Toyota Still Leads At Le Mans After Ten Hours

The No. 7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid has increased its lead in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After ten hours Alexander Wurz is leading the two remaining Audis by more than two minutes.

Alex Brundle, who took over from Jann Mardenborough, leads in LMP2. The No. 35 G-Drive Racing by OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan held onto the lead, while its competitors in the LMP2 category battled for second place.

Just before the end of the tenth hour Thiriet by TDS Racing driver Ludovic Badey was given a 35-second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At that moment the No. 46 Ligier JS P2 Nissan was second in class.

The penalty for Badey resulted in the No. 36 Signatech-Alpine entry inheriting second and the No. 34 Race Performance Oreca taking third place.

In GTE-Pro Aston Martin, Ferrari and Corvette were still engaged in a battle for the class lead. At 1 a.m. Stefan Mücke was in the lead, but the No. 74 Corvette C7.R and the No. 51 Ferrari 458 Italia were still within striking distance.

There were problems for the No. 91 Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR. Just after 11.30 p.m. Patrick Pilet returned to the pits with a fuel pressure problem. The Porsche team worked on the problem for 41 minutes before sending Pilet out again.

Aston Martin Racing’s Pedro Lamy lost the GTE-Am lead just before the end of the tenth hour, when the No. 98 Vantage returned to the pits steaming. The car was quickly pushed into the box, where it was diagnosed with a power steering issue.

With the No. 98 in the box, the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage inherited the GTE-Am lead, ahead of the No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari and the No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche. The No. 77 Porsche was given a three-minute stop and go for spinning its wheels in the pits.

Two more cars retired in the last couple of hours. The No. 48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca Nissan went off at the Porsche Curves and Nathanael Berthon couldn’t get the car back to the pits, while the No. 60 AF Corse Ferrari is also out of the race.