Le Mans 24 Hours: 12H Update

At half distance of the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours, TOYOTA RACING’s #8 TR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa was fourth. The #7 TR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries was fifth.

After starting from 14th, the #7 car gained positions on the track and via fast laps on a clear track thanks to an early fuel stop. However, it lost time due to a puncture after around three hours, dropping it out of the top 10. Strong pace from all drivers helped it move back into the top eight.

An effective strategy and Sébastien’s pace on a clear track helped the #8 into the lead when his rivals pitted later in the opening hour, starting a three-way battle at the front which ran until a safety car in the eighth hour. After 45 minutes, racing resumed with Sébastien leading and Mike moving into the top six at the restart until a fuel stop and driver change for Nyck dropped the #7 car to 13th.

Brendon took over the race-leading #8 after nine hours while Nyck moved back into the top 10. Midway through hour nine, Brendon ran wide at Mulsanne corner, eliminating his gap at the front and requiring new tyres at the next stop, dropping the #8 to fourth. He fought back though, and overtook the #12 Cadillac for second, before handing over to Ryō at the end of his stint early in the 11th hour.

Strong pace from Nyck, then Kamui, helped the #7 TR010 HYBRID move into top-six contention as the halfway point approached, including overtaking the #101 Cadillac immediately after the second of two full course yellows.