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Le Mans 24 Hours: Pastor Maldonado crash causes long safety car

The gap between the two Toyotas in the Le Mans 24 Hours lead battle again increased during an hour dominated by an extended safety car period caused by Pastor Maldonado

The margin between Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID and team-mate Kazuki Nakajima stood at more than two and a half minutes at the end of the hour in which Pastor Maldonado crashed the DragonSpeed ORECA-Gibson 07 (pictured above) out of the race.

Lopez had gained a couple of seconds during the pitstop cycle shortly after the 16-hour mark and eked out a few more on pace before the yellow flags came out when Maldonado hit the barriers at Tertre Rouge.

The #7 won more time during the safety car and was around 90s ahead when Nakajima came into the pits just before the 17-hour mark.

Lopez was due a pitstop at the top of an hour.

The battle for third place between the LMP1 privateers swung in favour of SMP Racing and the #17 BR Engineering BR1 with Stoffel Vandoorne at the wheel.

The AER-powered car moved ahead of the #3 Rebellion-Gibson R-13 when Gustavo Menezes had to take a three-minute stop-and-go penalty for a procedural error concerning tyre usage.

LMP2 - G-Drive's advantage still comfortable

The LMP2 order remained largely in status quo following Maldonado's crash.

The safety car period allowed G-Drive Racing's Job van Uitert to extend his lead by almost a minute from his previous total of 1m30s.

G-Drive's gap will likely drop as van Uitert pitted the ORECA-Gibson 07 right at the end of the hour to hand over to Roman Rusinov.

Signatech-Alpine's Andre Negrao had been lapping slightly quicker than van Uitert, but remained in a lonely second place after pitting at the top of the hour.

Negrao has been replaced by Pierre Thiriet in the car.

Gabriel Aubry is piloting the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA-Gibson 07 in third, with the TDS Racing squad promoted into fourth following Maldonado's shunt.

Aubry also pitted at the close of the hour, but he remains in the Jota-run car.

Behind TDS' Francois Perrodo is the United Autosports Ligier of Paul di Resta and he is under pressure from Nico Jamin in the Duqueine Engineering ORECA-Gibson 07.

Jamin and his team-mates had suffered early problems, but the Duqueine crew climbed up the order progressively as other cars fall out of contention.

GTE - Safety car helps Ferrari

The safety car period played directly into the hands of the #51 Ferrari, allowing it to build a lead of over a minute in GTE Pro.

Because James Calado had pitted to hand over the AF Corse-run car to Daniel Serra just prior to Maldonado's incident, it was in prime position to capitalise as the three leading cars all came onto the pitlane

The #91 Porsche lost over two minutes being held at the end of the pits as Richard Lietz handed over to Frederic Makowiecki, dropping that car to a net fourth, while the #63 Corvette and #93 Porsche both came in just as the race resumed.

Serra pitted the #51 just before the 17-hour mark, putting it six seconds down on Mike Rockenfeller's Corvette but with a net lead of over a minute, while Patrick Pilet ran 14s down on the class lead in the #93 Porsche.

Behind the #91 Porsche of Makowiecki was Harry Tincknell's #67 Ford GT in fifth.

Ben Keating maintained a comfortable two-minute lead in GTE Am in his own team's privateer Ford GT, surviving a scare when he spun off at the Dunlop chicane.

Patrick Lindsey in the Project 1 Porsche enjoyed a similar buffer over the JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Rodrigo Baptista in third.

Positions after 17 hours

Pos Class Car Drivers Laps Gap
1 LMP1 #7 Toyota Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez 268
2 LMP1 #8 Toyota Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso 267 + 1 Lap
3 LMP1 #11 BR Petrov, Aleshin, Vandoorne 263 + 5 Laps
4 LMP1 #3 Rebellion Laurent, Berthon, Menezes 263 + 1.254s
5 LMP1 #1 Rebellion Jani, Lotterer, Senna 260 + 8 Laps
6 LMP2 #26 Aurus Rusinov, Van Uitert, Vergne 256 + 12 Laps
7 LMP2 #36 Alpine Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet 256 + 2m25.303s
8 LMP2 #38 Oreca Tung, Richelmi, Aubry 255 + 13 Laps
9 LMP2 #28 Oreca Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval 254 + 14 Laps
10 LMP2 #22 Ligier Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta 253 + 15 Laps
11 LMP2 #30 Oreca Jamin, Ragues, Dumas 253 + 9.124s
12 LMP2 #48 Oreca Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas 253 + 1m05.988s
13 LMP2 #23 Ligier Binder, Canal, Stevens 251 + 17 Laps
14 LMP2 #39 Oreca Gommendy, Capillaire, Hirschi 251 + 1m12.314s
15 LMP2 #47 Dallara Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi 247 + 21 Laps
16 LMP2 #29 Dallara Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, De Vries 247 + 1m26.823s
17 LMP2 #25 Oreca Zollinger, Pizzitola, Falb 247 + 1m45.419s
18 LMP2 #43 Oreca Farano, Maini, Nato 246 + 22 Laps
19 LMP2 #50 Ligier Creed, Ricci, Boulle 246 + 56.425s
20 LMP2 #20 Oreca Fjordbach, Andersen, Beche 246 + 1m18.765s
21 LMP2 #34 Ligier Smiechowski, Winslow, Moore 242 + 26 Laps
22 LMP2 #32 Ligier Cullen, Brundle, Owen 241 + 27 Laps
23 GTE Pro #51 Ferrari Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra 238 + 30 Laps
24 GTE Pro #63 Chevrolet Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller 238 + 55.461s
25 GTE Pro #93 Porsche Pilet, Bamber, Tandy 238 + 1m09.212s
26 GTE Pro #91 Porsche Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki 238 + 1m27.585s
27 GTE Pro #67 Ford Priaulx, Tincknell, Bomarito 237 + 31 Laps
28 GTE Pro #68 Ford Hand, Muller, Bourdais 237 + 24.904s
29 GTE Pro #69 Ford Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon 237 + 1m11.400s
30 GTE Pro #94 Porsche Muller, Jaminet, Olsen 237 + 2m52.626s
31 GTE Pro #66 Ford Mucke, Pla, Johnson 236 + 32 Laps
32 GTE Pro #89 Ferrari Derani, Jarvis, Gounon 236 + 13.483s
33 GTE Pro #82 BMW Farfus, Da Costa, Krohn 235 + 33 Laps
34 GTE Am #85 Ford Keating, Bleekemolen, Fraga 233 + 35 Laps
35 GTE Pro #92 Porsche Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor 233 + 9.009s
36 GTE Am #56 Porsche Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti 232 + 36 Laps
37 GTE Pro #81 BMW Catsburg, Tomczyk, Eng 232 + 29.666s
38 GTE Am #84 Ferrari Segal, Baptista, Lu 232 + 2m09.827s
39 GTE Am #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc, Griffin, Cressoni 231 + 37 Laps
40 GTE Am #62 Ferrari Macneil, Vilander, Smith 231 + 3.314s
41 GTE Am #77 Porsche Campbell, Ried, Andlauer 231 + 1m48.694s
42 GTE Am #57 Ferrari Kimura, Cozzolino, Ledogar 230 + 38 Laps
43 GTE Am #78 Porsche Prette, Prette, Abril 230 + 19.961s
44 GTE Am #54 Ferrari Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella 230 + 52.624s
45 GTE Am #86 Porsche Wainwright, Barker, Preining 229 + 39 Laps
46 GTE Am #83 Ferrari Gostner, Frey, Gatting 228 + 40 Laps
47 GTE Am #70 Ferrari Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever 228 + 2m49.026s
48 GTE Am #90 Aston Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood 226 + 42 Laps
49 GTE Am #60 Ferrari Schiavoni, Pianezzola, Piccini 225 + 43 Laps
50 GTE Pro #97 Aston Martin, Lynn, Adam 222 + 46 Laps
51 LMP2 #31 Oreca Gonzalez, Maldonado, Davidson 245 + 23 Laps
52 LMP2 #37 Oreca Heinemeier-Hansson, King, Taylor 199 + 69 Laps
53 LMP1 #17 BR Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Sirotkin 163 + 105 Laps
54 LMP1 #4 Enso Dillmann, Webb, Ruberti 163 + 2h35m00.370s
55 LMP2 #49 Ligier Konopka, Enqvist, Tereschenko 160 + 108 Laps
56 GTE Pro #71 Ferrari Rigon, Bird, Molina 140 + 128 Laps
57 GTE Pro #95 Aston Thiim, Sorensen, Turner 132 + 136 Laps
58 GTE Am #98 Aston Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda 87 + 181 Laps
59 GTE Pro #64 Chevrolet Gavin, Milner, Fassler 82 + 186 Laps
60 GTE Am #88 Porsche Hoshino, Roda Jr, Cairoli 79 + 189 Laps
61 LMP1 #10 BR Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande 76 + 192 Laps

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