Le Mans 24 Hours: Kobayashi puts #7 Toyota over a minute clear
The #7 Toyota is once again more than a minute clear of its sister car in the Le Mans 24 Hours thanks to an impressive run from Kamui Kobayashi
Kobayashi's advantage over Fernando Alonso in the sister #8 car was immediately boosted during a slow zone period near the start of the hour, after which his lead went up to 33s.
The Japanese driver had extended that by another seven seconds before Alonso stopped, and ended the hour with 1m15.795s in hand.
The time Alonso lost on track to Kobayashi after the pitstops was minimal, however, as a sluggish pitstop cost him 26s to the lead car.
The #3 Rebellion went a third lap down in the 13th hour, but retained a healthy advantage over the #11 car of privateer rival SMP.
Thomas Laurent was back at the wheel of the Rebellion, and had more than a minute in hand over Mikhail Aleshin - who replaced Stoffel Vandoorne in SMP's sole remaining BR Engineering-AER BR1.
Neel Jani was the final remaining contender still running, but the Rebellion driver remained three laps down on the #11 car in fifth.
LMP2: G-Drive dominating with Vergne
Jean-Eric Vergne maintained G-Drive Racing's lead in the LMP2 class in hour 14, although Nicolas Lapierre made gradual inroads for Signatech Alpine.
Lapierre took over from team-mate Andre Negrao with a 1m48s deficit to Vergne, and proceeded to reduce the gap by seven seconds at the hour mark, although the G-Drive car remained as comfortable as it had since the safety car's appearance in the 10th hour turned its 13-second lead into 80-seconds.
Anthony Davidson jumped up to third in the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA during the pitstop phase, but soon lost the place again to Stephane Richelmi's #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
Meanwhile, a mechanical problem for the sister Jota Sport-entered car driven by Ricky Taylor allowed Loic Duval to consolidate fifth in the #28 TDS Racing ORECA, with Filipe Albuquerque moving up to sixth in the #22 United Autosports Ligier.
GTE - Pier Guidi leads epic Porsche battle
Alessandro Pier Guidi continues to lead the GTE Pro class in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.
The Italian had three quarters of a minute in hand over the squabbling #91 and #93 Porsches - a battle that was once again headed by Gianmaria Bruni, who had 1.3s in hand over the similar 911 RSR of Nick Tandy.
The #63 Corvette remained in touch in fourth, ending the hour 12s away from the fight for second and third.
Porsche's #92 had headed the order until it went back into the garage in the previous hour, but the car did return to the track in the 14th hour and is now 12th in class.
In the Am class, Jeroen Bleekemolen continues to lead in the Keating Ford, but the TF Sport Aston Martin that sat a comfortable second in the hands of Euan Hankey was set to drop back after Hankey got stuck in the gravel at Mulsanne Corner.
As a spell in the garage had previously delayed the #77 Proton Competition Porsche, which now has junior works driver Matt Campbell at the wheel, Jeff Segal was due to inherit second in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari and Edigio Perfetti third in the Project 1 Porsche.
Positions after 14 hours
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez | 221 | |
2 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso | 221 | + 1m15.795s |
3 | LMP1 | #3 Rebellion | Laurent, Berthon, Menezes | 218 | + 3 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | #11 BR | Petrov, Aleshin, Vandoorne | 217 | + 4 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | #1 Rebellion | Jani, Lotterer, Senna | 214 | + 7 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #26 Aurus | Rusinov, Van Uitert, Vergne | 212 | + 9 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet | 211 | + 10 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Richelmi, Aubry | 211 | + 1m43.942s |
9 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Gonzalez, Maldonado, Davidson | 211 | + 2m04.764s |
10 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval | 210 | + 11 Laps |
11 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta | 209 | + 12 Laps |
12 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas | 208 | + 13 Laps |
13 | LMP2 | #30 Oreca | Jamin, Ragues, Dumas | 208 | + 37.629s |
14 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Binder, Canal, Stevens | 207 | + 14 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Gommendy, Capillaire, Hirschi | 206 | + 15 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | #43 Oreca | Farano, Maini, Nato | 205 | + 16 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 204 | + 17 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Zollinger, Pizzitola, Falb | 203 | + 18 Laps |
19 | LMP2 | #50 Ligier | Creed, Ricci, Boulle | 203 | + 4.440s |
20 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, De Vries | 203 | + 43.515s |
21 | LMP2 | #20 Oreca | Fjordbach, Andersen, Beche | 203 | + 1m29.683s |
22 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Heinemeier-Hansson, King, Taylor | 199 | + 22 Laps |
23 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Cullen, Brundle, Owen | 199 | + 37m13.155s |
24 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Smiechowski, Winslow, Moore | 198 | + 23 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra | 196 | + 25 Laps |
26 | GTE Pro | #93 Porsche | Pilet, Bamber, Tandy | 196 | + 41.156s |
27 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki | 196 | + 42.421s |
28 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller | 196 | + 54.766s |
29 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 196 | + 1m16.694s |
30 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 196 | + 1m23.354s |
31 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Bomarito | 196 | + 2m08.751s |
32 | GTE Pro | #94 Porsche | Muller, Jaminet, Olsen | 195 | + 26 Laps |
33 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 195 | + 14.127s |
34 | GTE Pro | #89 Ferrari | Derani, Jarvis, Gounon | 195 | + 35.392s |
35 | GTE Pro | #82 BMW | Farfus, Da Costa, Krohn | 194 | + 27 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | #85 Ford | Keating, Bleekemolen, Fraga | 192 | + 29 Laps |
37 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor | 192 | + 4m08.751s |
38 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood | 191 | + 30 Laps |
39 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Segal, Baptista, Lu | 191 | + 2m10.226s |
40 | GTE Am | #56 Porsche | Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti | 191 | + 2m24.415s |
41 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Vilander, Smith | 191 | + 4m40.580s |
42 | GTE Pro | #81 BMW | Catsburg, Tomczyk, Eng | 191 | + 4m43.462s |
43 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Perez-Companc, Griffin, Cressoni | 191 | + 5m02.515s |
44 | GTE Am | #57 Ferrari | Kimura, Cozzolino, Ledogar | 190 | + 31 Laps |
45 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Campbell, Ried, Andlauer | 190 | + 1m13.210s |
46 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Preining | 190 | + 1m19.996s |
47 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Prette, Prette, Abril | 189 | + 32 Laps |
48 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella | 189 | + 2m20.639s |
49 | GTE Am | #70 Ferrari | Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever | 188 | + 33 Laps |
50 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Gostner, Frey, Gatting | 188 | + 6.982s |
51 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Martin, Lynn, Adam | 187 | + 34 Laps |
52 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Schiavoni, Pianezzola, Piccini | 185 | + 36 Laps |
53 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Dillmann, Webb, Ruberti | 163 | + 58 Laps |
54 | LMP1 | #17 BR | Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Sirotkin | 163 | + 9300370 Laps |
55 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Enqvist, Tereschenko | 160 | + 61 Laps |
56 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 140 | + 81 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 132 | + 89 Laps |
58 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 87 | + 134 Laps |
59 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 82 | + 139 Laps |
60 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Hoshino, Roda Jr, Cairoli | 79 | + 142 Laps |
61 | LMP1 | #10 BR | Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande | 76 | + 145 Laps |
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