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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