Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez led a third of the distance with the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, 1.2 seconds ahead of the No. 8 sister car of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa.
Car number 7 took the lead from number 8 when Kobayashi undermined Hirakawa in the sixth hour in the round of pit stops after his first periods. Kobayashi had two wild moments in the evening, the chicane Ford and the chicane Daytona renamed, while extending a 7-second lead.
Interestingly, it was Hirakawa who calmed down towards the end of his time on the radio – “It’s a long race, let’s be calm” – as his team leader paved the way despite his mistakes. . But his positions were reversed anyway when the No. 7 wasted time with a slow tire stop and got stuck behind a GT car when he rejoined the hands of Conway, so Buemi took the lead at number 8.
But the lead shifted back to the Mulsanne Straight, a loaded Conway that regained first place just before the end of the 7th hour.
Glickenhaus gave a long chase, with # 708 leading # 709 until Olivier Pla turned # 708 at Tertre Rouge on an outside lap, reversing his positions. Pla returned the # 708 to the pits to repair his left rear suspension and fell out of the top 15 overall.
The other Hypercar, the Alpine A480-Gibson # 36, also suffered a terrible moment. After the clutch was repaired at 4 o’clock, a second long stop occurred an hour later, and the equipment had to remove the exhaust benches while changing the ignition coil.
Team leader Philippe Sinault explained: “The first [problem] it was the clutch, the clutch electronics, and the second was the engine coil, which we had to change. We lost a total of 23 minutes … it’s like a nightmare. “
Alpine’s Andre Negrao rejoined 7 laps below, then suffered a wild gravel ride into the corners of Porsche, but continued.
In LMP2, the # 38 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson continued to stretch his legs at the head of the field while Roberto González continued the good work of his teammates Will Stevens and Antonio Felix da Costa. He is fourth overall.
Team Penske # 5 chaser Oreca suffered an unscheduled stop to pay attention to brake lines and a new section of the nose after a left front tire delineated and damaged parts around him at 6 p.m.
The # 9 Preca Oreca by Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Lorenzo Colombo remains firmly on the hunt. Another first leader, No. 1 Richard Mille Racing Oreca, suffered a setback at 5 o’clock because WRC legend Sebastien Ogier won a one-minute stoppage-time penalty for a penalty kick. insecure pit entry and forcing a car off the track.
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# 92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE Pro by Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Corvette disaster in GTE Pro
Corvette’s grip on the GTE Pro class disintegrated during this period of the race, first when Nick Tandy suffered a brake pressure problem on the Corvette C8.R # 64, causing an unscheduled stop to correct.
But the biggest blow came when the 63rd leader suffered a failure of the left rear suspension in the Mulsanne when it was 17 seconds. Antonio Garcia had to return in pain and slowly, and the car required lengthy repairs.
Porsche rivals suffered a less severe blow earlier when Frederic Makowiecki received a drive-through penalty on # 91 911 RSR-19 for “constant abuse” of track boundaries. But his quiet 92nd car of Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor now has a sizeable advantage over the late 91st.
There was also drama at Ferrari, as its leader # 52 AF Corse 488 suffered a right front puncture at the hands of Miguel Molina. This has elevated the 51st sister car of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra to third place in its class, behind the Porsches and ahead of the 64th Corvette.
At GTE Am, Cooper MacNeil’s 79th Porsche 911 WeatherTech Racing, Julian Andlauer and Thomas Merrill lead the 77th Dempsey-Proton version of Christian Ried, Harry Tincknell and Seb Priaulx. The No. 98 Northwest Aston Martin Vantage by Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard ranks third.