing Porsche. Would it prove a serious issue, or just a by-product of travelling slowly? Time would tell …
Meanwhile, and apologies for not mentioning this previously, but the #43 managed to get back to the pitlane after having been stopped trackside for half an hour. It had been suggested that the Weathertech Keating was a retirement, but seemingly not. In fact, although 20-odd laps down on the lead lap, the Riley was soon running again. Elsewhere in pitlane, the #27 SMP Racing Dallara was in the team’s garage, and losing two laps for hurried repairs to an unknown issue.
At half-past came on-screen notification that the LMP2 class leader, the #31 Vaillante Rebellion, had been issued with a straight drive-through penalty for reputedly overtaking within a yellow zone. There was no hesitation, and next time around Bruno Senna came through to complete his penalty, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time, does any penalty? because he was back in again next time around for a scheduled stop. The combination was to prove costly, as not only did Nelson Piquet in the sister car inherit an easy lead, but the #38 Jackie Chan Racing Oreca was also able to move ahead, genuinely taking second place in P2. Senna resumed his race at 22:37 pm.
Two minutes later Piquet Jnr brought the #13 Vaillante Rebellion into the pitlane for his routine stop, allowing Jarvis to move the #38 through to the class lead … until he subsequently pitted and the status quo was restored, Senna setting fastest sectors for the #31 as he fought to regain lost territory. It was enough to ensure that we had a Rebellion one-two again by the end of the hour.
Track and air temperature still significant high, with track temperature registered at 36.7 and air temperature still a hothouse 28.1 degrees. It has been a hot day!
Twenty minutes before the hour and Buemi was forced to respond to the on-going presence of Neel Jani just a handful of seconds behind. He must have thought he’d shaken off the Porsche, but not so, and it took two significantly quicker laps from the Swiss driver repositioned the #8 Toyota a full 7 seconds ahead of Jani.
However, his satisfaction must have been short-lived. Five minutes later and we had the first sign of weakness from the Toyota charge, with dramatic scenes in the pitlane during a routine pitstop when the front-right wheelarch on the #8 TS050 was seen ablaze. The fire was quickly extinguished by the team and the car, which had been running so strongly, was manhandled backwards into the garage, extinguisher dust billowing from the wheelarch. Once clear of the box, the mechanics set to work, stripping away the bodywork. A front motor unit failure, part of the hybrid system, was shortly diagnosed.
In LMP2 Jarvis was making hay in the lead, lapping in the 3:31’s and extending the gap to Piquet Jr to just under 20 seconds before having to pit. Senna’s #37 Vaillante Rebellion was trying to recover from it’s earlier double pit-stop deficit and was making big gains with consistently quick lap times from the Brazilian. Jarvis took his turn in the pits and things reverted to their former state, Piquet Jr now back in the lead ahead of his co-Brazilian team mate, the gap just over 12 seconds.
If the situation in P2 had reverted to form, the picture at the top of the screens was starting to look significantly different, with both Toyota and Porsche facing the reality of having one of their number out of contention. Conway’s Toyota led Jani by 42 seconds, but the Porsche was circulating two seconds per lap quicker and closing. Conway’s back-up in the form of the #9 car was a lap down. This was starting to look like a race that could tip in any one of several different directions,. And there was everything left to play for.
The end of the eighth hour saw the situation in P1 and P2 as follows:
LMP1
1. #7 Toyota TS050 – 130 laps. Best of 3:18.694
2. #1 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 42 seconds
3. #9 Toyota TS050 – 3:21 minutes
4. #8 Toyota TS050 – 5 laps
5. #2 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 11 laps
LMP2
1. #13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca – 122 laps
2. #31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca
3. #38 Jackie Chan Racing
3. #25 CEFC Manor TRS Racing
4. #35 Signatech Alpine
5. #40 Graff Racing
GTE
The beginning of hour eight, and although the Aston, Ford and Corvette of Turner, Priaulx and Gavin were well separated at the front of the field, positions three to 10 were covered by just 12 seconds, from Westbrook’s #69 Ford in fourth down to Lietz’s #91 Porsche in 10th – all lapping not far off qualifying pace as the sun set.
In GTE Am, there was another issue for the class-leading #98 Aston as a front-right puncture while Lamy was at the wheel caused the front-right bodywork to fly off and necessitated another unscheduled pit visit. This put the #84 JMW Ferrari, now with Will Stevens back aboard after a stint for Rob Smith, definitively into the class lead.
Christian Ried in the #77 Porsche and Duncan Cameron in the #55 Ferrari were second and third as Rob Bell got back aboard the TF Aston Martin in the pits – he would rise to fourth when the order asserted itself after the stops. The #98 Aston had dropped right to the bottom of the class following an 18-minute pitstop for its bodywork repairs.
The Ferrari challenge in GTE Pro was dealt another blow when the #71 was issued a penalty for Bird’s track-limits violations, while elsewhere, Milner lost the #64 Corvette exiting the Porsche Curves, damaging the rear of the car and losing the left-rear wheel. This made the car impossible to control at pit entry, causing another spin and a trip to the gravel as he attempted to enter the pits. The car was beached and had to be extracted by a teleporter.
That left the top sixes looking like this as night fell:
GTE Pro
1 #97 Aston
2 #67 Ford
3 #92 Porsche
4 #66 Ford
5 #95 Aston
6 #91 Porsche
GTE Am
1 #84 JMW Ferrari
2 #90 TF Aston
3 #55 SoR Ferrari
4 #99 Beechdean Aston
5 #77 Proton Porsche
6 #62 WeatherTech Porsche
