LMP
The safety car period to secure the recovery of the TDS Racing Oreca, and repairs to the associated barriers in Virage Karting, extended ten minutes into the sixteenth hour. Racing resumed with 50 cars still running, potentially a further three yet to be added to the official list of retirees.
With six o’clock behind us and the sun rising through the sky, and there was every indication that the promise of another swelteringly hot day was on the horizon. With the ambient temperature holding steady through the hours of darkness, Sunday promised to be hotter still and, with that. Even more of a challenge for cars and drivers alike.
Pitstops for the #13 Rebellion ensured that the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca would emerge with a healthy 70 second lead in LMP2 as the cycle of routine pitstops worked their way through the field. Aside for some swapping of position, the top group in LMP2 had remained fairly constant since the fourth or fifth hour of the race, and predictions that the new generation of P2 cars might prove fragile seemed to have been dismissed by the evidence.
Nearing the half-hour and that was proven correct again as the #40 Graff Racing Oreca went straight on at the Indianapolis left-hander to end up nosing the tyres. James Allen was well and truly beached, and a temporary yellow zone was initiated while the snatch crew reunited the Oreca with the racetrack. The Graff entry had been running seventh.
The various P1 recovery programmes continued apace. The #2 Porsche arrived in the top-ten, benefiting from Allen’s misfortunes, while the #8 Toyota had achieved the dizzying heights of 23rd overall. reached While significantly quicker than the GT and P2 cars around them, making progress among cars that were battling for class position was inevitably going to get harder the further up the field the two cars progressed, but seeing these red-banded P1 listings reunited with the #1 Porsche, at the head of the timing screens, still remains a possibility.
Allen, meanwhile, had been suitably extracted from the gravel trap and had made his way back to the pitlane. His excursion had cost just one position. Moments later, the class-leading #28 of Ho-Pin Tung joined him in the pitlane; the Jackie Chan Racing Oreca completing a routine stop for fuel and tyres before resuming the race.
We were just fifteen minutes short of seven o’clock when another significant milestone was noted for the recovering #8 Toyota – Sébastien Buemi arriving at 16th overall and latching on to the tail-end of the LMP2 field, thereby seeing the last – at least for now – of overtaking GT cars for position.
The occasion also coincided with the start of the next cycle of pitstops – Senna pitting the #31 from third in P2, and Panciatici checking in for fuel in the fourth-placed #35 Alpine. Buemi also chose then to pit the #8 Toyota, emerging 17th overall and with a GT car to re-pass … duly despatched next time around.
Down at the bottom of the screen, two more cars had been logged as official retirements; the #92 factory GTE Pro Porsche #92 and the #28 TDS Racing Oreca.
As we neared the end of the hour, Piquet brought the second-placed #13 Rebellion through for a scheduled pit visit – fuel but no driver change. He’d closed to within 20 seconds of the fast-charging Ho-Pin Tung just before the stop. He’d resume well back on the #28 Jackie Chan Oreca. He was just leaving as Neel Jani brought the overall-leading Porsche through for similar treatment.
The 16th hour drew to a close, with LMP1 and LMP2 standing as follows:
LMP1
1. #1 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 248 laps.
2. #2 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 231 .laps
3. #8 Toyota TS050 – 220 laps
4. #9 Toyota TS050– Retired
5. #7 Toyota TS050 – Retired
LMP2
1. #38 Jackie Chan Racing – 237 laps
2. #13 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca
3. #31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca
4. #35 Signatech Alpine
5. #32 United Autosports Ligier
6. #37 Jackie Chan Racing
GTE
As racing resumed again following the safety car, the #98 Aston Martin that had led GTE Am for much of the early running and was already in survival mode was hit with a 10-second added time pitstop penalty for an infringement at an earlier stop.
In GTE Pro, Richard Lietz pitted the #91 Porsche from the head of the field about 20 minutes into the hour, having completed 211 laps. This saw the #95 Aston cycle back into the lead of the class, while further down the order, battle was joined between Rigon (#71 Ferrari) and Priaulx (#67 Ford) as full daylight broke out over the circuit.
Up ahead, there was also little to choose between Pilet, who’d just exited the pits in fourth at the wheel of the #91 Porsche having taken over from Lietz, and Magnussen in the third-place #63 Corvette.
Getting into the second half of the hour, Tracy Krohn had his second off the race so far in the #83 DH Racing Ferrari, this time at Indianapolis. Again, assistance from recovery vehicles was sufficient to get the car back on track and on its way.
Back on track, the latest GTE Pro battle to boil over was between Pilet in the #91 Porsche and Calado in the #51 Ferrari for second in the class, with 15 minutes or so left in the hour. Pilet emerged in front, 16 seconds behind class leader Sorensen in the #95 Aston, leaving the order as follows at approximately 7am:
GTE Pro
1 #95 Aston
2 #63 Corvette
3 #91 Porsche
4 #97 Aston
5 #51 Ferrari
6 #71 Ferrari
GTE Am
1 #84 JMW Ferrari
2 #55 SoR Ferrari
3 #99 Beechdean Aston
4 #62 WeatherTech Ferrari
5 #61 Clearwater Ferrari
6 #77 Proton Porsche
