Porsche, Audi and Toyota have continued to run strongly through the night into the second turn of the clock, and it is the No.19 Porsche 919 Hybrid which leads the way after completing 291 laps.  Nick Tandy is now at the wheel, replacing Nico Hulkenberg who drove through the dawn to the new day, and holds a lap lead over Mark Webber in the red, No.17 Porsche.  The No.9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of René Rast is holding third position at the moment, ahead of the three Audis (Nos.9, 7 and No.8 in that order), the No.18 Porsche and the two Toyota Racing TS040 HYBRIDS.  Marcel Fässler’s No.7 Audi was running second in the early hours of the morning but lost part of its engine cover, and the place, just before 07h00 as it had to make a slightly longer stop than normal for rapid repairs.

Both Rebellion Racing R-One AERs have run into problems, the most serious being to the No.12 of Prost-Heidfeld-Beche which had an ‘off’ at Indianapolis and needed a new nose, and then returned to the pits with an apparent engine issue and lost over 1.5 hours for repairs.  The No.13 was delayed but currently holds 16th position overall.

In LMP2 KCMG is still running strongly at the head of the class, 9th overall, and the No.47 ORECA 05 now has a lap in hand over the No.26 G-Drive Racing Ligier which is being pursued by the No.38 of 2014 class winner JOTA Sport.  The SARD Morand Morgan Evo was a retirement just after the mid-race mark with a mechanical problem but the bigger news in LMP2 was the exit of the Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA 05 after contact with LMGTE class challenger, the No.99 Aston Martin Vantage of Fernando Rees.

With the Aston Martin delayed for repairs in the pits, it was left to the No.64 Corvette and WEC class leaders AF Corse to battle it out in LMGTE Pro and there is barely a .  After simultaneous pit stops, the two toughed it out down the pit lane and it was the American car which just managed to exit the pit lane ahead of the Italian stallion.  They are running nose to tail, with the No.91 Porsche Team Manthey in third place.

The biggest incident of this quarter was a huge accident for the No.96 Aston Martin Vantage of Roald Goethe at the exit of the Porsche Curves at 07h40 in the morning.  The German has been taken to the medical centre and was reported by Aston Martin Racing to have been alert and conscious but complaining of back pain.

Despite a small excursion through a gravel trap, the No.98 of Dalla Lana-Lamy-Lauda has not yielded its place at the head of the LMGTE Am class and the British car now holds a lap in hand over the No.72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.  Third in class is the ever-popular No.77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Dempsey, Patrick Long and Marco Seefried.

All results for each hour can be found HERE