LeMans: 5 Hour update

Unless the No. 7 Toyota has a problem, it is untouchable, pulling away from the German cars of Audi and Porsche at will

Five hours into the 82nd edition of the 24 Heures du Mans, a chaotic and highly competitive race has captivated those watching on.

The weather has proved an erratic presence with long periods of warm sunshine interspersed by intense and localized downpours. One of these showers 90 minutes into the race rendered the Mulsanne Straight treacherous causing a collision between three cars. This included two of the race favorites – Toyota Racing #8, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, and Audi Sport Team Joest #3 with Marco Bonanomi at the wheel. While the Toyota crawled back slowly to the pits, eventually returning to the race nine laps down, Audi #3, along with the GTE AM AF Corse #81, was forced to retire from the race.

Toyota Racing #7 started in pole and continues to lead although the driver line-up of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima temporarily surrendered their lead to Porsche Team #20. Due to the frequent rain, significant spells of the race have been run under safety car conditions. Audi Sport Team Joest #2 lies almost a minute behind in second place. The leading cars had completed 71 laps.

Porsche Team #20 with Brendon Hartley on shift sits in third place and Audi Sport Team Joest #1, including Rolex Testimonee and record nine-time winner Tom Kristensen in its driver line-up, lies fourth having started back in seventh.

#35 Oak Racing currently leads LM P2; #74 Corvette Racing leads GTE Pro and #98 Aston Martin Racing heads up GTE Amateur. Six teams have been forced to abandon the race.

POSITIONS AFTER 5 HOURS

Pos Class Car Drivers Laps Behind
1 LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 72 +0.000s
2 LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 72 +1m44.060s
3 LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 71 +1 Lap
4 LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 71 +45.691s
5 LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 69 +3 Laps
6 LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 67 +5 Laps
7 LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 66 +6 Laps
8 LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 66 +15.798s
9 LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 66 +20.462s
10 LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 66 +1m06.320s
11 LMP2 #26 Morgan Rusinov/Pla/Canal 66 +3m04.783s
12 LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 65 +7 Laps
13 LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 65 +39.484s
14 LMP2 #47 Oreca Howson/Bradley/Imperatori 65 +1m12.030s
15 LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 65 +1m49.894s
16 LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 65 +2m03.613s
17 LMP1 #13 Rebellion Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer 64 +8 Laps
18 LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 64 +22.214s
19 GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 64 +47.887s
20 LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 64 +1m18.180s
21 GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 63 +9 Laps
22 GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 63 +0.985s
23 GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 63 +8.822s
24 GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 63 +9.425s
25 LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 63 +19.442s
26 GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 63 +34.479s
27 GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 63 +55.217s
28 GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 62 +10 Laps
29 GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 62 +22.979s
30 GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 62 +24.709s
31 GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 62 +1m04.130s
32 GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 62 +2m44.214s
33 GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 62 +2m46.900s
34 GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 62 +3m33.165s
35 GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 61 +11 Laps
36 GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 61 +1m18.520s
37 GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 61 +1m24.255s
38 GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 61 +1m26.324s
39 GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 61 +1m35.079s
40 GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 61 +2m57.759s
41 GTEA #60 Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria 60 +12 Laps
42 LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 60 +4.825s
43 LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 59 +13 Laps
44 GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 58 +14 Laps
45 GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 58 +17.439s
46 GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 57 +15 Laps
47 GTEP #52 Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo 50 +22 Laps
48 LMP2 #48 Oreca Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok 35 +37 Laps
49 LMP2 #41 Zytek Munemman/Latif/Winslow 31 Retired
50 GTEP #71 Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta 28 Retired
51 LMP1 #3 Audi Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis 25 Retired
52 GTEA #81 Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird 22 Retired
53 LMP2 #37 Oreca Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani 9 Retired
54 CDNT #0 Nissan Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama 5 Retired