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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Sure enough, there's a car in the gravel pit! That's the entry to the Porsche Curves...but though the speed going in is high, he's managed to avoid slamming into the barriers. It looks like it's the only non-ORECA in the LM P2 category, namely the #27 CD Sport Ligier. But Monsieur Christophe Cresp has got it going and made it back to the pits, so we've got a clear track.
The sun is certainly sinking low at La Sarthe now. Headlights are having more effect than merely warning the driver in front to get out of the way. But apart from a scrap over ninth place in LM P2, things are relatively settled at the moment. But saying that at Le Mans is usually a sure-fire way to bring on a massive burst of action...
The troubled Alpine entry is back in its pit box. It's starting to look like this could be a recurring theme for the home favourites and current Hypercar wooden-spoonists.
The #31 WRT car is up to seventh place! Meanwhile Roberto Gonzalez has taken over the category-leading Jota entry.
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For our overview of the first four hours of this 90th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, give this a read: https://www.autosport.com/le-mans/news/le-mans-24-hours-toyota-nose-to-tail-as-alpine-glickenhaus-delayed/10320603/
Nyck de Vries is putting in some good work in the TDS ORECA - he'd posted a 3m32s lap shortly before pitting just now. The Dutchman was here anyway in his capacity as Toyota's reserve driver and was drafted into the TDS line-up when Philippe Cimadomo was excluded from the meeting. He doesn't have to familiarise himself with the ORECA 07, of course. He knows all about the car - and team - from his time with Racing Team Nederland in the WEC.
Charles Milesi has picked up a 1-minute penalty for forcing another car off the track and crossing the white line at pit entry. Nobody in LM P2 can afford this kind of thing! And it's bad news for Sebastien Ogier.
As promised by Matthieu Vaxiviere, the Alpine is now on track once again. The driver is now Andre Negrao, jumping in for his first stint of the race. The home entry now has a mountain to climb, as it has fallen three laps behind the fourth-placed Glickenhaus now being driven by Ryan Briscoe.
The track temperature has just fallen below 40 degrees for the first time today. Which is a sign that the golden hour is drawing near. Photographers will be cleaning their lenses -- or whatever it is photographers do -- and heading out to their sunset spots of choice...
The Nasr Penske has found a way around the Vanthoor WRT entry. Second place is nice...but the lead Jota car is over two minutes up the road. Meanwhile the Inter Europol Competition car has set its own quickest lap of the race thanks to Esteban Gutierrez. 3m34.729 is a good time compared to the rest at this moment.
Vaxiviere has just revealed that it's a clutch problem keeping the Alpine in the pits for a race-ruining length of time. Or, to be precise, the electrics behind the clutch. But he says they'll be ready to roll again soon.
The P2 battle is an intriguing one, if you look past the monster lead of the #38 Jota car. It's worth noting that none of the top five cars in class has had its mandatory silver driver behind the wheel. Silver-rated Canal is running sixth in the Panis car at the moment.
We've got a multi-car battle on track for second place in LMP2. The #28 Jota of Ed Jones leads the train, ahead of Dries Vanthoor (Team WRT), Charles Milesi (Richard Mille Racing) and Felipe Nasr (Penske). The Canal/Kruetten/Deletraz fight is five seconds behind that lot. If it's like this in 20 hours....it'll be some finish!
Corvette, with Nicky Catsburg at the wheel, leads in GTE Pro once more following all the pitstops. In second place, Richard Lietz is beginning to leave Porsche colleague Laurens Vanthoor behind. Alexander Sims has taken over the #64 'Vette from Milner -- but currently a touch slower than the 911 ahead of him.
It's still very close at the top of the leaderboard, with just about a second splitting the lead Toyotas. Hartley remains ahead of Lopez. The Alpine is still in the garage, and now tumbling down the charts.
Worth noting: the #31 WRT car has now his the top ten in LM P2. That's the car that had a one-minute penalty earlier in the race for Rene Rast's role in the first-corner fracas. Sean Gelael is currently at the wheel. It's a quick car and the Spa winners should progress further if they can avoid trouble...
The #36 Alpine Hypercar is in trouble! Vaxiviere couldn't get its wheels turning as he tried to get away from its latest pitstop, which also appears to be an unscheduled one. They've pulled the French vehicle into the garage....
The leading Corvette is into the pits, where Nicky Catsburg relieves Jordan Taylor. The fourth round of GTE Pro stops is underway. That will split up the battling Porsches, as the #92 car of Christensen stays out and assumes the lead for now.
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We have had an off at the very front of the race! Jose Maria Lopez had an excursion, and that has allowed the #8 Toyota back into the lead! But it is very, very close at this moment...Brendon Hartley is holding onto the slenderest of leads going through the Porsche Curves.
The Mighty #38 Jota car was a big winner there in that protracted Slow Zone period. The lead for Will Stevens has gone out from 36s to 76s. That's almost certainly because he had to go through it - and slow down to 80km/h - one fewer time than the chasing pack.
Now there's a change between the GTE Pro Porsches, Lietz slipping past Christensen amid some jostling P2 traffic. Milner can't seem to keep the Porsches in sight at the moment.
Update from GTE Pro, I hear you ask? They're all in perfect formation once again. It's 2x Corvette, 2x Porsche and then 2x Ferrari. Oh, wait! Michael Christensen just passed Tommy Milner for second. And his team-mate Richard Lietz has done the same. Symmetry? What symmetry?
That was a 10-lap stint from the #708 Glickenhaus. Probably taking advantage of pitting when that Slow Zone was in force.
There's always a battle to be had in LM P2! Delatraz is chasing Canal hard for 5th in class. And the Jota of Edward Jones is just ahead of these too. This thing might escalate soon...
Meanwhile we have a slow zone again, also in the Indianapolis area, thanks to a mistake by Ryan Cullen in the Vector Sport car. He'd just taken over from the distinguished Seb Bourdais...
The battle in LM P2 has moved into the pit lane for a moment, with the sixth round of stops now playing out. Louis Deletraz has taken over the #9 Prema Orlen Team car, while Yifei Yi hands over to Niklas Kruetten following an impreesive stint in the #37 Cool Racing car. The latter is now down to 7th in class following the stops. Julien Canal has taken over the Panis Racing car as well. He's 5th for the moment, while William Stevens still maintains his comfortable lead in the #5 Jota machine.
Leutwiler has been dragged out of the gravel pit and is hobbling slowly back to the pits. Weathertech Racing still leads the class comfortably with its #79 Porsche.
Now into his third stint, Vaxiviere is pushing hard. He evidently didn't take kindly to Westbrook shunting him down back into last place in the Hypercar category. But despite his efforts, he's lost over five seconds to his rival now.
We've got a spinner, and it's the #46 Team Project 1 GTE Am Porsche. Nicolas Leutwiler lost it on the way into Indianapolis, is stuck in the gravel and he'll need a special vehicle to help him out. There's currently a slow zone in the area.
Thank you Mr Newbold! And there's no time for niceties beyond that, as the recovering #709 Glickenhaus is going wheel to wheel with the #36 Alpine for fourth place. Richard Westbrook has been on the charge since his car had a brief visit to the garage earlier, and the Alpine's latest stop brought the Briton in sight of Matthieu Vaxiviere. And, as I type, past him!
That's my opening stint done, I'll hand you over now to the capabale hands of Richard Asher for the next three hours. Enjoy Richard!
And in GTE Am, Thomas Merrill's #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche has a 50s lead over Seb Priaulx in the #77 Proton-Dempsey Racing Porsche. Then it's David Pittard third in the #98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin in third, with the TF Sport Aston of Henrique Chaves fourth and Frederik Schandorff fifth in the Kessel/Car Guy Ferrari.
In GTE Pro, Corvette leads the way with Jordan Taylor in #63 30s clear of team-mate Tommy Milner in #64. Five seconds behind Milner, Michael Christensen's #92 Porsche has a 10s advantage over the sister #91 car of Richard Lietz, with the two Ferraris of Davide Rigon (#52) and Daniel Serra (#51) over a minute down.
In LMP2, Will Stevens continues to lead in the #38 Jota car. Penske's Dane Cameron is second, but has Lorenzo Colombo hard on his tail in the Prema car, with Yifei Ye fourth for Cool Racing and Nico Jamin fifth for Panis - the team owned by 1996 Monaco GP winner Olivier.
With three hours complete, Toyota head the order with Jose Maria Lopez in car #7 leading Brendon Hartley by 23s. Romain Dumas is third for Glickenhaus, but 94s off the lead.
The gap has closed up in the battle for second in LMP2, with Dane Cameron now seeing Lorenzo Colombo looming large in his mirrors. Penske vs Prema is a battle of the heavyweight motorsport teams beginning with P. It's just missing Porsche (who will partner with Penske on the LMDh project next year).
Another GTE Am rookie is Frederik Schandorff, and the 2021 International GT Open champion is fortunate not to slap the wall after a wild moment through the Esses. He slides along the grass and just gathers it up, but the #57 Kessel Racing-run Car Guy Ferrari loses fifth spot to the TF Sport Aston of Henrique Chaves.
Priaulx has now come into the pits, but stays aboard for a second stint in the #77 car. That cycles the WeatherTech team's bronze Merrill back to the GTE Am class lead, while Pittard remains third - ensuring the top three are all Le Mans newcomers.
In comes Lopez from the lead for his fourth scheduled stop. Expect Hartley in on the next tour and for the #7 car to re-assert itself at the head of the field once more.
By: autosport.com
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