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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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/
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lappery is commencing now for the Toyotas, with Buemi leading Conway through the traffic. There's 23 and a half hours to come of this, so they'd better get used to it.
There's a scrappy moment entering the pits for Ben Hanley in the #22 Nielsen Racing LMP2 car, who goes over the white lines before coming back again. I wager he won't be the last...
The stops for the #31 and #28 Jota ORECAs came after seven racing laps, but nine laps in total (with the recon and warm-up lap). The rest come in after eight (8 + 2 = 10). Ten laps is what the P2 boys think they can do between stops - at a push. With the reduced fuel capacity this year (down 10 litres), it requires a bit of fuel saving to get there.
Lynn had a good few laps and had made his way up to third after Rast's stop (the three-time DTM champion will have to come in again of course to serve his penalty) after passing 2021 LMP2 winner Milesi and two-time IMSA champion Nasr. Now all the other leading LMP2 runners come in for their first stops.
Rast has just pitted from second in LMP2, but is given a one-minute penalty for the lap one contact with Owen on the run to Turn 1. That's a tough break for the #31 crew which lead the WEC standings and took pole.
Early GTE Am leader Tincknell drops a further two places, as Picariello takes into third and Andlauer into fifth. Also on the move is Jan Heylen, the sometime Champ Car racer advancing up to eighth in the #88 Proton-Dempsey Porsche.
Picariello is driving the #99 Hardpoint entry, which is actually run in partnership between Proton and Absolute Racing. IMSA racer Rob Ferriol was due to drive that car with Katherine Legge and Adrien de Leener after winning a free entry as the best bronze-graded driver in the GTD class last year. He races in the US under the Hardpoint Racing banner, but transferred his entry to Absolute on the eve of the test day.
Change of lead in GTE Am, Cairoli passes Tincknell on the run to the second Mulsanne Chicane. Barker then demotes the two-time Le Mans class-winner to third, with Picariello right on his case.
By: autosport.com
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