2018 24 Hours of Le Mans – Hour 8 Update: #7 Toyota Leads Into The Night

As darkness begins to set in at the Circuit de la Sarthe after one third of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans, the two Toyota TS050 Hybrids continue to lead at the front of the field.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 car still being driven by Kamui Kobayashi continues to lead ahead of its sister #8 machine now driven by Sebastien Buemi after the latest set of pitstops.

Behind the leading pair has seen late action in the eighth hour of the race as the #17 SMP Racing BR1 of Matevos Isaakyan appeared to spin off the track at the Porsche Curves and is attempted to be fixed by the Russian on the side of the road after being forbidden to drive it back to the pits by the marshals.

SMP’s problems has therefore moved the two Rebellions of Thomas Laurent and Andre Lotterer into third and fourth in LMP1 ahead of the SMP that looks set to keep tumbling down the leaderboard with the two CEFC TRSM Racing Ginetta’s still circulating in sixth and seventh in class.

LMP2: G-Drive Continues To Dominate  

The #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 continues to be out in front in LMP2 as Jean-Eric Vergne leads the Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine of Andre Negrao and Will Stevens is in third in the Panis Barthez Competition Ligier.  

Credit: Craig Robertson

Harrison Newey in the #35 SMP Dallara suffered a puncture and had to nurse the car back to the pits, dropping his car down to 13th in LMP2 behind the #31 DragonSpeed Oreca.

GTE Pro: Porsche Lead One-Two-Three

Laurens Vanthoor in the #92 Porsche leads teammate Frederic Makowiecki in the other Manthey-ran 911 RSR. The #93 machine of Nick Tandy lies third in GTE Pro.

Credit: Craig Robertson

Behind the leading trio sits the BMW Team MTEK M8 of Phillipp Eng and the leading Ford GT of Sebastien Bourdais in fifth. Sixth sees another different manufacturer as the AF Course Ferrari of Luis Felipe Derani leads Richard Westbrook in the second Ford Chip Gnassi Team USA GT.

Both of the new-for 2018 Aston Martin Vantage AMR’s continue to be reliable in the class with Nicki Thiim in 11th and Jonny Adam 13th in class.

GTE Am: Dempsey-Proton Racing Leads JMW

The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 of Julien Andlauer continues to battle with the #84 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 of Jeff Segal at the end of the eighth hour. The second Dempsey machine of Matteo Cairoli sits third in class.

The #98 Aston Martin Racing entry of Paul Dalla Lana appears to be all but out of the race after hitting the barriers at the Porsche Curves at the end of the previous hour.

2018 24 Hours of Le Mans – Standings after 8 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 – Hustavo Menezes

LMP2

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

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. #93 Porsche GT Team – Porsche 911 RSR – Patrick Pilet – Nick Tandy – Earl Bamber

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. #56 Team Project 1 – Porsche 911 RSR – Matteo Cairoli – Kahaled Al Qubaisi – Giorgio Roda