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Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche coming back at Toyota in hour 13

The #2 Porsche started to fight back against the race leading #6 Toyota in the 13th hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours on Sunday morning

The second-placed car managed to end the hour a handful of seconds closer to the leader than it started it, despite having a longer pitstop (by 17s) for a driver and tyre change while the Toyota only took fuel.

Marc Lieb, who took over the #2 Porsche from Romain Dumas, took up the chase of Kamui Kobayashi in the leading car, while in third place Anthony Davidson also made up some ground on the leader.

The performance of the leading cars creates the prospect of the lead battle closing up over the course of Sunday morning, with Toyota fighting on two fronts while Porsche has just one car capable of victory.

In LMP2 the #36 Signatech Alpine entry solidified its position at the head of the field with Gustavo Menezes, who pulled clear of the #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA of Ryo Hirakawa.

The third car in that lead battle - the #26 Jota/G-Drive ORECA - suffered a setback when it was given a one-minute stop-go penalty for speeding during a slow zone.

Ex-F1 driver Will Stevens served the penalty, rejoining more than a minute and a half down on Hirakawa but hanging onto third place.

GTE PRO - FORD CHASING FERRARI

The #69 Ford GT driven by Ryan Briscoe made a very small dent in the Risi Ferrari team's lead during the 13th hour.

Briscoe started the hour 50 seconds behind Matteo Malucelli in the Ferrari, but with the two drivers trading laptimes, he did managed to whittle the lead back to just under 45 seconds.

Joey Hand is showing good pace in the #68 Ford, which holds third place.

In GTE Am, Towsend Bell took the lead in the #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, passing Khaled Al Qubaisi.

Al Qubaisi took over the car during the hour, but last ground rapidly to Bell before losing the lead.

POSITIONS AFTER 13 HOURS

Pos Class Car Drivers Laps Gap
1 LMP1 #6 Toyota Sarrazin, Conway, Kobayashi 203
2 LMP1 #2 Porsche Dumas, Jani, Lieb 203 + 36.945s
3 LMP1 #5 Toyota Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima 203 + 1m17.354s
4 LMP1 #8 Audi Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis 201 + 2 Laps
5 LMP1 #13 Rebellion Tuscher, Imperatori, Kraihamer 193 + 10 Laps
6 LMP1 #7 Audi Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer 191 + 12 Laps
7 LMP2 #36 Alpine Menezes, Lapierre, Richelmi 188 + 15 Laps
8 LMP2 #46 Oreca Thiriet, Beche, Hirakawa 188 + 1m32.040s
9 LMP2 #26 Oreca Rusinov, Stevens, Rast 187 + 16 Laps
10 LMP2 #38 Gibson Dolan, Dennis, Van Der Garde 187 + 2m54.963s
11 LMP2 #42 Gibson Leventis, Watts, Kane 186 + 17 Laps
12 LMP2 #35 Alpine Cheng, Tung, Panciatici 186 + 56.223s
13 LMP2 #37 BR01 Petrov, Shaytar, Ladygin 186 + 1m08.742s
14 LMP2 #27 BR01 Minassian, Mediani, Aleshin 184 + 19 Laps
15 LMP2 #33 Oreca Pu, Gommendy, De Bruijn 183 + 20 Laps
16 LMP2 #41 Ligier Rojas, Canal, Berthon 183 + 3m04.472s
17 LMP2 #31 Ligier Dalziel, Derani, Cumming 182 + 21 Laps
18 LMP2 #23 Ligier Barthez, Chatin, Buret 181 + 22 Laps
19 LMP2 #49 Ligier Pew, Negri Jr, Vanthoor 181 + 43.747s
20 LMP2 #30 Ligier Sharp, Brown, Van Overbeek 181 + 57.713s
21 GTE Pro #82 Ferrari Fisichella, Vilander, Malucelli 180 + 23 Laps
22 GTE Pro #69 Ford Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon 180 + 44.994s
23 LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost, Heidfeld, Piquet Jr 180 + 47.668s
24 GTE Pro #68 Ford Hand, Muller, Bourdais 180 + 1m56.695s
25 GTE Pro #95 Aston Thiim, Sorensen, Turner 179 + 24 Laps
26 LMP2 #43 Ligier Gonzalez, Senna, Albuquerque 179 + 1m53.724s
27 GTE Pro #64 Chevrolet Gavin, Milner, Taylor 178 + 25 Laps
28 GTE Pro #66 Ford Pla, Mucke, Johnson 178 + 13.459s
29 LMP2 #25 Ligier Munemann, Hoy, Pizzitola 178 + 21.233s
30 GTE Pro #77 Porsche Lietz, Christensen, Eng 178 + 36.069s
31 GTE Pro #97 Aston Stanaway, Rees, Adam 178 + 1m09.357s
32 LMP2 #40 Ligier Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa 178 + 2m13.233s
33 GTE Pro #63 Chevrolet Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor 177 + 26 Laps
34 LMP2 #48 Oreca Keating, Bleekemolen, Goossens 176 + 27 Laps
35 GTE Am #62 Ferrari Sweedler, Bell, Segal 175 + 28 Laps
36 GTE Am #88 Porsche Al Qubaisi, Heinemeier Hansson, Long 174 + 29 Laps
37 GTE Am #61 Ferrari Mok, Sawa, Bell 174 + 3m34.281s
38 GTE Am #83 Ferrari Perrodo, Collard, Aguas 173 + 30 Laps
39 LMP2 #44 Oreca Graves, Rao, Merhi 173 + 54.753s
40 GTE Am #86 Porsche Wainwright, Carroll, Barker 173 + 1m41.555s
41 GTE Am #50 Chevrolet Yamagishi, Ragues, Belloc 172 + 31 Laps
42 GTE Am #55 Ferrari Cameron, Griffin, Scott 172 + 7.120s
43 GTE Am #98 Aston Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda 171 + 32 Laps
44 GTE Am #60 Ferrari Laursen, Mac, Nielsen 169 + 34 Laps
45 LMP2 #22 Ligier Capillaire, Maris, Coleman 169 + 1m40.954s
46 GTE Pro #51 Ferrari Bruni, Calado, Pier Guidi 167 + 36 Laps
47 GTE Am #99 Aston Howard, Griffin, Hirsch 167 + 4m01.075s
48 LMP1 #1 Porsche Bernhard, Webber, Hartley 165 + 38 Laps
49 LMP2 #28 Morgan Taittinger, Striebig, Roussel 160 + 43 Laps
50 LMP1 #4 CLM Trummer, Webb, Kaffer 159 + 44 Laps
51 CDNT #84 Morgan Sausset, Tinseau, Bouvet 158 + 45 Laps
52 GTE Am #57 Chevrolet O'Connel, Bryant, Patterson 156 + 47 Laps
53 GTE Pro #67 Ford Franchitti, Priaulx, Tincknell 153 + 50 Laps
54 GTE Am #78 Porsche Ried, Henzler, Camathias 145 + 58 Laps
55 GTE Pro #71 Ferrari Rigon, Bird, Bertolini 143 + 60 Laps
56 LMP2 #34 Oreca Leutwiler, Nakano, Winslow 142 + 61 Laps
57 GTE Pro #92 Porsche Makowiecki, Bamber, Bergmeister 140 + 63 Laps
58 GTE Pro #91 Porsche Pilet, Estre, Tandy 135 Retired
59 LMP2 #47 Oreca Matsuda, Howson, Bradley 116 Retired
60 GTE Am #89 Porsche Macneil, Keen, Miller 50 Retired

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