Disaster for Toyota gives Porsche the lead at Le Mans in hour 10
Porsche claimed the lead of the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours during the 10th hour of the race after the leading Toyota ground to a halt with a suspected clutch problem


A safety car caused by Olivier Pla spinning and spraying gravel all over the track out of Arnage had increased the #7 Toyota's advantage to over two minutes.
But just as the safety car period ended, Kamui Kobayashi slowed going across the startline.
With the whole lap to complete, he was unable to get the TS050 back to the pits by the top of the hour.
This has given Nick Tandy in the #1 Porsche an advantage of over a lap over the #9 Toyota of Nicolas Lapierre.
Kobayashi is still classified third and after a long delay was able to get the car back moving, before stopping again and climbing out at the side of the track.
There was some better news for Toyota as its #8 machine finally returned to the track after lengthy repairs following a front motor problem.
It is 30 laps down, and 11 laps behind the recovering #2 Porsche of Earl Bamber that will take over third in class.
REBELLION STILL IN CHARGE IN LMP2
Rebellion Racing continues to run first and second in LMP2, with the #31 entry of Nicolas Prost regaining the advantage it lost by pitting under the safety car soon after the restart.
The sister #13 car of Mathias Beche is seven seconds behind, with the #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA of Thomas Laurent running third after briefly leading during the restart phase.
While the top three cars still have a big advantage, the fourth-placed #25 Manor ORECA of Simon Trummer managed to get back onto the lead lap.
The best of the lapped cars is the #35 Signatech Alpine of Andre Negrao in fifth place.
The second Manor ORECA, the #25 car of Jean-Eric Vergne, runs seventh after having a few laps in the lead early on and is one place ahead of the best non-ORECA, the #32 United Autosports Ligier of Filipe Albuquerque.
SAFETY CAR MUDDLES GTE PRO BATTLE
Aston Martin ran one-two for the first time since the fourth hour, as Marco Sorensen passed Ford's Harry Tincknell for second place in the puncture-delayed #95 Vantage.
Ford then suffered further woe as it had to bring the #67 car into the pits during a safety car deployment, which dropped it well clear of the leading group.
Olivier Pla spun the #66 Ford into the gravel run-off at the left-hander after Indianapolis, briefly beaching the car, and after it was towed out and restarted it deposited gravel over the track. This was deemed worthy of deploying the safety cars so that the detritus could be swept away.
The full-course caution lasted 30 minutes, during which Chip Ganassi Racing brought Tincknell in for a full service and to hand over to Luis Derani - who then had to queue at the pit exit for the next safety car to come past.
That meant when the track went green, Derani was in 10th place behind team-mate Tony Kanaan in the #68 Ford, also stuck behind the 'wrong' safety car.
The Astons then pitted shortly before the turn of the hour, enabling James Calado to take the lead in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, running ahead of Dirk Werner in the #92 Porsche.
The erstwhile leader re-emerged fourth on track, behind Miguel Molina's #71 Ferrari, with the #95 sixth.
The situation remains fluid since circumstances have placed many of the frontrunners on asynchronous pit schedules while running very closely on track.
The #84 JMW Ferrari survived the full-course caution with its GTE Am lead intact, still running ahead of the #90 Aston with the #77 Porsche now seemingly their only meaningful opposition.
POSITIONS AFTER 10 HOURS
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Jani, Lotterer, Tandy | 158 | |
2 | LMP1 | #9 Toyota | Lapierre, Kunimoto, Lopez | 157 | + 1 Lap |
3 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Sarrazin | 154 | + 4 Laps |
4 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Prost, Canal, Senna | 149 | + 9 Laps |
5 | LMP2 | #13 Oreca | Piquet Jr, H. Hansson, Beche | 149 | + 8.580s |
6 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Laurent, Jarvis | 149 | + 49.276s |
7 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Gonzalez, Trummer, Petrov | 149 | + 2m33.979s |
8 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Panciatici, Ragues, Negrao | 148 | + 10 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | #40 Oreca | Allen, Matelli, Bradley | 148 | + 2m15.146s |
10 | LMP2 | #24 Oreca | Graves, Hirschi, Vergne | 148 | + 2m15.446s |
11 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Owen, De Sadeleer, Albuquerque | 148 | + 2m33.009s |
12 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Cheng, Gommendy, Brundle | 148 | + 2m35.376s |
13 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 146 | + 12 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Buret, Berthon | 145 | + 13 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | #21 Oreca | Hedman, Hanley, Rosenqvist | 144 | + 14 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Moore, Hanson, Chandhok | 144 | + 15.174s |
17 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Collard | 144 | + 2m43.708s |
18 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Guibbert, Trouillet, Winslow | 143 | + 15 Laps |
19 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Lammers, Van Eerd, Barrichello | 142 | + 16 Laps |
20 | LMP2 | #33 Ligier | Nicolet, Nicolet, Maris | 140 | + 18 Laps |
21 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Bernhard, Bamber, Hartley | 139 | + 19 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Stanaway | 139 | + 2m44.739s |
23 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Turner, Adam, Serra | 138 | + 20 Laps |
24 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Makowiecki, Pilet | 138 | + 1m12.141s |
25 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Calado, Pier Guidi, Rugolo | 138 | + 1m15.720s |
26 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Werner | 138 | + 1m16.658s |
27 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 138 | + 1m18.743s |
28 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 138 | + 1m20.206s |
29 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 138 | + 2m29.404s |
30 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Kanaan | 138 | + 2m40.042s |
31 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Derani | 138 | + 3m05.124s |
32 | LMP2 | #17 Ligier | Lafargue, Lafargue, Zollinger | 138 | + 4m55.310s |
33 | LMP2 | #27 Dallara | Aleshin, Sirotkin, Shaitar | 137 | + 21 Laps |
34 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Smith, Stevens, Vanthoor | 136 | + 22 Laps |
35 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Bell | 136 | + 2m40.480s |
36 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Ried, Cairoli, Dienst | 135 | + 23 Laps |
37 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Sweedler, Bell | 135 | + 1m25.386s |
38 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Scott, Cioci | 135 | + 1m32.987s |
39 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Dumas, Menezes, Rao | 135 | + 1m36.285s |
40 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Gunn, Bryant | 135 | + 3m06.232s |
41 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 134 | + 24 Laps |
42 | GTE Am | #65 Ferrari | Nielsen, Balzan, Curtis | 134 | + 13.104s |
43 | GTE Am | #93 Porsche | Long, Al Faisal, Hedlund | 134 | + 43.236s |
44 | LMP2 | #45 Ligier | Patterson, Mcmurry, Capillaire | 134 | + 49.269s |
45 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Griffin | 134 | + 1m30.487s |
46 | LMP2 | #22 Oreca | Rojas, Hirakawa, Gutierrez | 134 | + 2m32.388s |
47 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Krohn, Jonsson, Bertolini | 133 | + 25 Laps |
48 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Foster | 133 | + 22.982s |
49 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Rees, Brandela, Philippon | 132 | + 26 Laps |
50 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Beretta | 132 | + 4.620s |
51 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 132 | + 37.315s |
52 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 132 | + 1m32.185s |
53 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Wee, Katoh, Parente | 131 | + 27 Laps |
54 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Davidson, Nakajima | 128 | + 30 Laps |
55 | LMP2 | #43 Riley | Keating, Bleekemolen, Taylor | 121 | + 37 Laps |
56 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Calko, Breukers | 111 | + 47 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Vilander, Fisichella, Kaffer | 72 | Retired |
58 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Thiriet, Lynn | 20 | Retired |
59 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Bachler, Lemeret, Al Qubaisi | 18 | Retired |
60 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Webb, Kraihamer, Bonanomi | 7 | Retired |

Mike Conway extends #7 Toyota's lead in hour 9 at Le Mans
Toyota's fading Le Mans hopes disappear as Porsche takes huge lead

Latest news
Las Vegas approves plan to shut Strip for F1 race until 2032
Officials in Las Vegas have approved a plan to shut the Strip for the Formula 1 grand prix for the next 10 years as they eye a “lifetime in partnership.”
Porsche boss “as surprised as anyone” over Gulf-Williams F1 social media frenzy
Porsche’s head of motorsport Thomas Laudenbach found it “funny” that streamlining its Instagram channels caused a Formula 1 social media speculation frenzy last month.
Why Albon won't be "throwing around laptops" to gain a 2023 F1 edge
OPINION: At the Williams 2023 Formula 1 season launch, Alex Albon’s easy-going nature was again a point of focus. But does being “too nice” really matter in modern F1? Albon’s own expressions put that in an intriguing new light
Why Alfa Romeo has kept its blade roll hoop on 2023 F1 car
The Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team has retained its unique blade roll hoop for the C43 but designed it to withstand load tests that the FIA will introduce in 2024.
Why the WEC should make space for modern garagistes in 2023
OPINION: There is plenty of excitement over the glut of manufacturers tackling the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship this season. The selection committee is set to face headaches over who it decides to admit and who gets turned away from the 2023 entry list, but history tells us that the smaller entrants have a place
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022
Is Qatar the price motorsport fans have to pay?
OPINION: Fresh from hosting a controversial 2022 football World Cup, Qatar has added its name to the 2024 World Endurance Championship calendar. Although questions may be asked about its presence on the calendar, is it simply the price to pay for having a healthy racing championship?
How Toyota defeated Alpine for the 2022 WEC title
Toyota #8 trio Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa outscored their rivals in the last season before the World Endurance Championship’s top class gets ultra-competitive. Here's how their Hypercar battle with Alpine and the remaining class tussles played out in LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, were voted as Autosport's greatest sportscar in 2020 - here's why
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad
The problem sausage kerbs continue to cause
Track limits are the problem that motorsport doesn't seem to be able to rid itself of. But the use of so-called 'sausage kerbs' as a deterrent has in several instances only served to worsen the problem, and a growing number of voices want to see action taken
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.