DPi saw the two Ganassi Cadillacs in strife and out of the running as the remaining four undelayed DPis swapped significant positions at will.
As the 20 Hour mark approached Richard Westbrook was holding the fort for the #5 JDC Miller Cadillac squad but an opportunistic move in traffic at T6 saw Pipo Derani take the lead, before pitting, with the pair of Acuras taking the leading pair of slots at the top of the hour, it’s that close still!
Alex Rossi leads the way in the #10 just 6 seconds clear of Simon Pagenaud in the #60.
In LMP2, with the leading group in a fuel stop sequence at the top of the hour, the lead group was headed by the #81 DragonSpeed car at the top of the 20th.
Still on the lead lap too, are the #8 Tower Motorsport car and the #52 PR1 Mathiesen effort.
There was trouble just before dawn for the #11 PR1 car of Josh Pierson, a drive-through followed by another after the youngster was pinged for speeding on pit-lane.
A late lunge to take the second penalty though spelt trouble, and near disaster for Simon Mann in the #21 AF Corse GTD Ferrari, the Oreca diving for the outline too late and moving from the outside on the banking across (and indeed into) the front of the 488, that earned the Oreca driver a stop plus 60 secs!
LMP3 was led by Kay van Berlo in the #74 Riley/ Robinson Ligier with the #54 CORE and #33 Sean Creech Ligier’s all on the lead lap.
The #33 effort saw a stellar early morning stint from Malthe Jakobsen, the team a man down to the end after Set Priaulx, after fine form earlier in the race, was benched after falling unwell.
GTD Pro still has a five-car leading group with the #2 KCMG Porsche having a fantastic run at the front, Laurens Vanthoor’s run to the front backed top admirably through the breakfast-time hours by Patrick Pilet and Dennis Olsen. Also on the lead lap are the #9 Pfaff Porsche, the #62 Risi Ferrari, #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and #15 Proton USA AMG.
Finally, GTD which saw the long-time leading #70 inception Mclaren drop back with a brake change at the end of Hour 20, a longer than (no pun intended) Optimum pitstop dropping the 720S GT3 to 6th. The race was led by the #16 Wright Porsche with the #21 Ferrari still in the hunt too.
