It is midnight and not even half way through the Le Mans 24 Hours. After nine hours the three Porsche 919 Hybrids are in first, fourth and fifth positions. The number 17 car of Timo Bernhard/Brendon Hartley/Mark Webber kept swapping the lead with an Audi until a one-minute stop-and-go penalty threw them back to fourth at 23:39 hrs. After that the number 19 Porsche of Earl Bamber/Nico Hülkenberg/Nick Tandy, with Hülkenberg at the wheel, took over the lead. The black number 18 Porsche prototype of Romain Dumas/Neel Jani/Marc Lieb was fifth at midnight. At this time the first six cars in the field were racing still on the same lap. The three Porsche 919 Hybrids have so far had ten or 11 pit stops each.

Mark Webber had taken over the leading number 17 car after 83 laps from Brendon Hartley. The Australian came in for fuel after 96, 109 and 122 laps. He and the Audi number 9 frequently swapped P1. After the stop-and-go penalty for overtaking under yellow, Webber, who did four stints on one set of tyres, refuelled after 136 laps and handed over to Timo Bernhard.

Brendon Hartley (car number 17): “The car felt very good. It is running smoothly at the moment. I think we are doing a minimum number of pit stops. I’m enjoying it out there. There were a few safety cars and slow zones, but it was good fun. The pace is very even and I think that it will be a tough race.“