2022 Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Live updates for the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe
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The slow zone has gone, so we're back to full green flag running.
I'm not saying we've got a race on our hands in LMP2, but the Prema car is back on the lead lap after #38 Jota pitted during the safety car and lost a chunk of time as da Costa was held at the end of pitlane.
The GTE Am-leading TF Sport Aston Martin now has 3m30s in hand over the chasing Andlauer thanks to that safety car. TF elected to keep silver driver Henrique Chaves aboard rather than take the hit of being held at the end of the pitlane. But their admittedly rapid bronze Ben Keating still has a decent chunk of drive time left to do, so it's not game over yet.
There's little to choose at the moment between the fourth and fifth-placed cars in LMP2. Tijmen van der Helm is at the er - helm - of the #13 TDS ORECA which has had a remarkable run of it this week, but has wily veteran Manu Collard in his 25th Le Mans 6.6s behind in the Penske. That pair is over 2m40s behind the third-placed #28 Jota of Oliver Rasmussen.
Further to Gary's point about the LMP2-leading #38 Jota car's advantage being reduced by that safety car, Da Costa is now 'only' 1m38s ahead of Louis Deletraz in the Prema car. Hardly a slender lead, but much smaller than it was.
We've not mentioned him a lot in the race so far with his car running 15th in GTE Am, but former Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari F1 man Giancarlo Fisichella has had a trip through the gravel at the first Mulsanne chicane.
Having just mentioned how the gap between Da Costa and Deletraz had come down, the Jota driver just gained seven seconds last time around. We didn't see what happened, but can only assume that the Prema man made a mistake.
Makowiecki is really going for this and giving Alessandro Pier Guidi a really hard time. This battle for the GTE Pro lead isn't letting up.
Into the pits come the GTE Pro leaders, nose to tail. It's a battle between the mechanics!
Da Costa is flying. He just posted the Jota car's fastest lap of the race. The long time leaders have come under a bit of pressure and have responded.
No tyres for Pier Guidi, but Porsche decides to go with new rubber for Bruni who hops into the #91 car as Makowiecki makes way. Pier Guidi comes out of the pits and immediately straight-lines the Dunlop Chicane, no doubt gaining a little bit of time in the process as Bruni negotiates the left-right properly.
The recovering #92 Porsche that had been the class leader this morning following the #63 Corvette's demise has now taken back fourth place in GTE Pro from the privateer Riley Ferrari. So it's #51 leading #91, then the #52 Ferrari almost a full lap down on its team-mate in third, then a long way back to #92.
Mechanical problem
Trouble for Phil Hanson, the #22 United ORECA is crawling slowly and come to a stop on-track. Out he gets.
That's the car in which Will Owen was turfed off on lap one. Hanson has got out of the car, but now climbs back in and is being instructed by his crew to do a power cycle.
We've had a few pit callers recently in LMP2. Collard has swapped over to Dane Cameron in the Penske machine that currently lies sixth, while Deletraz has peeled in from second and handed the Prema car over to its silver driver Lorenzo Colombo.
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We didn't see it, but Bruni has now taken the lead in GTE Pro aboard the #91 Porsche and is 32s ahead of Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari.
Ah, replays have cleared it up. It looks like Pier Guidi had a right-rear puncture as he made a pit visit for fuel and just took one tyre on the right-rear before being sent back on his way again.
Rasmussen's latest stop in the #28 Jota cycles the #9 Prema machine back into second in LMP2. Meanwhile, James Allen has had an off in the #45 APR ORECA at the first Mulsanne Chicane.
Back aboard the GTE Am class-leading TF Sport Aston now is Ben Keating, the bronze on that car. We expect him to be in for a double stint now, and critically the car behind him the #99 Hardpoint Porsche still being driven by silver Martin Rump needs to get its bronze Andrew Haryanto back into the seat too.
Allen's pranged #45 ORECA has made it back to the pits where it receives a new nose before being sent out once more.
Staying with LMP2, Antonio Felix da Costa has got the lead for Jota back above two minutes in the #38 machine, Lorenzo Colombo unable to match his pace since climbing aboard the #9 Prema car. He's still a solid 45 seconds ahead of Oliver Rasmussen, who is third in the #28 Jota entry, with Tijmen van der Helm almost three minutes back in the #13 TDS ORECA in fourth.
With his unbalanced tyre set, it's perhaps unsurprising that Pier Guidi isn't able to match Bruni on a new set of tyres right now. The #91 Porsche is pulling away gradually in the GTE Pro lead, and is now 39s to the good.
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Rump pits from second in GTE Am and hands the #99 Hardpoint Porsche over to Andrew Haryanto. That cycles Julien Andlauer back to second in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche. There is a certain logic in saving the Am driver until near the end because attrition means the track is that little bit less busy and visibility is better. But with the finish just over four hours away, it also means the pressure is ramped up that little bit higher...
Harry Tincknell meanwhile has moved up to third aboard the #77 Proton-Dempsey Porsche in GTE Am, and is gunning for a third win in as many different classes after notching up LMP2 and GTE Pro wins. He's just over a minute behind Andlauer, and 3m18s down on leader Keating.
Alas it wasn't Haryanto taking over the #99 Hardpoint Porsche from Rump, it was Alessio Picariello. But he's only just emerged from the pits after a long stop to address a problem at the right-rear which meant Rump came into the pits sideways and with tyres smoking Gilles Villeneuve-style.
To update you on the progress of the #708 Glickenhaus, which held third until a prang at Tertre Rouge last night for Olivier Pla, it's now back to P7 in the outright order but still has three more LMP2 cars to clear before it can be in formation with its sister #709 car that lies third outright and in the Hypercar class.
It could certainly be worse though for the #708 crew, as Alpine can attest. It's running 26th overall and last in the five-car Hypercar classification - 17 laps down - after several reliability issues last night and a trip into the wall at the Porsche Curves this morning.
Porsche informs us that it was a broken damper that caused the garage delay for the #99 Hardpoint Porsche, Picariello now back aboard that car and running fifth in GTE Am.
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Bruni has continued to eke out his advantage in a productive stint for the #91 Porsche, helped of course by the right-rear puncture for Pier Guidi that swung the balance in his favour. The gap now stands at 43s.
In comes Rasmussen from second in the #28 Jota ORECA in LMP2. That has ebbed and flowed over the last couple of hours depending through the pit cycles, with Prema's Lorenzo Colombo returning to the top spot. What hasn't changed is the position of dominance occupied by the #38 Jota team which continues to lead, with Da Costa soon set to make way for Gonzalez - who is getting his neck treated by a physio ready for his next stint.
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File this latest post from Cool Racing's Ricky Taylor under the box marked 'relatable tweet'.
Jonathan Aberdein is now aboard the #28 Jota car and chasing after second-placed man Colombo, the gap now a minute between them. Behind, in fourth, its still the #13 TDS driven by Mathias Beche with Dane Cameron lingering about 8s back in the Penske entry.
Julien Andlauer has vacated the #79 WeatherTech Porsche that was running second in GTE Am. Back aboard now is Thomas Merrill, the bronze-rated American impressing with some very strong stints during the dead of night during which he didn't loose all that much time to Marco Sorensen. It was a mishap somewhere for Cooper MacNeil that ultimately dropped the 911 behind the TF car in the early hours of this morning.
Da Costa has hopped out of the LMP2-leading #38 Jota machine, with Gonzalez taking over. There's a minute between the leader now and the pursuing Colombo.
After a scheduled pitstop from the lead in GTE Pro, Bruni's #91 Porsche has rejoined behind the #51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi - who took on fuel during his unplanned visit to collect a new right-rear after his earlier slow puncture. The ebb and flow of this race is fascinating.
But, as we type, Pier Guidi comes in one lap later and hands over to Daniel Serra. He's aiming for a third GTE Pro class win after triumphing with Aston Martin (2017) and Ferrari (2019).
Colombo is giving this his best shot. He's quicker than LMP2 leader Gonzalez and has chipped the gap down to 55s, which is the smallest its been for some time now.
By: autosport.com
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