Disrupted by three safety car interventions for a total of more than an hour of neutralisation, the last four hours at Le Mans have seen the #7 Toyota of Conway/Kobayashi/López carve out a bigger lead on the #8 sister car. In LMP2, the United Autosports's #22 ORECA 07 and G-Drive Racing's #26 ORECA 07 were in the top spots. In LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am, the fight got tighter and the gaps smaller.
Eight hours into the race, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing's #7 Toyota TS050-Hybrid of Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López held the lead on the #8 sister car forced to return to the garage during the neutralisation caused by an incident for ByKOLLES Racing's #4 Enso CLM P1/01-Gibson. The #1 and #3 Rebellions followed at one and two laps, respectively. Bruno Spengler's car lost its rear spoiler at 21:00, losing all downforce going into the Forest Esses, causing a 31-minute neutralisation. The French driver did manage to return to ByKOLLES Racing's pit where considerable work awaited the Austrian team's mechanics.
There was no shortage of excitement in LMP2. After a neutralisation caused by an incident for AF Corse's #52 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel of G-Drive Racing's #26 ORECA 07-Gibson caught up to Jackie Chan DC Racing's #37 ORECA 07-Gibson driven by Gabriel Aubry. A stunning fight then broke out between the two French drivers while Alex Brundle (United Autosports' #22 ORECA 07-Gibson) trailed by 00:01.10, Anthony Davidson (JOTA Sport's #38 ORECA 07-Gibson) by 00:02.06 and Matthieu Vaxivière (Panis Racing's #31 ORECA 07-Gibson) by 00:02.15. The action heated up with a new neutralisation after an incident for ByKOLLES Racing's #4 Enso CLM P1/01-Gibson. Just shy of the top 5, Tristan Gommendy (Duqueine Team's #30 ORECA 07-Gibson) left the track violently around the first Mulsanne chicane. At the same moment, Gabriel Aubry stopped Jackie Chan DC Racing's #37 ORECA 07-Gibson at the edge of the track at Arnage. He managed to get the car back to the garage, but lost a great deal of time. After restarting, the #26 driver had to do battle with Alex Brundle driving United Autosports' #22 ORECA 07-Gibson.
In LMGTE Pro, the duel between Aston Martin Racing's #97 Vantage AMR of Maxime Martin/Alex Lynn/Harry Tincknell and AF Corse's #51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Daniel Serra separated them by only a handful of seconds. At one lap from the leaders, AF Corse's other Ferrari 488 GTE EVO (#71) shared by Davide Rigon/Miguel Molina/Sam Bird held its ground ahead of the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of by Nicki Thiim/Marco Sørensen/Richard Westbrook.
In LMGTE Am, after a 26-minute neutralisation due to an incident for AF Corse's #52 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by Alexander West, the battle resumed between the team's #83 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO shared by François Perrodo/Emmanuel Collard/Nicklas Nielsen, the TF Sport team's #90 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Salih Yoluc/Charles Eastwood/Jonathan Adam, Team Project 1's #56 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Edigio Perfetti/Larry Ten Voorde/Matteo Cairoli and Aston Martin Racing's #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Paul Dalla Lana/Ross Gunn/Augusto Farfus, with all cars in the same five seconds.
LMP1
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/ José María López
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Brendon Hartley
Rebellion Racing’s #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Bruno Senna/Norman Nato/Gustavo Menezes
Rebellion Racing’s #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Romain Dumas/Nathanaël Berthon/Louis Delétraz
LMP2
United Autosports’ #32 ORECA 07-Gibson of William Owen/Alex Brundle/Job van Uitert
G-Drive Racing’s #26 Aurus 01-Gibson of Roman Rusinov/Jean-Eric Vergne/Mikkel Jensen
JOTA Sport’s #38 ORECA 07-Gibson of Anthony Davidson/ António Félix da Costa /Roberto Gonzalez
LMGTE Pro
Aston Martin Racing’s #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Maxime Martin/Alex Lynn/Harry Tincknell
AF Corse’s #51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Daniel Serra
AF Corse’s #71 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Davide Rigon/Miguel Molina/Sam Bird
LMGTE Am
AF Corse’s #83 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO AF of François Perrodo/Emmanuel Collard/Nicklas Nielsen
TF Sport’s #90 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Salih Yoluc/Charles Eastwood/Jonathan Adam
Aston Martin Racing’s #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Paul Dalla Lana/Ross Gunn/Augusto Farfus
RETIREMENTS: #11, #55, #30.
