Le Mans 24 Hours: Kobayashi stabilises #7 Toyota's lead in hour 15

The Japanese diver was around 10-12 seconds ahead of team-mate Kazuki Nakajima for much of the 15th hour in the TS050 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.

The gap between the two Toyotas briefly came down to under 10s before Kobayashi edged away towards the top of the hour.

The #7 car was approximately 12s up when Nakajima pitted just before 6am

The two Rebellion R-13s were still ensconced in third and fourth positions with Gustavo Menezes and Neel Jani respectively at the wheel.

LMP2: G-Drive maintains cushion

G-Drive Racing maintained its one-lap advantage at the head of LMP2 with Andrea Pizzitola at the wheel of its lead ORECA-Gibson 07.

The Panis-Barthez Ligier held second, by 45s from the Signatech Alpine squad's solo entry.

Vanthoor pulls away again in GTE

There was little change in the GTE Pro order, with #92 Porsche driver Fred Makowiecki losing time to class-leading team-mate Laurens Vanthoor in the #91 911 RSR having nibbled into his advantage in the previous hour.

Vanthoor retains a comfortable lead at the head of the order, with 2m22s in hand over the #92.

The #68 and #67 Ford GTs remain third and fourth in the GTE Pro order, with Sebastien Bourdais in the #68 40s behind the second Porsche.

Andy Priaulx remains at the wheel of the #67 - which is a lap down on the class leader - and has 28s in hand over the leading AF Corse Ferrari of Pipo Derani that served a 60-second stop/go penalty.

The Dempsey Proton Porsche continues to lead in GTE Am, with Christian Reid enjoying an advantage of more than 90s over Giancarlo Fisichella in the Spirit of Race Ferrari.

Positions after 15 hours