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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Fabio Scherer is the last LMP2 car to pit on lap nine in the #43 Inter Europol car. Rast had come out of the first pitstop sequence ahead of Kubica, but now comes in to serve his one-minute stop-go, which will feel like an eternity.
Buemi is complaining of a lot of oversteer, and has Conway right on his tail out front. The leaders have gapped Pla to the tune of 7.6 seconds so far, with Mailleux a further 3.6s back in the second Glickenhaus. Lapierre is 17s down in fifth in the Alpine.
Through that LMP2 pit sequence, Da Costa has jumped to the lead ahead of Kubica, while Nasr is third, Aberdein is fourth in the second Jota entry and Bortolotti fifth in what is now the lead WRT car. Lynn has made a second stop in the #23 United car that had been third before its first pit visit.
The pace of the Toyotas has dropped dramatically as they approach the first pitstops. They were regularly down in the 3m29s and they've both done 3m34s followed by 3m33s.
We understand it was a front-right tyre that delaminated on the #23 United machine, bringing Lynn back to the pits for an unscheduled stop. A tough opening hour for the team run by Richard Dean and Zak Brown, who won the 24 Hours in 2020 with Owen two laps down in 26th position.
We've had the first pitstops for the Hypercar runners. Conway, Mailleux and Lapierre pit on lap 11, with Buemi and Pla following in on lap 12.
Toyota and Glickenhaus have both split their cars for the pitstops. No need for either team to have their two cars coming into the pits at the same time
A quick shoutout for Matt Campbell. He started 21st in the GTE Am field aboard the #93 Proton Porsche, and has carved his way through to eighth. Thiim in seventh is the only non-911 in the top eight in that class so far.
The #7 Toyota has taken the lead for the first time in the race. Conway emerges from the pits ahead of Buemi aboard the #8 machine, but Pla remains ahead of fellow Glickenhaus driver Mailleux in third.
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The first pitstops for the GTE Pro car have begun, with Garcia pitting from second aboard the #63 Corvette and Molina following in the #52 Ferrari. Tandy continues to lead out front from Estre, the gap between them 5.2s last time around.
We've got our first sight of Michael Fassbender on track in the Le Mans 24 Hours as he hops into the car vacated by Campbell. He continues the great tradition of Hollywood actors sampling the Circuit de la Sarthe, following in the footsteps of Paul Newman and Patrick Dempsey. Steve McQueen never raced at Le Mans, though did finish second at Sebring in 1970.
Back in the GTE Pro class, leader Tandy has come into the pits at the end of lap 13, one lap after his team-mate. Makowiecki, Calado and Fraga (in the only non-factory car in the class, the #74 Ferrari entered by Riley Motorsports) also come in with Estre staying out to take the lead.
The #35 Ultimate LMP2 car gets a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags and pushing another car off track. WRT would argue that penalty is fairly light under the circumstances...
Speaking of the LMP2 pole-sitter - remember, it was dealt a one-minute penalty for the start contact between Rast and Will Owen that put the #22 United car in the gravel at a cost of two laps - it is currently 21st on the road. Rast is still aboard, 92 seconds off the lead. Another delayed LMP2 runner Alex Lynn, who also made an unscheduled stop for a puncture in the #22 United entry, is 20th in class and 75 seconds down on leader Da Costa's #38 Jota.
As a piece of housekeeping, Estre has now pitted from the lead in GTE Pro and rejoins third as Tandy continues to lead Garcia. The top three didn't take tyres, but the sister #91 Porsche and two Ferraris did - each has had a driver change too, with Bruni in for Makowiecki, Pier Guidi in for Calado and Fuoco in for Molina.
We've not mentioned him much so far, but Da Costa is having a very effective run out in the LMP2 lead here. He's pulled a 5.8s gap on Kubica, who in turn is 10.3s ahead of the squabbling Nasr, Bortolotti and Chatin.
Don't think anyone would have predicted two cars each from two of the powerhouses of LMP2 being delayed in the opening hour. That's the pair of United ORECAs and two of the three from WRT. Their rivals must be looking on with glee.
We've had a change of lead in GTE Am, with Picariello moving ahead of Cairoli in the #99 Hardpoint car (which has nothing to do with Hardpoint aside from the name above the garage door). Not a bad opening to the race for that team run jointly between Proton and Absolute, which until two weeks ago wasn't due to be here at all. Andlauer is third, with Tincknell fourth, then Thiim and Heylen. Class poleman Abril, after losing ground early on, has got back ahead of Jensen and is the best Ferrari currently in seventh.
The LMP2 leaders have come in - again Scherer stays out aboard the #34 Inter Europol machine. Let's see if he can extend this stint by an extra lap relative to the rest too and go two laps longer.
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There have been some more tyre-related dramas for LMP2 runners. Race director Edoardo Freitas reports that IDEC Sport may have lost a wheel out on track, while the #13 TDS car in which Nyck de Vries was a late addition to the race has come in with a puncture.
The answer to whether Fabio Scherer has an ORECA which can go one lap longer than everybody else on each stint appears to be 'non'. He comes in, cycling Da Costa back to the lead ahead of Kubica. Lynn runs third for now and is pressuring Kubica, but the 2020 Le Mans GTE Pro class-winner is due another stop soon. Remember, he pitted off-sequence due to a puncture.
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For anybody just joining us, here's what happened in hour one at Le Mans: https://www.autosport.com/le-mans/news/le-mans-24h-h1/10320416/
Paul-Loup Chatin from IDEC Sport confirms that the team lost a wheel out on track. Patrick Pilet has now jumped aboard that car, but it's two laps down as a result.
Out front, Conway has pulled an 8.4 second gap on Buemi. Pla is 29 seconds down in third, four seconds ahead of Glickenhaus team-mate Mailleux, and the Frenchman has Lapierre on his tail behind him.
The all-Porsche battle for the lead of GTE Am between Picariello and Cairoli has to negotiate the GTE Pro entry of Felipe Fraga, who has dropped a minute in the opening hour to his class leader Nick Tandy. The Riley Ferrari will likely finish ahead in the ultimate classification when the Am cars install their bronzes, but their Pro drivers are lacking nothing in pace.
A slow puncture has forced the #56 Inception Porsche run by Project 1 to make an unscheduled stop. That was running sixth earlier in the hands of Ben Barnicoat, but has dropped to 18th now with Brendan Iribe at the wheel - the tech entrepreneur is running just ahead of a certain M. Fassbender.
Through that second pit sequence, Da Costa has eked a little more time out on Kubica. The gap between them now stands at 7.4s, with the Prema driver an identical margin ahead of Nasr in the Penske car. Bortolotti was right on his tail before the pitstops, but the Lamborghini DTM racer is now 2.7s adrift in fourth.
Remarkably little has happened in GTE Pro so far, with the Noah's Ark formation of qualifying remaining intact. Corvette still leads the way with a 1-2 fronted by Tandy and Garcia, with Estre valiantly giving chase in the lead Porsche 12.8 seconds down. The second Porsche of Bruni is fourth, ahead of the two Ferraris of Pier Guidi and Fuoco. Ferrari had a BoP change yesterday, but it only gave them back some of the power they lost earlier in the week.
Conway has just come in for his second stop in the leading Toyota. That's one lap later than the Alpine, which appears to be lacking the pace and the fuel mileage to be a real threat.
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That was 13 laps for the #7 Toyota. The target stint length for the energy allocation in the Hypercar class is 12 laps of Le Mans. Nothing to stop you going longer, though. Note that the Toyotas were lapping two or three seconds off their early pace for much of that second run.
An engine change meant the Vector Sport LMP2 car featuring three-times Le Mans runner-up Sebastien Bourdais didn't set a time in qualifying and had to start from the back - along with the #45 Algarve Pro car which Steven Thomas crashed in FP1. But Nico Muller has made good progress so far and runs 14th in class, currently pressuring Richard Bradley's Duqueine machine. He's 70s off the lead, still held by Da Costa.
Buemi and Pla now make their second stops in the #8 Toyota and #708 Glickenhaus. Conway continues to lead in the #7 Toyota.
A few laps ago Cairoli was hot on Picariello's tail for the GTE Am class lead, but he's now just been shuffled back to third as Julien Andlauer makes a decisive move into the first Mulsanne Chicane aboard the WeatherTech Porsche. Tincknell is still there in fourth, making it an all 911 RSR-19 top four, with Thiim's #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin the best non-Porsche in fifth.
It may only be for seventh in LMP2, but the battle is raging hot between Job van Uitert and Ricky Taylor - the Panis and Cool Racing cars drawing ever closer to Charles Milesi's Richard Mille Racing entry in sixth. Don't forget, eight-time World Rally Championship title-winner Sebastien Ogier will be hopping aboard that fittingly-numbered #1 machine later on.
A sharp intake of breath there as Andlauer makes a fully-committed pass on Picariello into Indianapolis to snatch the GTE Am class lead. He almost looked like he was going to run into the back of the #99 machine, but Andlauer ducks out just in time and seizes the inside line. Cairoli is still there in third, keeping a watching brief.
The top seven in LMP2 are all in the pits. We'll update you shortly on who remains aboard and who stays on for a triple stint in the baking hot sun.
It's predominantly nine-lap stints for the P2 runners. That's going to make for a pretty frenetic race for the teams and the poor mechanics - a pitstop every half hour or so!
By: autosport.com
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