Nakajima reclaims Le Mans 24 Hours lead in #8 at two-third distance
The #8 Toyota returned to the top of the Le Mans 24 hours leaderboard before the race hit two-thirds distance

Kazuki Nakajima overtook fellow countryman Kamui Kobayashi in the sister Toyota TS050 HYBRID 26 minutes into the hour with a clean move at Mulsanne Corner.
The two Japanese cars continued nose to tail until their next round of pitstops.
A slow zone in force while the Toyota's pitted gave Sebastien Buemi - who swapped in for Nakajima - an 18-second advantage after the stops were complete.
The Swiss driver then set a series of blistering laps close to his early-race pace to ease the gap out to more than half a minute.
The two Rebellion-Gibson R-13s were separated by less than a lap.
The #1 car shared Neel Jani, Andre Lotterer and Bruno Senna mover closer to the sister entry after Thomas Laurent lost time in the pits.
G-Drive adds to LMP2 advantage
Andrea Pizzitola kept G-Drive in command in LMP2, extending the #26 ORECA 07-Gibson's lead in the class.
The G-Drive car already has an advantage of a lap over the Panis Barthez Ligier - which was handed over to Julien Canal by Will Stevens in the 16th hour - but Pizzitola was between two and four seconds a lap faster before handing over to Roman Rusinov as the hour came to an end.
Nicolas Lapierre has taken over the Signatech Alpine but is 1m44s behind Canal and lapping around a second slower than the Ligier.
The polesitting IDEC Sport ORECA is fourth but a lap further back, one minute clear of the second Ligier - the #22 United Autosports car, which is currently being driven by Filipe Albuquerque.
No change in GTE as Porsches continue to lead
Porsche's #92 car continued to hold a healthy advantage over its GTE opposition at the 16-hour mark after Kevin Estre took over the 'Pink Pig' machine from Michael Christensen.
Estre stretched the car's advantage out by around 10 seconds over the course of the hour, holding a 2m27s buffer over Richard Lietz after the Austrian replaced Frederic Makowiecki at the wheel of the #91 Rothmans-liveried car.
Lead Ford driver Joey Hand was a further 22s back in third, having taken over the #68 machine from Sebastien Bourdais, with Tony Kanaan running fourth in the #67.
Antonio Giovinazzi ran fifth in the #52 Ferrari following team-mate Pipo Derani's penalty in the previous hour, and is 13s adrift of Kanaan.
BMW was forced to retire the #82 car after Alexander Sims spun and rear-ended the tyre barriers at the Porsche Curves, although the Briton had been running outside the top 10.
GTE Am continues to be dominated by the #77 Dempsey-Porsche of Matt Campbell, who held a near two-minute advantage over Ben Keating in the #85 Ferrari.
The #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari was third in class, a further 35 seconds down.
Positions after 16 hours
Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Nakajima, Alonso | 263 | |
2 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Lopez | 262 | + 1 Lap |
3 | LMP1 | #3 Rebellion | Laurent, Beche, Menezes | 252 | + 11 Laps |
4 | LMP1 | #1 Rebellion | Lotterer, Jani, Senna | 252 | + 43.568s |
5 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Pizzitola, Vergne | 250 | + 13 Laps |
6 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Buret, Canal, Stevens | 248 | + 15 Laps |
7 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Lapierre, Negrao, Thiriet | 248 | + 1m45.353s |
8 | LMP2 | #48 Oreca | Lafargue, Chatin, Rojas | 247 | + 16 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | #22 Ligier | Hanson, Albuquerque, Di Resta | 247 | + 1m06.102s |
10 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Capillaire, Hirschi, Gommendy | 247 | + 1m18.962s |
11 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Duval | 246 | + 17 Laps |
12 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | De Sadeleer, Owen, Montoya | 246 | + 1m54.089s |
13 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Van Eerd, Van Der Garde, Lammers | 241 | + 22 Laps |
14 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Jaafar, Jeffri, Tan | 241 | + 25.113s |
15 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Gonzalez, Maldonado, Berthon | 240 | + 23 Laps |
16 | LMP2 | #44 Ligier | Bertolini, Jonsson, Krohn | 240 | + 1m56.327s |
17 | LMP2 | #33 Ligier | Cheng, Boulle, Nicolet | 239 | + 24 Laps |
18 | LMP1 | #10 BR | Hedman, Hanley, Van Der Zande | 238 | + 25 Laps |
19 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Nasr | 238 | + 54.635s |
20 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Richelmi, Aubry | 236 | + 27 Laps |
21 | LMP2 | #35 Dallara | Shaitar, Newey, Nato | 234 | + 29 Laps |
22 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Vanthoor | 232 | + 31 Laps |
23 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Bruni, Makowiecki | 231 | + 32 Laps |
24 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Bourdais | 231 | + 23.079s |
25 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Kanaan | 231 | + 1m58.296s |
26 | GTE Pro | #52 Ferrari | Vilander, Giovinazzi, Derani | 231 | + 2m11.358s |
27 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 231 | + 2m21.018s |
28 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Rockenfeller | 231 | + 2m43.747s |
29 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Pier Guidi, Calado, Serra | 230 | + 33 Laps |
30 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 228 | + 35 Laps |
31 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Sorensen, Thiim, Turner | 228 | + 7.896s |
32 | GTE Pro | #81 BMW | Tomczyk, Catsburg, Eng | 228 | + 1m04.826s |
33 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 227 | + 36 Laps |
34 | LMP2 | #50 Ligier | Creed, Ricci, Dagoneau | 227 | + 2.064s |
35 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 226 | + 37 Laps |
36 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Campbell, Ried, Andlauer | 226 | + 1m42.014s |
37 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Lynn, Martin, Adam | 226 | + 1m50.599s |
38 | GTE Am | #85 Ferrari | Keating, Bleekemolen, Stolz | 225 | + 38 Laps |
39 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Fisichella | 225 | + 36.152s |
40 | GTE Am | #99 Porsche | Long, Pappas, Pumpelly | 225 | + 1m59.811s |
41 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Cairoli, Al Qubaisi, Roda | 225 | + 2m11.059s |
42 | GTE Pro | #93 Porsche | Pilet, Tandy, Bamber | 225 | + 3m18.959s |
43 | GTE Am | #56 Porsche | Bergmeister, Lindsey, Perfetti | 225 | + 3m21.870s |
44 | LMP1 | #5 Ginetta | Robertson, Simpson, Roussel | 224 | + 39 Laps |
45 | GTE Am | #80 Porsche | Babini, Nielsen, Maris | 224 | + 2m01.382s |
46 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Griffin, Sawa | 224 | + 2m30.206s |
47 | GTE Pro | #82 BMW | Farfus, Felix Da Costa, Sims | 223 | + 40 Laps |
48 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Griffin, Macneil, Segal | 223 | + 27m19.974s |
49 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Davison | 221 | + 42 Laps |
50 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Eastwood | 221 | + 17.658s |
51 | GTE Am | #70 Ferrari | Ishikawa, Beretta, Cheever | 218 | + 45 Laps |
52 | LMP1 | #11 BR | Petrov, Aleshin, Button | 210 | + 53 Laps |
53 | LMP2 | #25 Ligier | Patterson, De Jong, Kim | 179 | + 84 Laps |
54 | LMP1 | #6 Ginetta | Rowland, Brundle, Turvey | 137 | + 126 Laps |
55 | LMP1 | #17 BR | Sarrazin, Orudzhev, Isaakyan | 123 | + 140 Laps |
56 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 92 | + 171 Laps |
57 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Webb, Kraihamer, Dillmann | 65 | + 198 Laps |
58 | LMP2 | #40 Oreca | Allen, Gutierrez, Guibbert | 197 | Retired |
59 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Taylor, Ledogar, Heinemeier-Hansson | 195 | Retired |
60 | GTE Pro | #94 Porsche | Dumas, Bernhard, Muller | 92 | Retired |

Previous article
Le Mans 24 Hours: Kobayashi stabilises #7 Toyota's lead in hour 15
Next article
Le Mans 24 Hours H17: Buemi keeps #8 in control, #7 closes back in

About this article
Series | WEC |
Drivers | Weiron Tan , Kazuki Nakajima |
Author | Gary Watkins |
Nakajima reclaims Le Mans 24 Hours lead in #8 at two-third distance
Trending
How 'Brilliant' Bob Wollek lived up to his nickname
Sportscar racing lost one of it's greatest talents 20 years ago today when Bob Wollek was knocked from his bicycle prior to the Sebring 12 Hours. The enigmatic Frenchman never won the Le Mans 24 Hours, but many still remember today why 'Brilliant Bob' became a legend
Top 10 moments of an underrated British great
Brian Redman was one of the best sportscar drivers of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as a three-time champion on the fearsome American Formula 5000 scene. To celebrate his 84th birthday Autosport contacted him about his best races – and he decided to write the piece himself…
How an endurance racing boom could help one of LMP2's top teams
The G-Drive squad has been a mainstay of endurance racing in recent years, and has linked up with Russian manufacturer Aurus in recent years to promote its brand. With a change of rules in endurance racing's top tables, the team could be well-placed to take advantage of a potential boom...
How Ferrari’s Hypercar project could bolster Leclerc’s legacy
OPINION: Ferrari's planned return to the top category at the Le Mans 24 Hours has further heightened anticipation for the 2023 race. Few concrete details are currently known, but already it has a high-profile superstar angling for involvement, which would make a refreshing change
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
The ground-up refresh behind Toyota's new Le Mans challenger
Toyota's new GR010 contender for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar era has little in common with the LMP1 TS050 that preceded it. But within the confines of the scaled back new rules, its latest challenger will be no less formidable a prospect
The Porsche icon that forged sportscar racing's greatest era
Porsche is returning to the top class of Le Mans with an LMDh prototype that it hopes will write its next successful chapter in sportscar racing. But it will have to go some to emulate its 956/962, a car which defines the Group C age more than any other
How Kristensen forged the Mr Le Mans legend
He is synonymous with success at the Circuit de la Sarthe, but Tom Kristensen's sportscar legacy amounts to much more than his record-breaking nine Le Mans wins, as the most successful driver ever at Sebring and a world champion to boot