Summary: Porsche regained its lead, holding a 1-2 by the end of the fourth hour after Audi made a gamble on tyres which didn’t pay off. There was plenty of action up and down the order in each class, with KCMG, AF Corse and Dempsey Proton all leading their respective classes.
The third hour of the race started with a three-way fight for the overall lead of the race. Fassler’s once healthy lead was gone, as Dumas (#18) and Webber (#17) were all over his rear. The Porsches were definitely coming into their own in the improving conditions.
Ultimately Fassler’s R18 was no match for Dumas’ 919, as the Frenchman flew past him going down the pit-straight, handing Porsche’s first lead since the opening lap of the race.
Webber was also quick to try and take the lead, but Fassler was able to keep him at bay, running side-by-side lap after lap running through sector 1. The racing was stunning, as the #17 just didn’t quite have the ponies to take the position on raw speed down the pit-straight. Through the traffic the two battled until Fassler pitted to hand over to Andre Lotterer for his first stint with 3 hours 45 left – a great drive.
“When you’re leading and the gap starts to melt, it’s a shame. It was a great battle with Mark in the end, but we want to win this one,” Fassler said after his stint.
A Full-Course Yellow procedure was called soon after while the marshals helped move the Sard Morand Morgan which was stranded in the run off at Turn 1. Oliver Webb, who was running third in the LMP2 class at the time, went straight on, and got caught by the barriers trying to turn round on the escape road. It was a costly error for Webb, who lost a lap as a result and fell to sixth in class.
The conditions by this point had improved to the point where many teams were using intermediate tyres again. All the P1 frontrunners made the change and the lap times began to tumble.
When the race went green again, the class leaders were as follows:
LMP1: #18 Porsche, #7 Audi, #17 Porsche
LMP2: #47 KCMG Oreca, #36 Signatech Alpine, #26 G-Drive
GTE Pro: #91 Porsche, #71 AF Corse Ferrari, #92 Porsche
GTE Am: #77 Dempsey Porsche, #98 Aston Martin, #96 Aston Martin
Andre Lotterer had work to do when he climbed aboard, down to third spot in the one time leading #7 Audi, he had Brendon Hartley’s #17 Porsche right ahead. The German was quick to strike though, slipping past the young Kiwi through traffic to hand Audi back second spot. Lotterer then began to lap quickest of the P1 runners, but by this time though (3 hours 20 left), Marc Lieb in the leading #18 Porsche was an astonishing 56 seconds up the road.
Clouds were forming as the race reached the halfway mark, it prompted Toyota to gamble, and stick the #2 back onto full-wet tyres with the rain coming down at parts of the circuit once more. The team sadly had to push the #2 back into the garage for repairs soon after though, following contact with the #88 Proton Porsche while running slowly down the hill into the Sector 3 chicane, damaging the car’s cooling system.
The #26 G-Drive Ligier, which Sam Bird revealed was on cut slicks during the first stint, climbed to second in P2 with three hours to go. Paul Loup Chatin came in in the Alpine to hand over to Nelson Panciatici, who had a spin on his first flyer out of the pits, allowing Julian Canal in the Ligier through. KCMG were starting to pull away up front with all the mishaps behind, Tandy still leading.
“It was ok, it’s not as tough physically in the rain so three hours wasn’t a problem. Vision is a big problem, the windscreen steams up pretty easily,” said Tandy after his stint.
In GTE Pro and Am, the class leaders had swapped, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari had taken the lead with Toni Vilander driving in Pro, and Seefried in the Proton Porsche took the lead in Am. A mega stint from both drivers in the drying conditions the reason for their climb up the order. The #51 did have to fend off the #91 Porsche of Patrick Pilet for multiple laps though, as the second half began.
With under three hours, Andre Lotterer began to slip back into the clutches of the #17 Porsche of Brendon Hartley until the next round of stops. Both Audi’s pace continue to drop off towards the end of each stint.
“It’s right on the bubble with tyre choice,” said Hartley’s teammate Mark Webber. “We’re racing the #7, we want to beat the #7.” When asked about a potential issue with torque, a possible reason for being unable to pass the #7 earlier in the race exiting low speed corners, the Aussie nodded; his car not running at 100%.
Both Lotterer and Hartley pitted within a few laps of each other and the #7 gambled and put on slicks. It didn’t work for the Audi crew though, so they pitted again immediately and the #7 fell down to fifth spot, two laps down; a huge error.
Patrick Pilet steered the #91 Porsche back to the lead of the GTE Pro lead with just over two and a half hours to go. The Frenchman, after battling long and hard with Vilander, managed to slip past on the then drying track. The standings in Pro were then #91, #51, #92, #71.
It was out of sync, but LMP2’s lead also changed after Tandy’s monster stint in the KCMG Oreca, showing how close the class was at the top. The #26 G-Drive Ligier of Julien Canal snatched the lead when Matthew Howson climbed aboard the Chinese entered car, capping off a rapid but quiet run by the team to the top of the class.
With two hours remaining it all seemed to have swung Porsche’s way, the #18 leading by over 50 seconds over the #17, with the #8 and #7 Audis one and two laps down respectively. KCMG, AF Corse and Dempsey Proton led P2, Pro and Am.
120 minutes to run.
Stephen Kilbey
