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Le Mans hour 10: Penalty setback for #8 Toyota in second

The #7 Toyota enjoys a two-minute Le Mans 24 Hours lead in the 10th hour after the sister #8 car picked up a penalty for speeding in a slow zone

Sebastien Buemi ended the ninth hour half a minute behind leader Mike Conway, with Toyota suggesting that Buemi lost out during a slow zone.

Then early in the 10th hour race control issued the #8 car with a 60-second stop/go penalty for speeding in a slow zone, which Buemi served on lap 150. Toyota was not allowed to service the car during this time.

The additional 35 seconds Buemi spent in the pitlane meant he returned to the circuit two minutes and 10 seconds behind Conway and made little progress in bringing that gap down thereafter.

The #3 Rebellion is now four laps down on the lead Toyota but a comfortable third and three minutes clear of the sister #1 car, with the two Gibson-powered R-13s the only remaining privateer LMP1 cars yet to have encountered any major issues.

The #10 DragonSpeed BR1 that stopped for an hour earlier in the race is now the next highest-placed LMP1 car in 32nd overall thanks to the #6 Manor-Ginetta stopping out on track midway through the hour.

Williams Formula 1 young driver Oliver Rowland was in the car when he slowed exiting Tertre Rouge, before pulling up by a gap in the barriers heading on to the Mulsanne Straight.

G-Drive in command of LMP2

Andrea Pizzitola has stabilised his lead over the chasing Signatech-Alpine as the #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA continues to lead the LMP2 field after 10 hours.

Pizzitola emerged from the 15th round of stops after 153 laps with a 2m58s lead over the chasing Signatech-Alpine of Pierre Thiriet, who returned to the cockpit on lap 149 for the first time since a spin on his in-lap at the end of the sixth hour.

Julien Canal is 3m22s off the lead in third in the Panis-Barthez Competition Ligier, and the last car on the lead lap.

Fellow Michelin runner Memo Rojas has struggled in the pole-sitting IDEC Sport Ligier since taking over from Paul Lafargue on lap 140 and seen his advantage over the Dunlop-shod Loic Duval (TDS Racing ORECA) cut by 40s to a little over half a minute.

Duval caught Jonathan Hirschi (Graff-So24 Racing ORECA) hand over fist in the battle over fifth before they pitted together on lap 147, where Duval's crew was six seconds quicker than the Graff crew to get their man out ahead.

Trouble for BMW in GTE Pro

Porsche has strengthened its grip on the GTE Pro class with Kevin Estre leading the class in the #92 entry, 90 seconds up on sister #91 driven by Richard Lietz.

Their closest rival was the MTEK BMW M6 of Phillip Eng, but the DTM driver was forced into the pits and spent 11 minutes in the garage before Nicky Catsburg returned it to the track.

Those problems promoted the Porsche's expected rival, Ford, into third with the #68 machine driven by Joey Hand.

Ferrari Formula 1 third driver Antonio Giovinazzi has the AF Corse #52 Ferrari in fourth, ahead of IndyCar points leader Scott Dixon in the #69 Ford.

The first Corvette in the class is the #63 driven by Mike Rockenfeller, running sixth in class, and the Aston Martins continue to struggle compared to its rivals.

Darren Turner has the #95 Aston Martin 10th in class, Alex Lynn's #97 is four places further down.

GTE Am continues to be led by the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Matt Campbell.

Positions after 10 hours

Pos Class Car Drivers Laps Gap
1 LMP1 #7 Toyota Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez 161
2 LMP1 #8 Toyota Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso 161 + 2m09.242s
3 LMP1 #3 Rebellion Laurent, Beche, Menezes 157 + 4 Laps
4 LMP1 #1 Rebellion Lotterer, Jani, Senna 156 + 5 Laps
5 LMP2 #26 Oreca Rusinov, Pizzitola, Vergne 153 + 8 Laps
6 LMP2 #36 Alpine Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet 153 + 2m58.217s
7 LMP2 #23 Ligier Buret, Canal, Stevens 152 + 9 Laps
8 LMP2 #48 Oreca Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas 152 + 1m37.092s
9 LMP2 #28 Oreca Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval 152 + 2m08.404s
10 LMP2 #39 Oreca Capillaire, Hirschi, Gommendy 152 + 2m24.487s
11 LMP2 #22 Ligier Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta 151 + 10 Laps
12 LMP2 #34 Ligier Taylor, Ledogar, Heinemeier-Hansson 151 + 4.271s
13 LMP2 #40 Oreca Allen, Gutierrez, Guibbert 151 + 38.678s
14 LMP2 #32 Ligier De Sadeleer, Owen, Montoya 150 + 11 Laps
15 LMP2 #29 Dallara Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, Lammers 150 + 3.111s
16 LMP2 #31 Oreca Gonzalez, Maldonado, Berthon 149 + 12 Laps
17 LMP2 #35 Dallara Shaitar, Newey, Nato 149 + 1m18.656s
18 LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng, Boulle, Nicolet 147 + 14 Laps
19 LMP2 #44 Ligier Bertolini, Jonsson, Krohn 147 + 1m08.473s
20 LMP2 #37 Oreca Jaafar, Jeffri, Tan 147 + 1m15.525s
21 LMP2 #50 Ligier Creed, Ricci, Dagoneau 145 + 16 Laps
22 LMP2 #47 Dallara Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Nasr 145 + 55.953s
23 GTE Pro #92 Porsche Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor 143 + 18 Laps
24 GTE Pro #91 Porsche Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki 142 + 19 Laps
25 GTE Pro #68 Ford Hand, Muller, Bourdais 142 + 52.606s
26 GTE Pro #52 Ferrari Vilander, Giovinazzi, Derani 142 + 1m36.001s
27 GTE Pro #69 Ford Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon 142 + 1m43.154s
28 GTE Pro #63 Chevrolet Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller 142 + 2m19.166s
29 LMP2 #38 Oreca Tung, Richelmi, Aubry 142 + 2m28.474s
30 GTE Pro #67 Ford Priaulx, Tincknell, Kanaan 142 + 2m32.692s
31 GTE Pro #51 Ferrari Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra 141 + 20 Laps
32 LMP1 #10 BR Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande 141 + 35.551s
33 GTE Pro #82 BMW Farfus, Felix Da Costa, Sims 141 + 3m02.057s
34 GTE Pro #95 Aston Sorensen, Thiim, Turner 140 + 21 Laps
35 GTE Pro #66 Ford Mucke, Pla, Johnson 140 + 2m43.917s
36 GTE Pro #81 BMW Tomczyk, Catsburg, Eng 139 + 22 Laps
37 GTE Am #77 Porsche Campbell, Ried, Andlauer 139 + 1m05.602s
38 GTE Am #84 Ferrari Griffin, Macneil, Segal 139 + 2m01.192s
39 GTE Am #85 Ferrari Keating, Bleekemolen, Stolz 138 + 23 Laps
40 GTE Am #88 Porsche Cairoli, Al Qubaisi, Roda 138 + 1m16.588s
41 GTE Pro #71 Ferrari Rigon, Bird, Molina 138 + 1m27.872s
42 GTE Pro #97 Aston Lynn, Martin, Adam 138 + 1m55.711s
43 GTE Am #54 Ferrari Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella 138 + 2m12.995s
44 GTE Am #56 Porsche Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti 138 + 2m15.322s
45 GTE Pro #64 Chevrolet Gavin, Milner, Fassler 138 + 2m57.375s
46 GTE Am #80 Porsche Babini, Nielsen, Maris 138 + 4m04.277s
47 GTE Am #99 Porsche Long, Pappas, Pumpelly 138 + 4m26.846s
48 GTE Am #90 Aston Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood 138 + 4m38.357s
49 LMP1 #6 Ginetta Rowland, Brundle, Turvey 137 + 24 Laps
50 GTE Am #61 Ferrari Mok, Griffin, Sawa 137 + 14m44.580s
51 GTE Pro #93 Porsche Pilet, Tandy, Bamber 136 + 25 Laps
52 LMP1 #5 Ginetta Robertson, Simpson, Roussel 135 + 26 Laps
53 GTE Am #86 Porsche Wainwright, Barker, Davison 134 + 27 Laps
54 GTE Am #70 Ferrari Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever 131 + 30 Laps
55 LMP1 #17 BR Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Isaakyan 123 + 38 Laps
56 LMP1 #11 BR Petrov, Aleshin, Button 111 + 50 Laps
57 LMP2 #25 Ligier Patterson, De Jong, Kim 105 + 56 Laps
58 GTE Pro #94 Porsche Dumas, Bernhard, Muller 92 + 69 Laps
59 GTE Am #98 Aston Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda 92 + 6m08.912s
60 LMP1 #4 Enso Webb, Kraihamer, Dillmann 65 + 96 Laps

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