GTE Pro field remains tight in Le Mans Hour 15

A routine pit stop for the No. 2 Porsche early in the hour saw Timo Bernhard relieve Brendon Hartley at the wheel of the recovering 919, now in 13th position overall and beginning to work its way through the lower half of the LMP2 field.

There was a brief hiccup for the third-place LMP2 (and fourth overall) runner No. 31 Rebellion, which stopped and appeared to require a "hard reset" on the way into the Esses. Julien Canal was at the wheel and was soon up and running again.

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Also in LMP2, the class leader and second overall No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca had a routine stop and was on its way, with Oliver Jarvis remaining at the controls. Almost simulateneously the No. 13 Rebellion, third overall and second in LMP2, came in with Nelson Piquet Jr. at the wheel.

The recovering No. 8 Toyota, meanwhile, broke into the top 30 overall just before the hour's halfway mark, Kazuki Nakajima currently at the wheel.

GTE Pro continued to be finely poised, with nine cars on the class lead lap (and only seconds separating third to sixth), while in GTE Am, the No. 84 JMW Ferrari ticked off another routine stop without any complications, Will Stevens remaining at the wheel.

Karun Chandhok in the Tockwith Ligier managed a full 360-degree spin on the way out of the Porsche Curves, ending up in the gravel and requiring recovery by a telehandler.

Having stopped and restarted at Mulsanne during the previous hour, the No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin (GTE Am) ended up deep in the gravel at the exit of the Porsche Curves after a wild moment for Salih Yoluc. This saw the sector become a slow zone once again almost as quickly as it had reverted to green after Chandhok's incident.

With less than 20 minutes of the hour to run, the third full Safety Car of the race was deployed when the No. 28 TDS Racing Oreca (LMP2) shunted heavily at the exit of the Porsche Curves, with Emmanuel Collard at the wheel. Several teams elected to make pit stops and even extended garage visits at this point, carrying out planned maintenance and – in the case of the No. 71 GTE Pro Ferrari – brake changes.

The hour ended under the Safety Car, with the No. 1 Porsche, No. 13 Rebellion, No. 91 Porsche and No. 84 Ferrari leading LMP1, LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am respectively.