Conway regains lead in Hour 2 at Le Mans

After two hours of racing, the No. 7 Toyota HYBRID TS050 has reclaimed the lead in the race, after Conway slipped past Sebastien Buemi in traffic. The British driver managed to create a margin of 5.7 seconds after Buemi made a small error at Arnage, but Buemi clawed it back to a single second at the end of the second hour.

Third – and 25 seconds back – is still the No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Neel Jani, ahead of the sister No. 2 of Timo Bernhard. Over a minute off the lead, and in fifth spot, is the No. 9 Toyota of Nicolas Lapierre, which is struggling to keep up with the leading pack in pace.

The sixth LMP1 car on the entry, the ByKolles CLM P1/01 meanwhile, appears to be an early retirement after its contact on the first lap with the No. 9 Toyota, that forced Oliver Webb into the garage. The official reason for its demise is engine trouble, though.

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In LMP2, it's a Rebellion 1-2, with the No. 31 ORECA of Nicolas Prost (pictured), holding a 20-second advantage over teammate Mathias Beche after the class' third set of stops.

Best of the rest is the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Thomas Laurent, who took over from Oliver Jarvis, and has made up much of the deficit from its starter problem during its first trip to pit lane.

The best of the Manor ORECAs – the 24 – is fourth, with the sister Jackie Chan DC ORECA of Alex Brundle, fifth. It's a class which was fruit-machine-like in the early laps, and continues to be topsy-turvy up front with no sign of settling down.

GTE Pro continued to be tight at the top through the second hour, with Marco Sorensen – in for Nicki Thiim – driving the No. 95 Vantage, leading the way.

Directly behind, the No. 66 Ford of Olivier Pla has moved into second after the second set of stops, with the No. 92 Porsche, now at the hands of Michael Christensen after an impressive first stint by Kevin Estre, third.

The No. 97 Aston Martin slipped back to fourth after the second stops, Darren Turner handing over to Daniel Serra for his first ever Le Mans race stint. The No. 63 Corvette is up to fifth, after a gamble, pitting early during a slow zone for the first big accident of the race, to gain time.

The aforementioned accident, casuing the slow zone was at the Porsche Curves. Roman Rusinov in the No. 26 G-Drive ORECA plowed into the GTE Am No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche of Khaled Al Qubaisi, both cars hitting the wall 20 minutes into the second hour. It appears that both have consequently retired as a result, with severe damage.

G-Drive Racing's other entry in the race – the No. 22 run by DragonSpeed – which has also been in the wars with gearbox issues – is back into the race however, but down in 58th place, losing 49 minutes in the box.

Am is led by the No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Bill Sweedler, but by just a 1.4-second margin over Paul Dalla Lana in the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage.

Rob Bell in the TF Sport Aston Martin handed over to Salih Yoluc at the end of the hour, the Turkish driver rejoining the race third.