LMP
Having lead the LMP2 class on several occasions, before Nicolas Prost’s ‘gearbox’ issues of some hours ago, the #31 Vaillante Rebellion was in further trouble as the race entered its fifteenth hour; the car stopping out on the circuit and struggling to engage power. It did get going again, but the car’s copybook was now well and truly blotted.
Twenty minutes into the hour and Ollie Jarvis was pitting from the LMP2 lead; fuel only on this occasion, and followed almost immediately by a similar pit visit by Piquet Jr in the ‘healthy’ Vaillante Rebellion, #13. These two were the only cars on the lead LMP2 lap, with Piquet rejoining 50 seconds behind the lead.
Just before the half-hour Karun Chandhok brought out the yellow flags with a spin for the Tockwith Motorsport Ligier in the Porsche Curves that left the car well dug into the gravel. The Gulf liveried #34 entry had been having a slow climb up the order overnight, mostly down to Chandhok’s multiple stints, but was now being suspended from a recovery vehicle to a safe zone from which it made it round to the pits. Karun Chandhok reported on Radio Le Mans that one of the Orecas had spun out at Indianapolis and had resumed by depositing gravel across the racing line. He’d caught the residue of that, and felt this had contributed to his accident.
Ten minutes after this the race’s third Safety Car period was ordered after Emmanuel Collard made an uncharacteristic mistake at Virage Karting. This fast exit of the Porsche Curves is notorious, and additional run-off and gravel has been installed there in recent years, but the TDS Racing Oreca speared into the barrier unimpeded. This was a big frontal impact, promptly taking the car out of the running and leaving everyone else circulating slowly … and BMW at the head of the field.
Oliver Jarvis was one of those to take advantage of the Safety Car to pit the LMP2-leading #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca, handing back to Ho-Pin Tung after a very rapid brake disc and pads change.
The hour ended, still under safety car conditions, with LMP1 and LMP2 looking as follows:
LMP1
1. #1 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 234 laps.
2. #2 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 217 .laps
3. #8 Toyota TS050 – 206 laps
4. #9 Toyota TS050– Retired
5. #7 Toyota TS050 – Retired
LMP2
1. #13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca – 223 laps
2. #38 Jackie Chan Racing
3. #31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca
4. #35 Signatech Alpine
5. #40 Graff Oreca 07
6. #32 United Autosports Ligier
GTE
GTE Pro continued to be finely poised in hour 15, with nine cars on the class lead lap (and only seconds separating third to sixth), while in GTE Am, the #84 JMW Ferrari ticked off another routine stop without any complications, Will Stevens remaining at the wheel.
Also in Am, at about 40 minutes into the hour, Salih Yoluc had a wild off-track moment in the #90 TF Sport Aston on the way out of the Porsche Curves, ending up buried deep in the gravel and requiring extraction to get going again.
The safety car for the TDS crash at the Porsche Curves neutralised proceedings towards the end of the hour and eliminated the gaps that had been built up since the previous deployment. The JMW Ferrari pitted under the SC, while the #71 Ferrari completed a full brake pad and disc change, Sam Bird handing the car over to Davide Rigon.
The hour ended with the safety car still out and the order in both classes as follows:
GTE Pro
1 #91 Porsche
2 #95 Aston
3 #97 Aston
4 #67 Ford
5 #63 Corvette
6 #51 Ferrari
GTE Am
1 #84 JMW Ferrari
2 #55 SoR Ferrari
3 #99 Beechdean Aston
4 #62 WeatherTech Ferrari
5 #61 Clearwater Ferrari
6 #93 Proton Porsche
