Little would unfold throughout the next few hours despite t the Toyota crew working frantically to install a new front MGU going into the #8 Toyota TS050 via the cockpit. Matters would get far worse however at the half-way point of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the lead #7 Toyota would come to mechanical issue involving the clutch. As confirmed by Toyota, the lead car would succumb to problems with the clutch of the ICE to the transmission, of which has seen the car creep around the circuit until Kamui Kobayashi had to retire the car.
For #8, the car would also see mechanic issue involving the front mounted MGU unit, which had a failed housing for the drive shaft. The job took two hours, which saw the unit being replaced through the cockpit.
Moments later, the #9 TS050 saw a puncture, which ripped apart the rear end, and thus caused a small fire as the carbon rubbed away on the tyre. The car made it within 250 yards of pit-lane entry before being told to switch off power. Porsche now led the race with Nick Tandy at the wheel with Earl Bamber another 8 laps in arrears.
In LMP2, the drama that has fallen upon LMP1, has seen #31 Rebellion Racing move their way to third overall and first in class with Nico prost leading a Rebellion 1-2. GTE Pro had seen a clear run by the brand-new Porsche 911 RSRs, which has seen them lead the class at the halfway mark. James Calado was just +0.5 seconds behind with Scott Dixon of the Ford GT some 5 seconds down. GTE has been the calmest of the classes so far, Dries Vanthoor leads for JMW Motorsport in the #84 Ferrari 488 GTE closely followed by Rob Bell of the #35 Aston Martin Vantage. The GT field hogged most of the headlines as the second half of the race ticked over, with slow zones and reshuffling of the order seeing Heinemeier Hansson scythe his way up to the top of the LMP2 field but with Ollie Jarvis closing in on his lead in the number 38 Jackie Chan Oreca.
Hansson put up a strong defence, but the experience of Jarvis eventually saw the ex-Audi works drive seize the class lead out of Tertre Rouge and second outright behind Lotterer in the number 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The jubilation for Jota Sport and DC racing simmered though, with the news that the team were “under investigation” for their last pit-stop, with the result still yet to be decided.
The number 2 Porsche had made its way back up to 14th outright and was fairing much better than the remaining number 8 Toyota TS050, which was stilled mired in 30th position. Kazuki Nakajima was now circulating in the 3 min 19 second bracket, however will need to rely on attrition - still a high possbility with today's expected hot weather - to have any hope of a decent result.
The number 92 Porsche of Michael Christnsen was confirmed as a retirement just after 4am after colliding with the barriers, effectively giving Aston Martin enough breathing space to consolidate the top two positions in GTE Pro. Fernando Rees gave Corvette a scare after his excursion at Mulsanne, but was able to resume in 52nd position as Ferrari dominated the LMGTE Am class in the hands of Robert Smith and Ross Gunn.
With seven hours remaining the number 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid enjoyed a 12 lap advantage over the second-placed LMP2 entry - the number 13 Rebellion.The number thirteen car endured a scare during their last stop when the exiting Piquet experienced a power failure during the driver change. However, a quick change from the Rebellion crew got the car back out on track without losing position to the number 31 sister entry.