Le Mans 24 Hours: Nico Hulkenberg leads for Porsche amid safety car

The #19 Porsche driver held a lead of over two minutes over the #9 Audi driven by Rene Rast when the #96 GTE Am Aston Martin driven by Roald Goethe spun unto the wall at the exit of Porsche Curves moments after being lapped by Hulkenberg - potentially as a result of light contact with the leader.

The impact with the wall did significant damage to the Aston Martin. The team has confirmed that Goethe has been communicating after the accident and is on his way to the medical centre.

With Rast having made a pitstop just before the safety car, the top two cars are currently running nose-to-tail with Hulkenberg almost a lap ahead.

But with a pitstop for fuel imminent for Hulkenberg, he is set to drop into the next safety-car group back, which will reduce his lead.

Mark Webber holds third place in the #17 Porsche and is running in the same one of the three safety-car packs as the top two, just over a lap off the lead.

The #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler holds fourth place after repairs for engine-cover damage in the previous hour.

It runs ahead of the #8 Audi driven by Oliver Jarvis, with the #18 Porsche of Neel Jani in sixth.

Toyota rounds out the top eight with Alex Wurz and Sebastien Buemi at the wheel of its two cars.

LMP2

Defending LMP2 winner Jota Sport moved into the top three for the first time since the opening hour of the race.

The car lost two laps with a gear selection problem early, and suffered a puncture overnight, but Oliver Turvey climbed into third place during the 17th hour.

He did so when Karun Chandhok pitted the Murphy Prototypes ORECA for the first time in the hour, with Mark Patterson now in fourth place after a second stop during the safety car period.

KCMG remains in control, with Richard Bradley back behind the wheel, and it remains a lap clear of the second-placed G-Drive (OAK) Ligier, with Julien Canal replacing Sam Bird.

The safety car groupings have been kind to Jota, which is now back on the same lap as the G-Drive entry.

GTE

Corvette Racing's #64 entry leads GTE once again, through Oliver Gavin.

Giancarlo Fisichella led by 64 seconds in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari before pitting and handing over to Toni Vilander, the team using the stop to make its brake change.

That meant Gavin reclaimed an 11s advantage, which grew when Vilander pitted during the safety car period and had to wait for the next group.

After replacing Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana leads GTE Am in the #98 Aston Martin, with a sizeable buffer over the SMP Racing Ferrari currently driven by Andrea Bertolini.

POSITIONS AFTER 17 HOURS