Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche still in control as day breaks
The #7 Audi is struggling to make inroads into the lead of the #19 Porsche with nine hours remaining of the Le Mans 24 Hours as the sun starts to rise
Benoit Treluyer did chip away at Earl Bamber's lead on track, and when the New Zealander was forced to park askew in his pit-box thanks to the proximity of the Scuderia Corsa GTE Am Ferrari in the adjacent pit, the team had to lift him onto the jacks and re-orient him.
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This meant that Bamber spent 10 seconds longer in the pits than he had on his previous stop and Treluyer's stop three laps later was around five seconds faster.
The gap was just over 50 seconds after both had stopped.
But Bamber then responded late in the hour with some fast laps to push his advantage back up to 56s - only a few seconds less than it was an hour ago, suggesting that while the Audi is gaining, it is not doing so anywhere near fast enough.
Filipe Albuquerque holds third place in the #9 Audi and remains within two minutes of the lead, with the #17 Porsche of Brendon Hartley remaining on the lead lap.
Lucas di Grassi holds fifth in the #8 Audi, which has close to a one-lap advantage over the #18 Porsche driven by Romain Dumas.
The Toyotas are down in seventh and eighth, with Mike Conway and Kazuki Nakajima able to do nothing more than just plug away and hope that attrition among the Audis and Porsches allows them to climb the order.
A lengthy stay in the pits means that the lead Rebellion has dropped out of the top 10, with the two cars now running 15th and 27th.
LMP2
KCMG's march at the front of LMP2 continues, as TDS Racing joined the list of retirees.
TDS had been KCMG's closest challenger, and the only other car on the lead lap, before being hit by a GTE Aston in the dying minutes of the 14th hour.
It was carted back to the pits and attempts to repair the ORECA have been in vain.
Matt Howson leads Sam Bird in the G-Drive (OAK) Ligier by more than one lap, with Karun Chandhok third for Murphy Prototypes a further 2m46s behind, while Jota Sport continues in fourth.
GTE
AF Corse's #51 Ferrari ended the hour as the GTE Pro leader, as it alternates top spot with the #64 Corvette between pitstops.
Following its clash with the LMP2 TDS entry, the #99 Aston spent the bulk of the hour in pit lane with repairs being carried out, dropping 13 laps and to sixth before returning to the track in the closing minutes.
Gianmaria Bruni enjoyed a stint on top before pitting to hand the Ferrari over to Giancarlo Fisichella, who sat second until Jordan Taylor pitted in the Corvette at the end of the 15th hour.
In GTE Am, Pedro Lamy has reasserted the #98 Aston's authority, leading the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari by 36s.
POSITIONS AFTER 15 HOURS
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #19 Porsche | Hulkenberg, Bamber, Tandy | 244 | |
2 | LMP1 | #7 Audi | Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer | 244 | + 56.306s |
3 | LMP1 | #9 Audi | Albuquerque, Bonanomi, Rast | 243 | + 1 Lap |
4 | LMP1 | #17 Porsche | Bernhard, Webber, Hartley | 243 | + 1m26.264s |
5 | LMP1 | #8 Audi | Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis | 242 | + 2 Laps |
6 | LMP1 | #18 Porsche | Dumas, Jani, Lieb | 241 | + 3 Laps |
7 | LMP1 | #2 Toyota | Wurz, Sarrazin, Conway | 239 | + 5 Laps |
8 | LMP1 | #1 Toyota | Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima | 236 | + 8 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | #47 Oreca | Howson, Bradley, Lapierre | 221 | + 23 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | #26 Ligier | Rusinov, Canal, Bird | 220 | + 24 Laps |
11 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Chandhok, Patterson, Berthon | 219 | + 25 Laps |
12 | LMP2 | #38 Gibson | Dolan, Evans, Turvey | 219 | + 1m57.023s |
13 | LMP2 | #28 Ligier | Yacaman, Derani, Gonzalez | 218 | + 26 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Cumming, Vanthoor, Estre | 218 | + 2m48.739s |
15 | LMP1 | #13 Rebellion | Imperatori, Kraihamer, Abt | 216 | + 28 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | #42 Dome | Leventis, Watts, Kane | 216 | + 50.827s |
17 | LMP2 | #31 Ligier | Brown, Van Overbeek, Fogarty | 209 | + 35 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | #45 Oreca | Ibanez, Perret, Bellarosa | 209 | + 1m26.941s |
19 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Bruni, Vilander, Fisichella | 208 | + 36 Laps |
20 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Taylor | 208 | + 4.920s |
21 | LMP2 | #27 BR | Mediani, Markozov, Minassian | 208 | + 42.430s |
22 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Christensen, Bergmeister | 207 | + 37 Laps |
23 | LMP2 | #35 Ligier | Nicolet, Merlin, Maris | 207 | + 1m37.071s |
24 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 206 | + 38 Laps |
25 | GTE Am | #72 Ferrari | Shaytar, Bertolini, Basov | 206 | + 39.011s |
26 | LMP1 | #12 Rebellion | Prost, Heidfeld, Beche | 205 | + 39 Laps |
27 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Calado, Beretta | 205 | + 54.005s |
28 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Sorensen, Thiim, Nygaard | 205 | + 1m16.493s |
29 | LMP2 | #46 Oreca | Thiriet, Badey, Gommendy | 204 | + 40 Laps |
30 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Dempsey, Long, Seefried | 204 | + 46m49.749s |
31 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Sweedler, Bell, Segal | 204 | + 46m57.087s |
32 | LMP2 | #29 Morgan | Roussel, Tung, Cheng | 203 | + 41 Laps |
33 | GTE Am | #53 Dodge | Bleekemolen, Keating, Miller | 203 | + 4.737s |
34 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Griffin, Mortimer | 203 | + 1m21.575s |
35 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Perrodo, Collard, Aguas | 202 | + 42 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | #68 Porsche | Chen, Vannelet, Parisy | 200 | + 44 Laps |
37 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mann, Giammaria, Cressoni | 199 | + 45 Laps |
38 | LMP2 | #30 Ligier | Sharp, Dalziel, Heinemeier Hansson | 197 | + 47 Laps |
39 | LMP2 | #40 Ligier | Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa | 196 | + 48 Laps |
40 | GTE Pro | #99 Aston | Rees, Macdowall, Stanaway | 195 | + 49 Laps |
41 | GTE Am | #67 Porsche | Chen, Kapadia, Maassen | 195 | + 1m59.958s |
42 | GTE Am | #66 Ferrari | Al Faisal, Giermaziak, Avenatti | 194 | + 50 Laps |
43 | LMP2 | #37 BR | Aleshin, Ladygin, Ladygin | 190 | + 54 Laps |
44 | LMP1 | #4 CLM | Trummer, Kaffer, Monteiro | 171 | + 73 Laps |
45 | LMP1 | #23 Nissan | Pla, Mardenborough, Chilton | 169 | + 75 Laps |
46 | LMP1 | #22 Nissan | Tincknell, Krumm, Buncombe | 167 | + 77 Laps |
47 | GTE Am | #96 Aston | Goethe, Hall, Castellacci | 164 | + 80 Laps |
48 | LMP2 | #43 Morgan | Ragues, Webb, Amberg | 162 | Retired |
49 | LMP1 | #21 Nissan | Matsuda, Shulzhitskiy, Ordonez | 115 | Retired |
50 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Panciatici, Chatin, Capillaire | 110 | Retired |
51 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Turner, Mucke, Bell | 110 | Retired |
52 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Roda, Ruberti, Poulsen | 94 | Retired |
53 | LMP2 | #41 Gibson | Hirsch, Paletou, Lancaster | 71 | Retired |
54 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Ried, Al Qubaisi, Bachler | 44 | Retired |
55 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Pilet, Makowiecki, Henzler | 14 | Retired |
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