Le Mans 24h: Toyota's chances take a hit as night falls

In the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, Stephane Sarrazin consolidated a 15-second gap on the sister car of Kazuki Nakajima, who passed Andre Lotterer's #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid for second place in the run up to Porsche Curves.

The German three-time winner remained in third some 10 seconds behind Nakajima before handing over the car to Neel Jani.

The #8 Toyota lost time when Sebastien Buemi took over from Nakajima under green just before the #7 Toyota and the #1 Porsche managed to make a stop during a slow zone.

That put the #8 Toyota back in third behind Jani, but Buemi quickly got past his Swiss compatriot to retake second some 22 seconds behind Conway, who had taken over the #7 Toyota from Sarrazin.

With Porsche’s #2 car losing 17 laps to front-axle hybrid problems in the fourth hour, Toyota also lost its first bullet when Buemi had pit from second with hybrid issues of his own.

The #8 car was wheeled back into the garage for repairs, where it will remain for a long time while Toyota replace the front motors.

Following the drama on the other side of the garage the #9 Toyota of Nicolas Lapierre moved up to third. Lapierre is a lap down after an additional stop for a loose cockpit door when debutant Yuji Kunimoto was behind the wheel.

LMP2: Rebellion remains in control

Rebellion retains its grip on the LMP2 battle. Bruno Senna’s #31 Oreca 07 was increasing an already healthy lead on the #13 sister car, which was caught out more than once by ill-timed slow zones for various incidents. 

However the #13 car managed to catch back up after Senna was hit with a drive-through penalty for overtaking under a yellow. After another full-length pitstop for fuel and tyres the #13 car snuck ahead with Nelson Piquet Jr behind the wheel, maintaining a nine-second lead on Senna.

Oliver Jarvis was another 34 seconds down in the #38 DC Racing Oreca ahead of Simon Trummer's #25 Manor car, while Nelson Panciatici entered the top five in his #35 Signatech Alpine with a pass on Manor's Tor Graves.

The #28 TDS Oreca lost two laps when it was handed a seven-minute stop-and-go penalty for an incident involving Matthieu Vaxiviere and the #82 Risi Ferrari 488 GTE of Pierre Kaffer.

Vaxiviere was attempting to pass Kaffer heading into the first Mulsanne chicane, but moved over on the Ferrari driver and clipped him before the move was complete, pitching the German into the barriers.

The #82 Ferrari was declared as the race's fourth official retirement shortly after.

GTE: Aston Martin back to the front

In GTE Pro, Daniel Serra leads in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage with a 12-second gap to Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT.

Drama struck the #64 Corvette when Tommy Milner spun into the barriers at Virage du Pont, taking the rear wing off in the process. The American tried to bring his car back to the pits, but spun again at the pitlane entrance and had to be craned out of the gravel trap.

Tincknell is being chased down by Michael Christensen the first of the mid-engined works Porsche 911 RSRs and the #69 Ford GT of Olivier Pla.

The #95 Aston Martin, which was leading the race when it fell down the order with a puncture, has moved back up to fifth in class.

Sam Bird’s #71 AF Corse Ferrari was hit with a drive-through penalty for repeatedly violating track limits, which put that car to the bottom of the category.

The GTE Am battle was also turned upside down when Pedro Lamy punctured his right front tyre in the leading #98 due to a huge flatspot.

As a result, the #84 JMW Ferrari driven by Will Stevens inherited the lead ahead of the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin and the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari.