After 9 hours of frantic motion, Toyota’s Ryo Hirakawa led in its #8 automotive after erstwhile chief Kubica was given a 30s cease/go penalty for inflicting an enormous crash on the Mulsanne Straight.
Hour seven started with a quick however arduous rain bathe as darkness fell, with Kubica’s #83 AF Corse Ferrari main the #5 manufacturing unit Porsche by over 45s. Kubica pitted for wets, because the manufacturing unit Ferraris stayed out on slicks, and such had been the circumstances that Kubica even lapped the #51 Ferrari because it slithered round ready for the observe to dry.
A full-course yellow was quickly required when the #60 Claudio Schiavoni spun his Iron Lynx Lamborghini GT3 automotive firmly into the barrier on the second Mulsanne chicane.
Kubica reported a gearbox temperature alarm however was advised to press on together with his moist tyres, now nicely forward of Hirakawa in Toyota #8. Kubica switched out his wets after seven laps for smooth slicks however retained his lead because the #8 did likewise, placing the #50 Ferrari again to second – and Niklas Nielsen then carved into Kubica’s lead having made a internet acquire by staying on slicks.
The race’s first full security automotive was required when chief Kubica clashed at excessive velocity with the delayed #15 BMW Dries Vanthoor, who slammed closely into the obstacles on the finish of the Mulsanne Straight, the Belgian complaining of foot ache as he hobbled away.
Vanthoor was making an attempt to remain on the lead lap they usually had been each lapping the #92 Manthey Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3 automotive on the time – “he was racing me and pushing me to the moist,” complained Kubica.
After a prolonged security automotive interval for barrier repairs of over 90 minutes, throughout which a canine bought unfastened on the observe, the rain returned for the restart in the direction of the top of hour eight. The race went inexperienced with most automobiles on slicks, with the #5 Porsche of Fred Makowiecki and #311 Cadillac of Pipo Derani staying out to guide whereas most others dived for the pits to take wets.
The wet-shod Kubica shortly picked off Derani and chased down Makowiecki, passing him simply earlier than the top of the next lap. However Kubica was assessed a 30s cease/go penalty for the Vanthoor conflict.
He prolonged a 6s benefit over Hirakawa, who inherited the lead when Kubica took his penalty.
On the hour 9 level, Laurens Vanthoor ran second within the #6 Porsche, 15s behind Hirakawa and 10s forward of the #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries.
Kubica rejoined in sixth behind the #2 Cadillac of Alex Lynn; Makowiecki tumbled to eleventh on his slicks after his cussed gamble failed terribly.
Lynn handed the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco for fifth, pushing the sooner dominant Ferrari again to a 5-6-7.
In LMP2, the #10 Vector Sport Oreca of Stephane Richelmi misplaced his class lead in the course of the security automotive section, which promoted the #37 Cool Racing automotive to the lead – even supposing Lorenzo Fluxa had earlier spun coming into the pits in the course of the rain. The #22 United Autosports and #24 Nielsen Racing entries additionally benefited.
Extra turmoil occurred when the #30 Duqueine Group automotive caught fireplace on the Mulsanne Straight in Jakub Smiechowski’s fingers.
On the hour 9 level, Malthe Jakobsen led within the #37 from Fabio Scherer within the #24 and Ben Barnicoat in AF Corse’s #183 – with the #10 chasing them in fourth.
Within the new LMGT3 class, there was early drama in the beginning of hour seven when Maxime Martin within the frontrunning #46 BMW he’d simply taken over from Valentino Rossi clumsily punted Ben Hanley’s much-delayed #23 United LMP2 automotive right into a spin. Martin bought away with a warning for the incident and led the #92 Manthey PureRxing Porsche, which had a grandstand view of Vanthoor’s big shunt.
The polewinning #70 McLaren then went into the storage in a cloud of steam after Brendon Iribe had clearly hit one thing strong.
On the restart following the lengthy security automotive, Klaus Bachler spun the #92 Porsche coming into the pits and dropped method down the order.
That handed the benefit to the sister #91 Porsche of Richard Lietz, who had stayed out on slicks, however Bachler atoned by charging again to the entrance of the category, main Dennis Olsen’s Proton Ford Mustang. Jordan Taylor can also be within the combine in Spirit of Race’s Ferrari 296.
Simply earlier than the top of the hour, Ahmad Al Harthy spun off on the Esses within the #46 BMW – taking it utterly out of the battle for honours.