Le Mans 24 hours: Alonso can't close gap to leading #7 Toyota
Kamui Kobayashi put the #7 Toyota back in control of the Le Mans 24 Hours in hour 13 by gapping the sister car of Fernando Alonso by 20 seconds
Alonso took over the #8 TS050 HYBRID from Sebastien Buemi early on in the hour, and was 13s down on Kobayashi when the Japanese driver rejoined after a stop of his own.
Alonso's night stint in the #8 car is credited for hauling the eventual winner back into contention in 2018, and his opening laps were promising as the gap came down to seven seconds.
But Kobayashi then eased clear either side of the pair's next planned pitstops, to establish a comfortable advantage over the sister car.
Nathanael Berthon continued to hold a comfortable third place in the #3 Rebellion ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne's #11 SMP BR Engineering BR1, which has stopped one more time than the lead Rebellion.
Neel Jani stepped back into the #1 Rebellion in the 13th hour and runs fifth.
ByKolles had got a sixth car in class running again in the previous hour, but Tom Dillmann then stopped the ENSO CLM-Gibson P1/01 exiting Arnage towards the end of the hour.
LMP2 - Strong stint from Rusinov puts G-Drive clear
Andre Negrao began to chip away at Roman Rusinov's lead in the 13th hour, but the #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA still enjoys a commanding advantage of over a minute and a half with Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel.
Negrao began the hour over two minutes adrift of Rusinov, but had won back around 18 seconds by the end of the hour, when reigning Formula E champion Vergne took over from Rusinov with Negrao set to complete a third stint on his Michelins.
Ho-Pin Tung holds third in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA despite being passed by the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA of Pastor Maldonado.
Tung ran three laps longer than the Venezuelan and emerged 8s ahead once Maldonado had relayed to Anthony Davidson.
Loic Duval was fifth in the #28 TDS Racing ORECA, 15s ahead of Ricky Taylor in the #37 DC Racing OECA.
The #22 United Autosports Ligier of Filipe Albuquerque is the best non-ORECA and the first car two laps down in seventh.
GTE - Leading Porsche in trouble, could lose WEC title
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari moved into a clear lead of 1m23s after the leading #92 Porsche was wheeled into its garage at its most recent stop.
Kevin Estre had re-established the #92 911 RSRs half-minute advantage over the 488 GTE, and appeared to have been brought in for a routine stop.
But after taking on fuel in the pitlane, the car was taken into the garage so mechanics could changes its brakes and examine its underside.
It did not return to the track before the end of the hour and lost four laps and lies 12th. The car is 34 points clear of the sister #91 Porsche. Eighth will guarentee the #92 the title.
Alessandro Pier Guidi took over in the #51 Ferrari and was losing a minimal amount of time to the pursuing #93 and #91 Porsches, which were involved in an almighty scrap for what is now second place.
Nick Tandy headed that battle in the #93 car, but was less than a second ahead of Gianmaria Bruni at the hour mark.
The #64 Corvette C7.R was fourth in the hands of Antonio Garcia, another eight seconds back, while the two Ford GTs entered under the Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA banner were fifth and sixth.
Behind dominant Am class leader Felipe Fraga in the Keating Ford, Charlie Eastwood continues to hold second in the TF Sport Aston Martin, while Jorg Bergmeister's Project 1 Porsche is catching the JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Rodrigo Baptista for third.
Positions after 13 hours
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez | 204 | |
2 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso | 204 | + 20.651s |
3 | LMP1 | #3 Rebellion | Laurent, Berthon, Menezes | 202 | + 2 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | #11 BR | Petrov, Aleshin, Vandoorne | 201 | + 3 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | #1 Rebellion | Jani, Lotterer, Senna | 198 | + 6 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #26 Aurus | Rusinov, Van Uitert, Vergne | 196 | + 8 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet | 195 | + 9 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Richelmi, Aubry | 195 | + 2m04.269s |
9 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Gonzalez, Maldonado, Davidson | 195 | + 2m13.514s |
10 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval | 194 | + 10 Laps |
11 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Heinemeier-Hansson, King, Taylor | 194 | + 12.102s |
12 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta | 193 | + 11 Laps |
13 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas | 193 | + 1m35.034s |
14 | LMP2 | #30 Oreca | Jamin, Ragues, Dumas | 192 | + 12 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Binder, Canal, Stevens | 192 | + 3m28.839s |
16 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Gommendy, Capillaire, Hirschi | 191 | + 13 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Cullen, Brundle, Owen | 189 | + 15 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | #43 Oreca | Farano, Maini, Nato | 189 | + 13m20.473s |
19 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Zollinger, Pizzitola, Falb | 188 | + 16 Laps |
20 | LMP2 | #50 Ligier | Creed, Ricci, Boulle | 188 | + 7m58.888s |
21 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 188 | + 8m08.753s |
22 | LMP2 | #20 Oreca | Fjordbach, Andersen, Beche | 187 | + 17 Laps |
23 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, De Vries | 187 | + 1m13.336s |
24 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Smiechowski, Winslow, Moore | 183 | + 21 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra | 182 | + 22 Laps |
26 | GTE Pro | #93 Porsche | Pilet, Bamber, Tandy | 182 | + 1m23.402s |
27 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki | 182 | + 1m24.170s |
28 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller | 182 | + 1m32.588s |
29 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 182 | + 1m34.579s |
30 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 182 | + 1m36.891s |
31 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Bomarito | 181 | + 23 Laps |
32 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 180 | + 24 Laps |
33 | GTE Pro | #94 Porsche | Muller, Jaminet, Olsen | 180 | + 9.635s |
34 | GTE Pro | #89 Ferrari | Derani, Jarvis, Gounon | 180 | + 16.361s |
35 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor | 179 | + 25 Laps |
36 | GTE Pro | #82 BMW | Farfus, Da Costa, Krohn | 179 | + 10m10.157s |
37 | GTE Am | #85 Ford | Keating, Bleekemolen, Fraga | 178 | + 26 Laps |
38 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood | 178 | + 2m38.440s |
39 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Segal, Baptista, Lu | 177 | + 27 Laps |
40 | GTE Am | #56 Porsche | Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti | 177 | + 4.794s |
41 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Campbell, Ried, Andlauer | 177 | + 27.344s |
42 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Vilander, Smith | 177 | + 1m25.833s |
43 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Perez-Companc, Griffin, Cressoni | 177 | + 2m39.338s |
44 | GTE Pro | #81 BMW | Catsburg, Tomczyk, Eng | 176 | + 28 Laps |
45 | GTE Am | #57 Ferrari | Kimura, Cozzolino, Ledogar | 176 | + 38.811s |
46 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Preining | 176 | + 2m45.193s |
47 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Prette, Prette, Abril | 175 | + 29 Laps |
48 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella | 175 | + 2m46.907s |
49 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Gostner, Frey, Gatting | 174 | + 30 Laps |
50 | GTE Am | #70 Ferrari | Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever | 174 | + 16.770s |
51 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Martin, Lynn, Adam | 173 | + 31 Laps |
52 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Schiavoni, Pianezzola, Piccini | 171 | + 33 Laps |
53 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Dillmann, Webb, Ruberti | 163 | + 41 Laps |
54 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Enqvist, Tereschenko | 159 | + 45 Laps |
55 | LMP1 | #17 BR | Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Sirotkin | 163 | + 41 Laps |
56 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 140 | + 64 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 132 | + 72 Laps |
58 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 87 | + 117 Laps |
59 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 82 | + 122 Laps |
60 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Hoshino, Roda Jr, Cairoli | 79 | + 125 Laps |
61 | LMP1 | #10 BR | Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande | 76 | + 128 Laps |
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