LMP
After all the unexpected drama of the wee small hours of the night, dawn had brought a relative sense of calm to the prototype classes. The only trouble-free contender in LMP1, the #1 Porsche, continued to maintain a steady if somewhat unspectacular pace, Jani’s lap times fell somewhere between a 3:25 and a 3:26 with metronomic regularity. This was clearly designed not to over-stress the car, but was more than sufficient to ensure the gap back to the first of the P2 cars, second overall, continued to grow steadily.
Bernhard, meanwhile, in the #2 Porsche 919 and running tenth overall, was consistently three or four seconds a lap quicker, and faced the possibility of making up another three or four positions overall in the coming hour. Buemi’s pace in the #8 Toyota, 15th, was quicker still, consistently clocking sub-twenty times, and ten to fifteen seconds quicker than the LMP cars immediately ahead of him.
Bruno Senna brought the #31 through pitlane for a regular fuel stop at 7:20, and Nelson Piquet Jr was nearing his own next pitstop when he set a new fastest lap for the #13 of 3:28.785. He duly stopped at half-past. Both crews held hopes – realistic ones – not only of finishing on one of the LMP2 steps, but also of securing a place on that hallowed outright podium. Whatever the outcome, 2017 will see the highest-ever finishing position for an LMP2 car. The previous record, set first in 2010 by Strakka, and then matched in 2014 by Jota, and equalled again by Signatech Alpine last year, has been fifth. With only six LMP1 entries this year, bettering that was always on the cards, but we currently face the possibility of an outright win here for a P2 car, and all it will take is a modest problem for the leading Porsche.
Let us not tempt fate.
Fate had more in store elsewhere in the P2 field, with an off for the #22 G-Drive (DragonSpeed) Oreca at the second Indianapolis left-hander from 46th overall, the Mexican Jose Gutierrez having to watch his car being winched clear of the gravel trap before he could resume his journey. The Mexican was able to return to the pits, but for lengthy repairs, but the DragonSpeed crew had run out of orange noses for the #22, so a white and blue #21 front-end had to be put on the car when it returned to the action.
7:43 and the P2 leader was back on the limiter as Ho-Pin Tung brought the Jackie Chan Oreca back to the garage for fuel. With over 100 seconds in hand, this was a comfortable pitstop for the Jota-operated squad. Simultaneously, the overall leader was also in for fuel – Jani resuming with 12 laps in hand over Tung.
The action elsewhere during the hour was outside the top three, with a shuffle of positions for fifth place. Initially, Filipe Albuquerque in the United Autosports Ligier took fifth from Tor Graves in the sole-remaining Manor ORECA at Mulsanne Corner, but Alex Brundle behind was on a charge in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA. The Briton stormed past Graves and Albuquerque soon after, to put two Jackie Chan ORECA 07 Gibsons in the top five.
So, to round up the hour, with temperatures rising and just seven hours left in the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, the #1 Porsche 919 lead by 11 laps out front. Chasing hard were the # 2 Porsche and No. 8 Toyotas which were even further up the order. Bernhard was running P10 in the #2 car, and the #8 driven by Sebastien Buemi was 15th, beginning to tackle the rear-end of the LMP2 class. In LMP2, it was still the #38 Jackie Chan ORECA of Thomas Laurent leading the #13 and #31 Rebellions of Nelson Piquet and Bruno Senna.
With seventeen hours complete, the positions in the prototype classes were:
LMP1
1. #1 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 265 laps.
2. #2 Porsche 919-Hybrid – 247 .laps
3. #8 Toyota TS050 – 239 laps
LMP2
1. #38 Jackie Chan Racing – 253 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
In-race lap records fell in both GTE classes early in the 17th hour: Daniel Serra set a 3:50.950 in the #97 Aston Martin to claim the GTE record, while in the GTE Am the new benchmark was a 3:53.320 courtesy of Rob Bell in the #90 TF Sport Aston.
This hour also saw the gradual progress of the #63 Corvette up the GTE Pro order continue – for the first time it very briefly held the lead during the pitstop cycles, as the clock approached 8am.
In the final minutes of the session, Calado pitted the #51 Ferrari, which was taken into the garage showing moderate damage to the front end. Timing screens indicated there had been a coming-together with the #90 Aston Martin that would be investigated by the stewards and indeed the TF Sport machine was later spotted in the garage getting a new rear diffuser fitted.
GTE Pro
1 #95 Aston
2 #63 Corvette
3 #97 Aston
4 #91 Porsche
5 #67 Ford
6 #71 Ferrari
GTE Am
1 #84 JMW Ferrari
2 #55 SoR Ferrari
3 #62 WeatherTech Ferrari
4 #99 Beechdean Aston
5 #61 Clearwater Ferrari
6 #77 Proton Porsche
