Toyota, Alonso close in on Le Mans victory
Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima are closing in on Toyota's maiden victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after pulling one lap clear of the sister #8 car following an error by Kamui Kobayashi that caused a fuel shortage.
Having enjoyed an advantage of around 90 seconds since the 21-hour mark, Nakajima took over from Alonso in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid for his final stint of the race with two-and-a-half hours remaining, keeping the gap stable to Kobayashi in second place.
Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima are closing in on Toyota's maiden victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after pulling one lap clear of the sister #8 car following an error by Kamui Kobayashi that caused a fuel shortage.
Having enjoyed an advantage of around 90 seconds since the 21-hour mark, Nakajima took over from Alonso in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid for his final stint of the race with two-and-a-half hours remaining, keeping the gap stable to Kobayashi in second place.
However, drama struck in the 23rd hour when Kobayashi began to slow while running down the Mulsanne Straight, bringing back memories of Nakajima's shock stoppage on the final lap in 2016 that denied Toyota a near-certain victory.
Kobayashi was told to put his Full Course Yellow limiter on to slow the #7 Toyota down in order to save fuel, only for the car to then return to full speed in the final sector of the lap before coming into the pits.
Toyota confirmed that Kobayashi had missed the call to pit one lap earlier, meaning he completed a 12-lap stint instead of the planned 11 that had been fuelled for, forcing the Japanese driver to drop his pace off.
The setback allowed Nakajima to pull out a lap's advantage over the #7 Toyota heading into the final hour, putting the #8 crew on the brink of their maiden Le Mans victory.
There was little change in LMP2 through to the end of the 23rd hour as G-Drive Racing continued to lead with ease at the front of the class, enjoying a two-lap buffer to the #36 Signatech Alpine in second place. The #39 Graff-SO24 entry sits third overall, 90 seconds back from the Signatech Alpine car ahead.
Porsche continued to dominate proceedings in GTE-Pro heading into the final hour of the race, with the #92 Porsche 911 RSR holding a two-minute advantage over the sister #91 Porsche. Despite pressure from Ford through late morning, the #91 car was able to pull out a 20-second buffer heading into the final hour.
Porsche also looks set to take top honours in GTE-Am courtesy of its Dempsey-Proton Racing customer team, which is running almst one lap ahead of the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE. Spirit of Race managed to move up to second after Keating Motorsports owner Ben Keating beached his #85 Ferrari in the gravel at Mulsanne, causing the team to drop to third in class.
