Toyota remains 1-2 in the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours, with the #7 car leading by over a minute and a half from team-mates in the #8 following a penalty.

After having run within 10 seconds of each other in the opening hours of the race, the #8 team suffered a significant setback in the ninth hour to fall adrift of the #7.

Sebastien Buemi, who was running second in the #8 behind race leader Mike Conway, first lost around 30s as a result of being wrong-footed by the deployment of a slow zone.

He was later handed a 60-second stop-go penalty as a result of speeding during a later slow zone.

Buemi, who shares the #8 car with two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima, dropped to 2m09s adrift of the race leading Toyota TS050 HYBRID.

Approaching the 12-hour mark, Alonso had begun to reel in the #7 car – which is now being driven by Jose Maria Lopez – with the gap reduced to 1m14s.

In the sixth and seventh hours of the race, the #3 ORECA-built Rebellion R13 battled for third with the #17 BR Engineering SMP Racing entry. Gustavo Menezes and Matevos Isaakyan traded places through pitstop cycles.

The battle was curtailed when Isaakyan suffered a suspected suspension issue, which pivoted the car into a spin in the middle of the high-speed Porsche Curves. The car backed into the wall.

Isaakyan attempted to haul the car back to the pitlane. He removed the damaged rear bodywork, but after restarting the car it caught fire. The #17 was subsequently retired.

The retirement ensured that the #3 car holds a comfortable third place entering the second half of the race. The #1 Rebellion was promoted to fourth place.

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The lead LMP2 entry ended the first half of the race in fifth. The #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA consistently delivered 10-lap stints, eclipsing the mileage achieved by rivals on several occasions.

The #26 is currently over a lap ahead of the #23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier which is sixth overall and second in class.

After having jumped the Signatech Alpine #36 in the last pitstop before the half-way mark, Nicholas Lapierre had reduced the margin to the #23 throughout the stint. At the 12-hour mark, the gap has been reduced to 0.831s.

The #92 Porsche team continues to lead the GTE Pro class. After gaining a one minute advantage during a safety car intervention in the first four hours, the #92 team extended the lead throughout the following hours.

At half distance, the #92 leads team-mates in the #91 Porsche by 1m54s.

After a rapid stint, Phillip Eng had challenged the #91 for second in class behind the wheel of the #81 BMW. However, the MTEK squad suffered a damper issue and dropped to 12th in class while repairs were made.

The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing entry continues to lead in the GTE Am class. The Porsche team only conceded the lead during pitstop cycles and leads Keating Motorsport’s Ferrari by 1m36s at 12 hours.