Neel Jani keeps #1 Porsche on top after 15 hours of Le Mans
Porsche's commanding lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours remains intact with the race neutralised behind the safety car
With Neel Jani now behind the wheel of the #1 Porsche 919 he shares with Andre Lotterer and Nick Tandy, the leaders have 10 laps in hand over the #13 Rebellion ORECA driven by Nelson Piquet.
The delayed #2 Porsche was continuing its recovery drive until the safety car was deployed and is currently 10th overall in the hands of Timo Bernhard.
Sebastien Buemi remains at the wheel of the sole remaining Toyota, which is now 27th after making an extended stop to replace a motor-generator unit.
REBELLION TAKES LMP2 LEAD
Piquet in the #13 Rebellion ORECA has claimed second overall and the LMP2 class lead but is yet to make its latest pitstop.
The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA pitted during a safety car period caused by a massive crash for Emmanuel Collard in the #28 TDS ORECA at the Porsche Curves.
Ho-Pin Tung has replaced Oliver Jarvis in the #38 machine and is just eight seconds behind Piquet.
The second Rebellion with Julien Canal at the wheel remains in third.
PORSCHE MOVES TO THE FRONT OF GTE
The #91 Porsche of Richard Lietz led at the 15-hour mark, albeit running to a different pitstop schedule than the #95 Aston Martin which is currently second in class and running just behind the Porsche on the road behind one of the safety cars.
With nine of the GTE Pro cars still on the same lap, and those on Michelins able to triple-stint their tyres, pitstops regularly shake up the order and the final picture may not become apparent until later in the race.
The safety car fell unkindly for the two AF Corse cars, which had to pit while the course was neutralised, and the #71 entry was briefly pushed back into the garage.
Chevrolet benefitted from the safety car timing for the #63 Corvette to pass both AF Corse Ferraris and remain in formation behind third-placed Daniel Serra in the second works Aston and the #67 Ford of Andy Priaulx.
The #84 JMW Ferrari driven by Robert Smith, Will Stevens and Dries Vanthoor maintains its GTE Am lead, with a lap in hand over the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari currently driven by Marco Cioci.
POSITIONS AFTER 15 HOURS
| Pos | Class | Car | Drivers | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | #1 Porsche | Jani, Lotterer, Tandy | 233 | |
| 2 | LMP2 | #13 Oreca | Piquet Jr, H. Hansson, Beche | 222 | + 11 Laps |
| 3 | LMP2 | #38 Oreca | Tung, Laurent, Jarvis | 222 | + 6.689s |
| 4 | LMP2 | #31 Oreca | Prost, Canal, Senna | 221 | + 12 Laps |
| 5 | LMP2 | #35 Alpine | Panciatici, Ragues, Negrao | 221 | + 4.779s |
| 6 | LMP2 | #40 Oreca | Allen, Matelli, Bradley | 220 | + 13 Laps |
| 7 | LMP2 | #32 Ligier | Owen, De Sadeleer, Albuquerque | 220 | + 2m09.256s |
| 8 | LMP2 | #37 Oreca | Cheng, Gommendy, Brundle | 220 | + 4m13.858s |
| 9 | LMP2 | #24 Oreca | Graves, Hirschi, Vergne | 220 | + 4m25.581s |
| 10 | LMP1 | #2 Porsche | Bernhard, Bamber, Hartley | 216 | + 17 Laps |
| 11 | LMP2 | #23 Ligier | Barthez, Buret, Berthon | 216 | + 7.342s |
| 12 | LMP2 | #34 Ligier | Moore, Hanson, Chandhok | 214 | + 19 Laps |
| 13 | LMP2 | #47 Dallara | Lacorte, Sernagiotto, Belicchi | 214 | + 2m06.837s |
| 14 | LMP2 | #28 Oreca | Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Collard | 213 | + 20 Laps |
| 15 | LMP2 | #36 Alpine | Dumas, Menezes, Rao | 208 | + 25 Laps |
| 16 | LMP2 | #17 Ligier | Lafargue, Lafargue, Zollinger | 207 | + 26 Laps |
| 17 | LMP2 | #33 Ligier | Nicolet, Nicolet, Maris | 207 | + 2m20.964s |
| 18 | GTE Pro | #91 Porsche | Lietz, Makowiecki, Pilet | 207 | + 4m25.705s |
| 19 | GTE Pro | #95 Aston | Thiim, Sorensen, Stanaway | 207 | + 4m27.140s |
| 20 | GTE Pro | #71 Ferrari | Rigon, Bird, Molina | 206 | + 27 Laps |
| 21 | GTE Pro | #97 Aston | Turner, Adam, Serra | 206 | + 3m06.070s |
| 22 | GTE Pro | #67 Ford | Priaulx, Tincknell, Derani | 206 | + 3m07.865s |
| 23 | GTE Pro | #63 Chevrolet | Magnussen, Garcia, Taylor | 206 | + 3m09.599s |
| 24 | GTE Pro | #51 Ferrari | Calado, Pier Guidi, Rugolo | 206 | + 3m11.701s |
| 25 | GTE Pro | #68 Ford | Hand, Muller, Kanaan | 206 | + 5m29.040s |
| 26 | LMP2 | #29 Dallara | Lammers, Van Eerd, Barrichello | 206 | + 7m22.956s |
| 27 | LMP1 | #8 Toyota | Buemi, Davidson, Nakajima | 205 | + 28 Laps |
| 28 | GTE Pro | #69 Ford | Briscoe, Westbrook, Dixon | 205 | + 3.087s |
| 29 | GTE Am | #84 Ferrari | Smith, Stevens, Vanthoor | 203 | + 30 Laps |
| 30 | LMP2 | #21 Oreca | Hedman, Hanley, Rosenqvist | 203 | + 1m58.481s |
| 31 | GTE Am | #55 Ferrari | Cameron, Scott, Cioci | 202 | + 31 Laps |
| 32 | GTE Pro | #64 Chevrolet | Gavin, Milner, Fassler | 202 | + 2m13.366s |
| 33 | GTE Am | #77 Porsche | Ried, Cairoli, Dienst | 201 | + 32 Laps |
| 34 | GTE Am | #99 Aston | Howard, Gunn, Bryant | 201 | + 1.780s |
| 35 | GTE Am | #62 Ferrari | Macneil, Sweedler, Bell | 201 | + 2m23.797s |
| 36 | GTE Am | #61 Ferrari | Mok, Sawa, Griffin | 201 | + 4m18.502s |
| 37 | GTE Am | #83 Ferrari | Krohn, Jonsson, Bertolini | 200 | + 33 Laps |
| 38 | GTE Pro | #66 Ford | Mucke, Pla, Johnson | 200 | + 2m12.661s |
| 39 | GTE Am | #93 Porsche | Long, Al Faisal, Hedlund | 200 | + 2m21.823s |
| 40 | LMP2 | #39 Oreca | Guibbert, Trouillet, Winslow | 199 | + 34 Laps |
| 41 | GTE Am | #86 Porsche | Wainwright, Barker, Foster | 199 | + 44m25.603s |
| 42 | GTE Am | #65 Ferrari | Nielsen, Balzan, Curtis | 199 | + 46m42.082s |
| 43 | GTE Am | #90 Aston | Yoluc, Hankey, Bell | 199 | + 48m51.268s |
| 44 | GTE Am | #98 Aston | Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda | 199 | + 48m52.662s |
| 45 | LMP2 | #27 Dallara | Aleshin, Sirotkin, Shaitar | 198 | + 35 Laps |
| 46 | GTE Am | #54 Ferrari | Flohr, Castellacci, Beretta | 198 | + 2.821s |
| 47 | GTE Am | #60 Ferrari | Wee, Katoh, Parente | 198 | + 2m23.756s |
| 48 | LMP2 | #22 Oreca | Rojas, Hirakawa, Gutierrez | 195 | + 38 Laps |
| 49 | LMP2 | #45 Ligier | Patterson, Mcmurry, Capillaire | 192 | + 41 Laps |
| 50 | LMP2 | #43 Riley | Keating, Bleekemolen, Taylor | 189 | + 44 Laps |
| 51 | GTE Am | #50 Chevrolet | Rees, Brandela, Philippon | 186 | + 47 Laps |
| 52 | GTE Pro | #92 Porsche | Christensen, Estre, Werner | 179 | + 54 Laps |
| 53 | LMP2 | #49 Ligier | Konopka, Calko, Breukers | 177 | + 56 Laps |
| 54 | LMP1 | #9 Toyota | Lapierre, Kunimoto, Lopez | 160 | Retired |
| 55 | LMP1 | #7 Toyota | Conway, Kobayashi, Sarrazin | 154 | Retired |
| 56 | LMP2 | #25 Oreca | Gonzalez, Trummer, Petrov | 152 | Retired |
| 57 | GTE Pro | #82 Ferrari | Vilander, Fisichella, Kaffer | 72 | Retired |
| 58 | LMP2 | #26 Oreca | Rusinov, Thiriet, Lynn | 20 | Retired |
| 59 | GTE Am | #88 Porsche | Bachler, Lemeret, Al Qubaisi | 18 | Retired |
| 60 | LMP1 | #4 Enso | Webb, Kraihamer, Bonanomi | 7 | Retired |
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