With six hours to go in this race, focus remained for a time on Sébastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid. The Swiss driver regained pace and stayed within three minutes behind the the sister #7 Toyota which currently leads the race. In the mean time, the #708 Glickenhaus driven by Franck Mailleux, and André Négrao in the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut Alpine A480, kept on fighting for third place.
Oreca’s Hugues de Chaunac shared his thoughts on the race: “The real surprise for me this weekend is the Glickenhaus. We thought that this car would have a hard time in keeping a fast pace but they were flawless. They are third and that is quite remarkable”.
Meanwhile in LMP2, both Team WRT Orecas carried on with the #31 driven by Ferdinand Habsburg leading Yifei Ye in the #41. The battle between the #28 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson and the #65 Panis Racing Oreca 07-Gibson cooled down a little as the #28 driven by Sean Gelael managed to consolidate a significant gap with the #65.
Further down in the ranks, the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca driven by Giedo van der Garde span at Tertre Rouge and miraculously avoided contact with guard rails. Oliver Jarvis in the #82 Risi Competizione Oreca pitted with cooling problems. The American-flagged Oreca retired moments after.
The #84 Association SRT41 Oreca, taking part in the Innovative Car category, reached the overall top 30 after having dropped to the 55th position in the early hours of the evening.
With less than five hours left in the race, only a few significant events occurred in the prototype classes. The #708 Glickenhaus 007-LMH driven by Franck Mailleux was spotted at slow speed in Mulsanne. The Frenchman managed to bring the car back to the pits. He returned on track but nearly lost a full lap to the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480 and dropped to fourth position overall.
Later on at noon, Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid pitted without refuelling or changing tires: one of the car’s mechanics just opened the right hand side door of the car and shut it after intervening quickly in the cockpit due to a malfunction with the door. The #8 was now a full lap behind the leading #7 Toyota.
AF Corse’s GTE dual class lead holds true to start the fourth quarter
AF Corse’s #51 Ferrari still leads, James Calado consolidating the gap to the #63 Corvette, from the Porsche pair trailing by the best part of a lap.
The leading Ferrari came into its garage for a full service approaching three-quarter distance. This triggered a fuel stop for the second placed Corvette, allowing Nicky Catsburg to close the gap to the Ferrari driven by Côme Ledogar by nearly a minute. Catsburg posted the #63 car’s fastest lap of the race in pursuit, 3:48.169. With the C8.R clinging to the Ferrari’s pace overnight, the fight was well and truly on.
20 seconds separated the leading pair at the end of the 19th hour, this drawing out to half a minute as cautions stretched the field, the Corvette shadowing the Ferrari’s pit stops. Catsburg’s charge was countered by James Calado, setting the #51 Ferrari’s fastest lap of the race with a 3:47.818. The Dutch driver stayed aboard to triple stint the C8.R, suggesting Antonio Garcia would mount the final charge to the finish.
The #92 Porsche still trailed by two minutes in third. The #91 of Fred Makowiecki had been on a late morning offensive, posting 3:49’s to close right up on his team mate as both Porsche’s were pitted together with a Slow Zone in place. With Estre on fresher rubber the team managed that advantage by keeping Makowiecki behind. The call seemed good as the #92 car had been quicker all race, but Gianmaria Bruni had a point to prove and began to close the gap having taken over, the Italian’s robust approach evidenced by a hole in his Porsche’s left rear corner as he handed over to Richard Lietz.
The #64 Corvette’s alternator issues fixed, Nick Tandy was circulating again, sixth in class but 48th overall, the last recorded runner.
Static conditions at the front of GTE Am, Francois Perrodo having worked a heavy double stint to maintain the #83 AF Corse Ferrari’s lead. Dylan Pereira pressed on hard for TF Sport, posting the Aston Martin’s fastest lap of the race as its fuel load came down, rapidly catching the lead until the #33 Vantage made its off-sequence stops. The gap is currently pegged at 18 seconds.
Iron Lynx’s #83 Ferrari was still third, despite nearly overshooting the right hander at Arnage as a FCY was ordered. The fourth placed #54 AF Corse Ferrari was slow on the run to Indianapolis, something dragging under the car, the repair costing the car to drop it outside the top ten. Lance David Arnold’s #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche had a puncture on the Mulsanne straight, though the car was running outside the top ten.
