Le Mans Hour 5: Toyota holds lead, Risi crashes

Saturday, 17 June 2017



By Stephen Kilbey / Image by JEP/LAT
With 19 hours remaining in the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, the No. 7 Toyota's lead remains comfortable, despite Nick Tandy – and later Andre Lotterer's – best efforts in the second-place No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid to close the gap. It's only a 43-second lead though, with the sole remaining Porsche in contention very much still in the race, and able to match the lead pace at times.

Third is still the No. 8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID, with Kazuki Nakajima unable to close the gap enough to put pressure on the No. 1; it's now 18 seconds. Behind the No. 9 is beginning to enter the running, after its early issues. Jose Maria Lopez was able to set multiple 3m19s laps in his first stint, to claw his way back into the race. It's two minutes and 15 seconds back, but still crucially on the lead lap, and capable of setting times similar to the leaders. It did however have a loose door, with Yuji Kunimoto at the wheel as the hour ended.

The second Porsche has rejoined the race, but after a 65-minute stop after it lost drive with a front axle problem, it's down to 55th position.
The LMP2 class now has just nine cars left on the lead lap, with the two Rebellion ORECAs up front – the No. 31 leading the No. 12.
Ho Pin Tung in the No. 38 made the only significant move, climbing to third in the lead Jackie Chan DC ORECA up the inside of Jonatahn Hirschi at the Dunlop Bridge.
Incident-wise, there was further trouble for the No. 36 Signatech Alpine which had an off in the first hour. Romain Dumas brought the car in for repairs.
GTE Pro is still a door-to-door slog. Jonny Adam heads the field in the No. 97 Aston Martin by 50 seconds over the No. 67 Ford GT of Pipo Derani, which has emerged as a contender as the race has settled down. The No. 66 is third, but out of sync, meaning the No. 64 Corvette of Marcel Fassler holds the true position.
Further down the order, the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 of Pierre Kaffer had a sizeable shunt at the end of the hour. He came into contact with Matthieu Vaxiviere in the recovering TDS Racing ORECA, who clipped his front end while making an erratic move on him down the Mulsanne Straight, sending him veering into the barriers. The front end of the Ferrari was destroyed; the TDS ORECA continued.
Kaffer thankfully walked away, but it's a bitter end to IMSA team Risi's 2017 Le Mans adventure.
Mathias Lauda has now extended the GTE Am lead for the No. 98 Aston Martin crew, with Rob Smith in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari second, and the No. 90 TF Sport Aston back into the top three after a cracking stint by Euan Hankey.