2018 24 Hours of Le Mans – Hour 18 Update – Business as usual as GTE Pro battle brews

The pair of Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050’s continue to lead with the #8 forty-two seconds out in front of the #7 on the eighteenth hour.

10 laps down, the #3 Rebellion Racing R13 occupies the final podium spot, the sister #1 car is the only other car within touching distance, just twenty-three seconds back.

With the #10 Dragonspeed our of action following its collision with the barrier, the only other LMP1 running is the #11 SMP Racing car of Vitaly Petrov, Mikhail Aleshin and Jenson Button, who are forty-three laps down after spending over two hours in the pits in the early stages of the race.

Business as usual in LMP2

Credit: Craig Robertson

At the close of the hour Jean-Eric Vergne continued the #26 G-Drive Racing dominance of the LMP2 class, one lap ahead of the #23 Panis Barthez Competition and a further lap ahead of the #36 Signatech Alpine Matmut cars.

Other than a couple of driver changes the class remains the same as it has done.

Porsche in charge of GTE Pro

The #92 ‘Pink Pig’ Porsche 911 RSR remains in charge of GTE Pro, the sister #91 car remains on the lead lap, but two and a half minutes down.

The #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA of Joey Hand, Dirk Muller and Sebastian Bourdais could challenge for third place as Muller looks to close down the thirty second gap to the second place Porsche.

Credit: Craig Robertson

Fourth place could be a point of contention over the next hour as the #63 Corvette Racing C7.R leads the #69 and #67 Ford GT’s, all three cars lap within twenty-six seconds of each other.

The #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo is a further minute and twenty seconds off of the battle, but could join the trio if it can close the gap.

Dempsey-Proton Racing lead GTE Am

The #77 Dempsey-Proton car remains out front of the GTE Am fight as the second place battle closes up with the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE heading up the #85 Keating Motorsports Ferrari 488GTE. At the end of the hour there was only thirty-five seconds between the pair.

Team Project 1 continue to do a solid job on their 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in fourth place with the #99 Proton Competition Porsche on the same lap.

2018 24 Hours of Le Mans – Standings after 17 hours

LMP1

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

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 – Joey Hand – Dirk Muller – Sebastian Bourdais

GTE Am

1. #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing – Porsche 911 RSR – Matt Campbell – Christian Ried – Julien Andlauer
2. #54 Spirit of Race – Ferrari F488 GTE – Thomas Flohr – Francesco Castellacci – Giancarlo Fisichella
3. #85 Keating Motorsports – Ferrari F488 GTE – Ben Keating – Jeroen Bleekemolen – Luca Stolz