Le Mans 24 Hours: Toyota retakes lead from Porsche in 16th hour
The #6 Toyota returned to the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours after Stephane Sarrazin and the #2 Porsche pitted to take advantage of a slow zone
The #6 essentially started the 16th hour in second, having pitted at 6am, but returned to the lead when Marc Lieb brought his stint in the #2 Porsche to an end.
But a clever bit of strategy from Porsche allowed Romain Dumas to rejoin the race right on Sarrazin's tail, as the #2 stayed on the tyres that had most recently been fitted - with Lieb having been forced to pit five laps into a stint with a slow puncture - and saved time in the pits.
Sarrazin was then able to build a lead of five seconds before Tommy Milner in the #64 GTE Pro Chevrolet Corvette crashed on the approach to the Dunlop chicane, with race officials deciding to implement a slow zone at the start of the lap.
While Sarrazin was due to pit the #6 anyway at the end of a 14-lap stint, Dumas followed him in and handed over to team-mate Neel Jani who was not ready to take over 45 minutes earlier, with the #2 fitted with a new set of tyres.
Sarrazin emerged 12 seconds clear of the #5 Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima, who stopped two laps earlier, while Jani finished the hour in third a further 5s back.
LMP2 - SIGNATECH STAYS IN CONTROL
By Mitchell Adam
Stephane Richelmi picked up where Signatech Alpine team-mate Nicolas Lapierre left off in LMP2 in the 16th hour.
Lapierre handed the car over to Richelmi as dawn broke, and he led by 1m46s before pitting for fuel late in the piece, when the slow one was deployed.
Having now made its 22nd pitstop, Richelmi leads Pierre Thiriet by one minute, the Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA a pitstop behind.
Roman Rusinov is still third for G-Drive ORECA, one lap down, but the team's second entry has been in the wars.
Simon Dolan reported being hit by the #98 GTE Aston, which sent the Gibson to the wall at the Ford chicane, damaging the front-right corner.
The car has been in the pits for 40 minutes and dropped to 17th in the LMP2 order.
"Braking into the first Ford chicane the Aston I'd just overtaken just punted me straight into the wall," Dolan said.
"It's disgusting, it shouldn't be allowed - not at this level."
GTE - VILANDER FIGHTS FORDS
By Scott Mitchell
Toni Vilander resisted a renewed Ford attack led by Sebastien Bourdais to keep the Risi Ferrari at the head of the GTE pack.
Bourdais was very close to Vilander at the beginning of the hour because the Finn had just taken over the 488 GTE from Giancarlo Fisichella, allowing the Ford to close to within a couple of seconds.
But a strong outlap from Vilander established an immediate buffer and thereafter the Ferrari driver continued to pull away and built a lead of almost 12s.
Bourdais remains second, comfortably clear of the #69 Ford that is still being driven by Scott Dixon.
The attrition-hit GTE race claimed another victim when Milner crashed his Chevrolet.
Milner lost the rear of his Corvette C7.R under braking and speared right into the tyres, causing extensive damage to the #64 car and ending its race.
In GTE, the Scuderia Corse Ferrari holds a two-minute lead over the Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche.
POSITIONS AFTER 16 HOURS
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #6 Toyota | Sarrazin, Conway, Kobayashi | 253 | |
2 | LMP1 | #5 Toyota | Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima | 253 | + 13.166s |
3 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Dumas, Jani, Lieb | 253 | + 22.447s |
4 | LMP1 | #8 Audi | Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis | 251 | + 2 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | #7 Audi | Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer | 241 | + 12 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Menezes, Lapierre, Richelmi | 235 | + 18 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #46 Oreca | Thiriet, Beche, Hirakawa | 235 | + 57.410s |
8 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Stevens, Rast | 234 | + 19 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Cheng, Tung, Panciatici | 232 | + 21 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | #37 BR01 | Petrov, Shaytar, Ladygin | 232 | + 2m59.193s |
11 | LMP2 | #42 Gibson | Leventis, Watts, Kane | 232 | + 4m00.442s |
12 | LMP2 | #33 Oreca | Pu, Gommendy, De Bruijn | 229 | + 24 Laps |
13 | LMP2 | #31 Ligier | Dalziel, Derani, Cumming | 228 | + 25 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #41 Ligier | Rojas, Canal, Berthon | 228 | + 46.707s |
15 | LMP2 | #27 BR01 | Minassian, Mediani, Aleshin | 228 | + 1m46.123s |
16 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Chatin, Buret | 227 | + 26 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | #30 Ligier | Sharp, Brown, Van Overbeek | 226 | + 27 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Pew, Negri Jr, Vanthoor | 226 | + 2m13.640s |
19 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Fisichella, Vilander, Malucelli | 224 | + 29 Laps |
20 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 224 | + 12.164s |
21 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 223 | + 30 Laps |
22 | LMP2 | #40 Ligier | Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa | 223 | + 23.557s |
23 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 223 | + 1m09.131s |
24 | LMP2 | #38 Gibson | Dolan, Dennis, Van Der Garde | 222 | + 31 Laps |
25 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Munemann, Hoy, Pizzitola | 222 | + 36m06.319s |
26 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Pla, Mucke, Johnson | 222 | + 37m52.844s |
27 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Stanaway, Rees, Adam | 222 | + 38m31.208s |
28 | LMP2 | #43 Ligier | Gonzalez, Senna, Albuquerque | 222 | + 38m31.686s |
29 | GTE Pro | #77 Porsche | Lietz, Christensen, Eng | 222 | + 38m41.614s |
30 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Keating, Bleekemolen, Goossens | 220 | + 33 Laps |
31 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 220 | + 24.613s |
32 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Taylor | 219 | + 34 Laps |
33 | LMP2 | #44 Oreca | Graves, Rao, Merhi | 219 | + 13m02.812s |
34 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Sweedler, Bell, Segal | 218 | + 35 Laps |
35 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Al Qubaisi, Heinemeier Hansson, Long | 217 | + 36 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Perrodo, Collard, Aguas | 216 | + 37 Laps |
37 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Bell | 216 | + 1m47.811s |
38 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Carroll, Barker | 215 | + 38 Laps |
39 | LMP1 | #12 Rebellion | Prost, Heidfeld, Piquet Jr | 215 | + 1m40.551s |
40 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Griffin, Scott | 215 | + 1m40.610s |
41 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Bernhard, Webber, Hartley | 215 | + 1m50.177s |
42 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Yamagishi, Ragues, Belloc | 215 | + 1m58.706s |
43 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Capillaire, Maris, Coleman | 214 | + 39 Laps |
44 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 213 | + 40 Laps |
45 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Laursen, Mac, Nielsen | 212 | + 41 Laps |
46 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Griffin, Hirsch | 207 | + 46 Laps |
47 | LMP1 | #4 CLM | Trummer, Webb, Kaffer | 203 | + 50 Laps |
48 | CDNT | #84 Morgan | Sausset, Tinseau, Bouvet | 202 | + 51 Laps |
49 | LMP1 | #13 Rebellion | Tuscher, Imperatori, Kraihamer | 200 | + 53 Laps |
50 | LMP2 | #28 Morgan | Taittinger, Striebig, Roussel | 200 | + 2h31m53.247s |
51 | GTE Am | #57 Chevrolet | O'Connel, Bryant, Patterson | 197 | + 56 Laps |
52 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Franchitti, Priaulx, Tincknell | 197 | + 5m02.999s |
53 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Ried, Henzler, Camathias | 188 | + 65 Laps |
54 | LMP2 | #34 Oreca | Leutwiler, Nakano, Winslow | 183 | + 70 Laps |
55 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Bertolini | 143 | + 110 Laps |
56 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Makowiecki, Bamber, Bergmeister | 140 | + 113 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Bruni, Calado, Pier Guidi | 179 | Retired |
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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