2015 24 Hours Of Le Mans: Hour 7 Update – Audi leads, KCMG dominates

Audi Sport and Porsche have been sharing the lead between them this last hour at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, but KCMG and their Oreca 05 have absolutely dominated LMP2.

At the start of the seventh hour, and with a full WEC race behind them, Filipe Albuquerque took an early lead as Mark Webber pitted the #17 for more fuel and notably this hour saw the lead change mainly because of pit stops rather than passes on track.

However, that wasn’t needed for the #47 KCMG of Matthew Howson as they just kept racing and racing, giving themselves a lap advantage over the second Oreca 05 of Thiriet by TDS Racing before the time they came into pit. After a standard stop they came out with more than two minutes in hand.

Indeed just before the pit stop, they lapped the Signatech Alpine which was third in class a sign of just how much pace that car has at Le Mans.

KCMG have been in a class of their own for this hour, lapping their own class (Credit: KCMG)

In the GTE Pro class, the Corvette of Jordan Taylor kept a steady lead over the chasing #99 and #97 Aston Martins with a scrap for the lead that lasted the full hour.

In the Am class, the #98 Aston Martin of Mathias Lauda managed to keep the AF Corse Ferrari of Rui Aguas at bay for the hour with the pace of the V8 Vantage clear for all to see.

Back at the front of the race, Rene Rast took over from Albuquerque in the leading Audi after a three hour stint by the young driver – allowing Webber to get back through to the lead.

That didn’t last long however, and the #9 was soon back through to the race lead with the #7 of Marcel Fassler making up the podium positions

Top 3 positions in each class after Hour 7 of the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans

LMP1

• #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Rast
• #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Bernhard/Webber/Hartley
• #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer