Le Mans 24 Hours: 8H Update

After eight hours of the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours, TOYOTA RACING’s #8 TR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa led the race under safety car. The #7 TR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries was eighth.

 Mike and Sébastien started from 14th and 15th respectively. They overtook rivals on the opening laps before a strategic decision to pit early for fuel. That paid off and the #8 took the lead when others stopped late in the first hour, with Mike running in fifth.

A rapid stint from Sébastien extended his advantage, while Mike was in a battle for the top six. After two hours, the first driver changes saw Brendon and Nyck take over. The #7 suffered a slow rear-left puncture soon after which required an unplanned pit stop and dropped the car out of the top 10.

When Ryō took the wheel early in the fifth hour, the #8 was part of a battle for the lead with the #38 Cadillac and #20 BMW. Sébastien took over two hours later and, as the on-track race intensified, he closed on the leading BMW at the start of hour eight. Both pitted soon after and the #8 took the lead when its rival changed tyres.  

Kamui drove hard on his stint to overtake rivals on track and in the pits, moving back up to eighth in the sixth hour. Mike returned to the cockpit soon after and maintained the progress, reaching the top six.

A safety car late in the eighth hour saw the leading cars – including the #8 – make pit stops, therefore synchronising fuel strategies.