With just two hours to go, Porsche Penske Motorsport has found a way to get the #6 963 into the top three, splitting the Ferraris. A 1-2-3 no longer looks inevitable for the Italian marque.
The move of the hour came when Matt Campbell in the #6 dived up the inside of James Calado’s #51 Ferrari 499P into the second Mulsanne Chicane, moments after the team told Calado over the radio: “Focus, we are playing for P2.”
It wasn’t a perfect hour for the lead Porsche, though, as a wheel gun issue cost the car a handful of seconds at its 28th pit stop and in traffic, Campbell lost further time on fresh tyres to a brief off at Mulsanne.
Either way, the #6 is still not entirely out of contention and ended up leapfrogging the #50 Ferrari shortly after getting past the #51 on pit lane. The #6 emerged from the pit exit 21 seconds ahead after the Ferrari took tyres, and the #6 went fuel-only as the hour ticked over.
As the 23rd hour began, the #51 was in the lead due to it being out of sequence, with the #83 Ferrari second with Kubica still aboard, 45 seconds behind and 20 seconds clear of the chasing #6 Porsche.
It still seems unlikely, but Penske cannot be counted out for the win just yet. It wouldn’t take much for this race to be turned upside down. What a turnout for the books it would be if the strategy desk found a way to deliver a big result for Roger here, following such a dominant run from the 499Ps.
The gap up top in LMP2 has been reduced to just 8 seconds between the #43 Inter Europol ORECA of Tom Dillmann, now sporting a raw carbon front clip, and the #48 VDS Panis ORECA of Oliver Gray after a quicker stop for the #48.
AO By TF still holds third and the lead in Pro/Am comfortably over the #34 Inter Europol 07, which is fifth overall and over three minutes behind.
Riccardo Pera is now strapped into the 1st Phorm Manthey Porsche as the #92 closes in on the win in LMGT3. Alessio Rovera is unable to consistently better the pace of the leader in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296, which is second and just 11 seconds up the road from the #81 TF Sport Corvette.
