There was bad news for the second-place GTE-Am car of Klaus Bachler at the top of the 22nd hour: the #88 Porsche was reported for speeding in the pit lane, potentially putting its two-and-a-half minute lead over the third-in-class Marco Cioci-driven #61 Ferrari in jeopardy.
Lotterer pitted the #2 Audi from second after a triple stint. Tréluyer was standing by, but Lotterer stayed in and elected not to change tyres – fuel only and back out.
In P2, the #35 G-Drive Ligier was running on seven cylinders, being slowly reeled in by the second-place Thiriet by TDS Racing machine, while Jota sport continued to look settled in third.
Alpine’s earlier suspension issue had put that car down to fourth, ahead of Vincent Capillaire in the Sébastien Loeb Racing Oreca, which has been running solidly and steadily all race.
Soheil Ayari in the GTE Am-class #58 Sofrev Ferrari then spun and got stuck in the gravel right on the exit of the final chicane. A local yellow covered the car’s extraction by telehandler.
Another Am-class Ferrari in trouble was the sixth-in-class #57 Krohn car, which headed for the garage at 12:17pm. The #97 GTE Pro Aston was also pushed back, spending some time in the garage before Mücke stepped in for Turner.
Second in GTE Pro was looking up for grabs as Jordan Taylor in the #73 Corvette closed rapidly on Richard Lietz in the #92 works Porsche. The fortunes of the two ‘Vettes had reversed overnight – issues with a door and number display panel hitting the #74.
Halfway through the hour, just 36 seconds separated the leading Porsche from Lotter’s chasing Audi. But then a slow lap for Bernhard prompted a mad scramble to ready the Porsche garage for a sooner-than-expected stop for fuel and tyres.
Lotterer took the lead at 12:35pm just as Webber was taking over the #20 Porsche from Bernhard. It’s believed Porsche were attempting to manage their tyre wear with the end of the race in mind.
Shortly afterwards, the #88 Porsche’s pit-lane speeding penalty was confirmed as a 45-second stop-go: not enough to allow the #61 AF Corse Ferrari into second in class.
In P2, the remaining Greaves Motorsport car emerged after a lengthy pitstop to rebuild the gearbox following main shaft failure earlier on. Matt McMurry was scheduled to take the finish in the Caterham-backed car, with Chris Dyson at the wheel for now.
The class lead was still in the hands of the #35, now driven by Alex Brundle. But second-place man Tristan Gommendy in the Thiriet Ligier had to keep an eye out behind for the rapid Harry Tincknell in the third-place Jota Zytek, now just under eight seconds in arrears.
Within the last ten minutes of the hour, Andre Lotterer pitted for fuel but stayed in the #2 car, making it a quintuple stint at the wheel for the experienced German – a rough calculation making that 500 miles of flat-out pedalling the R18!
The #8 Toyota pitted as the hour drew to a close, continuing a solid recovery drive for this crew. But they still lie three laps down on the third-place #1 Audi, making a consolation podium look unlikely if things stay as they are.
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