Toyota driver Mike Conway takes Le Mans 24 Hours lead from Porsche

Dumas caught and passed Conway on track at the end of the previous hour when the #6 Toyota emerged from its pitstop, but over the course of the next stint Conway was able to stretch a big enough margin to rejoin 12s ahead of the Porsche next time around.

The #5 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi remains in third place, while the fourth-placed #8 Audi made an unscheduled pitstop when Loic Duval suffered a left-rear puncture around 20 minutes past midnight.

The #1 Porsche returned to the race briefly after spending more than one hour in the pits while the team investigated engine overheating problems, but after one very slow lap Brendon Hartley brought the car back to the garage for further work to be carried out.

The hour ended with the safety car being deployed.

TDS LOSES OUT IN LMP2

Mathias Beche's defence of the Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA's lead over Nicolas Lapierre in the Signatech Alpine ORECA was thwarted when the cars pitted on the same lap, but Beche spent nearly four minutes stationary before rejoining.

That handed Lapierre the lead, and also promoted class polesitter Rene Rast to second in the Jota-run G-Drive ORECA.

At the other end of the class, the KCMG ORECA effectively retired for the second time in the race when Richard Bradley ended up in the gravel at the Porsche Curves, causing a slow zone.

The Algarve Pro Racing Ligier - which includes former Olympian Chris Hoy as one of its drivers - crashed at the end of the hour, with Andrea Pizzitola seemingly going off on oil at the Porsche Curves.

This was one of two cars responsible for the safety car.

FERRARI LEADS GTE PRO

By Edd Straw

The Risi Competizione Ferrari, driven by Toni Vilander, took the lead in GTE Pro at the end of the hour.

Vilander ran second for much of the hour, with the gap to Dirk Muller's #68 Ford floating around the 20-second mark.

But Vilander made a fuel stop before the safety car was deployed, so when Muller stopped under the safety car and was held at the pit exit, the Ferrari took the lead.

The #69 Ford of Richard Westbrook held third after a brief spell in second following the Risi car's stop and before he made his own 10^th pitstop of the race.

In GTE Am, David Heinemeier Hansson leads in the #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche, which he recently took over from Pat Long.

Bill Sweedler holds second place in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, but is the only other car on the lead lap.

The #91 Porsche was the other car that triggered the safety car, and was actually the main culprit after laying down oil in the Porsche Curves as it billowed smoke with Kevin Estre at the wheel before grinding to a halt.

POSITIONS AFTER 10 HOURS: