Toyota’s two TS050 hybrid cars have battled for the lead in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday as the defending champions and overwhelming favourites raced into the night in one-two formation.

After nine hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the No.7 Toyota was 7.284 seconds clear of the No.8 car, with the No.17 SMP Racing BR Engineering car in third place but two laps down.

Britain’s Mike Conway, Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Argentine Jose Maria Lopez are sharing the No.7 car and chasing their first Le Mans overall win.

“Just trying to make everything clean, not to do anything silly,” Conway said after completing the opening stint and handing over to Kobayashi more than a minute in front.

“I thought the sister car would be a little bit closer. It looks like they’re struggling a little bit.”

The No.8 car crewed by last year’s winners in double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, Japan’s Kazuki Nakajima and Switzerland’s Sebastien Buemi closed the gap after safety car periods and mistakes by Lopez with eight hours gone.

“It’s difficult to match the other car on pure pace but we will push,” Alonso said.

The safety car was deployed in the sixth hour after a collision between Marcel Fassler’s Corvette and a GTE Am Porsche driven by Japanese Satoshi Hoshino that led to the retirement of both.

The No.8 went ahead in the seventh hour after another safety car period before Lopez passed Nakajima to regain the lead.

The Argentine then went into the gravel at Mulsanne to drop back to second.

Alonso, Nakajima and Buemi are leading the world endurance championship and do not need to win the race to take the title.

Whatever happens, Sunday is guaranteed to see a Japanese driver win a major FIA-sanctioned world championship for the first time.