Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche's Earl Bamber keeps Audi at bay

The New Zealander, sharing with Nico Hulkenberg and Nick Tandy has had to get his head down to maintain his advantage over the rapid Benoit Treluyer in the chasing #7 Audi.

The gap was similar at the start of the hour, although Treluyer had yet to make a stop for fuel.

That extended Bamber's lead to over a minute, a gap he maintained so that he was able to make his stop at the end of the 223rd lap and return to the track 12 seconds ahead.

Treluyer then made his stop for fuel just before the top of the hour, which allowed the Porsche to re-establish a lead of just under a minute.

The #9 Audi runs third in the hands of Felipe Albuquerque and remains within two minutes of the lead.

The Portuguese is, however, under pressure with Brendon Hartley in the #17 Porsche setting a strong pace during his stint and closing in.

The #8 Audi, which lost time early in the race when Loic Duval was caught out coming into a slow zone, is over a lap down and runs fifth with Lucas di Grassi at the wheel.

It is battling with the #18 Porsche driven by Romain Dumas, which lost time earlier this morning with an off.

Toyota continues to struggle, with car #2 driven by Stephane Sarrazin and car #1 with Kazuki Nakajima in the cockpit a distant seventh and eighth, ahead of the #13 Rebellion currently driven by Dominik Kraihamer.

Further down the order, two of the three Nissan GTR-LM NISMOs are still running, with Max Chilton in 44th in car #23 and Michael Krumm at the wheel.

LMP2

KCMG's grip on LMP2 tightened when the TDS Racing Ligier that was running second was hit by the #99 GTE Aston at the first Mulsanne chicane.

With both LMP2 squads having completed scheduled stops and changed drivers, Matt Howson led Tristian Gommendy by about 90 seconds before the incident in the final minutes of the hour.

It left the damaged TDS entry in the gravel trap as the hour ended, having already dropped to fifth.

The incident means KCMG now leads by more than one lap, over the #28 G-Drive OAK, despite an unscheduled stop with Roman Rusinov behind the wheel, while Murphy Prototypes and Jota Sport are third and fourth.

GTE

The TDS incident also changed the complexion of the GTE Pro battle.

The #99 Aston had been in the thick of the lead fight all race, and Richie Stanaway had pitted from top spot a short time earlier to hand the car over to Fernando Rees.

Rees started the 15th hour in the garage, with repairs underway on the front-left corner.

Following a pair of pitstops by the #64 Corvette, the lead AF Corse Ferrari holds the class lead.

A Ferrari leads GTE Am, too, with the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari ahead of the #98 Aston, which is now controlled again by Pedro Lamy following Mathias Lauda's stint.

POSITIONS AFTER 14 HOURS