WEC - Porsche Out in Front, Aston Martin Leading in GTE
WEC - 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans - 18 Hours Race Report
With just 6 hours of the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans remaining and with the sun now rising above the grandstands the teams are now looking at getting to the chequered flag.
With the demise of the two leading Toyotas there are only three LMP1 hybrid still running and two of those are recovering from earlier issues. The no1 Porsche 919 of Nick Tandy has a 12 lap lead over the second placed LMP2 car and is 14 laps ahead of the no2 919 of Earl Bamber, the Kiwi is currently in 10th overall, and 17 laps ahead of the no8 TS050 of Anthony Davidson who is in 14th place.
In the LMGTE Pro class Aston Martin are still out in front but the British team have not had it all their own way. The no95 Vantage of Richie Stanaway went off at Mulsanne while leading the class and hit the barriers. The New Zealander recovered the car to the pits promoting the no63 Corvette into the lead of the class. Jonny Adam in the no97 Aston Martin passed the American car to retake the lead just before the clock hit the six hour point. Porsche are running in third place with Fred Makowiecki in the no91 911 and the no67 Ford is 4th.
The LMP2 class is currenty led by the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca07 of Thomas Laurent with the no13 Vaillant Rebellion of David Heinemeier-Hansson in second place nearly 1 lap down. The no31 Vaillant Rebellion of Nicolas Prost has dropped down the order after being pushed back into the garage with an unknown issue.
The LMGTE Am class is currently a 1-2-3 for Ferrari. The class is still led by the no84 JMW Motorsport F488 with Dries Vanthoor holding a 1 lap advantage over his nearest rival which is Duncan Cameron in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. The no62 Scuderia Corsa F488 is lying in third 2minutes 30 seconds behind Cameron. The no99 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin of Oliver Bryant is fourth,