Drama upon drama played out in this remarkable edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours played out in the mid-morning sunshine at Circuit de la Sarthe with the leading #1 Audi hitting trouble and handing the lead over to the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

A battle brewed between the top two as the race went in to the final four hours with Andre Lotterer setting a series of fastest laps in his pursuit of the Porsche which was being driven by Timo Bernhard. The Audi had a one pit stop advantage over its rival and when Bernhard made his required stop he re-joined just eight seconds ahead of the charging Lotterer and was increasingly exposed to the #2 Audi e-tron Quattro.

The #46 TDS Ligier, which began the race on pole, held the lead in LMP2 but a left front puncture handed the new OAK Racing Ligier-Nissan the lead back after it had led earlier for so long before a rear brake problem lost it time.

For the first time in the entirety of the race the LMGTE Pro class saw a clear leader with Toni Vilander enjoying some air between his AF Corse run Ferrari 458 Italia and the second placed #92 Manthey Porsche 911 RSR.

The Chevrolet Corvette’s placed 3rd – #73 and 5th – #74, with Jordan Tayloe battling gamely to catch the second placed Porsche driven by Richard Leitz. The gap stood at just under a minute.

The #95 Aston Martin still leads GTE Pro Am. 8 Star Motorsports place in 4^th place with Krohn Racing 5^th and Dempsey in 6^th to ensure a strong showing for US based teams.