2018 24 Hours of Le Mans – Hour 11 Update – Conway In Command

As the race plunges into the depths of the night at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the #7 Toyota with British driver Mike Conway at the wheel, still has a healthy lead of 2m:11s over the second-placed #8 TS050 Hybrid.

Sebastien Buemi was hit with a 60 second stop/go penalty several laps before the top of the hour, for speeding in a slow zone, hence the larger gap to the lead Toyota. Both of the Toyota’s have pegged back their lap times slightly, compared to earlier in the evening. A driver change then saw Fernando Alonso take over from Buemi, as he immediately began to take large amounts of time out of Conway’s lead.

Three laps further down the field in the third position is the #3 Rebellion R13, currently being driven by Mathias Beche. His teammate André Lotterer is a further lap behind and due for a stop very soon.

The #11 SMP Racing BR1 with Vitaly Petrov continues to try to make up for lost time after the #17 sister car disappeared in a cloud of steam and fire.

Credit: Craig Robertson

LMP2

The #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 of Rusinov, Vergne and Andrea Pizzitola remain firmly in contention at the front of the P2 field. A lap down from the #26 car is the second (in class) placed Signatech Alpine Matmut A470 with Pierre Thiriet driving his night stints.

Julien Canal in the Panis Barthez Ligier some 30 seconds back has been putting in some consistent times as he tries to reduce the gap to the Alpine.

Elsewhere the #33 Jackie Chan DC Racing Ligier and #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca continue to battle for position further down the field in 18th and 19th position.

GTE-PRO

Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR “Pink Pig” continues to dominate the GTE-Pro class, with a comfortable 20 lap gap to the #91 Porsche driven by Richard Lietz.
The #68 Ford GT with Joey Hand is holding fast in third position, and the #52 AF Corse Giovinazzi car in fourth once again.

The #81 BMW M8 GTE received a drive-through penalty for refuelling while it was up on the jacks in the pit lane.

Credit: Craig Robertson

GTE-AM

In GTE-Am, the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 has Matt Campbell at the wheel, has a decent lead of almost 90 seconds on the second place #84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari driven by Cooper Macneil, with the #85 Keating Motorsports in third place with their Ferrari 488 GTE and Luca Stoltz another 21 seconds behind in.

2018 24 Hours of Le Mans Standings After  11 Hours

LMP1

1. #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 – Hybrid – Mike Conway – Kamui Kobayashi – Jose Maria Lopez
2. #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Toyota TS050 – Hybrid – Sébastien Buemi – Kazuki Nakajima – Fernando Alonso
3. #3 Rebellion Racing – Rebellion R13 – Gibson – Thomas Laurent – Mathias Beche – Gustavo Menezes

LMP2

1. #26 G-Drive Racing – Oreca 07 – Gibson – Roman Rusinov – Andrea Pizzitola – Jean-Eric Vergne
2. #23 Panis Barthez Competition – Ligier JSP217 – Gibson – Thimothé Buret – Julien Canal –  Will Stevens
3. #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut – Alpine A470 – Gibson – Nicolas Lapierre – Andre Negra0 – Pierre Thiriet

GTE-PRO

1. #92 Porsche GT Team – Porsche 911 RSR – Michael Christensen – Kevin Estre – Laurens Vanthoor
2. #91 Porsche GT Team – Porsche 911 RSR – Richard Lietz – Gianmaria Bruni – Frédéric Makowiecki
3. #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA – Ford GT – Joey Hand – Dirk Müller – Sébastien Bourdais

GTE-AM

1. #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Matt Campbell – Christian Ried – Julien Andlauer
2. #84 JMW Motorsport – Ferrari 488 GTE –  Liam Griffin – Cooper Macneil – Jeffrey Segal
3. #85 Keating Motorsports – Ferrari 488 GTE – Ben Keating – Jeroen Bleekemolen – Luca Stolz