Porsche Assumes GTE-Pro Class Lead With Eight Hours to Go

Photo: Porsche

The No. 91 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 RSR has assumed the GTE-Pro class lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, following a recent pit stop for the leading No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE, with 16 hours of the race complete.

Richard Lietz holds a six-second class lead over the No. 63 Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen, with Patrick Pilet’s No. 93 Porsche running third in the class, which has seen the majority of the battles.

A Full Course Yellow was deployed in Hour 16 for an accident by the No. 86 Gulf Racing Porsche of Michael Wainwright, which also saw the No. 60 Kessel Racing Ferrari beached in a seperate incident.

The No. 69 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook, meanwhile, was wheeled to the garage with radio issues but quickly resumed.

Up front, Toyota remains in command of the race, with the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Jose Maria Lopez some two minutes ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in second.

The pair of Toyotas currently have a four-lap lead over the best LMP1 non-hybrid, the No. 3 Rebellion Racing R13 Gibson of Gustavo Menezes.

LMP2 continues to be led by the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01, while Keating Mootrsports continues to control GTE-Am with its Ford GT.

A heavy crash by Pastor Maldando in the No. 31 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson, who was running fourth in class at the time, brought out the race’s seventh safety car period of the race early in the 16th hour. 

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John