Audi Leads, Race Behind Safety Car After Alpine Crash

Porsche and Audi continue to battle for the lead at the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the lead changing hands from one German manufacturer to the other.

After eight hours and 125 laps completed, while running behind the safety car, it is the Audi of René Rast, Filipe Albuquerque and Marco Bonanomi that leads the race, ahead of the No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid, now driven by Mark Webber.

The No. 19 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Nico Hülkenberg has taken fourth place, after Romain Dumas in the No. 18 Porsche missed his braking point twice, ending up in the tyre barrier at Mulsanne Corner the second time.

Dumas brought the slightly damaged Porsche back to the pits, where the Porsche crew replaced the front-end of the car and sent the car back out again.

Towards the end of the eighth hour Paul-Loup Chatin crashed the No. 36 Signatech Alpine crashed heavily at Mulsanne Corner. The accident put the race under its third safety car period since the start.

The No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan continues to lead the LMP2 category, Richard Bradly almost a lap ahead of the second placed Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca. The G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 has worked itself up to third place after eight hours.

Jordan Taylor leads GTE-Pro, the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R less than a second ahead of the No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Rob Bell. Alex MacDowall is third, just five seconds further behind.

Pedro Lamy in the No. 98 Aston Martin leads the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia and the No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.

RESULTS: Hour 8