In the early morning hours the number 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) is fighting for the lead in Le Mans with the number 6 Toyota. An exciting virtual duel has developed as the two cars have different refuelling intervals. The number 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid rejoined the race at 01:56 hours with Brendon Hartley at the wheel after a two-and-a-half hour long repair. The water pump change and the repair to the subsequent damage had thrown the car back to 53rd, and down 39 laps. At 05:00 hrs in the morning the car was back in 46th.
“It is disappointing that we lost so much time,: Hartley commented. “The team is working incredibly hard to rescue what can be rescued. Now it’s about bringing it home and getting some points for the championship. We were unlucky at the beginning with two full course yellows. But we were definitely in the fight for the top. The issue that we had was one we never had before. We were pretty confident coming into this race after the endurance tests we had. Motorsport can be cruel sometimes. It will take some days to get over it, but now we just keep pushing.”
How the race has gone so far – after 10 hours:
In the early evening the second driver changes had been due for the Porsche Team. Webber took over the leading number 1 car after 50 laps at 18:25 hrs. One lap later, Dumas jumped out of the number 2 sister car to hand it over to Lieb, who continued in fourth position.
Both drivers did a triple stint. Webber stopped for fuel after 63 and 76 laps. After 89 laps he handed the leading 919 back to start driver Bernhard, who received fresh slick tyres. Lieb came in after 64 and 77 laps for refuelling. At the driver and tyre change after 90 laps he was in third position. Jani got behind the wheel again at 20:49 hrs.
On lap 96 Bernhard lost around 45 seconds to the number 6 Toyota when he had to go through a “slow zone” while the Toyota was in the pits. In return, when Bernhard’s next pit stop was due, only 80 km/h was allowed on parts of the track. Such circumstances continuously caused the gaps between the cars to expand and close also for Jani.
After Bernhard was very unlucky again with a long slow zone, which ended when Jani approached and the Swiss did faster lap times, the two Porsches swapped positions on lap 121 at 22:42 hrs. Now Jani was second behind the Toyota with Bernhard on his heels.
Bernhard refuelled after 102 and 115 laps. After he wasn’t satisfied anymore with the tyre performance, it was decided to do a tyre change after 128 laps when Bernhard handed over to Hartley. Only one lap later the Kiwi had to pit again because of the water temperatures was too high, and the car was pushed back in the garage at 23:13 hrs.
Meanwhile Jani did the Porsche Team’s first quadruple stint. He refuelled after 103, 116 and 129 laps. After 143 laps at 00:13 hrs he handed over the leading car to Dumas.
While the Porsche 919 Hybrid refuelled after every 13 laps, Toyota benefitted from a 14-lap interval.
After 14 hours
Dumas had been at the wheel of the number 2 car since 00:13 hrs. Driving in second position, he refuelled after 156 laps at 01:00 hrs during a safety car period and got new Michelin tyres as well, because anyway he had to wait for the pit lane exit to open. The time he lost while waiting dropped him back to third. But he immediately improved to second again, as the track went green at 01:25 hrs. His next stop for fuel was after 171 laps at 02:06 hrs. The next time he picked up fuel was after 184 laps at 02:53 hrs, before he finished his quadruple stint after 197 laps at 03:38 hrs and handed the car over to Lieb. The German refuelled after 210 laps for the first time and had an unscheduled pit stop for tyres after 215 laps, due to a puncture.
The number 1 Porsche that is a long way behind refuelled after 143 and 156 laps. With 169 laps completed, Hartley handed the car over to Mark Webber at 04:13 hrs.
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