Brendon Hartley puts #1 Porsche into lead of Le Mans 24 Hours
Brendon Hartley put the #1 Porsche into the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours in a frantic second hour of the race featuring a three-way lead battle
After Toyota stormed to a one-two at the end of the first hour when the safety car finally came in, the Japanese manufacturer gave away its advantage by switching from wets to slicks later than some of its rivals.
Andre Lotterer - who took slicks on lap 10 - assumed the lead when the Toyotas came in on lap 12, but two laps later the #7 Audi relinquished the position when it pitted for a costly turbo change.
The car rejoined six laps down, while all three manufacturers fought it out on track in the new battle for the lead.
The #1 Porsche of Hartley and the #8 Audi of Loic Duval swapped places twice, with Hartley making the decisive pass on the Mulsanne Straight on lap 18.
Duval stayed on his tail before dropping back in traffic, switching his attention to defending from the Toyota of Mike Conway who was closing rapidly on both lead cars.
Duval managed to resist Conway's attacks until he brought the Audi in for its second stop of the race at the end of lap 23, while Hartley pitted from the lead a lap later.
Conway was able to stay out for two more laps to lead briefly, before coming in at the top of the hour to slot back in to 2nd position ahead of Duval.
LMP2 - MANOR TAKES CHARGE
By Mitchell Adam
Manor timed Roberto Merhi's move onto intermediate tyres at the start of the hour to perfection and moved into the lead of LMP2.
Merhi pitted at the end of the first racing lap from fourth, one lap before erstwhile class leader Rene Rast, while Alpine pair Nicolas Lapierre and Nelson Panciatici stayed out even longer.
Building on the advantage seized by Manor, Merhi pulled away from Thiriet by TDS Racing's Mathias Beche by two seconds a lap to lead by more than 20s before changing to slicks at his next stop.
He finished the second hour 19s ahead of Beche, with Jonny Kane third for Strakka Racing, ahead of fellow Gibson driver Jake Dennis, for G-Drive.
Rast picked up several places during the hour to finish it fifth, just ahead of KCMG's Richard Bradley and SMP Racing's Vitaly Petrov, while Lapierre had fallen to 12th in the class order.
GTE - PORSCHE TAKES THE LEAD
By Scott Mitchell
Porsche moved into the lead of the GTE battle after the early-leading Ford GT dropped back with a slow pitstop.
Frederic Makowiecki completed his rise from seventh to first at the beginning of the second hour, building a lead of almost 16 seconds at one stage.
But after the first stops, Richard Westbrook began to recover after losing ground early on in the #69 Ford.
That car assumed lead-Ford status when early race leader Dirk Muller dropped outside the top 10 with a long stay in the pits, and by the end of the hour Westbrook had caught the lead Porsche.
He breezed past Makowiecki on the run to Mulsanne Corner, but pitted before the end of the lap and thus allowed the Porsche to remain ahead.
James Calado was its nearest challenger in the AF Corse Ferrari, just over a second back, with the Risi Competitzione 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella a few seconds further in arrears.
Muller had moved up to seventh in class by the end of the hour.
The #67 Ford's problems continued. Andy Priaulx had to bring the ailing GT back into the pits towards the end of the hour and it has yet to re-emerge.
KCMG's Wolf Henzler leads the GTE Am runners, but has fellow Porsche driver Patrick Long for close company in the Abu Dhabi Proton Racing RSR 911.
The pair were quickest of those in class to stay on wets at the top of the hour, and regained the top two spots after their stops by reeling in and passing Leh Keen in the Proton Competition Porsche.
Henzler had trailed Long, but passed the American at the end of the hour to take class lead.
Matt Griffin is third in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari but more than a minute behind.
POSITIONS AFTER TWO HOURS:
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Bernhard, Webber, Hartley | 27 | |
2 | LMP1 | #6 Toyota | Sarrazin, Conway, Kobayashi | 27 | + 4.404s |
3 | LMP1 | #8 Audi | Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis | 27 | + 10.913s |
4 | LMP1 | #5 Toyota | Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima | 27 | + 30.149s |
5 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Dumas, Jani, Lieb | 27 | + 42.251s |
6 | LMP1 | #13 Rebellion | Tuscher, Imperatori, Kraihamer | 26 | + 1 Lap |
7 | LMP2 | #44 Oreca | Graves, Rao, Merhi | 25 | + 2 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | #46 Oreca | Thiriet, Beche, Hirakawa | 25 | + 20.134s |
9 | LMP2 | #42 Gibson | Leventis, Watts, Kane | 25 | + 35.330s |
10 | LMP2 | #38 Gibson | Dolan, Dennis, Van Der Garde | 25 | + 44.248s |
11 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Stevens, Rast | 25 | + 44.419s |
12 | LMP2 | #47 Oreca | Matsuda, Howson, Bradley | 25 | + 45.111s |
13 | LMP2 | #37 BR01 | Petrov, Shaytar, Ladygin | 25 | + 56.502s |
14 | LMP2 | #43 Ligier | Gonzalez, Senna, Albuquerque | 25 | + 1m05.241s |
15 | LMP2 | #31 Ligier | Dalziel, Derani, Cumming | 25 | + 1m09.473s |
16 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Chatin, Buret | 25 | + 1m27.647s |
17 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Munemann, Hoy, Pizzitola | 25 | + 1m31.885s |
18 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Menezes, Lapierre, Richelmi | 25 | + 1m35.722s |
19 | LMP2 | #27 BR01 | Minassian, Mediani, Aleshin | 25 | + 2m02.470s |
20 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Makowiecki, Bamber, Bergmeister | 24 | + 3 Laps |
21 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Bruni, Calado, Pier Guidi | 24 | + 1.544s |
22 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Keating, Bleekemolen, Goossens | 24 | + 4.201s |
23 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Fisichella, Vilander, Malucelli | 24 | + 4.503s |
24 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Cheng, Tung, Panciatici | 24 | + 8.863s |
25 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 24 | + 11.869s |
26 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Pilet, Estre, Tandy | 24 | + 12.646s |
27 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Bertolini | 24 | + 14.418s |
28 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Pla, Mucke, Johnson | 24 | + 18.981s |
29 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Taylor | 24 | + 22.618s |
30 | LMP2 | #40 Ligier | Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa | 24 | + 24.118s |
31 | GTE Pro | #77 Porsche | Lietz, Christensen, Eng | 24 | + 32.558s |
32 | CDNT | #84 Morgan | Sausset, Tinseau, Bouvet | 24 | + 36.963s |
33 | LMP2 | #41 Ligier | Rojas, Canal, Berthon | 24 | + 48.157s |
34 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 24 | + 58.403s |
35 | LMP2 | #30 Ligier | Sharp, Brown, Van Overbeek | 24 | + 1m07.950s |
36 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 24 | + 1m18.312s |
37 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Ried, Henzler, Camathias | 24 | + 1m20.634s |
38 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Al Qubaisi, Heinemeier Hansson, Long | 24 | + 1m22.203s |
39 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Stanaway, Rees, Adam | 24 | + 1m50.051s |
40 | LMP2 | #33 Oreca | Pu, Gommendy, De Bruijn | 24 | + 1m50.089s |
41 | LMP1 | #4 CLM | Trummer, Webb, Kaffer | 24 | + 1m55.753s |
42 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 24 | + 1m56.770s |
43 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Griffin, Scott | 24 | + 2m42.420s |
44 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Capillaire, Maris, Coleman | 24 | + 2m46.823s |
45 | GTE Am | #57 Chevrolet | O'Connel, Bryant, Patterson | 24 | + 2m52.501s |
46 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 24 | + 2m52.895s |
47 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Perrodo, Collard, Aguas | 24 | + 2m54.800s |
48 | GTE Am | #89 Porsche | Macneil, Keen, Miller | 24 | + 3m27.869s |
49 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Carroll, Barker | 23 | + 4 Laps |
50 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Pew, Negri Jr, Vanthoor | 23 | + 1m36.156s |
51 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Bell | 23 | + 1m40.735s |
52 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Yamagishi, Ragues, Belloc | 23 | + 1m43.231s |
53 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Sweedler, Bell, Segal | 23 | + 1m43.614s |
54 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Griffin, Hirsch | 23 | + 2m18.428s |
55 | LMP2 | #28 Morgan | Taittinger, Striebig, Roussel | 23 | + 3m36.485s |
56 | LMP1 | #12 Rebellion | Prost, Heidfeld, Piquet Jr | 22 | + 5 Laps |
57 | LMP2 | #34 Oreca | Leutwiler, Nakano, Winslow | 22 | + 1m52.873s |
58 | LMP1 | #7 Audi | Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer | 21 | + 6 Laps |
59 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Laursen, Mac, Nielsen | 20 | + 7 Laps |
60 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Franchitti, Priaulx, Tincknell | 17 | + 10 Laps |
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