Here’s a look at 24 notes and statistics through the first six hours of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Leading overall is Kazuki Nakajima, the third driver to compete in the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid. Sebastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso each spent substantial time in front.
24 Notes Thru First Six Hours of 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans
- The two Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrids have led all 360 minutes of the first quarter of the race.
- Buemi, in the No. 8 Toyota, led after the first hour, by 19.978 seconds over Mike Conway. Conway was 1.516 seconds ahead of Buemi after the second hour. Jose Maria Lopez led Fernando Alonso by 4.708 seconds after the third hour, while Alonso was in front of Lopez by 53.360 seconds after the fourth hour and 1.260 seconds at the end of the fifth hour. Kobayashi put the No. 7 ahead of Nakajima by 41.916 seconds at the end of the sixth hour.
- When the sixth hour was completed, Nakajima had completed 93 laps. Only the No. 7 and 8 cars were on the lead lap.
- The No. 8 Toyota made a nose change at the end of the sixth hour, in addition to receiving routine service. The No. 8 has made nine pit stops.
- The No. 8 Toyota has the fastest lap of the race, at 3:17.658.
- Three-time race winner Andre Lotterer made contact with Buemi heading into the first corner moments after the green flag to start the race, and slipped off the track in the next turn. He ran wide, made contact with Ben Hanley (No. 10 Dragonspeed BR Engineering BR1-AER), sending Hanley spinning and Lotterer to the pits for new front bodywork. The No. 10 also drove off the track during the sixth hour and went to the garage for repairs, with Renger van der Zande in the car.
- Since the middle of the fourth hour, the No. 17 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER has emerged as the best non-Toyota entry. Egor Orudzhev solidified himself into third during the fourth hour, and has stayed more than a minute ahead of the nearest Rebellion Racing cars, giving up his seat to co-driver Matevos Isaakyan near the end of the sixth hour). The car remains one lap behind the Toyotas.
- All three drivers in the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07-Gibson led the LMP2 category in the first five hours of the race: Jean-Eric Vergne, Andrea Pizzitola and Roman Rusinov. That car has led longer than any car in the first six hours, including every hour increment, and in addition to leading in class, is sixth overall.
- Other drivers to lead at some point in LMP2 were Will Stevens (No. 23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier JS P217-Gibson).
- At the end of the sixth hour, Rusinov led by one lap over Pierre Thiriet. The car had completed 89 laps.
- The LMGTE-Pro category has been, not surprisingly, ever changing. Several cars have led, and at the end of the sixth hour, 11 cars remained on the lead lap in the category. Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor have put the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR at the front after the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth hours.
- Frederic Makowiecki was the only other driver to lead at the end of an hour, in the Porsche GT Team’s No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR, meaning the German manufacturer has led at the end of each of the first six hours.
- At the end of the sixth hour, Christensen led by three minutes, 9.054 seconds over Martin Tomcyzk in the No. 81 BMW M8 GTE, and completed 83 laps. Porsches occupied three of the top four GTE positions.
- Billy Johnson had suspension damage near the start of the fifth hour, and went off the track. He took the No. 66 Ford GT to the garage for repairs and returned to the track.
- The No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR has led at the end of the third thru sixth hours in the LMGTE-Am class, with all three co-drivers, Matt Campbell, Julien Andlauer and team principal Christian Ried, all taking turns atop the leaderboard.
- Among other leaders were the No. 86 Porsche 911 RSR, by Ben Barker (led at the end of the first hour) and the No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE, by Thomas Flohr (led at the end of the second hour).
- At the end of the sixth hour, Christian Ried led by three minutes, 36.365 seconds over Jorg Bergmeister.
- There have been two safety car periods. The first, in the fourth hour (came out three hours and 37 minutes into the race), was for debris scattered around the track. That safety car period lasted approximately 16 minutes.
- The second, for an incident involving Dominik Kraihamer, was in the fifth hour (four hours and 17 minutes into the race), and cleanup forced the period to last approximately 31 minutes.
- Kraihamer’s accident in the No. 4 ByKolles Racing Team ENSO CLM P1/01 was the only retirement through six hours.
- In addition to the two safety car periods, extended, long periods of the race containing slow zones were brought about by incidents involving Michael Wainwright (No. 86 Porsche 911 RSR) in the second hour (one-hour, 39-minute mark) and Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 32 United Autosports Ligier JS P217-Gibson) during the sixth hour (five-hour, 51-minute mark).
- The No. 11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER suffered a sensor failure during the second hour and fell nearly 50 laps behind the leaders. Jenson Button brought the car out during the fifth hour.
- Among the drivers given warnings about abusing track limits are Tracy Krohn (No. 44 Eurasia Motorsport Ligier JS P217-Gibson) and Kevin Estre (No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR).
- The weather has seen a light drizzle in the first hour, to mostly cloudy and partly sunny skies during the third through sixth hours. The temperature has measured anywhere between 66 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit (19 to 22 degrees Celsius). Winds have been quiet, from 4 to 9 mph (6 to 14 kph).
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