Le Mans 24 Hours: #1 Porsche maintains stranglehold in hour 17
Porsche remains on course for victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours as Neel Jani continues to lead at the 17-hour mark
The #1 919 Hybrid took the lead in the 10th hour when the #7 Toyota retired with a suspected clutch problem.
The Porsche has been dominant ever since with Jani maintaining an 11-lap advantage in the car he shares with Nick Tandy and Andre Lotterer.
The #2 Porsche is still 10th overall while the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID remains in the race in 15th place.
LAURENT KEEPS LMP2 LEAD FOR DC
Thomas Laurent continues to hold second place overall and the LMP2 lead in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
Laurent's advantage over the #13 Rebellion ORECA of Nelson Piquet Jr is currently 11 seconds after getting ahead in the previous hour when a slow zone proved costly for the Rebellion.
The second Rebellion car of Bruno Senna remains third in class,comfortably ahead of the #35 Signatech ORECA.
PORSCHE CLOSES IN, FERRARI CRASHES IN GTE PRO
The #91 Porsche shared by Patrick Pilet, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki became the most plausible challenger to the leading #95 Aston Martin during the 17th hour as the #51 Ferrari fell out of contention owing to an incident with a GTE Am car.
The Porsche and Aston are on asynchronous strategies owing to Porsche being able to triple-stint its Michelin tyres while Aston (running Dunlops) can only do two.
That enabled Pilet to lead for much of the hour after the Aston pitted from the front and Richie Stanaway had to make its way past James Calado to retake second place, a process eased when Calado had a coming-together with the #90 GTE Am Aston at the second Mulsanne chicane.
Stanaway then moved back into the lead when Pilet pitted to hand over to Makowiecki shortly before the turn of the hour, while the #51 Ferrari remains in the garage.
The stop left the Porsche running fourth in class, now behind the #97 Aston in which Daniel Serra twice broke the GTE lap record before relaying to Jonny Adam.
That car is currently running a minute behind its sister car, having lost track position during the pre-dawn safety car period, and closing in on the second-placed #63 Corvette now driven by Jordan Taylor, which also enjoyed a brief spell in the lead as the pitstop sequence cycled through.
JMW's #84 Ferrari remains well clear in GTE Am, a lap ahead of the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari.
POSITIONS AFTER 17 HOURS
| Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Jani, Lotterer, Tandy | 265 | |
| 2 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Laurent, Jarvis | 253 | + 12 Laps |
| 3 | LMP2 | #13 Oreca | Piquet Jr, H. Hansson, Beche | 253 | + 10.958s |
| 4 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Prost, Canal, Senna | 251 | + 14 Laps |
| 5 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Panciatici, Ragues, Negrao | 251 | + 39.792s |
| 6 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Cheng, Gommendy, Brundle | 250 | + 15 Laps |
| 7 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Owen, De Sadeleer, Albuquerque | 250 | + 33.147s |
| 8 | LMP2 | #24 Oreca | Graves, Hirschi, Vergne | 250 | + 1m39.294s |
| 9 | LMP2 | #40 Oreca | Allen, Matelli, Bradley | 248 | + 17 Laps |
| 10 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Bernhard, Bamber, Hartley | 247 | + 18 Laps |
| 11 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Buret, Berthon | 245 | + 20 Laps |
| 12 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 244 | + 21 Laps |
| 13 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Moore, Hanson, Chandhok | 242 | + 23 Laps |
| 14 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Dumas, Menezes, Rao | 238 | + 27 Laps |
| 15 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Davidson, Nakajima | 237 | + 28 Laps |
| 16 | LMP2 | #17 Ligier | Lafargue, Lafargue, Zollinger | 236 | + 29 Laps |
| 17 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Lammers, Van Eerd, Barrichello | 235 | + 30 Laps |
| 18 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Stanaway | 235 | + 1m49.706s |
| 19 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Makowiecki, Pilet | 235 | + 1m52.152s |
| 20 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 235 | + 2m18.096s |
| 21 | LMP2 | #33 Ligier | Nicolet, Nicolet, Maris | 235 | + 2m33.783s |
| 22 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 234 | + 31 Laps |
| 23 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Turner, Adam, Serra | 234 | + 2.364s |
| 24 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Derani | 234 | + 23.826s |
| 25 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Kanaan | 234 | + 2m42.547s |
| 26 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Calado, Pier Guidi, Rugolo | 233 | + 32 Laps |
| 27 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 233 | + 4m39.435s |
| 28 | LMP2 | #21 Oreca | Hedman, Hanley, Rosenqvist | 232 | + 33 Laps |
| 29 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Smith, Stevens, Vanthoor | 231 | + 34 Laps |
| 30 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 230 | + 35 Laps |
| 31 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Scott, Cioci | 230 | + 45.574s |
| 32 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Sweedler, Bell | 229 | + 36 Laps |
| 33 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Gunn, Bryant | 228 | + 37 Laps |
| 34 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Griffin | 228 | + 5.679s |
| 35 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 228 | + 3m15.747s |
| 36 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Ried, Cairoli, Dienst | 228 | + 4m18.172s |
| 37 | GTE Am | #93 Porsche | Long, Al Faisal, Hedlund | 227 | + 38 Laps |
| 38 | LMP2 | #27 Dallara | Aleshin, Sirotkin, Shaitar | 227 | + 3m29.540s |
| 39 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Foster | 226 | + 39 Laps |
| 40 | GTE Am | #65 Ferrari | Nielsen, Balzan, Curtis | 226 | + 17.291s |
| 41 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Krohn, Jonsson, Bertolini | 226 | + 18.967s |
| 42 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 226 | + 54.889s |
| 43 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Bell | 226 | + 1m03.545s |
| 44 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Beretta | 226 | + 1m58.249s |
| 45 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Wee, Katoh, Parente | 225 | + 40 Laps |
| 46 | LMP2 | #45 Ligier | Patterson, Mcmurry, Capillaire | 221 | + 44 Laps |
| 47 | LMP2 | #22 Oreca | Rojas, Hirakawa, Gutierrez | 220 | + 45 Laps |
| 48 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Guibbert, Trouillet, Winslow | 220 | + 15m39.841s |
| 49 | LMP2 | #43 Riley | Keating, Bleekemolen, Taylor | 218 | + 47 Laps |
| 50 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Rees, Brandela, Philippon | 211 | + 54 Laps |
| 51 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Calko, Breukers | 205 | + 60 Laps |
| 52 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Collard | 213 | Retired |
| 53 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Werner | 179 | Retired |
| 54 | LMP1 | #9 Toyota | Lapierre, Kunimoto, Lopez | 160 | Retired |
| 55 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Sarrazin | 154 | Retired |
| 56 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Gonzalez, Trummer, Petrov | 152 | Retired |
| 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 |
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