Le Mans 24 Hours: Audi takes over from Porsche in race lead

Lotterer pounced on the Porsches of Bernhard and Jani shortly after a restart, which came after a long safety car period following a multi-car crash caused by the #92 GTE Porsche dropping oil at the first chicane.

The safety car bunched the leaders up - with none of the top eight factory cars getting split off from the pack - and when they hit traffic after the restart Lotterer made his move.

The #7 Audi passed Jani for second into the first corner, and then snatched the lead from Bernhard down the esses.

The lead was shortlived though, as Lotterer's slightly longer pitstop dropped him back behind both Porsches.

He then set about picking them off again following the stops, first working his way past Jani and then taking Bernhard for the lead just before the hour was up.

Formula 1 racer Nico Hulkenberg took advantage of the safety car and subsequent traffic to move ahead of the Audis of Marco Bonanomi and Loic Duval - the latter losing out seriously having been third at the restart.

The safety car allowed Toyota to close up to the leaders and lessen the damage it suffered in the first hour, but both TS040s continued to slip back from the leaders.

LMP2

Polesitter KCMG ended the second hour at the head of the LMP2 field.

The safety car period at the start of the hour eroded Tristan Gommendy's lead, although the TDS Racing driver and KCMG's Richard Bradley gained a 40-second break over the rest of the field with their safety car grouping.

Gommendy led until he pitted, only for Bradley to run two laps longer and emerge with a lead approaching 15s.

By the end of the hour, that was down to 7.5s, with third-placed Roman Rusinov a further 47s behind, in the G-Drive (OAK) entry started by Sam Bird.

Jon Lancaster is fourth for Greaves Motorsport, ahead of Kevin Estre in the Laurens Vanthoor-started OAK Ligier and Nathanael Berthon, who has been one of the last to pit in LMP2 each hour.

In the Jota Gibson, Oliver Turvey sat 14th in the class, the best part of two laps down.

Krohn Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports had eventful hours, each recording a spin, before Tracy Krohn tagged Scott Sharp in ESM's #30 entry at the first Mulsanne chicane.

GTE

Aston Martin Racing continues to lead the GTE Pro class, which is down to seven cars after a fiery exit for one of the Porsches.

The #92 Manthey-run 911 RSR appeared to suffer a blown engine at the first Mulsanne chicane, spinning on its oil and rejoining briefly before pulling off to the side of the track with a huge fire at the rear of the car.

Patrick Pilet was driving the Porsche at the time, but got out unaided and walked away - while the #13 Rebellion LMP1 and Strakka LMP2 were delayed after colliding immediately behind the spinning 911.

The fiery, stricken Porsche triggered a safety car, which allowed the #51 Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni a chance to attack Nicki Thiim's #95 Aston Martin - but the Danish ace repelled the AF Corse man with ease and extended his lead by the end of the hour.

Behind those two Stefan Mucke held a comfortable third for the #97 Aston, while a fierce battle for fourth went in favour of the #71 Ferrari.

James Calado's strong progress from 54th on the grid continued as he took advantage of a fight between Richie Stanaway's Aston and Oliver Gavin's Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

The second Ferrari nipped past both when erstwhile leader Stanaway lunged Gavin at Mulsanne corner, delaying both.

The fight for GTE Am honours is fluctuating between the #98 Aston and the #72 SMP Ferrari, with the 458 Italia edging the battle in the second hour.

Matt Griffin made it two AF Corse-run Ferraris in the top three after getting the #55 ahead of the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche after the first round of pitstops.

POSITIONS AFTER TWO HOURS