Buemi pulls #8 Toyota clear from sister car

Sebastien Buemi has maintained the rapid pace produced by teammates Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima to open up a useful lead for the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing over its sister car with six hours remaining of the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Having seen Alonso produce a blitzing pace to launch the #8 Toyota attack, Nakajima was the driver to retake the lead as morning broke on the Circuit de la Sarthe before handing over to Buemi. Both Toyotas had to serve a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for speeding in slow zones, with Buemi and Mike Conway taking their stops on the same lap, but it is the Swiss driver who has pulled ahead from the chasing #7 car.

Despite the Toyota penalties, the #3 Rebellion Racing remains 10 laps back and is coming under pressure from its fellow Rebellion car, the #1 driven by Andre Lotterer, with less than one minute splitting the two.

The #26 G-Drive Oreca continues to maintain its one lap advantage over the chasing #23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier who is edging ahead of the #36 Signatech Alpine Malmut in third place.

Similarly, the #92 Porsche GT Team is conversing its handy advantage having profited from the earlier safety car period and leads by well over two minutes from the sister #91 Porsche who is feeling the pressure from the #68 Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA with less than 30 seconds splitting the pair.

In the GTE-Am class the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche holds a lap lead on the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari but did see teammate Matteo Cairoli crash out in the #88 car while fighting inside the top five of the class. The #85 Keating Motorsports Ferrari is keeping chase with the #54 in the hunt for second place with the pair split by 30 seconds.