The Le Mans 24-hour race started at very high speed. Three hours into the race and after several position changes, the two Porsche 919 Hybrids are running third and fourth behind Toyota. At 6pm, after 50 laps on the 13.629 kilometre track, the best placed 919 is 35 seconds behind the leader. Porsche lost more than 20 seconds per car during so called “slow zones”. Neel Jani (CH, car number 1) as well as Timo Bernhard (DE, car number 2) did three stints each – two stops for refuelling – with the first set of tyres.

How the race goes for car number 2:
Timo Bernhard starts fourth on the grid and keeps this position. He refuels after 12 and after 25 laps. At the end of lap 38 he hands over to Earl Bamber and the New Zealander continues on fresh tyres in P4.

Quotes:
Timo Bernhard (36, Germany):
“It is a very tight race. Especially on my second of three stints, I lost a lot of time in traffic, but we’re on a good pace.”

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