With less than seven hours of the race remaining, the Signatech-Alpine no. 36 car holds the LMP2 category lead at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.Nicolas Lapierre, Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi are more than a lap ahead of their closest challengers.​After having climbed up to fourth position, the Baxi DC Racing Alpine no. 35 went off the track.

At sunset on Saturday evening, the Signatech-Alpine no. 36 was already challenging strongly for the lead in its category. After initially planning to complete a quadruple stint, Nicolas Lapierre ended up coming into the pits for an earlier handover. The team had decided to take advantage of a safety car period to carry out several checks, in particular of the cooling system.

It was therefore Gustavo Menezes who completed the quadruple stint with the same set of tyres. For his first 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Californian produced a first class performance, which enabled the no. 36 car to build up a small lead at the front.

Nicolas Lapierre then got back behind the wheel for a triple stint before handing over driving duties to Stéphane Richelmi just after daybreak. At eight o'clock, the Alpine A460 held a one-lap lead over the second-placed car.

The night also went well for the Baxi DC Racing Alpine no. 36. Ho-Pin Tung produced a fine performance to complete a quadruple stint, which enabled him to edge up into sixth place.

Nelson Panciatici then took over and gained another two places. However, at 7.13am, he went straight on at the Forza chicane, hitting the concrete wall and coming to an abrupt stop. As the damage caused was too extensive to be repaired on site, the no. 35 was forced to retire.

Philippe Sinault, Signatech-Alpine Team Principal: "The night went well for both our cars, with some solid performances from the drivers tasked with racking up the stints. Just after dawn, we were caught off guard by Nelson's crash. We don't know the cause of the accident as yet, because we haven't got the car back. All I can say, is that the way in which he lost control of the car was unusual. The main thing is that he's okay. We'll now have to concentrate on the no. 36 car to finish off the job. The last seven hours are going to be long!"

LMP2 standings at 8am

1. Signatech-Alpine no. 36 249 laps2. G-Drive Racing no. 25 +1 lap3. SMP Racing no. 37 +4 laps4. Strakka Racing no.42 +4 laps5. Eurasia Motorsport no. 33 +7 lapsRetired: Baxi DC Racing Alpine no.35