Samples 2016 Le Mans Special Edition | Page 48

03.HOURS THREE-WAY BATTLE The 24 Hours of Le Mans was now living up to all its expectations with an exciting three-way battle shaping up between Porsche, Toyota and Audi. After 180 minutes of the race, Porsche, Toyota and Audi were all still in with a strong shout. The Audi camp was however been weakened by a turbo problem affecting the #7 car during the second hour. After setting off again at the back of the field, Benoît Tréluyer improved the best lap time on three occasions – the quickest in 3:23.524 – but the chances of a fourth Le Mans win seemed rather thin for the Frenchman who was six laps down on the leading trio. At the front of the pack, Brendon Hartley managed to fend off Loïc Duval in the Audi and Sébastien Buemi in the Toyota. Buemi was however able to take advantage of the Toyota’s lower fuel consumption, with the Japanese cars covering a lap more than their German rivals between each refuelling stop.