Toyota Still 1-2 After Four Hours; Corvette Leads GTE-Pro

Photo: MPS Agency

Toyota Gazoo Racing is still running 1-2 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with four hours of the race completed, as Kamui Kobayashi leads the field ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Kobayashi, whose No. 7 TS050 Hybrid started from pole, has a one-minute lead over Alonso’s No. 8 car, with the two cars having been in those positions since the start.

Toyota has elected to change the nose cones on both cars in the recent round of pit stops, but did so without losing any time.

Rebellion Racing has the best-placed non-hybrid in third, while its No. 1 car is three laps down, having lost time to a puncture and later a spin.

SMP Racing runs fourth and fifth, close to the No. 3 Rebellion R13 Gibson.

Corvette Racing has held onto its lead of the ultra-competitive GTE-Pro class for a while now, with Mike Rockenfeller currently taking the No. 63 C7.R around the track ahead of Porsche’s Earl Bamber. 

The class’ top five, which includes cars from Corvette, Porsche, AF Corse and Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, is separated by less than ten seconds.

Job van Uitert is out front in LMP2 after passing Nico Lapierre for the lead on track an hour ago, with the G-Drive Racing driver now holding a two-second lead over Lapierre’s Signatech Alpine Matmut teammate Pierre Thiriet.

Julian Andlauer leads GTE-Am for Dempsey-Proton Racing, ahead of the Keating Motorsports Ford GT.

There is yet to be any major incident in the race, with only a few minor accidents, including Henning Enqvist spinning the ARC Bratislava LMP2 car.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.