24 Hours of Le Mans: Porsche holds advantage at halfway point

The No. 19 Porsche of Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber lead the 83rd running of 24 Hour of Le Mans after the 12 hour mark, maintaining a minute’s gap overs the No. 9 and No. 7 Audi.

The No. 17 Porsche entry of Mark Webber/Brendon Hartley/Timo Bernhard) - which took over the lead of the race from its sister car on the opening lap - trails a lap down in fourth place, having been hit with a one minute stop and go penalty for passing another car under yellow flag conditions.

The No. 18 pole-sitting Porsche also had its fair share of troubles, with Neel Jani hitting the tyre barrier at Mulsanne corner and requiring a visit to the garage. The car is currently running in sixth place, behind the third Audi of Grassi/Duval/Jarvis.

Earlier in the day, Duval himself had a major accident while lapping the GTE cars, but some swift work by mechanics got him out of the garage in just over 4 minutes.

With the two Volkswagen Group companies embroiled in a battle of their own to conquer Le Mans, last year’s WEC champions Toyota have been relegated to the position of the third best LMP1 team, with the No. 2 car leading its sister car by four laps.

LMP2: KCMG hold stations

In Le Mans' LMP2 class, KCMG leads the field, despite serving a drive through penalty and losing further time in a lengthy repair job to fix an issue with front of the car.

Thiriet By Tds Racing and G-Drive Racing are in class podium positions with the Murphy Prototypes entry of Karun Chandhok/Mark Patterson/Nathanel Berthon a lap down in fourth place.

GTE PRO: Aston Martin and Corvette battle for Le Mans class victory

The No. 99 Aston Martin and the sole remaining No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette trade the top position in GTE Pro class, with the British luxury car maker just ahead at the 12 hour mark.

The #51 AF Corse of Giancarlo Fisichella, Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni is running in third place and on the same lap as the class leaders.

GTE AM: SMP Racing leads the way

The Ferrari 458 Italia of SMP Racing enjoys a stable lead in GTE Am class ahead of the No. 98 Aston Martin shared by Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda (son of three time F1 champion, Niki). The Porsche of Dempsey/Proton Racing is third, albeit a lap down on the class leaders.