Le Mans: Conway Toyota edges further clear in first place
The #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID driven by Mike Conway is almost 40 seconds clear of the sister #8 car following the second hour of the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours
Conway matched his team-mate Sebastien Buemi on stint length over the second hour and gradually increased a lead that had been stable at around 13s at the end of the first hour.
Buemi had briefly dropped from second to third behind the privateer LMP1 #3 Rebellion entry in the first hour, but there was no danger of a repeat as the #8 Toyota moved almost a minute clear of Menezes in his Rebellion-Gibson R-13.
Menezes, like the two SMP Racing BRE-AER BR1s, managed to remain on the lead lap with the Toyotas during the second hour.
But the Rebellion driver made sizeable gains over the chasing #11 SMP machine of Vitaly Petrov, with a rapid pitstop in the last 10 minutes of the hour boostingMenezes' gap to 30s.
The second SMP car of Stephane Sarrazin is currently fifth and over 20s behind the sister car.
Bruno Senna has cleared the LMP2 field after battling his way back up the order following an unscheduled pitstop for a puncture in the first hour.
The #1 Rebellion driver passed the troubled ByKolles and DragonSpeed LMP1 entries on the way.
DragonSpeed's BRE-Gibson BR1 is yet to return to the track, and spent just over 20 minutes of the second hour in the garage as the team worked on an unspecified problem.
The #10 DragonSpeed crew then earned a 10s stop/go penalty for exceeding the amount of allowed fuel in a stint and returned to the track in 59th place overall.
The ByKolles entry being driven by Tom Dillmann made an unscheduled fourth pitstop just one lap after its third visit to the pitlane, and a 1m37s stop meant it has dropped behind two LMP2 runners and currently sits ninth overall.
LMP2 - Lapierre barely leads Vergne
Nicolas Lapierre continues to lead the LMP2 class for Signatech-Alpine, but his advantage over G-Drive Racing's Jean-Eric Vergne had shrunk to almost nothing at the end of the second hour.
Vergne's #26 G-Drive ORECA had spent several laps bottled up behind Matthieu Vaxiviere in the pole-sitting #28 TDS ORECA prior to their second pitstops, but once Vaxivere came in, Vergne used the clear air to chip away at Lapierre's 19s advantage.
After the leaders stopped, the gap was down to 4.5s before Lapierre edged away again to the tune of 15s through traffic, but Vergne was just 0.675s behind as the hour concluded.
Nyck De Vries is third in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara after passing the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA of Roberto Gonzalez shortly before the hour mark.
Jackie Chan DC Racing team-mates Stephane Richelmi and Jordan King sit fifth and sixth, with Paul Di Resta close behind in the #22 United Autosports Ligier.
GTE - Corvette holds slim advantage
The #63 Corvette held a narrow lead over the #93 Porsche at the end of the second hour in GTE Pro, with Jan Magnussen just about holding Patrick Pilet at bay.
Magnussen and Pilet took over from their respective team-mates Antonio Garcia and Nick Tandy in the second round of pitstops, after Tandy had repassed Michael Christensen for second earlier in the hour.
The leading two cars had pulled a gap of 10s over the #92 Porsche, which is still being driven by Christensen, at the two-hour mark.
Christensen is being chased hard by two Fords - the #67 of Jonathan Bomarito and the #68 of Dirk Muller.
Porsche's other World Endurance Championship entry, the #91 911 RSR, is sixth with Richard Lietz at the wheel ahead of the two AF Corse Ferraris, while the #64 Corvette has fallen from running fourth at the end of hour one down to 10th.
GTE Am is led by the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer, which jumped ahead of the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari when Thomas Flohr took over from erstwhile leader Giancarlo Fisichella.
Flohr has also dropped behind Jeroen Bleekmolen in the Keating Motorsports Ford after the second hour, while the Gulf Porsche - previously third - has plummeted to eighth in the hands of Michael Wainwright.
Positions after two hours
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez | 33 | |
2 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso | 33 | + 41.375s |
3 | LMP1 | #3 Rebellion | Laurent, Berthon, Menezes | 33 | + 1m21.395s |
4 | LMP1 | #11 BR | Petrov, Aleshin, Vandoorne | 33 | + 2m00.107s |
5 | LMP1 | #17 BR | Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Sirotkin | 33 | + 2m14.880s |
6 | LMP1 | #1 Rebellion | Jani, Lotterer, Senna | 32 | + 1 Lap |
7 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet | 32 | + 32.807s |
8 | LMP2 | #26 Aurus | Rusinov, Van Uitert, Vergne | 32 | + 36.205s |
9 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Dillmann, Webb, Ruberti | 31 | + 2 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, De Vries | 31 | + 5.568s |
11 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Gonzalez, Maldonado, Davidson | 31 | + 8.325s |
12 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Richelmi, Aubry | 31 | + 13.498s |
13 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Heinemeier-Hansson, King, Taylor | 31 | + 26.504s |
14 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta | 31 | + 29.989s |
15 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Zollinger, Pizzitola, Falb | 31 | + 30.944s |
16 | LMP2 | #20 Oreca | Fjordbach, Andersen, Beche | 31 | + 31.983s |
17 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Gommendy, Capillaire, Hirschi | 31 | + 45.662s |
18 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas | 31 | + 48.450s |
19 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Cullen, Brundle, Owen | 31 | + 56.598s |
20 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval | 31 | + 1m14.530s |
21 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Binder, Canal, Stevens | 31 | + 1m14.733s |
22 | LMP2 | #43 Oreca | Farano, Maini, Nato | 31 | + 1m16.179s |
23 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 31 | + 1m21.678s |
24 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Smiechowski, Winslow, Moore | 31 | + 2m51.452s |
25 | LMP2 | #50 Ligier | Creed, Ricci, Boulle | 30 | + 3 Laps |
26 | LMP2 | #30 Oreca | Jamin, Ragues, Dumas | 30 | + 1m53.292s |
27 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Enqvist, Tereschenko | 30 | + 2m33.092s |
28 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller | 29 | + 4 Laps |
29 | GTE Pro | #93 Porsche | Pilet, Bamber, Tandy | 29 | + 0.268s |
30 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor | 29 | + 8.871s |
31 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Bomarito | 29 | + 10.806s |
32 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 29 | + 13.638s |
33 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki | 29 | + 14.546s |
34 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra | 29 | + 15.773s |
35 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 29 | + 18.541s |
36 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 29 | + 23.818s |
37 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 29 | + 27.744s |
38 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 29 | + 29.441s |
39 | GTE Pro | #81 BMW | Catsburg, Tomczyk, Eng | 29 | + 31.542s |
40 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Turner | 29 | + 43.303s |
41 | GTE Pro | #82 BMW | Farfus, Da Costa, Krohn | 29 | + 48.316s |
42 | GTE Pro | #89 Ferrari | Derani, Jarvis, Gounon | 29 | + 51.062s |
43 | GTE Pro | #94 Porsche | Muller, Jaminet, Olsen | 29 | + 1m00.902s |
44 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Martin, Lynn, Adam | 29 | + 1m16.211s |
45 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Campbell, Ried, Andlauer | 28 | + 5 Laps |
46 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella | 28 | + 10.664s |
47 | GTE Am | #85 Ford | Keating, Bleekemolen, Fraga | 28 | + 19.228s |
48 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood | 28 | + 23.913s |
49 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Segal, Baptista, Lu | 28 | + 29.344s |
50 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Vilander, Smith | 28 | + 29.625s |
51 | GTE Am | #56 Porsche | Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti | 28 | + 30.037s |
52 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Preining | 28 | + 42.330s |
53 | GTE Am | #78 Porsche | Prette, Prette, Abril | 28 | + 1m01.531s |
54 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Gostner, Frey, Gatting | 28 | + 2m04.161s |
55 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Perez-Companc, Griffin, Cressoni | 28 | + 2m24.497s |
56 | GTE Am | #57 Ferrari | Kimura, Cozzolino, Ledogar | 28 | + 3m06.772s |
57 | LMP1 | #10 BR | Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande | 27 | + 6 Laps |
58 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Schiavoni, Pianezzola, Piccini | 27 | + 18m24.998s |
59 | GTE Am | #70 Ferrari | Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever | 27 | + 19m36.936s |
60 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Hoshino, Roda Jr, Cairoli | 26 | + 7 Laps |
61 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 24 | + 9 Laps |
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