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24 Hours of Le Mans
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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The leading #8 Toyota has just dipped below the 3m30 mark, in the hands of Ryo Hirakawa. He's 14 seconds up on compatriot Kamui Kobayashi in the sister car.
Oliver Rasmussen has passed Sean Gelael for third in the LM P2 category. But then, faster than you can type that story, the Dane comes into the pits. That's LM P2 for you: a LOT of pitstops due to the short nine-lap stints these cars typically manage.
Steven Palette has lost the front left wheel of Ligier. It said adieu to the car exiting Mulsanne...and that unique, hobbling LM P2 entry is going to have work to do in the garage.
Thank you James! Half the race down, half to go. If you've made it this far, you know you can make the rest just fine. Is there logic in that? Hmm, well, just go with it anyway.
That's my cue to scramble to bed, with a somewhat rested Richard Asher waiting in the wings to take us through the next three hours. Have fun Richard!
We're at the halfway mark in the Le Mans 24 Hours and Toyota continues to lead the way, with Hirakawa aboard #8 currently 19s ahead of Kobayashi's #7 car. In LMP2, the #38 Jota car with da Costa at the wheel 3m10s ahead of Deletraz's Prema car, while the #92 Porsche driven by Estre has a 1m40s advantage over Tandy's #64 Corvette. The GTE Am pack is still headed by Chaves in the TF Sport Aston, with MacNeil fading to 49s behind in the WeatherTech Porsche.
The top four in GTE Am are all within 90 seconds of each other at present, with Chaves's TF Sport Aston leading MacNeil's WeatherTech Porsche by 45s, then Rump's Hardpoint Porsche 1m14s off the lead and Thiim fourth in the NorthWest AMR Aston. That's shaping up to be a nail-biter all the way to the finish over the next 12 hours.
Kevin Estre has taken over the #92 Porsche that Laurens Vanthoor pitted from the lead of GTE Pro. Fred Makowiecki has also jumped aboard the #91 sister car, which rejoins fourth as Tandy moves up to second in the #64 Corvette and Calado to third in the #51 Ferrari.
Nasr was right on Deletraz's tail in the battle for second in LMP2, but that is paused briefly as the Brazilian follows fellow native Portuguese-speaker Da Costa into the pits - the #38 Jota driver swiftly returning to the track after a quick service.
Chaves has pulled another 10s on MacNeil in the GTE Am battle last time around. Things have swung dramatically in that class in the past half hour, with the WeatherTech car that led for so long dropping a minute and now falling 35s behind the Portuguese. However, Ben Keating has only done 14 laps aboard that car, so plenty of time yet for the TF Sport bronze still to use up.
There's just 5.2s between the cars running second and third in LMP2, with Nasr (Penske) closing on Deletraz's Prema machine. Can the two-time IMSA champion usurp the reigning ELMS champion? This isn't the first time these two cars have done battle in the race, and we wager it may not be the last.
MacNeil has set a 4m01s on his most recent lap, which was in keeping with his times before his as-yet-unseen incident so appears not to be carrying damage.
The last lap for Cooper MacNeil, the 170th for the WeatherTech Porsche, was a 5m10s and he's come around 14.7s behind Henrique Chaves in the TF Sport Aston Martin who now assumes the lead in GTE Am.
We've just had a change of position for fifth in GTE Am as Ben Barnicoat passes Harry Tincknell, the Project 1 Porsche moving ahead of its Proton Competition cousin. But, more significantly, it appears as though the lead in GTE Am has changed hands too.
Ricky Taylor tried an ultimately unsuccessful final corner lunge on Felipe Nasr for the 2021 IMSA title at Petit Le Mans last year. He's eight seconds behind the Penske driver here as they run fourth and fifth in LMP2, but of much greater significance to the Cool Racing man right now is Oliver Rasmussen filling his mirrors in the #28 Jota car. Plenty to watch everywhere you look right now.
Ryo Hirakawa has taken over from Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota, and has a 26s advantage over team-mate Kobayashi in the #7 car. They're still two laps to the good ahead of Ryan Briscoe in the #709 Glickenhaus as we inch closer to the halfway point in the race.
Romain Dumas in the #708 Glickenhaus isn't very happy over the radio, and complains that his Pipo-engined 007 LMH is slow on the straights. He's still fighting back after the prang earlier for Olivier Pla at Tertre Rouge, and currently runs seventh overall - fourth in the Hypercar class.
LMP2 leader Will Stevens pits the #38 Jota ORECA and hands over to Antonio Felix da Costa. Fine work from the Briton, who can go and have a well-earned kip while the DS Techeetah Formula E driver takes over. Remember, Roberto Gonzalez has still got plenty of his driver time to use up, so it's far from a closed contest although that car has been leading comfortably since the opening hour.
Nasr has now taken third in LMP2 from Canal, and has 11.6s to make up before he can think about challenging Deletraz for second ahead of him.
Having got as close as anybody has for several hours to reeling in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche, Marco Sorensen hands over the TF Aston to Henrique Chaves, who rejoins third and just 12s ahead of Nicki Thiim's NorthWest AMR Aston. He's now the sole Danish Aston works ace on the track and is intending to make that fact pay by chasing down the silver-rated Portuguese driver.
It's been a very busy stint for Julien Canal in the Panis ORECA, and he's not about to get any let up as Felipe Nasr now fills his mirrors in the Penske machine. They're currently running third and fourth as Sean Gelael has just pitted from third in the #31 WRT car.
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Laurens Vanthoor leads the GTE Pro class in the #92 Porsche by 1m40s from Alexander Sims in the #64 Corvette, and James Calado third in the #51 Ferrari. And in GTE Am, the #79 WeatherTech Porsche of Cooper MacNeil is still being caught by Marco Sorensen's #33 TF Sport Aston Martin who is now just 22s in arrears.
In LMP2, Will Stevens has a commanding lead of 2m40s in the #38 Jota ORECA, with Louis Deletraz second for Prema and Sean Gelael third in the pole-sitting #31 WRT ORECA that had to serve a one-minute stop-go penalty for contact at the start.
We are 11 hours into the Le Mans 24 Hours as we hit 3am local time. The #8 Toyota continues to lead with Hartley behind the wheel, as Kobayashi takes over the #7 car from Lopez.
It all looked to be going so well for the #63 Corvette a few hours ago, but that car is now back in the garage. It's not going to be the dream send off for the GTE Pro class at Le Mans for Garcia, Taylor and Catsburg, but the #64 Corvette is still in contention and runs second at the moment with Sims 1m41s down on leader Vanthoor's #92 Porsche.
Sorensen is continuing to gobble into MacNeil's GTE Am class lead. This has been a good run from the Dane in the TF Sport Aston, who now lies 28s behind the WeatherTech Porsche that has lead the GTE Am class for so many hours now.
The #708 Glickenhaus that had contact with the barriers exiting Tetre Rouge earlier on during Olivier Pla's stint is now back inside the top 10 overall. With Romain Dumas now at the wheel, its passed the squabbling Canal and Taylor and moves into seventh outright, albeit seven laps down on the leading Toyotas. Taylor, incidentally, also passed Canal to claim fourth in LMP2.
Ricky Taylor has now jumped aboard the #37 Cool Racing ORECA in LMP2, the two-time IMSA champion relaying Nicklas Krutten. It's a strong lineup in that team, and it's put the car into fifth, with Taylor right on the tail of Julien Canal's Panis ORECA who currently occupies fourth.
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Marco Sorensen is continuing to go great guns in the TF Sport Aston Martin and is making inroads into Cooper MacNeil's lead in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche. The Dane was a whole eight seconds faster last time around, and the gap has been trimmed to 43.8 seconds.
We could soon have an all-British battle for fifth in GTE Am on our hands, with Harry Tincknell now aboard the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche and chasing after Ben Barnicoat's #56 Project 1 machine. The latter had a big punt earlier on while Ollie Millroy was at the wheel that resulted in a trip through the gravel, but appears to be continuing untroubled. The gap between them is 14.2s right now.
Lopez has made some inroads into Hartley, with 23.5s now between the two Toyotas in the Hypercar class. Lots of racing still to go though, as we inch closer towards the halfway mark.
Thomas Merrill has stepped out of the GTE Am leading WeatherTech Porsche after a fine stint, and hands over to Cooper MacNeil. Meanwhile Nicki Thiim has just jumped aboard the #98 NorthWest Aston Martin GTE Am, the Aston factory driver aiming to make back some of the time lost by the car's bronze Paul dalla Lana with Martin Rump's #99 Hardpoint Porsche first in his sights.
Deletraz comes in for his latest pit call in the #9 Prema car, which cycles Gelael back to second in LMP2 aboard the #31 WRT ORECA. The quickest LMP2 driver on the track at the moment is Felipe Nasr in the #5 Penske car, currently running seventh in class.
At the sharp end of the order, Hartley is 29.8s up on Lopez in the #7 Toyota, that gap having stabilised after Lopez charged after the #8 car in his first stint aboard the car. The bulk of that came when Lopez lost out in a slow zone on his outlap, the two cars having been almost welded together in the laps prior.
The inevitable has happened and Sorensen moves up ahead of Dalla Lana into third in GTE Am. Next target for the Aston factory ace is Rump, who is 29s up the road but with a five-second penalty to serve remember.
Sims is going great guns, but he's one of a number of cars who will have five seconds added at their next pitstop for not respecting the slow zone procedure - another of them is Rump in the #99 Hardpoint Porsche who lies second in GTE Am.
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Gelael got stuck in the Ford Chicane behind the #77 Proton-Dempsey Porsche GTE Am car of bronze driver Christian Ried, and that was all the invitation Deletraz needed to snatch second in LMP2 on the pit straight. Gelael tried to throw the block, but it came just too late to deny his former Formula 2 sparring partner.
By: autosport.com
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