After nine hours of racing, the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid shared by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa leads the race, thirty seconds ahead of the #7 sister car driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria López. The #709 Glickenhaus Racing 007 LMH driven by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux is third, one lap behind the lead car.
At the top of the seventh hour of the race, just as the sun was setting over Le Mans, the #8 Toyota driven by Hirakawa closed down the gap on Kobayashi in the #7. The #8 eventually overtook the #7 in the pits as the mechanics of the latter car encountered some delays in changing a wheel, with Buemi taking over from Hirakawa, and Conway taking over from Kobayashi. Moments later, Buemi spun around at Mulsanne Corner, but remained in the lead. Conway in the #7 then lowered the gap with the sister car to just a few seconds.
In the eighth hour of racing, drama hit the #708 Glickenhaus Racing SCG 007 LMH as Olivier Pla spun at Tertre Rouge and hit the guardrail. The #708 limped back to the pits with a broken left-rear suspension, while the #709 Glickenhaus of Franck Mailleux inherited third position.
Just before midnight, Conway in the #7 Toyota overtook Buemi in the #8 on the Mulsanne straight. Moments later though, cars swapped positions again after both cars pitted. That order remained unchanged until 1 A.M.
Meanwhile in LMP2, the #38 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson shared by Roberto Gónzalez, António Félix Da Costa and Will Stevens remained in the lead, ahead of the #9 Prema Orlen Team Oreca driven by Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Lorenzo Colombo. The #28 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Oliver Rasmussen, Edward Jones and Jonathan Aberdein and the #13 TDS Racing x Vaillante shared by Nyck De Vries, Mathias Beche and Tijmen van der Helm constantly fought for third place, a full lap behind the lead LMP2 car.
Further down in the ranks, the #23 United Autosport USA car served a drive-through penalty following an unsafe release in the pits, and the #41 Realteam by WRT car driven by Norman Nato went off at Porsche Curves, but Nato managed to take the car back on track.
The lead LMP2 Pro/Am car is now the #44 ARC Bratislava Oreca shared by Miroslav Konopka, Bent Viscaal and Tristan Vautier.
A significant shift in position at the start of the seventh hour was the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R’s visit to its garage to change rear brake discs after damage that turned out to be debris related. Nick Tandy rejoined the fray, sixth in class and nearly two minutes off the class lead. Meanwhile, Miguel Molina had been pressing on, the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo finding pace at last in the cooler conditions, reeling in the #91 Porsche and eyeing third place. A front right puncture on approach to Indianapolis, however, ended the Spaniard’s charge, trailing back to the AF Corse pit, James Calado just avoiding his team mate’s limping car. Suspension damage was avoided, and the #52 Ferrari rejoined with a front right wheel change, a lucky escape.
James Calado pitted the #51 Ferrari, the multiple winner and reigning GTE-Pro champion reporting: ”We are battling a faster Porsche and an even faster Corvette, so we probably need to accept that it’s just not our year and that we need to work on finishing and getting some points. I get moaned at every time I say it, but the BOP has been big and it has really affected us.”
However – just at the top of the eighth hour, the #63 Corvette which had led all the way until sunset was slow through the Porsche Curves. Antonio Garcia suffered a left rear puncture and lost a lap, handing Porsche first and second at the front. Further suspension work extended the #63 Corvette’s time in its garage, a long repair looking ominous as Porsche forged ahead. Corvette Racing reported to DSC that the car was repairable but was effectively written off for a result, a major disappointment having shown so much promise.
The #64 car was also in its pit, Nick Tandy explaining a brake problem of its own. “I braked into the first chicane and nothing was happening,” said Tandy. “Luckily we made it back, it could have been worse. We’ve lost time, but we’re still in it.” The #64 Corvette resumed fourth in class but still on the lead lap, a long way to go.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari that was looking like an early write-off was suddenly back in the fight, Alessandro Pier Guidi pushing hard and taking advantage of a slow zone at Dunlop Chicane to pit early and try to gain some time.
Porsche leads Le Mans in GTE-Pro: Michael Christensen’s #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 from Gianmaria Bruni’s #91 car by a minute and 50 seconds, with the #91 due to stop.
Team Project 1 posted the first retirement of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, the #46 car suffered vibrations after a trip into the gravel. Having spent an hour in its pit and changing many components to fix the car’s stability it was decided by Porsche that it was unsafe for the car to continue.
We also lost the #777 D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR after a puncture suffered on the Mulsanne straight led to a collapsed suspension and, chassis damage that proved to be terminal for the trio of Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii, and Charlie Fagg.
Porsche still leads the GTE Am class however. WeatherTech Racing has a firm grip on P1, Thomas Merrill in particular proving his pace as a Bronze driver into the night sessions, the lead now over a minute to Christian Ried in the equally sturdy looking #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche – but with David Pittard’s #98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin breathing down its neck, trailed by the #33 TF Sport Aston, Henrique Chaves back aboard in fourth place. Hardpoint Motorsport completes the top five for Porsche. The cluster of Ferraris in this class seem, for now, somewhat off the pace. The #71 Spirit of Race entry was in its garage, smoking heavily and losing water as the hour closed.
There was contact between the #93 Proton Competition Porsche and Vincent Abril’s sixth place #61 AF Corse. Actor Michael Fassbender was being lapped and came off worst on the approach to Indianapolis, the Porsche’s right hand side clattered by the Ferrari that was taking an ambitious line. The Ferrari was also pushed into its garage for repairs, the Porsche’s extensive for suspension and bodywork. Both were sent back into the race, but with the Ferrari having to take a 60-second stop/go penalty for the misjudgement.
Ben Barker’s 3’50.848 was the best GTE Am lap of the race so far for the recovering #86 GR Racing Porsche, albeit 15th in class.
