There has been a significant change in the hierarchy in LMP1 as the half-race leader has encountered problems. Just after half race, team radio to the #7 Toyota TS050 indicated a problem in the right side turbo of the engine, which brought Kamui Kobayashi into the garage for a replacement. A 29 minute and 47 second repair ensued, dropping the Kobayashi/Conway/Lopez car out of the lead, and behind the pair of Rebellion R13’s into 4th place.
This development now puts the #8 Toyota crew and drivers Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastian Buemi, and Brendon Hartley in the box seat to take a hat trick of victories at Le Mans, as they hold a comfortable 3 lap lead over the #1 Rebellion R13 of Bruno Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes. There are plenty of nervous faces in the Toyota garage though; some white smoke was observed at around the 10 hour mark which cause a collective holding of breath, but the car is currently running without issue. Still, with a regular WEC event left to go, it will be a tense garage for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team.
The pair of Rebellions have inherited the remaining two spots on the podium, with the #1 R13 sitting 1 lap ahead of the #3 car with Nathanael Berthon behind the wheel. The Rebellions have run largely untroubled, and have managed to keep the TS050 ahead within striking distance should it run into issues.
Two laps is the distance between the #7 car and the podium, and the replacement turbo seems to have solved the issue – Kobayashi’s return to the track was marked by a string of quick laps, as he looked to make up for lost time.
United Autosports started the second half of the race very strongly, with pair of Orecas controlling the field from hours 12-16. Alex Brundle in the #32 machine taking the ascendancy over the sister car until a suspected oil leak brought him in to replenish the oil reservoir, but the problem proved more significant as it was rolled into the garage on the stroke of hour 16. The #22 United Autosports car at the hands of Paul Di Resta holds a handy lead over the rest of the field.
The #32 car diagnosed the issue as a fractured solid engine oil line, requiring a 45 minute fix in the garage, relegating that car to 15th in class. Since returning to the track, Job van Uitert has set the fastest lap of the race for LMP2; a 3:27.508.
The main competition to United remains to be the #38 JOTA Oreca, but the gap has grown to a minute and 7 seconds since the halfway point. An additional pit stop to re-affix Antonio Felix da Costa’s belts significantly affecting the team’s attempts to close the gap, but the Goodyear clad Oreca has had pace on the leaders in patches. It will be a fascinating run to the line as the sun rises and changes track conditions.
The battle for the remainder of the top 5 was initially a 3 car affair between the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, the #31 Panis Racing Oreca, and the #39 So24-Has by Graff Oreca, throughout pit cycles and driver changes. As dawn broke over the circuit, the battle separated into two battles in two; a titanic battle between Mattieu Vaxiviere in the #31 Panis Racing Oreca and the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 with Mikkel Jensen for third, while Nico Lappiere’s charge in the #42 Cool Racing Oreca saw him catch the #39 So24-Has by Graff Oreca. The #26 G-Drive Aurus 01 sits third after an off sequence pit from the #31 Panis Racing Oreca, and Vincent Capilliere in the #39 So24-Has by Graff Oreca has just reeled in Alexandre Coigny in the #42 Cool Racing Oreca to return to 5th place
The #36 Signatech Alpine, the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca, the #50 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca and the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca complete the top 10. There is quite some congestion in the mid pack as the race progressed!
We’ve lost an additional car in LMP2 overnight; the #21 Dragonspeed USA car coming to grief with a misfire that couldn’t be rectified. There was also an incident between the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca and the #63 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari, which put both cars into the gravel. Nyck De Vries tried to follow the #35 Eurointernational Ligier through at Tertre Rouge, resulting in side-to-side contact between the Oreca and Toni Vilander’s Ferrari as Vilander committed to the turn in point. While the #29 Oreca was able to be repaired, the #63 Ferrari ended in much worse shape, and has been retired from the race.
The Racing Team Nederland #29 was the cause of another slow-zone as the sun came up; Frits Van Eerd looping the car in the Dunlop Chicane and coming to a rest with his rear wheels in the gravel. A quick extraction got that car back on track, in 16th position.
The #34 InterEuropol Ligier has also spent a significant amount of time in the garage, with a number of issues striking the Polish team. First the alternator and fuel pump, then the fuel filter, forcing extensive repairs dropping them to the last running car in LMP2.
Aston Martin and Ferrari battle still headlines GTE
A string of race-best laps from Alex Lynn in the #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage has seen the AMR team take a slim lead at La Sarthe. They lead the #51 AF Corse Ferrari by 34 seconds, while the #95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage completes the podium spots a lap behind.
Lynn’s series of ever-faster laps started just on 3am local time, setting 5 new GTE-Pro best laps in 6 laps, running down a 15 second gap to James Calado in the #51 Ferrari over the course of half an hour. The two cars pit nose to tail, with the #51 electing to change tyres and drivers, allowing the #97 Aston Martin to take the lead. Ferrari were able to take advantage of a slow zone for an incident on the Mulsanne Straight to return their #51 to the lead, albeit momentarily.
The two leading cars are changing tyres opposite each other, resulting in the #51 Ferrari gaining the lead on every second stop. However some great moves from first Maxime Martin, then Harry Tinknell, have moved the #97 Aston Martin to the lead
Third place is the #95 Aston Martin, with a lap separating them from the lead. More than half the class has encountered problems, with the #91 Porsche and #63 Weathertech Ferrari coming to grief through the night.
Weathertech Racing’s charge came to an end in the gravel trap of Tertre Rouge after contact with the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca. Toni Vilander committed to the apex as Nyck De Vries tried to follow the Eurointernational car through on the Ferrari. The resulting contact damaged the #63 Ferrari beyond repair at this event, marking the first retirement in the GTE-Pro class.
Porsche’s torrid event continued with another problem for the #92 car – a slow puncture necessitating an additional pit stop. The #91 911 had risen to fourth place in class taking advantage of issues for other competitors, before it too was pulled into the garage with power steering dramas.
The delayed #71 AF Corse and #82 Risi Competizione Ferraris round out the top 5, 2 laps back from the podium positions.
GTE-Am is building towards an intriguing climax as different strategies regarding driver time have played out overnight. Currently the #90 TF-Sport Aston Martin leads from the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche by over 2 minutes. However both teams elected to use only their silver- and pro-rated drivers until dawn broke. While this has allowed them to gain an advantage, it does mean that bronze-rated Salih Yoluc, and Christian Reid have a challenging prospect ahead of them, to hold off higher-rated drivers through the rest of the race.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari is running third, and has burnt up a significant amount of bronze-rated Francois Perrodo’s required drive time overnight. Team Project 1 and the #56 Porsche sit 4th, running a similar strategy to the top two, running mostly Cairoli and ten Voorde overnight. Gulf Racing completes the top 5, with Dempsey Proton’s #99 Porsche, JMW Motorsport’s #66 Ferrari, the #61 Luzich Racing Ferrari, Iron Lynx‘s Iron Dames in the #85 Ferrari, and AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari completing the top 10.
The #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage was one of the best placed car in class with 8 hours remaining, running second and importantly burning quite a bit of bronze driver Paul Dalla Lana’s required drive time. However a suspension failure coming into Indy has halted their run, dropping them outside the top 10, continuing an awful run of luck for Paul Dalla Lana’s efforts at Le Mans.
The night has caused the most disruption in the GTE-Am class, with three slow-zones triggered due to incidents involving GTE-Am class runners. Firstly, the difficult race for the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche continued with a trip into the gravel trap in the Forest Esses, requiring extraction that took just over 10 minutes.
Another spin for the #88 saw the car come to an abrupt halt facing sideways just off track at the Ford Chicanes. Adrien De Leener struggled to refire the car, but managed to pull away. Despite it’s troubles, that car is back on track and running.
A more significant incident occurred with 10 hours remaining; Charlie Hollings making a mistake under brakes into the first Mulsanne chicane. The #62 Ferrari snapped, corrected, then fired into the edge of the tyre wall, pulling the tyres through the gravel and scattering gravel onto the circuit. The clean up took almost 20 minutes, while the #62 Ferrari was able to return to the pits for repairs. The car was sent back out, but immediately suffered a puncture, bringing it back into the garage, but is now running in 43rd place.
Overnight also saw confirmation of the retirement of the #70 MR Racing Ferrari, who came into the garage before the halfway point with damaged suspension. There are question marks over the #75 Iron Lynx Ferrari which came into the garage just ahead of the end of hour 16, with steam spewing from the rear of the car. At this stage, there isn’t a confirmed retirement, but should the #75 return to the track, it will have a drive through for speeding in the pit lane on it’s way to the garage.
