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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I'm enjoying seeing Jonathan Aberdein in the thick of the LM P2 fight for Jota. I grew up watching his old man Chris drive monstrous modified saloons in South Africa. He's just jumped to third after pit stops for Penske and Panis.
The #35 car has had quite the crash in the Porsche Curves! Jean-Baptiste Lahaye has gone nose first into the barriers on the inside of a left-hand sweeper, then takes out a trackside polystyrene marker on the rebound. He makes it back to the pits despite the impact -- there's a new front going on the car. But there is a lot of debris on track, so a slow zone has been declared. Marshals are currently kicking and sweeping the mess away.
Kamui Kobayashi is within a second of Ryo Hirakawa now -- and pitstops are imminent for the leading pair.
The #59 Inception Racing Ferrari might not be going any further in this race. It's stuck out in the country, somewhere short of Mulsanne Corner. Alexander West was crawling, then stopped completely at the right edge of the track. If he can't get going, this might ultimately turn into the fourth official retirement. We're still waiting for the third, of the #777 Aston Martin, to be posted -- that car is in the garage and 103 laps down on the overall lead.
And there has indeed been a change at the top of the field following driver changes for both cars! Mike Conway (#7) now leads Sebastien Buemi (#8) by 26 seconds. That must be down to the slow zones in operation during the staggered Toyota stops: not only at the Porsche Curves (still in force), but the one that briefly appeared in the middle sector thanks to that Inception Ferrari. This last has now been wheeled behind the barriers.
The slow zone at the Porsche Curves is a lengthy one...it's been active for over 20 minutes now. As sunlight creeps up on La Sarthe, there's no danger of fastest laps at the moment.
If you're looking for a close battle on track whilst the slow zone continues to interrupt the race rhythm, the Penske/Panis scrap in LM P2 continues to deliver. Just half a second splits fourth-in-class Emmanuel Collard and the chasing Nicolas Jamin.
Alexander West is leaning against the side of his stricken Ferrari 488, waiting patiently. Apparently someone from the team is on the way with a spanner, screwdriver and possibly some higher-tech tools. Hope that he can get going is not lost.
The Penske and Panis cars just pitted together, as is their habit. And following this, Jamin is 10 seconds up on Collard. The Penske stop was slower by roughly that time. The slow zone in the Porsche Curves continues!
Mike Conway has stretched his lead over team-mate Sebastien Buemi to over thirty seconds. But with ten hours and ten minutes to go, we can expect more twists in the Toyota scrap. The #709 Glickenhaus is running solidly in third with Franck Mailleux 'au volant', but has now dropped to a three-lap deficit. There's simply been no let-up from the lead pair.
The race has now gone fully green, with licence to race through the Porsche Curves at long last. The #35 car that made the mess three quarters of an hour ago is up and running again, by the way. Somewhat surprisingly considering the crash, Jean-Baptiste Lahaye continues to drive. Well, he did have a fair amount of time to gather his thoughts during the repair job in the garage.
There's wheel to wheel action at the sharp(ish) end of GTE Am, with Alessio Picariello passing Julien Andlauer for second place. Marco Sorensen continues to lead this pair of Porsches in his TF Sport Aston Martin.
Porsche have pulled the #92 GTE Pro leader into the garage for a rapid-fire brake change. Kevin Estre has also jumped out, ceding to Michael Christensen. Estre reports that the car is running well, but didn't enjoy the slow zones in the dawn cool, which robbed it of too much tyre temperature. Three seconds now blanket the top three in the category, with the #51 AF Corse leading the #64 Corvette and Christensen.
Oops, Panis Racing in trouble! Jamin has gone off at Mulsanne Corner, where he's spinning his rear tyres in vain for the moment. That puts us back in slow zone mode - but this one won't last as long.
The three-way at the front of GTE PRO is good fun for now, though the Ferrari and Corvette are due in soon. Meanwhile a suitable machine is winching the Panis car out of the gravel, and the slow zone should be over shortly.
Cars 43 and 52 will have five seconds added to their next pit stops due to infringements at previous ones, says race control. That's the Inter Europol (not to be confused with Interpol) Competition LM P2 car and the second of the GTE PRO AF Corse Ferraris.
Nice though that last tweet from Corvette is, nothing stays the same for long at Le Mans! The C8.R briefly took the class lead but has just come into the pits, putting it back into third.
A little housekeeping: the slow zone at Mulsanne has gone away and the Panis Racing car is running again. It's also now fair to say we're racing in daylight, soft and golden though it may be.
The #92 Porsche does indeed now grab back the lead in GTE PRO as the #51 Ferrari makes its stop as well. Daniel Serra takes over the car from Alessandro Pier Guidi. It drops to third, now 20 seconds down on Tommy Milner in the Corvette.
JMW Motorsport driver Mark Kvamme just slid out of control and into the gravel at Mulsanne. But the GTE Am back-marker manages to escape under his own steam.
Joshua Pierson gives up the #23 United Autosports car to Oliver Jarvis. The 16-year-old has had a respectable race so far, completing 64 laps with aa quickest of 3m34.480s. Alex Lynn has set the team's quickest lap at 3m32.961, completing 94 laps.
There's a coming-together between LM P2 racers Sean Gelael and Sebastien Bourdais at the first chicane. Both are briefly stuck on the road, facing the wrong way, but both get on the move again. Rather unnecessary for cars split by a few laps, you'd think.
The grandstands opposite the Toyota pits are almost entirely empty as first Mike Conway and then Sebastien Buemi come in for fuel only. That's normal at this time in the morning...but they'll be packed in by the time the race finishes. Will it be a tight one? At the moment, Conway is 19 seconds ahead. Does either of these cars have a slip-up in them?
Just about seven o'clock on Sunday morning at La Sarthe, and I'm about to hand over to the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed (I assume?) Haydn Cobb for the next stint. A quick wrap of the state of play before I go:
It's still a Toyota 1-2 up at the front, with Mike Conway heading Sebastien Buemi by 15 seconds. There's no real threat from the #709 Glickenhaus in third place. Meanwhile, the #38 Jota car continues its dominant display at the front of LM P2, even though the slower Roberto Gonzalez is currently at the wheel. Robert Kubica is the best part of a lap behind him in the Prema Orlen Team car, with the #31 WRT entry now up to third despite its penalty at the start of the race.
It's back-and-forth in GTE PRO, with the #64 Corvette of Tommy Milner currently leading the #92 Porsche of Michael Christensen and, not far behind, the #52 AF Corse Ferrari with Daniel Serra at the wheel. Weathertech Racing is back at the top in GTE Am, but this is set to wax and wane as pitstops are currently in progress.
Thanks very much Richard, it is amazing what a shower and breakfast can do to refresh your mind. We're into the thick of the early morning action now in the final nine hours of the race - that's basically a sprint.
Penalty
It's less of a good morning for the #31 WRT who has been given a drivethrough penalty for hitting the #10 Vector. Gelael was trying to lap Bourdais and two-into-one didn't go so they both went around, with the stewards putting Gelael at fault. The penalty has dropped the #31 WRT to from third to seventh in class.
At the front, Conway in the #7 Toyota continues to lead by 14 seconds ahead of Buemi in the sister #8 car. With a four-lap lead on the #709 Glickenhaus in third place, it looks like a straight fight to the finish for the Toyotas.
Outside of the Toyota fight for the win, the best of the action is in both GT classes. The #64 Corvette still leads in GTE Pro but within 30s both the #92 Porsche and #51 Ferrari, and in GTE Am the #79 WeatherTech Porsche has a handful of seconds over the #99 Hardpoint Porsche.
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Pitlane traffic delays the #8 Toyota from leaving its box, as the #79 WeatherTech Porsche comes into the pit at the same time, meaning Hartley has to stop and be turned by the mechanics to get back on the road.
The #86 GR Racing Porsche has spun into the gravel at the Porsche curves, but is able to get going again under its own power.
There's also been a driver change in the leading #7 Toyota, with Lopez taking over from Conway, to see the gap between the leaders briefly stretch to 22s.
Oh my! The #92 Porsche, leading in GTE Pro, has suffered a major tyre let go. Christensen went through the gravel at Mulsanne and after getting back on track and up to speed the right-front tyre explodes and the debris rips off the front bodywork.
Christensen is limping back to the pits but that's got to end its GTE Pro victory hopes. The #92 Porsche is coming around the Porsche curves and is already down to fourth place. There's so much damage, it might even be terminal for the car.
Toyota has told us that the #8 car has had a puncture, a right rear. Buemi called it just before a scheduled pitstop. Looks like a lucky escape in terms of the time lost.
Christensen gets the wounded #92 Porsche back to the pits, letting the Porsche mechanics to assess the damage. In short, there's a lot of it.
More drama - this time for the overall leader! The #7 Toyota has stopped on track coming out of Arnage.
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"Stop the car and power cycle," Lopez is told over Toyota team radio. The #7 Toyota has got going again after around a 90-second stoppage, with the #8 sister car picking up the lead.
By: autosport.com
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