Joao Barbosa leads the 2019 Motul Petit Le Mans at the halfway point, as the pole-sitting Whelen Engineering Cadillac has dropped out of the top three.
Barbosa's #5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac is currently ahead of the #77 Mazda RT-24P in the hands of Timo Bernhard, while the championship leading #6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 of Dane Cameron has taken third away from Eric Curran in the #31 Cadillac.
Barbosa's team-mate Mike Conway had a bit of scare in the previous hour, losing the rear of the Cadillac DPi-VR and taking a trip through the gravel, but remained out of trouble.
Ford's Dirk Mueller had a far more significant loss of grip from second in GTLM. The German lost the rear of the #66 Ford GT at turn one, sliding into the gravel and bringing out a safety car. Mueller was running in second place at the time, having lost the lead to team-mate Scott Dixon in the #67. Dixon still leads, now ahead of the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Daniel Serra while Tom Blomqvist has moved into third in the #25 BMW M8 GTE.
The GTD battle continues to be to close to call, currently still being led by the #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 of Robbie Foley. Foley lost the lead in the previous hour, but made his way back to the lead as pitstops cycled through after the full course yellow caused by Mueller's trip to the gravel.
Foley leads ahead of the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, now in the hands of Ben Keating. The Sprint Cup-winning #9 PFAFF Porsche 911 GT3 R has made its way into third, with fierce battling going on throughout the top six.
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