Le Mans 2013 81st Le Mans 24 Hours
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Good morning and welcome to AUTOSPORT's live coverage of the 81st Le Mans 24 Hours.
Toyota WEC Le Mans 2013
It's dry at the moment but the rain is threatening behind the big grey clouds as the crews prepare for warm-up, which is due to start in about a minute at 0900 local time (0800 UK).
Green flag
The green lights are on at the end of the pitlane and Neel Jani is the first man to take to the track in his #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota, the Swiss leading out a train of about 20 cars that had queued up behind him.
LMP2: Mike Conway is having a bit of trouble getting the #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan started in the pitlane. He's being pushed back into the garage by his mechanics.
LMP2: Ryan Briscoe is the first spinner of the session, the IndyCar race winner gyrating the #33 Level 5 HPD he shares with Scott Tucker and Marino Franchitti at the second Mulsanne chicane. He keeps going without too much drama.
Stopwatch
LMP1: After just the one flying lap for some (and none for others), the pace is being set by polesitter Loic Duval in the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro on 3m26.769s.
Audi has confirmed that Duval will start the race in the #2 machine with Marcel Fassler and Oliver Jarvis doing likewise in, respectively, the #1 and the #3 cars.
Audi has confirmed that Duval will start the race in the #2 machine with Marcel Fassler and Oliver Jarvis doing likewise in, respectively, the #1 and the #3 cars.
LMP1: If you want to brush up on what happened in qualifying, you can read about how Duval ended up on pole right here.
GTE Pro: Oliver Gavin goes straight on at the first Mulsanne chicane in his #74 Corvette. He rejoins without problem.
LMP2: And while Gavin does that, Thomas Dagoneau is busy spinning the #40 Boutsen Ginion ORECA-Nissan at the second Mulsanne chicane.
LMP2: The #34 Race Performance ORECA-Nissan of GP3 racer Patric Niederhauser has stopped in the pitlane and is having to be pushed along back to the garage.
LMP1: Tom Kristensen looks to have spun the #2 Audi at the exit of Indianapolis. He's facing the wrong direction and attempting to straighten himself out.
Crash
LMP1: A TV replay shows that Kristensen tried to go around the outside of Pascal Gibon at Indianapolis and made contact with the Frenchman's #67 GTE Am Porsche.
Kristensen is now going again while Gibon's car is stuck at the side of the track.
Kristensen is now going again while Gibon's car is stuck at the side of the track.
Crash
Le Mans 2013
GTE Am: We have a Corvette embedded in the tyres at the Dunlop chicane.
It's the #70 Larbre Corvette of Philippe Dumas. The Frenchman lost it under braking and spun around, nerfing into the barrier with the front end of his car.
LMP2: The #48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan tops the timesheets in the class for baby prototypes; Brendon Hartley having set a time of 3m44.1s in the car now being driven by Mark Patterson.
Archie Hamilton is currently second in the #25 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan, while the sister car has now got out on track in the hands of John Martin and lies ninth in class.
Archie Hamilton is currently second in the #25 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan, while the sister car has now got out on track in the hands of John Martin and lies ninth in class.
LMP1: Marc Gene sets the fastest first sector of all in the #3 Audi. This could be a belter...
Random fact: the ACO has calculated that 3615 drivers have participated in the Le Mans 24 Hours since the first running of the event 90 years ago.
GTE Am: More bad news for the #67 Imsa Porsche - after colliding with Kristensen's Audi earlier, it's now been reported to the stewards for speeding in the pitlane.
GTE Pro: It's Porsche at the head of the GTE standings with Romain Dumas having gone round in 3m38.796s in his Manthey-run works car to get himself ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's AF Corse Ferrari by 1.2 seconds.
Aston Martin Le Mans 2013
GTE Pro: The Aston Martins, which dominated GTE Pro qualifying, are down in ninth, 10th and 11th spots at the moment; clearly not bothering about setting a fast time.
Yellow flag
LMP2: Tony Burgess spins the #30 HVM Status Lola-Judd exiting the Dunlop Chicane. He has got going again and is now powering up towards Tertre Rouge.
LMP1: What looked to be a fast lap by Gene last time around ended up being aborted. Lucas di Grassi is now in the #3 car.
GTE Am: Gianluca Roda goes straight on at the first Mulsanne chicane in the Proton Porsche that starts second in class.
Stopwatch
LMP1: Allan McNish sets a new session best in the polesitting #2 Audi - a 3m26.730s.
Stopwatch
Toyota WEC Le Mans 2013
LMP1: Scratch that - Nicolas Lapierre now goes top with a 3m26.737s, which is four tenths quicker than the Japanese marque's qualifying best.
LMP2: John Martin in the #26 Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan has moved that car to the top of the class timesheets for the session. They had been the lead LMP2 car for much of qualifying before the #24 OAK Morgan-Nissan claimed class pole.
LMP1: Encouraging stuff for Toyota, especially as last night Stephane Sarrazin questioned whether Audi would be able to sustain its qualifying advantage in the race.
Red flag
Red flag - looks like a big shunt for the #25 Delta-ADR car.
Session will not restart, organisers confirm.
Crash
LMP2: It's a big hit for Tor Graves in the #25 Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan at the start of the Porsche Curves.
That's our fourth early close to a session this week at Le Mans - third qualifying being the only run to finish under the chequered flag rather than reds.
So, we have a Toyota head of the pile in our final session before the 81st Le Mans 24 Hours gets underway.
All three Audi R18s were within one second of Nicolas Lapierre's time though. The #12 Rebellion Lola meanwhile was fifth, almost two seconds faster than the second #8 Toyota TS030.
All three Audi R18s were within one second of Nicolas Lapierre's time though. The #12 Rebellion Lola meanwhile was fifth, almost two seconds faster than the second #8 Toyota TS030.
LMP2: The #25 Delta-ADR car, with Graves still at the wheel, is towed back to the pits. It doesn't look as badly damaged as first feared - still with all four wheels on - but the team will be keen to check it properly as soon as possible.
Over in LMP2, the #26 G-Drive ORECA-Nissan once again sits top, and once again by a sizeable margin - its closest challenger, the #48 Murphy Prototypes car, is almost one second down the road.
Nissan power dominates, with the #25 Delta-ADR and #24 OAK Racing machines next up (although of course the #25 ended the session in the barriers).
Nissan power dominates, with the #25 Delta-ADR and #24 OAK Racing machines next up (although of course the #25 ended the session in the barriers).
Plenty of damage to survey too, with the #70 Larbre Corvette arriving back at the pits with a severely bruised front end, and the #25 Delta-ADR being towed back as we type.
GTE Pro: For the first time there's no Aston in the top five, with Ferrari and Porsche instead sharing the GT honours. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Olivier Beretta, Kamui Kobayashi and Toni Vilander is top, half a second ahead of the #92 Manthey Porsche 911.
Le Mans 2013
Aston were also beaten to top spot in GTE Am - the #77 Dempsey Del Piero Porsche of Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Patrick Dempsey was quickest, several seconds faster than the #95 Aston Martin.
This isn't the only AUTOSPORT window you'll need open for this weekend. Don't forget, Race Centre Live will be bringing you updates from Formula Renault 3.5, Superstars, WRC, BTCC and IndyCar.
LMP1: Great moment for ORECA boss Hugues de Chaunac last night – he was presented with his Spirit of Le Mans award by Henri Pescarolo at the dinner that was part of the Le Mans 90th anniversary celebrations. ORECA has an anniversary of its own this year – it's 40 years old. It would take too long to list all its achievements here.
With the Le Mans warm-up over, on track now is the Legends support race. Drizzle before the start made for a rather cautious first lap - poleman Ludovic Caron slipped to eighth by the Mulsanne straight!
AUTOSPORT has a soft spot for the #71 Lotus 11 Series - driven by David Cooke - after passing it on the drive here.
If the way it cut through the traffic in Rouen on the way here is anything to go by, it should progress beyond its current position of 23rd.
If the way it cut through the traffic in Rouen on the way here is anything to go by, it should progress beyond its current position of 23rd.
By: Jamie O'Leary, Gary Watkins, Sam Tremayne, Scott Mitchell, Geoff Creighton, Matt Beer
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