Motor racing-Toyota's Hartley heading for Le Mans hat-trick

The Argentine then suffered a slow puncture, losing more time. Reigning champions Toyota, chasing a fifth successive overall win, were still running first and second at the head of a field that includes only five entries in the top hypercar category.

New Zealand's Brendon Hartley was on course to become a triple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner on Sunday as he and Toyota teammates Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi led the world's greatest endurance race with less than five hours remaining.

The number eight car was more than three minutes clear of the number seven Toyota, which won last year in the hands of Britain's Mike Conway, Japan's Kamui Kobayashi, and Argentine Jose Maria Lopez. The two GR010 hybrids had swapped the lead and been separated by only a few seconds for the first 16 hours but the seven crew suffered technical problems at the Sarthe circuit.

Lopez slowed at Arnage on lap 256 with the motor-generator unit requiring a reset by the side of the track before he could return to the pits for a stop of more than three minutes. The Argentine then suffered a slow puncture, losing more time.

Reigning champions Toyota, chasing a fifth successive overall win, were still running first and second at the head of a field that includes only five entries in the top hypercar category. While Hartley, who secured pole on Thursday, can complete his hat-trick, another win for Buemi would take the Swiss driver's tally to four after victories with Toyota in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Glickenhaus Racing's number 709 car was in third place but five laps behind the leading Toyota with Britain's Richard Westbrook, French driver Franck Mailleux and American Ryan Briscoe. The number 36 Alpine A480-Gibson hypercar of Brazilian Andre Negrai and Frenchmen Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere was out of contention after losing time with extensive mechanical repairs.

The 90th edition of a race that celebrates its 100th birthday next year started in front of packed grandstands with the 62-strong field formally sent on their way by TotalEnergies chairman Patrick Pouyanne. The drivers include 16-year-old American Josh Pierson, the youngest ever competitor, with United Autosports in the second-tier LMP2 category, and German-Irish Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender at the wheel of a Porsche 911.

Fassbender was having an eventful race and keeping his mechanics busy after hitting the barriers late on Saturday. Ex-Formula One drivers and champions from rallying and Formula E are also competing.

The entire field is running with 100% renewable fuel for the first time.