The #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley continues to lead the 24 Hours of Le Mans after five hours of running.
A rapid 51 second pit stop from the Porsche crew ensured that the New Zealander could emerge ahead of Filipe Albuquerque in the #9 Audi.
Albuquerque made history early on in the fifth hour when he broke the Le Mans race lap record with a 3:17.647s lap time.
The Portuguese driver is currently on his second stint in the ‘third’ Audi and is continuing to lap in the low 3 minute 22s.
Third in LMP1 is the #7 Audi of Benoit Tréluyer, while Marc Lieb and Earl Bamber are continuing their chase in the #18 and #19 Porsches.
In sixth is Anthony Davidson in the #1 Toyota, while Lucas di Grassi has climbed up to 8th in the recovering #8 Audi.
In GTE-Pro, Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner leads after winning an intense dice with Aston Martin Racing’s Fernando Rees. Rees overtook Milner with a clean move at the entrance to the Forza Chicane, although Milner paid his Brazilian rival back by blasting past on the approach to Indianapolis.
Darren Turner (#97 Aston Martin) is currently third in class, having recovered from an early spin at the Forza Chicane, while Olivier Beretta has just assumed driving duties in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari, which lies in fourth.
Aston Martin Racing continues to be a threat in GTE (Credit: Aston Martin Racing)
KCMG has maintained its lead at the head of the LMP2 field, with former Toyota LMP1 driver Nicolas Lapierre setting the pace aboard the team’s metallic blue ORECA 05.
Greaves Motorsport’s Gary Hirsch is now second in class after Ludovic Badey brought the Thiriet ORECA into the pits, while Murphy Prototypes, Signatech Alpine and G-Drive Racing all remain in the hunt.
In GTE-Am, the #98 Aston Martin holds the lead with Mathias Lauda at the helm. Lauda obtained the lead after a pit stop for SMP Racing’s Aleksey Basov, who remains second in class. The Riley Motorsports Viper has held third for much of the hour, with TUSCC campaigner Ben Keating at the wheel in his first ever Le Mans appearance.
Top 3 positions after Hour 1 of the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans
LMP1
- #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Bernhard/Webber/Hartley
- #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Rast
- #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer
LMP2
- #47 KCMG Oreca 05 – Nissan – Howson/Bradley/Lapierre
- #41 Greaves Motorsport Gibson 015S – Nissan – Hirsch/Paletou/Lancaster
- #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 – Nissan – Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy
LM GTE Pro
- #64 Corvette Racing C7R – Gavin/Milner/Taylor
- #99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 – Rees/MacDowall/Stanaway
- #97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 – Turner/Mücke/Bell
LM GTE Am
- #98 Aston Martin Racing V8 – Dalla Lana/Lauda/Lamy
- #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia – Shaytar/Bertolini/Basov
- #53 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R – Bleekemolen/Keating/Miller
