Porsche LMP Team is down to just one contender in the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, after Earl Bamber hit trouble at the exit of Mulsanne Corner three and a half hours into the race, losing drive with a front axle problem in the No. 2 Porsche 919.
The issue forced the 2015 winner to take the car into the garage for repairs, the team opting to replace the front corners of the car as it slips down the order.
It's left just the No. 1 919 HYBRID in the running to challenge the three Toyotas. At the front, the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi leads by a comfortable margin of 35 seconds ahead of Nick Tandy.
Tandy, who has turned up the wick, overtook the No. 8 of Anthony Davidson as the last hour ended, and has created an impressive 26-second gap between the two.
In fourth, far back but running a steady race, is now the No. 9 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopez, the Argentinian in the groove and setting competitive times.
It's a four-horse race now in LMP1, with no timetable set by Porsche for the No. 2 to return to the race.
LMP2 is still led by the two Rebellion ORECAs, though Nicolas Prost in the No. 13 managed to retake the lead from Mathias Beche in the No. 31 before pitting for driver changes. David Heinemeier Hansson is now in the lead car, with Julien Canal in the second-place No. 31.
Third is the recovering No. 38 of Thomas Laurent, with the first of the Manor ORECAs – the No. 24 of Jonathan Hirschi – fourth.
The only notable incident in the class was concerning the TDS Racing ORECA, with Francois Perrodo going straight on into the barriers at Indianapolis. The car continued, but back to 16th after running in the top 10.
GTE Pro has seen a change of the guard, with the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage of Marco Sorensen suffering a left-rear puncture, which dropped it from the lead to dead last in the tight class.
It left the No. 97 Aston Martin of Daniel Serra to take control up front. Behind though, the Fords are beginning to climb the order as a group.
As it stands the No. 66 has taken the lead with Billy Johnson at the wheel, but is out of sync after a puncture in Hour 1 caused it to pit early.
So behind Serra (who will lead at the next cycle), and effectively second overall, is Pipo Derani in the No. 67 UK Ganassi GT, with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi third. The two Corvettes are fourth and fifth, with Marcel Fassler in the No. 63 leading the pair of C7.Rs.
In GTE Am, Dries Vanthoor in the JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 leads the class, ahead of Mathias Lauda by a tiny margin of four tenths in the No. 98 Aston martin.
The No. 62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari completes the top three, just over 90 seconds back.
RACER.com coverage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is presented by Lone Star Le Mans, a six-hour sprint deep in the heart of Texas: September 15-16 at COTA.