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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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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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.
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.
Allen's pranged #45 ORECA has made it back to the pits where it receives a new nose before being sent out once more.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Mechanical problem
Trouble for Phil Hanson, the #22 United ORECA is crawling slowly and come to a stop on-track. Out he gets.
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.
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.
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.
Into the pits come the GTE Pro leaders, nose to tail. It's a battle between the mechanics!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Green flag
The slow zone has gone, so we're back to full green flag running.
Makowiecki gets Fisichella as they exited the slow zone on the run towards the Porsche Curves and now is closing on the back of Pier Guidi once more approaching the Mulsanne Straight. Here we go again!
As they raced into the Slow Zone, which is still out due to barrier repairs approaching Arnage, Pier Guidi managed to get ahead of fellow Ferrari man Giancarlo Fisichella's #80 machine. The ex-Formula 1 racer was very compliant with his colleague, but was uber-aggressive on the brakes into Mulsanne Corner to make sure he kept Makowiecki behind him.
The gap between #7 and # 8 is out to a little under 3m40s. So that was a bit loss for Kobayashi. Slow zones are definitely preferable in my book.
Change for third in GTE Am as Dalla Lana loses out to Martin Rump, the silver aboard the #99 Hardpoint Porsche. Meanwhile in GTE Pro Pier Guidi is really having to get his elbows out to hold off Makowiecki into the Mulsanne chicanes.
Hold your breath! Following the restart Makowiecki doggedly tracks Pier Guidi through GTE Am traffic and just about makes a move stick on Paul dalla Lana into the Ford Chicane to keep on the tail of the Ferrari ahead. That was a close one!
Green flag
The safety car has come in and we're back to green flag running.
The safety car will come in this lap, reports Edoardo Freitas. The battle to watch as the race resumes will be for the GTE Pro lead between Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari and Makowiecki's #91 Porsche.
The two Toyotas also appear to be behind different safety cars, although that's perhaps unsurprising given there were around three minutes between the leading #8 and delayed #7 cars.
By: autosport.com
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