The two Toyota GR010-Hybrids continued apace at the head of the 62-car field as the race entered the twilight hours. Japanese drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Ryō Hirakawa swapped the lead regularly at pit stops, notably when the latter emerged from the pit lane behind a GTE, leaving the track open for Kobayashi to slip past. After Sébastien Buemi took over from Hirakawa, the experienced Swiss driver had a fright when he spun on the Mulsanne Straight. The incident had no adverse consequences as the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid. Olivier Pla had less luck when he spun in the #708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH at Tertre Rouge, scraping the barrier as it came to a halt. Pla’s machine restarted and returned slowly to the pits where it was put into the garage for repair. Buemis’s lead over the #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid lasted until 23:47 when Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid eased past.

 

At the last round-up, we left the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson in the garage as the clock ticked towards 20:00 local time. The French Hypercar challenger was diagnosed as having a clutch issue. It emerged ten minutes later having dropped down the overall standings but was soon back in the garage. Its troubles were not over, however, as André Negrão made an excursion into the gravel trap at the Porsche Curves a brief while later. These issues pushed the Alpine seven laps down on the leaders.

Corvette Racing regained second place in LMGTE Pro for a while when Alexander Sims took advantage of a prototype’s slipstream to pass Laurens Vanthoor in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19. The American constructor’s one-two was short-lived as the German rival regained the upper hand over the #64 C8.R.

Brake trouble subsequently brought the #64 into the garage. The issue was soon fixed but the Corvette dropped to fifth in the meantime. The AF Corse #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo lost a wheel on its 99th lap. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 took the lead at the 7-hour mark when the #63 Corvette suffered suspension failure, shredding the rear left tyre. As driver Antonio García crawled back to the pits, Gimmi Bruni also took advantage to move his #91 Porsche into second place.

As expected, this year’s LMP2 class is providing plenty of thrills and spills. Team Penske (#5) in second place was pushing hard to make up ground on JOTA’s leading #38, but Felipe Nasr struck an obstacle on the track that damaged the car's front end. An exciting battle emerged halfway through the fifth hour between the Oreca 07-Gibsons of Pietro Fittipaldi (Inter Europol Competition, #43), Rolf Ineichen (Team WRT, #32), Oliver Jarvis (United Autosports USA, #23) and Sean Gelael (Team WRT, #31). Twenty minutes later, we saw Charles Milesi in the #1 Oreca 07-Gibson of Richard Mille Racing Team take on Jarvis in the newly named Daytona Chicane (the first on the Mulsanne Straight), but Jarvis fought back two laps later. United Autosport’s British driver then slipped in smartly behind a Toyota Hypercar to overtake Fittipaldi in the #43 car. The leading JOTA #38 Oreca 07-Gibson piled the pressure on its rivals with António Félix da Costa going around in 3:32.418 on the 120th lap, the fastest of the day for the #38.

In the LMGTE Am class, WeatherTech Racing continues to push ahead thanks to a solid performance from Bronze category driver Thomas Merrill.
At 22:46, the Team Project 1 #46 Porsche 911 RSR-19 became the first retirement of this year’s race due to engine failure.
In the eighth hour of the race, Vincent Abril in the AF Corse #61 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo struck the #93 Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Proton Competition’s Michael Fassbender, forcing the Hollywood star into the Indianapolis gravel. Stewards penalised the Ferrari with a one-minute stop-and-go penalty as a result of the collision. After almost half an hour in the pits, the Porsche returned to the action with Fassbender still at the wheel.

Top 5 after 8 hours

#8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid - Toyota Gazoo Racing - Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa - 130 laps
#7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid - Toyota Gazoo Racing - Conway/Kobayashi/López +0.945 s behind
#709 Glickenhaus 007 LMH - Glickenhaus Racing - Briscoe/Westbrook/Mailleux - 129 laps
#38 Oreca 07-Gibson - JOTA - González/da Costa/Stevens - 126 laps
#9 Oreca 07-Gibson - Prema Orlen Team - Kubica/Delétraz/Colombo - 126 laps

Other class leaders

LMGTE Pro
#92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 - Porsche GT Team - Christensen/Estre/Vanthoor - 120 laps behind

LMP2
#38 Oreca 07-Gibson - JOTA - González/da Costa/Stevens - 126 laps

LMGTE Am
#79 Porsche 911 RSR-19 - WeatherTech Racing - MacNeil/Andlauer/Merrill - 118 laps

Retirement

#46 Porsche 911 RSR-19 - Team Project 1 - Cairoli/Pedersen/Leutwiler - Engine failure - 77 laps