and the number six of Mike Conway, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kamui Kobayashi pulled the rug out from under Porsche and Audi to lead the race and record the fastest lap so far with Kobayashi on a 3:21.445.
After an hour behind the safety car in the rain, standing water was suitably removed to begin proceedings with Porsche leading the way in the hands of Romain Dumas, but surprisingly the TS050 of Mike Conway managing to stay in tow.
Toyota’s ability to run to fourteen laps has given the Japanese a massive strategic advantage over Porsche and Audi by the region of one to two laps.
Sebastien Buemi took the fight head-on after 8am Sunday morning, putting a move on the Mike Conway Toyota and controlling the race after a tussle with the number 2 Porsche.
Turbo issues hit the number seven Audi R18 early (requiring a complete turbo-charger change), but both Audi’s managed to crawl back to fourth and fifth when the number one Porsche of Webber, Hartley and Bernhard encountered overheating issues and was forced to spend an hour in the pits changing a broken water-pump.
The number seven car once again struck trouble at the twelve hour mark but was able to start again under electric power to complete a full-lap back into the pits.
Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stephane Richelmi took victory for Signatech Alpine after controlling the race for the final three hours ahead of G-Drive Racing and SMP Racing.
It was Lapierr'es second LMP2 crown in two years at Le Mans, and the Frenchman was circumspect on his achievement.
"You need a little bit of luck here for sure" said Lapierre. "But also you need good team mates. To have two [wins] in a row here is very special and with a French brand like Alpine makes it even more special."
Risi Competizione has startled Ford to lead the #GTE Pro class leading Ford in second and third. The number. 66 Ford GT had been in podium contention until it when it lost a lap with electrical problems, however Dirk Muller, Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais used the speed advantage of the Ford GT to take a one minute victory.
The Abu Dhabi Proton Porsche has had a three hour turn in the lead of GTE am ahead of both the number 98 Aston Martin Vantage and the number 78 Porsche KCMG, but eventual victory fell the way of Scuderia Corsa’s 458 in the hands of Jeffery Segal, Townsend Bell and William Sweeder.