Le Mans – H+15: The race under safety car regime

Since the setbacks of Toyota before halfway, Porsche is firmly attached to first place in the general classification. With the 919 Hybrid n°1, the German brand is currently getting through the pitfalls and technical problems which have largely affected its rival.

When the safety car came into action following the exit of the track by Emmanuel Collard (Oreca 07 n°28 TDS Racing) at the Kating corner, Andre Lotterer had retained, before giving up his place to Neel Jani, his ten laps lead over the first LM P2 in the general classification, namely the No. 07 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 13 of Nelson Piquet Jr.

The Brazilian took advantage of the stoppage of Oliver Jarvis and the replacement of the driver of the #07 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 38 by his teammate Ho-Pin Tung to regain control of the category, with a margin of just under 6″. Bruno Senna, who replaced Julien Canal in the No. 07 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca 31, keeps a possible category podium in sight, being one lap behind Piquet Jr.

Porsche leads in GTE Pro

Si Aston Martin et Ferrari regularly placed their Vantage and 488 at the forefront during the last hours of the race, we must not forget the Porsche n°91 rescued from Lietz – Pilet – Makowiecki. Porsche GT is currently in the lead under safety car regime, with Richard Lietz, ahead of the two Aston Martins #95 of Marco Sorensen and #97 of Daniel Serra. The staggered strategies caused the two Ferrari AF Corse n°51 of Calado and n°71 of Rigon to fall back to 6th and 7th positions in the category behind the first Ford n°67 of Andy Priaulx and the Corvette C7.R n°63 by Jan Magnussen.

Note that Ferrari pushed the #71 into its box for a quick intervention. The Italian brand also maintains the advantage in GTE Am, still with the #488 JMW Motorsport 84 of Robert Smith.

Live-Text of the 24 Hours of Le Mans