12 hours down, 12 hours to go in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and the #7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopez continues to lead at the midway point of the race as the crews get settled into their nightshift stints.
LMP1: Toyota Well Ahead
The Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 of Jose Maria Lopez leads Fernando Alonso in the #8 car.
After being neck and neck with it’s teammate before it received a one minute penalty earlier in the race, the #8 car of Alonso lies in second despite his best efforts to make up time. The Spaniard set the fastest first and second sector times of the race during the last 60 minutes.
Behind the two Toyota’s sees the pair of Rebellions lying third and fourth in LMP1, with the #3 car of Mathias Beche leading the #4 of Bruno Senna, albeit five laps adrift of the two TS050 Hybrids and a lap between the two R13s.
The two CFTC TRSM Racing Ginetta’s again continue to be part of the race, exceeding many people’s expectations before the race began, albeit it with the two cars currently in 49th and 55th respectively.
The recovering #11 SMP Racing machine of Vitaly Petrov sits in 54th place after its early dramas, while its sister #17 car appears to be officially out of the race after the doors on its garage closed.
LMP2: G-Drive Remains Out In Front
The #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 of Roman Rusinov remains in the lead of LMP2 ahead of the Panis Barthez Competition of Timothe Buret.The Signatech Alpine Matmut of Nicolas Lapierre rounds out the top three after 12 hours.
Photo Credit: Craig Robertson
The #31 DragonSpeed machine of Pastor Maldonado suffered a trip to the gravel but continues to circulate in 14th in class.
GTE-Pro: Porsche One-Two After 12 Hours
The GTE-Pro class seems to have settled down a little, with the #92 ‘Pink Pig’ machine of Michael Christensen leading its sister #91 car driven by Gianmaria Bruni. Third in class after the demise of both Team MTEK BMW’s is the #68 Chip Ganassi Ford of Dirk Muller.
Photo Credit: Craig Robertson
Ryan Briscoe is fourth in the class ahead of the ever improving #63 Corvette of Antonio Garcia.
GTE-AM: Dempsey-Proton Remains Out In Front
The GTE-Am class has the #77 Porsche of Julien Andlauer ahead of the #85 Keating Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE of Jeroen Bleekemolen with Liam Griffin in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari in third.
The #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda is now officially retired after it’s accident earlier in the race.
2018 24 HOURS OF LE MANS STANDINGS AFTER 12 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.#85 Keating Motorsports – Ferrari 488 GTE – Ben Keating – Jeroen Bleekemolen – Luca Stolz
3.#84 JMW Motorsport – Ferrari 488 GTE – Liam Griffin – Cooper Macneil – Jeffrey Segal
