Toyota and Porsche entered the 23rd hour of the race at lightning speed! At 13:00, Kazuki Nakajima, in the #5 Toyota TS 050 Hybrid, was less than 30 seconds ahead of Neel Jani in the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The two drivers  recorded 3:24.109 and 3:24.075 respectively as they crossed the line for the 351st time. They have been regularly outdoing each another lap after lap, but as the minutes tick by, the Japanese driver has managed to widen the gap, taking every tenth of a second he could, helped by new tyres fitted during the 12:43 pit stop. Neel Jani was already on his second stint with the same tyres at that point.

The two leading cars both put off their pit stops, helping Toyota maintain the lead. The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid pitted during the 359th lap, followed a lap later by the #5 Toyota TS 050 Hybrid. Both cars refuelled but there were no tyre changes. The outcome of the race could depend on the strategy applied at the next stop. To catch up with the Toyota out in front, will Porsche opt for another quick pit, without touching the tyres? The #2 919 Hybrid’s tyres will then be on their fourth stint. At Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima is on his second stint with the same tyres. Should he keep them or not? We will know the answer within the next hour!

In LM P2, no change in the standings, with Alpine one lap in front of the #05 Oreca for G-Drive Racing. Inès Taittinger spun off the track at Mulsanne. She managed to get back on track but had to stop a few metres further down when the car caught fire.

Same scenario in LM GTE Am, with the Scuderia Corsa (Ferrari 458 Italia) still in the lead. In LM GTE Pro, however, anything could happen yet. Ford, and the #68 Ford GT driven by Dirk Müller has moved in front of the #82 Ferrari 488 GTE for Risi Competizione. There is just over a minute’s gap between the two cars.

LM P1

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing (#5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid) Sébastien Buemi - Anthony Davidson - Kazuki Nakajima
2. Porsche Team (#2 Porsche 919 Hybrid) Romain Dumas - Marc Lieb - Neel Jani
3. Toyota Gazoo Racing (#6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid) Mike Conway - Stéphane Sarrazin - Kamui Kobayashi

LM P2

1. Signatech Alpine (#36 Alpine A460-Nissan) Gustavo Menezes - Nicolas Lapierre - Stéphane Richelmi
2. G-Drive Racing (#26 Oreca 05-Nissan) Roman Rusinov -  Will Stevens - René Rast
3. SMP Racing (#37 BR Engineering BR01-Nissan) Vitaly Petrov - Viktor Shaitar - Kirill Ladygin

LM GTE Pro

1 - Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA (#68 Ford GT) Joey Hand - Dirk Müller - Sébastien Bourdais
2 - Risi Competizione (#82 Ferrari 488 GTE) Giancarlo Fisichella - Toni Vilander - Matteo Malucelli
3 - Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA (#69 Ford GT) Ryan Briscoe - Richard Westbrook - Scott Dixon

LM GTE Am

1 - Scuderia Corsa (#62 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2) Bill Sweedler - Townsend Bell - Jeff Segal
2 - AF Corse (#83 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2) François Perrodo - Emmanuel Collard - Rui
3 - Águas Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (#88 Porsche 911 RSR) Khaled Al Qubaisi - Patrick Long - David Heinemeier Hansson

Photo: The final countdown has started at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. With just 60 minutes to go, Porsche and Toyota are going to have to play their final cards.

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