Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche takes lead in three-way fight at dawn
Porsche's Marc Lieb moved into the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours at the start of the 16th hour as the #6 Toyota pitted for fuel
Stephane Sarrazin ended the 15th hour in the lead of the race in the #6 Toyota after a to-and-fro battle with the #2 Porsche for the lead, but forfeited his advantage with the second stop of his spell in the car at 6am.
Sarrazin had earlier inherited the lead when Lieb pitted from first, Sarrazin having taken over the #6 in place of Kamui Kobayashi near the start of the hour.
Lieb had emerged from his stop alongside the #5 Toyota for second before settling in to third behind Kazuki Nakajima, who is now third.
The Japanese driver spent much of his second stint at the wheel of the #5 catching his team-mate for the lead, before pitting from second after another 14-lap run.
Before Nakajima's stop, the leading three were covered by as little as 11 seconds, although Sarrazin was able to respond to the pace of his rivals late on in the stint before serving his stop.
LMP2 - SIGNATECH MARCHES ON
By Mitchell Adam
Nicolas Lapierre extended Signatech Alpine's lead at the front of LMP2 to more than two minutes.
Lapierre maintained a strong pace throughout the hour, and his overall margin of 2m08s is helped by Thiriet by TDS Racing making a driver change, with Pierre Thiriet replacing Ryo Hirakawa.
The G-Drive entries are third and fourth with Roman Rusinov in the ORECA and Simon Dolan in the Gibson.
There has been a change of fifth place, now occupied by the second Alpine run under the Baxi DC Racing banner with Nelson Panciatici behind the wheel and having moved past the Strakka Gibson.
With Nick Leventis taking over the car from Danny Watts, Strakka's hold on sixth is also under threat from Vitaly Petrov in the first of the SMP Racing BR01s.
GTE - FORD MAKES INROADS
By Scott Mitchell
Ford slashed into Risi Competizione's GTE lead when the Ferrari team replaced its brakes in the 15th hour.
Giancarlo Fisichella ended the previous hour with a 90s lead but that was reduced to just over half a minute when his 488 GTE received a swift service in the pitlane.
Sebastien Bourdais ate into that advantage slightly in the next stint, and briefly moved into the lead when Fisichella stopped and was replaced by Toni Vilander.
The #69 Ford holds third place but Scott Dixon is two minutes behind and slightly out of sync on its stops.
Aston Martin Racing's #95 Vantage is battling to remain on the lead lap after a solid stint from Darren Turner, who has now handed over to Nicki Thiim.
GTE Am is still led comfortably by the Scuderia Corse team, with second-placed Patrick Long in the Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche chasing Jeff Segal's large advantage.
POSITIONS AFTER 15 HOURS
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Dumas, Jani, Lieb | 238 | |
2 | LMP1 | #6 Toyota | Sarrazin, Conway, Kobayashi | 238 | + 54.277s |
3 | LMP1 | #5 Toyota | Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima | 238 | + 1m04.765s |
4 | LMP1 | #8 Audi | Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis | 236 | + 2 Laps |
5 | LMP1 | #7 Audi | Fassler, Lotterer, Treluyer | 226 | + 12 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Menezes, Lapierre, Richelmi | 221 | + 17 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #46 Oreca | Thiriet, Beche, Hirakawa | 220 | + 18 Laps |
8 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Stevens, Rast | 220 | + 3m17.598s |
9 | LMP2 | #38 Gibson | Dolan, Dennis, Van Der Garde | 218 | + 20 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Cheng, Tung, Panciatici | 218 | + 1m40.335s |
11 | LMP2 | #37 BR01 | Petrov, Shaytar, Ladygin | 218 | + 3m32.454s |
12 | LMP2 | #42 Gibson | Leventis, Watts, Kane | 218 | + 4m09.830s |
13 | LMP2 | #33 Oreca | Pu, Gommendy, De Bruijn | 215 | + 23 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #41 Ligier | Rojas, Canal, Berthon | 214 | + 24 Laps |
15 | LMP2 | #31 Ligier | Dalziel, Derani, Cumming | 214 | + 45.484s |
16 | LMP2 | #27 BR01 | Minassian, Mediani, Aleshin | 214 | + 1m53.289s |
17 | LMP2 | #30 Ligier | Sharp, Brown, Van Overbeek | 213 | + 25 Laps |
18 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Chatin, Buret | 213 | + 59.898s |
19 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Pew, Negri Jr, Vanthoor | 213 | + 2m54.297s |
20 | LMP2 | #43 Ligier | Gonzalez, Senna, Albuquerque | 211 | + 27 Laps |
21 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 210 | + 28 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Fisichella, Vilander, Malucelli | 210 | + 1m00.001s |
23 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 210 | + 3m43.525s |
24 | LMP2 | #40 Ligier | Krohn, Jonsson, Barbosa | 209 | + 29 Laps |
25 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 209 | + 17.013s |
26 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Munemann, Hoy, Pizzitola | 209 | + 1m46.752s |
27 | GTE Pro | #77 Porsche | Lietz, Christensen, Eng | 209 | + 2m03.596s |
28 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Stanaway, Rees, Adam | 209 | + 3m35.916s |
29 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Pla, Mucke, Johnson | 209 | + 3m37.449s |
30 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Taylor | 209 | + 3m45.089s |
31 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 207 | + 31 Laps |
32 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Keating, Bleekemolen, Goossens | 207 | + 33.136s |
33 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Sweedler, Bell, Segal | 205 | + 33 Laps |
34 | LMP2 | #44 Oreca | Graves, Rao, Merhi | 205 | + 57.721s |
35 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Al Qubaisi, Heinemeier Hansson, Long | 204 | + 34 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Perrodo, Collard, Aguas | 203 | + 35 Laps |
37 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Bell | 203 | + 1m12.916s |
38 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Carroll, Barker | 203 | + 2m47.350s |
39 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Griffin, Scott | 202 | + 36 Laps |
40 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Yamagishi, Ragues, Belloc | 202 | + 24.395s |
41 | LMP1 | #12 Rebellion | Prost, Heidfeld, Piquet Jr | 201 | + 37 Laps |
42 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 201 | + 2m27.148s |
43 | LMP1 | #13 Rebellion | Tuscher, Imperatori, Kraihamer | 200 | + 38 Laps |
44 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Capillaire, Maris, Coleman | 200 | + 1h36m30.131s |
45 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Bernhard, Webber, Hartley | 200 | + 1h38m20.193s |
46 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Laursen, Mac, Nielsen | 199 | + 39 Laps |
47 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Griffin, Hirsch | 195 | + 43 Laps |
48 | LMP1 | #4 CLM | Trummer, Webb, Kaffer | 189 | + 49 Laps |
49 | CDNT | #84 Morgan | Sausset, Tinseau, Bouvet | 189 | + 4m43.438s |
50 | LMP2 | #28 Morgan | Taittinger, Striebig, Roussel | 188 | + 50 Laps |
51 | GTE Am | #57 Chevrolet | O'Connel, Bryant, Patterson | 185 | + 53 Laps |
52 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Franchitti, Priaulx, Tincknell | 184 | + 54 Laps |
53 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Ried, Henzler, Camathias | 175 | + 63 Laps |
54 | LMP2 | #34 Oreca | Leutwiler, Nakano, Winslow | 169 | + 69 Laps |
55 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Bertolini | 143 | + 95 Laps |
56 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Makowiecki, Bamber, Bergmeister | 140 | + 98 Laps |
57 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Bruni, Calado, Pier Guidi | 179 | Retired |
58 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Pilet, Estre, Tandy | 135 | Retired |
59 | LMP2 | #47 Oreca | Matsuda, Howson, Bradley | 116 | Retired |
60 | GTE Am | #89 Porsche | Macneil, Keen, Miller | 50 | Retired |
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