Le Mans Hour 8: Drama for No. 8 Toyota

Just as the LMP1 battle appeared to be settling down for the night hours, the No. 8 Toyota – running second with Sebastien Buemi at the wheel – was pushed back into the garage with hour eight winding down.

Prior to the stop the Swiss had been complaining of issues with throttle response, holding off Neel Jani's 919, which is just 1.5 seconds back in third overall.

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The car came in, with an front-motor unit issue, forcing the mechanics to use fire extinguishers to clear the smoke coming from the wheel arches before taking it into the garage to diagnose the issue.

It's now the No. 7 Toyota of Mike Conway leading the No. 1 Porsche, with the No. 9 TS050 HYBRID of Nicolas Lapierre, moving into third spot, as the No. 8 sits in its pit box.

LMP2 also saw drama at the top. The No. 13 Rebellion ORECA now leads the class, after the sister No. 31 was handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking in a slow zone, costing it the lead.

Bruno Senna in the penalized car is now second, with Oliver Jarvis in the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA just 25 seconds back in third.

GTE Pro was the only class that was a stalemate at the front through the 60 minutes of action.

The No. 97 Aston Martin continues to lead, although Harry Tincknell has reduced the gap to just 11 seconds in the No. 67 Ford. Third place is now held by the No. 92 Porsche, which has climbed up the order since a spin in the opening hours, due to the misfortunes of others, and consistent pace from its drivers.

Behind, two contenders suffered dramas. The No. 64 Corvette of Tommy Milner had a huge off at the Porsche Curves, the American going backward into a wall, ripping off the car's rear wing and damaging the back enough to cause the left-rear wheel to attach. Milner tried to get back to the pits quickly, but had a spin at the pit entry, getting beached into the gravel.

After being recovered, he eventually made it back in for the mechanics to push it in the garage for what looks set to be lengthy repairs.

The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari was penalized for track limits. A drive-through penalty dropped the car to last position among the GTE Pro cars still running without issues.

Like LMP1 and LMP2, GTE Am was turned on its head, too. The No. 98 Aston Martin, which had pitted for a slow puncture during hour six, then had a major blowout down Mulsanne, with Pedro Lamy having the front-left Dunlop explode on him, destroying the front-right corner. It cost the car four laps of repairs in the garage and 14 places.

JMW Motorsport has therefore inherited the lead, with the No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin up to second in the hands of McLaren works driver Rob Bell. The Spirit of Race Ferrari has dropped to third.