The lead battle for the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans sees the #19 Porsche now leading piltoed by Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.
The hour started with the third safety car of the race. The #36 Signatech ran off at Mulsanne after crashing into the barrier head first. The safety car had to be extended as to fix the repairs but was soon brought back in with a permanent Yellow Zone used instead.
At the restart, the #9 lead with the two Porsche’s and the #7 Audi by only 10 seconds. However; the #9 cleverly used the Nissan back marker to build a lead over Mark Webber in the #17 Porsche. After the leader pitted, the #19 Porsche piloted by Hulkenberg moved into the lead.
This was proof of the excellent recovery from the #19 after falling back at the start, as the Porsche also got ahead of the #9 Audi putting it in the best position to win. Meanwhile, a stop go penalty harshly affected the #17 Porsches chances.
In LMP2, the KCMG car seems to settling in to a comfortable lead. Richard Bradley is still at the wheel with the #46 G-Drive and the #48 Thiriet, now driven by Nathanael Berthon, on the same lap as the leader.
Meanwhile; in GTE-Pro it seems like a 2 car race with the #99 Aston Martin V8 and the #64 Corvette Racing, the only Corvette left in the race. Meanwhile a good run from Richard Lietz, ensures the #91 Porsche leads the chasing pack.
Finally; in GTE-Am there is little change, with the experienced crew in the #98 Aston Martin piloted by Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Mathius Lauda leads comfortably. A major issue would be the only reason to fall back now.
Top 3 positions after Hour 9 of the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans
LMP1
- #19 Porsche 919 Hybrid – Hulkenberg/Bamber/Tandy
- #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Rast
- #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro – Fassler/Treluyer/Lotterer
LMP2
- #47 KCMG Oreca 05 – Nissan – Howson/Lapierre/Bradley
- #46 Thirlet by TDS Racing Oreca 05 -Nissan – Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy
- #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 – Bird/Rusinov/Canal
LM GTE Pro
- #99 Aston Martin Vantage V8 – Rees/Stanaway/MacDowall
- #64 Corvette Racing – Milner/Gavin/Taylor
- #91 Porsche Team Manthey – Lietz/Christensen/Bergmeister
LM GTE Am
- #98 Aston Martin Racing V8 – Dalla Lana/Lauda/Lamy
- #83 AF Corse Ferrari – Aguas/Perrodo/Collard
- #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia – Shaytar/Bertolini/Basov
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