24h Le Mans
Dreaded for several hours, the rain never arrived at the 24 Hours circuit tonight. The dry track and mild weather played right into the hands of leaders Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López who passed the halfway point of the race one lap ahead of their #8 sister car of Sébastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Brendon Hartley. In LMP2, the United Autosports cars were trying to keep their lead and control the class. In LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am, the AF Corse and Aston Martin Racing teams continued their duels.
Nothing has distracted TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid shared by Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López from its marching orders. The car continued to lead the LMP1 class ahead of its #8 sister car driven by Sébastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Brendon Hartley. Rebellion Racing's #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Bruno Senna/Norman Nato/Gustavo Menezes trailed the first Japanese car by two laps and the #3 sister car shared by Romain Dumas/Nathanaël Berthon/Louis Delétraz by one lap. ByKOLLES Racing's #4 Enso CLM P1/01-Gibson was forced to retire after Bruno Spengler left the track in the seventh hour. The top 5 overall was rounded out by United Autosports' #32 ORECA 07-Gibson leader in the LMP2 class. Williams Owen/Alex Brundle/Job van Uitert led their teammates in the #22 by 30 seconds. JOTA Sport's #38 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Anthony Davidson/António Félix da Costa/Roberto Gonzales held third position ahead of Panis Racing's #31 expertly driven by hopefuls Nicolas Jamin, Matthieu Vaxivière and veteran Julien Canal. After early water leak troubles for Signatech Alpine Elf's #36 Alpine A470-Gibson, the car shared by André Negrão/Pierre Ragues/Thomas Laurent continued its climb toward the top 10 ahead of Richard Mille Racing's #50 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Tatiana Calderon/Sophia Flörsch/Beitske Visser whose flawless race is paying off. Jackie Chan DC Racing's #37 ORECA 07-Gibson has been disqualified: stopped on the track, the driver made a phone call to his team who hurried a member to his location with a part, and the driver then installed said part himself which made the car capable of restartig. It was a violation of Article 12.3.9 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations.
The AF Corse and Aston Martin Racing teams have been duking it out on the track for 12 hours in LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am. In the Pro class, the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO shared by Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Daniel Serra managed to carve out about a 12-second lead on the #97 Vantage AMR driven by Maxime Martin/Alex Lynn/Harry Tincknell. The #95 of Nicki Thiim/Marco Sørensen/Richard Westbrook trailed by one lap. In the Am class, Aston Martin Racing's #98 Vantage AMR shared by Paul Dalla Lana/Ross Gunn/Augusto Farfus was followed by TF Sport's #90 Vantage AMR driven by Salih Yoluc/Charles Eastwood/Jonathan Adam.
LMP1
LMP2
LMGTE Pro
LMGTE Am
RETIREMENTS: #11, #55, #30, #4, #16, #52
DISQUALIFICATIONS: #37
