Audi took the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours as the leading Toyota his trouble at the end of the 14th hour.
Kazuki Nakajima appeared to have the threat of the #2 Audi under control after Stephane Sarrazin had struggled to prevent Andre Lotterer and then Benoit Treluyer from making inroads into its lead.
However, the Toyota then came to a halt near Arnage corner with an electrical problem, and was officially retired from the race shortly after.
Behind the new leader, Brendon Hartley’s Porsche continued to run ahead of Lucas di Grassi in the #1 Audi, which had fallen out of a podium spot when it suffered fuel injection problems in the previous hour.
The second #14 Porsche lost its top five spot to the #8 Toyota, which continued its recovery following Nicolas Lapierre’s crash early in the race.
The #35 OAK-run Ligier maintained its lead in LMP2 with Jann Mardenborough at the wheel, with the Signatech ORECA of Oliver Webb giving chase in second.
Darren Turner repassed Giancarlo Fisichella to ensure Aston Martin retained the lead in GTE Pro, and the British marquee also heads the Am division as well.
Turner had dropped behind Fisichella by virtue of taking on tyres in a pitstop right at the end of the previous hour but was quickly catching the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia when he rejoined the track.
A six-second gap was reduced to nothing within half an hour and soon after Turner breezed past on the Mulsanne straight to, not for the first time in this race, wrest the lead away from the Italian.
A pitstop for Fisichella, during which he took on tyres, coupled with a stop for Turner that involved him double-stinting his rubber, extended the Briton’s advantage further.
Long-time frontrunner Corvette’s lead #74 C7.R dropped to fourth behind the #92 Manthey Porsche after spending time in the garage changing brakes, though the team insisted this was pre-planned and maintained it was in the running for victory.
While the #95 Aston Martin continues unabated in GTE Am, the order behind it has changed. The #61 AF Corse Ferrari is now second, with the #88 Proton Competition Porsche third after the SMP Ferrari was wheeled into the garage twice with mechanical problems.
POSITIONS AFTER 14 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 220 2. LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 219 + 1 Lap 3. LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 217 + 3 Laps 4. LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 217 + 1m33.417s 5. LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 208 + 12 Laps 6. LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 208 + 39.524s 7. LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 204 + 16 Laps 8. LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 204 + 1m14.822s 9. LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 203 + 17 Laps 10. LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 203 + 2m06.439s 11. LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 201 + 19 Laps 12. LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 201 + 1m33.702s 13. LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 201 + 3m05.431s 14. LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 200 + 20 Laps 15. LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 196 + 24 Laps 16. LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 194 + 26 Laps 17. GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 194 + 1m46.787s 18. GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 194 + 2m22.906s 19. GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 193 + 27 Laps 20. GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 193 + 1m09.670s 21. LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 192 + 28 Laps 22. LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 192 + 3m54.048s 23. GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 192 + 3m55.421s 24. GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 191 + 29 Laps 25. LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 190 + 30 Laps 26. GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 190 + 49.879s 27. GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 189 + 31 Laps 28. GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 188 + 32 Laps 29. GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 188 + 1m33.761s 30. GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 187 + 33 Laps 31. GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 187 + 12.399s 32. GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 186 + 34 Laps 33. GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 186 + 56.526s 34. GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 185 + 35 Laps 35. GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 183 + 37 Laps 36. GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 183 + 8.443s 37. GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 181 + 39 Laps 38. GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 180 + 40 Laps 39. GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 176 + 44 Laps 40. GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 163 + 57 Laps 41. GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 163 + 1m05.975s 42. GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 152 + 68 Laps 43. GTEP #52 Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo 139 + 81 Laps 44. LMP2 #26 Morgan Rusinov/Pla/Canal 120 Retired 45. GTEA #60 Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria 115 Retired 46. LMP2 #47 Oreca Howson/Bradley/Imperatori 87 Retired 47. LMP1 #13 Rebellion Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer 73 Retired 48. LMP2 #48 Oreca Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok 73 Retired 49. LMP2 #41 Zytek Munemman/Latif/Winslow 31 Retired 50. GTEP #71 Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta 28 Retired 51. LMP1 #3 Audi Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis 25 Retired 52. GTEA #81 Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird 22 Retired 53. LMP2 #37 Oreca Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani 9 Retired 54. CDNT #0 Nissan Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama 5 Retired
