Field Settles Down with Six Hours to Go

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

The field has settled down after a hectic early morning period as the 24 Hours of Le Mans reaches three-quarter race distance, with six hours left on the clock.

Sebastien Buemi continues to lead the way in the No. 5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, 31 seconds up the road from team-mate Mike Conway in the No. 6 car. Marc Lieb runs in third position for the No. 2 Porsche crew having taken over from Neel Jani.

The two Audi R18s are fourth and fifth but look to be out of contention for the overall win after a troublesome race so far for the Audi Sport Team Joest crew.

Stephane Richelmi paces the LMP2 field with his No. 36 Signatech Alpine A460 Nissan, which has been out front for a while. G-Drive Racing is back up to second position with Rene Rast behind the wheel of its Oreca 05 Nissan.

Victor Shaytar is currently third in the No. 37 SMP Racing-run BR Engineering BR 01 Nissan, while Jonny Kane is fourth for Strakka Racing, which has thus far run a quiet but consistent race.

It’s still between Risi Competizione and the No. 68 Ford GT in GTE-Pro, as Matteo Mallucelli heads the class in the No. 82 Ferrari 488 GTE, while Dirk Mueller is in the Ford.

Mueller had to serve a drive-through penalty as the result of refueling with the engine still on, but he kept hold of second position ahead of the sister No. 69 car of Richard Westbrook.

Bill Sweedler is behind the wheel of the No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari F458 Italia which tops the GTE-Am category.

The American is ahead of Khaled Al Qubaisi’s Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR in second.

Jake Kilshaw

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