2018 24 Hours of Le Mans
It and the sister Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López exchanged the lead for most of the first half of the race until Buemi took a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone that was enforced for an accident during the night.
The sister Toyota of Conway, Kobayashi and López finished two laps behind in second, and a Rebellion R13 vehicle driven by Thomas Laurent, Gustavo Menezes and Mathias Beche completed the podium in third.
A Graff-SO24 team of Vincent Capillaire, Jonathan Hirschi and Tristan Gommendy was second and a United Autosports Ligier JS P217 car driven by Hugo de Sadeleer, Will Owen and Juan Pablo Montoya finished third.
On its 70th anniversary Porsche won both of the Le Mans Grand Touring Professional (LMGTE) categories with Michael Christensen, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor's No.
The dates for the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans were confirmed at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 19 June 2017.
[3] In the GTE Drivers' Championship Billy Johnson, Stefan Mücke and Olivier Pla of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing led with 25 points, ahead of the Porsche duo of Michael Christensen and Kévin Estre in second and AF Corse's Davide Rigon and Sam Bird third.
Barriers on the inside of the final right-hand corner were dismantled and relocated further away from the circuit, allowing for the construction of paved run-off area and escape roads.
The all-wheel drive car intended to utilise two electric motors on each of its axles with a swappable battery lasting between 90 and 110 mi (140 and 180 km) within a tandem style LMP body.
[7] ARC Bratislava announced the termination of its ELMS LMP2 programme on 11 February after its Ligier JS P217 car was placed eighth in the reserves list and leaving the team unlikely to be promoted to the race entry.
In the LMGTE Am class the Aston Martin and Porsche vehicles had their top speeds lowered with a smaller air restrictor and the Ferrari had its turbocharger boost pressure reduced.
35 SMP Dallara vehicle made contact in traffic between Mulsanne and Indianapolis corners, causing Sørensen to crash heavily against a barrier beside the circuit and prematurely end the session with 51 minutes to go.
[21] Nathanaël Berthon improved the fastest lap in LMP2, moving the DragonSpeed team ahead of Chatin and G-Drive's Jean-Éric Vergne and Matthieu Vaxivière.
Another Porsche in LMGTE Am, driven by Julien Andlauer for the Dempsey-Proton team, overtook Sawa's fastest time from the morning session to be ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Spirit of Race Ferrari.
[24] Oreca cars took the first five positions in the LMP2 category with a lap of 3 minutes, 26.529 seconds from Vergne, followed by Chatin, Loïc Duval of the TDS Racing team, Berthon and Tristan Gommendy for the Graff squad.
Priaulx spun at the entry to Tetre Rouge corner with his left-rear wheel on the grass and damaged his car's rear in a collision with a tyre barrier.
The Rebellion team were third and fifth with Senna ahead of Laurent after officials invalidated the latter's fastest time for failing to stop at a red light instructing him to enter the scrutineering bay.
A slow zone procedure was used after Matt Griffin beached the Clearwater Ferrari in a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner and track marshals extricated it.
The world governing body of motor racing, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), restricted all LMGTE Pro cars to a maximum of 14 laps per stint.
Aubry retained control of the vehicle to allow him to return to the pit lane and the incident required the deployment of the safety cars to slow the race.
Kraihamer was unhurt; the crash caused the deployment of the safety cars for half an hour as marshals repaired the barrier and cleared the track of debris.
8 Toyota of Buemi incurred a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone, dropping the car two minutes, ten seconds behind Conway's No.
[74] BMW lost one of their two LMGTE Pro entries when Alexander Sims slid on oil laid on the track in the Porsche Curves and damaged the rear of the No.
[76] Both of the Toyota cars were observed speeding in the area and incurred separate one-minute stop-and-go penalties; their multi-lap lead over the Rebellion team kept them in first and second positions.
23 Panis Barthez Ligier car of Will Stevens, which had held second place in the LMP2 category, entered the pit lane to undergo repairs to its clutch and promoted the Signatech Alpine team to the position.
[87] Kobayashi, in second and within 80 minutes of the finish,[88] missed the entry to the pit lane and Toyota required him to slow to 80 km/h (50 mph) by engaging the full course yellow flag limiter to conserve fuel.
8 entry; it incurred two ten-second stop-and-go penalties for exceeding the number of laps permitted for a single stint by a LMP1 hybrid car and fuel allowance.
[103] The tribunal met on 18 September and delayed giving a verdict because the judges on the panel wanted extra time to review the appeal and informed the team's lawyers of this.
G-Drive argued the modified component was a "commendable technical innovation" with no specific regulation about modifications between the fuel flow restristrictor and the dead man's valve established.
The court upheld the stewards' decision by deeming the introduction of an additional component protruding the fuel flow restrictor a regulation transgression.
[105] The result increased Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima's lead in the LMP Drivers' Championship to 20 points over their teammates Conway, Kobayashi and López in second.
