Champions Porsche were racing to salvage a third successive victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the team’s number one car retired some four hours from the finish, while leading by a massive margin.

The Graff Racing entry of Australian James Allen, Franck Matelli and Richard Bradley was eight overall after the 21 hours mark, while the Ford of Aussie Ryan Briscoe, New Zealand’s Scott Dixon and Richard Westbrook was 23rd overall and seventh in the GTE Pro class.

Early pace-setters Toyota had their hopes of a first win disappear when two of their three cars stopped overnight at the Sarthe circuit.

The retirement on Sunday of the number one Porsche driven by former winners Neel Jani of Switzerland, Britain’s Nick Tandy and Germany’s Andre Lotterer handed the lead to the number 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca entry.

“I’m speechless. It’s a crazy race,” Lotterer said after being forced to retire from the race by an oil pressure issue.

The second tier LMP2 Oreca, driven by Frenchman Thomas Laurent, Britain’s Oliver Jarvis and Dutch-born Chinese racer Ho-Pin Tung, had been 13 laps behind the Porsche 919 hybrid at the time.

The chances of that crew making it to the chequered flag without surrendering the lead looked unlikely, however, barring further mechanical misfortune, with the number two Porsche only two laps behind.

That car, driven by New Zealanders Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley along with Germany’s Timo Bernhard, had appeared out of contention after suffering front axle problems on Saturday and rejoining in 55th place and 22 laps down.

If Porsche could still see light at the end of the tunnel, there was none at Toyota whose only remaining car was in ninth place and 11 laps behind.

In an agonising half hour after midnight for the Japanese manufacturer, whose hopes were high after securing pole position with a record fastest lap at the Sarthe circuit, their number seven and nine cars retired in quick succession.

“It is so disappointing. The car was running very well and we were just taking things steady, building a gap at the front,” pole-sitter Kamui Kobayashi said.

“Then after the safety car, I just had no power.”

The former Formula One driver was halted by a clutch problem in the leading number seven car around the 10 hours mark.

The team missed out last year when their leading car broke down on the final lap only minutes from the chequered flag.