24 Heures du Mans – Saturday: Toyota n°7 in the lead after more than seven hours of racing

Sign of a new era, the start of the 2017 twice-around-the-clock race was marked by a strong connection with Formula 1. The feud is over: Chase Carey himself came to lower the French flag precisely at 3 PM, unleashing the pack of 60 cars entered for this new edition.

Among them, 16 former Formula 1 drivers. The closest to the limelight are, of course, those installed in an LMP1. A small sign of fate, André Lotterer, a Porsche driver, faces off against Kamui Kobayashi, representing Toyota, whom he replaced in 2014 in the Caterham seat at Spa-Francorchamps. But the Japanese team can boast another even more experienced lineup. This is evidenced by the 115 Formula 1 starts shared between Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson, and Kazuki Nakajima. Even if this trio remains foremost in the collective imagination for this 2016 edition, lost in the nightmare of the last lap.

As the sun gives way to night over the circuit, it’s still a Toyota leading the race. The one that started from Pole over seven hours ago!

24 hours on the clock, the 3rd Round of World Endurance Championship, the 85th Edition of @24hoursoflemans is goooooo! #lemans24 #WEC pic.twitter.com/wzSZtXnhWe — FIA WEC (@FIAWEC) 17 juin 2017

The Toyota No. 7 on the momentum from testing

In a strong position since the Qualifications, number 7 and number 8 are not giving each other any breaks!

From the fiftieth minute of the race, Buemi (no. 8) made a decisive overtake on Mike Conway (car no. 7) towards the Indianapolis curve. The joy was short-lived for the Swiss, who lost the lead after his second pit stop, due to a mistake at the end of his stint at the Mulsanne corner. Starting from pole, the Brit, interim Formula E driver this season for Dragon Racing, regained control. With him, Kobayashi and Stéphane Sarrazin, also competing for Techeetah in the electric championship. The Frenchman was at the wheel of the car at this early evening stage.

Behind the leading duo, they follow the movement as much as possible. The Porsche number 1 stays in the game in second position. At the start, Neel Jani had already shown strength by temporarily rising to this place. His teammate Nick Tandy made a good move by reclaiming this position during the fourth wave of pit stops. The gap with the front even narrowed after a long period in slow-zones, between 8 PM and 9 PM. This was due to the collision between Matthieu Vaxivière’s ORECA and Pierre Kaffer’s Risi Competizione GTE Ferrari. In the traffic, the LMP2 unintentionally sent the Italian car into the rail, just before the braking of the first chicane on the Hunaudières straight. Both drivers were unharmed, but the contact severely damaged the safety rail.

Accident de la Ferrari #82, poussée par l’Oreca #28 @TDSRacing_live #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/4bhqDLumCx

— 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) 17 juin 2017

As a result, the gap now oscillates between fifteen and thirty seconds among the three crews at the top of the standings. But the race is decidedly intense: shortly after 10 PM, Kazuki Nakajima’s Toyota regained the position from the Porsche then driven by André Lotterer.

The lap times on track are generally in favor of Toyota, but reliability tested by the heat could change the balance of power by this Sunday at 3 p.m.

The proof, if any, with the second German car! The Porsche number 2 was brought back to its stand around 6:30 PM.

for an issue with the hybrid system. An hour and five minutes later, the wounded beast was back on track. The winning number from 2016 will have to perform a significant time trial this year to get back to a more respectable position. The car is 17 laps behind the leader.

Rebellion makes its mark in LMP2

The race is intense between two crews from the same team! The fifth hour of the race provided an opportunity for the Rebellion Oreca #31 to take the lead in the category, against its sister car, number 13. But the gap is not yet established, with both parties exchanging the lead, especially during slow zones. The long period of slowdown proved beneficial for #31, driven by a trio including two prominent names: Nico Prost – Bruno Senna – Julien Canal. Car number 13 has Nelson Piquet on board, along with David Hansson and Mathias Beche. As a fun fact, the models are marked with the Vaillante logo from the famous comic book team.

#LEMANS24 – 6H: 🤘🏼
#31 @BSenna – P1 (3:29.517)
#13 @NelsonPiquet – P2 (3:28.801)#VaillanteREBELLION pic.twitter.com/1GB7ftJEnb

— Vaillante Rebellion (@RebellionRacing) June 17, 2017

In the battle for third place in the category, Ho-Pin Tung leads the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA. Facing him, Jean-Eric Vergne delivers some quite satisfying initial stints. The Techeetah driver in Formula E even had a first stint lasting more than two hours after participating in the grand start! The recent winner in Berlin is, moreover, further down in the hierarchy. Felix Rosenqvist is running with his crew in 15th place for an ORECA car. Six places higher, in fact, than a certain “Rookie” named Rubens Barrichello. For his first 24 hours, the Brazilian veteran has teamed up with Racing Team Nederland.

Beautiful battles in GTE Pro!

It is important not to forget the rest of the field, composed of Grand Touring cars. Two Aston Martins have consecutively led the professional drivers’ category. Marco Sorensen experienced a puncture during the fourth hour of the race. Leadership has since been handed to Darren Turner’s #97. A Ford, notably driven by Andy Priaulx, is battling closely against a Corvette, the #97, with Marcel Fassler at the wheel. More diverse fortunes for two other Ferrari crews. In the 71, Sam Bird is running in 29th position. The DS Virgin Racing driver in Formula E still has a chance to see the finish, unlike Giancarlo Fisichella, who shared the seat with the unfortunate Pierre Kaffer.

Finally, the leader in GTE Am was dethroned shortly after 10:30 p.m. Experienced on the Le Mans track (and 32 F1 starts between 1993 and 1996), Aston Martin driver Pedro Lamy suffered a puncture after a major wheel lock-up in the Mulsanne corner.

Leaders après 7h. #LeMans24

LMP1: @Toyota_Hybrid #7
LMP2: @RebellionRacing #31
GTE-Pro: @AMR_Official #97
GTE-Am: @AMR_Official #98 pic.twitter.com/w2erPHZOwR

— 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) 17 juin 2017

Now, it’s time for the night, “mythical” as the established expression goes. See you tomorrow for the finish of these 24 Hours of Le Mans 2017 edition!

The sunset over the @24heuresdumans circuit is magical. #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/oMNQVwPmD3 — 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) 17 June 2017