LM24: Bamber’s Porsche lead Audi duo at halfway point

Autosport

The #19 Porsche led the Le Mans 24 Hours at half distance, with Nick Tandy continuing to keep the pursuing Audis at bay in the middle of the night.

Tandy maintained his car’s commanding position out front as the leaders cycled through more pitstops, with only a light-on-fuel Andre Lotterer briefly appearing to be a match for the #19 Porsche just before the Audi pitted for another tank of diesel.

Lotterer emerged just behind the #9 Audi of Marco Bonanomi, and the pair were running very close together – more than a minute behind Tandy – as the race reached the 12-hour mark.

Behind the lead battle, Brendon Hartley returned to the cockpit of the #17 Porsche for the first time since it served a penalty he picked up for a yellow flag infringement.

Porsche faced more scrutiny from the race officials in the 12th hour, with the team manager of the #18 car being summoned to race control – so far without a reason given.

LMP2:

A slow stop for Nicholas Lapierre has slashed his advantage at the head of LMP2 as the race reaches half-distance.

The #47 KCMG ORECA had more than four minutes in hand over the second-placed #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA before the stop but after a lengthy delay this was cut to just 49 seconds at the end of the hour – the smallest margin it has been for a long time.

Behind Pierre Thiriet, Sam Bird has consolidated third place in the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier, while several of the lower order cars hit problems.

Both the #29 Pegasus Morgan and the #43 Team SARD Morand Morgan brought out the yellow flags when they stopped on track. While the SARD Morand machine has been recovered, the #29 version appears to be out of the race.

GTE:

Fernando Rees kept Aston Martin at the top of the GTE Pro pecking order, despite a mistake that briefly cost it the lead to Corvette.

The Brazilian was under heavy pressure from Oliver Gavin in the fight for the lead, and Rees cracked under braking for the first Mulsanne chicane, locked up and ran across the gravel.

That allowed Gavin to slip through and extend a narrow advantage, before pitting at the end of the lap and handing over to Tommy Milner.

However, Milner stalled and that, combined with Chevrolet fitting a new set of tyres to the C7.R, put the Corvette Racing squad 1m22s down on the #99 Aston with both cars having stopped 11 times.

Toni Vilander ran third for Ferrari by the end of the 12th hour, one stop fewer than the #91 Porsche it leapfrogged by the race’s halfway mark.

The #72 SMP Ferrari topped GTE Am at the hour’s culmination, but in reality the #98 Aston is in control.

Paul dalla Lana handed the Vantage over to Mathias Lauda, who only ceded the lead to the AF Corse-run SMP car when he pit right before the clock struck 3am local time.

POSITIONS AFTER 12 HOURS

PosClassCarDriversLapsGap
1LMP1#19 PorscheHulkenberg, Bamber, Tandy192
2LMP1#9 AudiAlbuquerque, Bonanomi, Rast192+ 1m03.643s
3LMP1#7 AudiFassler, Lotterer, Treluyer192+ 1m06.588s
4LMP1#17 PorscheBernhard, Webber, Hartley191+ 1 Lap
5LMP1#8 AudiDi Grassi, Duval, Jarvis190+ 2 Laps
6LMP1#18 PorscheDumas, Jani, Lieb189+ 3 Laps
7LMP1#2 ToyotaWurz, Sarrazin, Conway188+ 4 Laps
8LMP1#1 ToyotaDavidson, Buemi, Nakajima185+ 7 Laps
9LMP1#13 RebellionImperatori, Kraihamer, Abt179+ 13 Laps
10LMP2#47 OrecaHowson, Bradley, Lapierre174+ 18 Laps
11LMP2#46 OrecaThiriet, Badey, Gommendy174+ 54.503s
12LMP2#26 LigierRusinov, Canal, Bird174+ 56.085s
13LMP2#48 OrecaChandhok, Patterson, Berthon173+ 19 Laps
14LMP2#38 GibsonDolan, Evans, Turvey172+ 20 Laps
15LMP2#28 LigierYacaman, Derani, Gonzalez172+ 58.192s
16LMP2#42 DomeLeventis, Watts, Kane171+ 21 Laps
17LMP2#34 LigierCumming, Vanthoor, Estre170+ 22 Laps
18LMP1#12 RebellionProst, Heidfeld, Beche170+ 4m12.497s
19LMP2#27 BRMediani, Markozov, Minassian165+ 27 Laps
20LMP2#45 OrecaIbanez, Perret, Bellarosa165+ 2m10.690s
21GTE Pro#99 AstonRees, Macdowall, Stanaway165+ 3m26.018s
22GTE Pro#64 ChevroletGavin, Milner, Taylor164+ 28 Laps
23LMP2#31 LigierBrown, Van Overbeek, Fogarty164+ 1m10.829s
24GTE Pro#51 FerrariBruni, Vilander, Fisichella164+ 1m26.676s
25GTE Pro#91 PorscheLietz, Christensen, Bergmeister163+ 29 Laps
26LMP2#35 LigierNicolet, Merlin, Maris163+ 2m10.088s
27LMP2#43 MorganRagues, Webb, Amberg162+ 30 Laps
28GTE Am#98 AstonDalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda162+ 36m42.836s
29GTE Am#72 FerrariShaytar, Bertolini, Basov162+ 37m25.565s
30GTE Am#77 PorscheDempsey, Long, Seefried161+ 31 Laps
31GTE Am#62 FerrariSweedler, Bell, Segal161+ 50.450s
32GTE Pro#71 FerrariRigon, Calado, Beretta161+ 1m34.413s
33LMP2#29 MorganRoussel, Tung, Cheng161+ 3m14.382s
34GTE Am#53 DodgeBleekemolen, Keating, Miller160+ 32 Laps
35GTE Pro#95 AstonSorensen, Thiim, Nygaard160+ 24.453s
36GTE Am#66 FerrariAl Faisal, Giermaziak, Avenatti160+ 3m03.263s
37GTE Am#55 FerrariCameron, Griffin, Mortimer159+ 33 Laps
38GTE Am#83 FerrariPerrodo, Collard, Aguas158+ 34 Laps
39GTE Am#68 PorscheChen, Vannelet, Parisy158+ 50.586s
40GTE Am#61 FerrariMann, Giammaria, Cressoni157+ 35 Laps
41GTE Am#67 PorscheChen, Kapadia, Maassen154+ 38 Laps
42LMP2#30 LigierSharp, Dalziel, Heinemeier Hansson152+ 40 Laps
43LMP2#40 LigierKrohn, Jonsson, Barbosa151+ 41 Laps
44LMP2#37 BRAleshin, Ladygin, Ladygin146+ 46 Laps
45LMP1#23 NissanPla, Mardenborough, Chilton133+ 59 Laps
46LMP1#4 CLMTrummer, Kaffer, Monteiro130+ 62 Laps
47LMP1#22 NissanTincknell, Krumm, Buncombe125+ 67 Laps
48GTE Am#96 AstonGoethe, Hall, Castellacci125+ 1m20.556s
49LMP1#21 NissanMatsuda, Shulzhitskiy, Ordonez115Retired
50LMP2#36 AlpinePanciatici, Chatin, Capillaire110Retired
51GTE Pro#97 AstonTurner, Mucke, Bell110Retired
52GTE Am#50 ChevroletRoda, Ruberti, Poulsen94Retired
53LMP2#41 GibsonHirsch, Paletou, Lancaster71Retired
54GTE Am#88 PorscheRied, Al Qubaisi, Bachler44Retired
55GTE Pro#92 PorschePilet, Makowiecki, Henzler14Retired

LM24: Bamber’s Porsche lead Audi duo at halfway point

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