24 Hours of Le Mans H14: Nakajima continues Alonso, Toyota charge
The two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs are split by under eight seconds after Kazuki Nakajima replaced Fernando Alonso and hounded the #7 car on the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit

Nakajima had continued where Fernando Alonso left off by relentlessly hounding the quadruple stinting Jose Maria Lopez, with the #8 TS050 HYBRID still proving to be quicker than the sister car.
He worked the gap down to just five seconds before an early stop for fuel, and he worked his way back to being just a few seconds adrift when Lopez finally handed over to Kamui Kobayashi.
The 14th hour then ended with Nakajima looking to be in a close battle to depose the long-time leading #7 car as he closed to seven and a half seconds behind Kobayashi.
Rebellion Racing again swapped positions when a technical problem forced Neel Jan into the pits for almost 10 minutes and allowed Gustavo Menezes to move the #3 car back ahead of the sister #1 R-13 into third.
Renger van der Zande is still mired in the LMP2 backmarkers and is a lap down on the car ahead aboard the DragonSpeed BR1 for fifth in class.
Charlie Robertson has made the most of clean running for the remaining Manor-Ginetta, climbing to 35th overall and sixth in LMP1.
Former McLaren Formula 1 driver Jenson Button is back in the #11 SMP Racing BR1 down in 54th place and he is again lapping at a consistent LMP1 privateer pace.
No LMP2 change as Vergne holds sway
Jean-Eric Vergne continued to dominate the LMP2 division for G-Drive after 14 hours at Le Mans, as Will Stevens began to put a buffer between himself and third place.
Vergne, who last pitted on lap 211, has a one-lap lead over Stevens' Panis-Barthez Ligier, which took back the second position from the Signatech-Alpine of Andre Negrao shortly after the conclusion of the 20th round of pitstops at the end of the 13th hour.
Negrao has gradually fallen away from Stevens and was 24s behind on lap 217, while Paul Lafargue - who has pitted 23 times to the others' 21 because it can only do nine-lap stints - remains fourth in the IDEC Sport ORECA, albiet 2m47s behind Negrao.
Despite having to serve a one minute stop/go penalty when Tristan Gommendy was caught speeding in a slow zone, the #39 Graf-So24 ORECA runs fifth in the hands of Vincent Capillaire after Loic Duval handed the #28 TDS Racing ORECA back to gentleman driver Francois Perrodo.
Perrodo has also slipped behind the sixth-placed #22 United Autosport Ligier of Paul di Resta, the first car three laps down.
Juan-Pablo Montoya is back behind the wheel of the sister #32 United Autosport car in the eighth position following his earlier crash, while Norman Nato (SMP Dallara) and Pastor Maldonado (DragonSpeed ORECA) complete the top 10.
#91 Porsche retaliates but #92 still ahead in GTE
Laurens Vanthoor remained in the lead of GTE-Pro after taking over the #92 Porsche from Michael Christensen but had Fred Makowiecki chipping away at his advantage in the sister #91 car.
Vanthoor had around 2m25s in hand following the 14th round of stops, but the gap had been reduced to 2m17s by the end of the hour.
Sebastien Bourdais remained third in the #68 Ford, but confirmation of a one minute stop/go for Pipo Derani's #52 Ferrari - the result of speeding in a slow zone - would drop the Brazilian down the order after the hour mark and benefit the #67 Ford of Andy Priaulx, which survived a gravelly moment at Mulsanne Corner.
Meanwhile the #77 Dempsey - Proton Racing Porsche continued to lead in GTE-Am with team boss Christian Reid at the wheel, ahead of Jeroen Bleekemolen's #84 Risi Ferrari, with Giancarlo Fisichella only 23s further back in third.
Positions after 14 hours
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez | 228 | |
2 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso | 228 | + 7.501s |
3 | LMP1 | #3 Rebellion | Laurent, Beche, Menezes | 220 | + 8 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | #1 Rebellion | Lotterer, Jani, Senna | 219 | + 9 Laps |
5 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Pizzitola, Vergne | 217 | + 11 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Buret, Canal, Stevens | 216 | + 12 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet | 216 | + 21.187s |
8 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas | 215 | + 13 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Capillaire, Hirschi, Gommendy | 214 | + 14 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta | 214 | + 57.902s |
11 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval | 214 | + 59.386s |
12 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | De Sadeleer, Owen, Montoya | 214 | + 2m53.258s |
13 | LMP2 | #35 Dallara | Shaitar, Newey, Nato | 212 | + 16 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Gonzalez, Maldonado, Berthon | 211 | + 17 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, Lammers | 210 | + 18 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Jaafar, Jeffri, Tan | 209 | + 19 Laps |
17 | LMP2 | #44 Ligier | Bertolini, Jonsson, Krohn | 209 | + 41.885s |
18 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Nasr | 208 | + 20 Laps |
19 | LMP2 | #33 Ligier | Cheng, Boulle, Nicolet | 208 | + 55.123s |
20 | LMP1 | #10 BR | Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande | 206 | + 22 Laps |
21 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Richelmi, Aubry | 205 | + 23 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor | 202 | + 26 Laps |
23 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki | 202 | + 2m18.826s |
24 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 201 | + 27 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | #52 Ferrari | Vilander, Giovinazzi, Derani | 201 | + 21.239s |
26 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Kanaan | 201 | + 1m48.915s |
27 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 201 | + 2m09.425s |
28 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller | 201 | + 2m28.145s |
29 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra | 200 | + 28 Laps |
30 | GTE Pro | #82 BMW | Farfus, Felix Da Costa, Sims | 199 | + 29 Laps |
31 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Sorensen, Thiim, Turner | 199 | + 1m23.044s |
32 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 198 | + 30 Laps |
33 | GTE Pro | #81 BMW | Tomczyk, Catsburg, Eng | 198 | + 1m28.897s |
34 | LMP2 | #40 Oreca | Allen, Gutierrez, Guibbert | 197 | + 31 Laps |
35 | LMP1 | #5 Ginetta | Robertson, Simpson, Roussel | 197 | + 1h05m19.630s |
36 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 197 | + 1h05m51.558s |
37 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Campbell, Ried, Andlauer | 197 | + 1h06m34.477s |
38 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 196 | + 32 Laps |
39 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Lynn, Martin, Adam | 196 | + 2.501s |
40 | GTE Am | #85 Ferrari | Keating, Bleekemolen, Stolz | 196 | + 51.829s |
41 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella | 196 | + 1m17.424s |
42 | LMP2 | #50 Ligier | Creed, Ricci, Dagoneau | 196 | + 1m53.965s |
43 | GTE Am | #99 Porsche | Long, Pappas, Pumpelly | 196 | + 3m11.336s |
44 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Griffin, Macneil, Segal | 196 | + 3m12.260s |
45 | GTE Am | #56 Porsche | Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti | 195 | + 33 Laps |
46 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Cairoli, Al Qubaisi, Roda | 195 | + 37.976s |
47 | GTE Pro | #93 Porsche | Pilet, Tandy, Bamber | 195 | + 2m25.720s |
48 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Griffin, Sawa | 195 | + 2m47.793s |
49 | GTE Am | #80 Porsche | Babini, Nielsen, Maris | 195 | + 3m00.999s |
50 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood | 193 | + 35 Laps |
51 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Davison | 192 | + 36 Laps |
52 | GTE Am | #70 Ferrari | Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever | 189 | + 39 Laps |
53 | LMP1 | #11 BR | Petrov, Aleshin, Button | 176 | + 52 Laps |
54 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Patterson, De Jong, Kim | 149 | + 79 Laps |
55 | LMP1 | #6 Ginetta | Rowland, Brundle, Turvey | 137 | + 91 Laps |
56 | LMP1 | #17 BR | Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Isaakyan | 123 | + 105 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #94 Porsche | Dumas, Bernhard, Muller | 92 | + 136 Laps |
58 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 92 | + 6m08.912s |
59 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Webb, Kraihamer, Dillmann | 65 | + 163 Laps |
60 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Taylor, Ledogar, Heinemeier-Hansson | 195 | Retired |

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About this article
Series | WEC |
Drivers | Fernando Alonso , Kazuki Nakajima |
Teams | Toyota Racing |
Author | Tom Errington |
24 Hours of Le Mans H14: Nakajima continues Alonso, Toyota charge
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