2020 Le Mans 24 Hours Live Updates
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GTE PRO
The two AF Corse Ferraris are nose to tail at the moment, with Sam Bird piling the pressure on Alessandro Pier Guidi in the battle for second in GTE Pro.
GTE PRO
But that battle is swiftly put on pause as Bird comes in to pit. Still, the two Ferraris had closed up nicely on Martin, just 2.5s between the Belgian's #97 Aston and Pier Guidi in second place.
LMP2
Here's Owen then, down the inside of Gonzalez for third in class. Gonzalez jumped Owen in the stops, but the United Autosports driver reclaims that top-three berth.
GTE PRO
Now here comes Martin in from the lead of GTE Pro, Harry Tincknell jumping in for his first race stint as an Aston Martin driver after spending the last four years with Ford. Alessandro Pier Guidi continues out on track for the time being and therefore takes the lead.
LMP1
Now Hartley's cut the gap to Kobayashi, although his last lap was four seconds slower than that of his Toyota stablemate.
LMP1
Just a second's difference that time, however - Kobayashi's lead is currently at 50s.
LMP2
Rusinov, who didn't pit during the slow-zone period a few laps ago, now comes in. Mikkel Jensen takes over, and this will give Tung the lead of the class.
GTE PRO
Now Sorensen comes in with the #95 WEC points-leading Aston to hand over to Richard Westbrook - another refugee of the Ford GT programme that came to an end last year. The ultra-versatile Westbrook has driven for almost every manufacturer going in his GT career - from Porsche to Chevrolet, Ford and BMW - but never before with Aston Martin. Let's see how he goes.
GTE AM
It's very busy down at Aston as Augusto Farfus now takes over the former GTE Am leading #98 car from Dalla Lana - the two are old friends for 15 years, with Dalla Lana's wife heralding from the same part of Brazil as long-time BMW factory man Farfus
If we're going to make any wishes for next year's Le Mans, it would be to see a team of Philipp Eng, Tomas Enge and Maro Engel. Team owners, make it so.
GTE AM
Now the top two in GTE Am come in - Ten Voorde had built up an impressive 33s lead over Yoluc prior to the stops.
LMP1
Romain Dumas comes in for a stop, bringing the #3 Rebellion in. It's in no-man's land really - not close enough to the #1, but the ByKolles is several laps down.
GTE PRO
The GTE Pro lead battle continues to ebb and flow as now Bird cycles back to the lead in the #71 car which, if you remember, led briefly with Miguel Molina at the wheel earlier. He's 4.7s ahead of Ticknell - who is still learning the Vantage, where Bird has several years of experience under his belt - so this could be where Ferrari begins to assert itself.
LMP1
Kobayashi and Menezes come in to pit too, remaining relatively on-sync.
LMP2
Tung, leading the LMP2 class in that Jackie Chan DC Racing car, has now come into pit - so he'll drop to around sixth or seventh in his category.
GTE PRO
Daniel Serra - a Le Mans winner with Aston in 2017 - is now closing in on Tincknell in the battle for second. Sure enough, Bird has turned the screw and extended his advantage to 6.4s out front.
LMP2
Tung's stop will now bring Owen into the lead, who has gapped Gonzalez by about 10s. Tereshchenko has now charged up to third in class too, as it seems he's passed Hanson.
GTE PRO
Porsche now occupies fifth and sixth in GTE Pro, although there's a huge gap of 1m20s between Vanthoor in #92 and Makowiecki in the sister #91, which has Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon in the Risi Ferrari giving it bother. Segal has vacated the WeatherTech car for the car's patron Cooper MacNeil who, as a Silver, isn't up to the level of the factory drivers.
LMP1
After Kobayashi stopped, Hartley reclaimed the lead for the #8. But Kobayashi's lapping quicker, so he'll begin to put pressure on the lead car.
LMP2
Lower down the LMP2 category, Capillaire's earlier spin has brought him down to eighth in the class. Behind him, the two Dragonspeeds have swapped places, and Hanley in the #27 has passed Timothe Buret in the #21.
LMP2
Tereshchenko, meanwhile, has really caught Gonzalez and looks set to mount an attack for second in class. The Russian's really had the bit between his teeth since he took over behind the wheel of the Duqueine car.
GTE AM
There have been a fair few changes in GTE Am after a couple of teams took the opportunity to pit early under the slow zone. Veteran pro Collard is now leading in the #83 Ferrari, 18s ahead of hotshot Blomqvist in the Hub Auto Ferrari which pitted out of sequence under green. Then it's Norwegian amateur Edigio Perfetti - last year's GTE Am winner - in the Porsche he took over from Ten Voorde, and Rino Mastronardi (in for Cressoni) in the Iron Lynx Ferrari that also stopped under the slow zone. Jonny Adam in the TF Sport Aston is right behind him though, so expect the 2017 GTE Pro class winner to soon be up to fourth.
LMP2
Gonzalez confirms he's coming in for a fuel stop, which Tereshchenko and Hanson decide to track and follow him in.
Driver Change
In the meantime, James and I will be handing over to our team of Haydn and Josh, let's hope our Live swap is seamless.
GTE AM
Interestingly, Christian Reid is back aboard the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche for a second stint. Remember, he started that car from second and dropped like a stone in the early stages as most teams preferred to plug their pros in for the start. He's running down in P11, but the team's gamble on getting a good chunk of his driving time out of the way in dry daytime conditions could prove worthwhile if the rain we expect arrives later...
Driver Change
There might have been a fumble with the drinks bottle but Josh and I are strapped in ahead of the next stint as the sun starts to set on the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Yellow flag
The #16 G-Drive has spun with Ryan Cullen at the wheel and received a hit from the #57 Team Project 1 which had nowhere to go to avoid the LMP2 car facing the wrong way. Both cars have pitted with damage.
LMP2
The #33 High Class Racing was also involved in the clash following behind the two cars involved but aside from hitting the brakes Mark Patterson avoids getting tangled up in the incident.
GTE AM
Following that incident, the #57 Team Project 1 entry has been wheeled back into the garage with front-end damage.
Slow Zone
With debris on the track a slow zone has been called following that clash to allow marshals to clear up the mess.
GTE PRO
Less than half a second separates Tincknell's Aston and Serra's Ferrari in the battle for second place in GTE Pro. Serra is looking for his third class victory in his fourth Le Mans start.
LMP2
Signatech has explained the delay that has surely derailed its bid for an LMP2 hat-trick at Le Mans. "A big water leak" is how team boss Philippe Sinault described it. He thinks it might have been caused by contact at the Dunlop Chicane at the start. The crew of the #36 ORECA is going to "continue to attack" he insists over the remainder of the race.
Information
1-minute stop and go penalty for cars #33 and #86 for speeding in a slow zone. The #33 High Class Racing car has just been for a pitstop and driver change so that's double the frustration for the team.
GTE PRO
Serra runs wheel-to-wheel with Tincknell down the Mulsanne Straight, and passes the Aston driver for second place into Mulsanne Corner. Serra's #51 Ferrari has just over 12 seconds to make up on the race-leading sister AF Corse.
LMP1
At the front Kobayashi leads in the #7 Toyota but is due to pit shortly. Hartley in the sister #8 car is currently around 55 seconds behind with his car having completed an extra stop.
Radio Comms
Alex Brundle, fresh out of the #32 United Autosports, says a "dump of rain around midnight, but nobody is really sure" is the latest weather forecast from his team. There's going to be rain at some point, potentially a lot of it, but nobody is sure exactly when.
Here's how the race stood after the first four hours of racing: 
GTE PRO
Vanthoor has brought the #92 Porsche into the pits, the car continues to run off sequence after Christensen picked up a puncture earlier in the race when he ran over debris. Estre - who shares the car with Vanthoor and Christensen - admitted earlier that it would be "very hard to fight for the podium."
GTE PRO
The GTE Pro class leading #71 AF Corse of Bird is in pitlane, which hands the lead to the sister #51 car in the hands of Serra.
GTE PRO
Bird has handed over driving duties of the #71 AF Corse Ferrari to Rigon, who started the car from fifth in GTE Pro.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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