Le Mans 2013 81st Le Mans 24 Hours
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0h2m LMP1: Lapierre is going for it early on, in second place.
0h2m LMP1: McNish retaliates on the Mulsanne, but Lapierre holds the Audi off and keeps second.
0h04m LMP1: Further back, Danny Watts has got the penalised Strakka HPD up to 25th overall. The Rebellion Lolas are far ahead, falling away from the works quintet ahead.
0h4m LMP1: Lotterer leads Lapierre over the line, and there's another Toyota on the move as Anthony Davidson passes Lucas di Grassi's Audi into the final chicane.
0h6m LMP1: Big battle between Davidson and di Grassi over fourth, allowing the Rebellion duo to close up.
Darren Turner holds the GTE Pro lead for Aston still.
Darren Turner holds the GTE Pro lead for Aston still.
0h7m LMP1: Lapierre takes the lead but Lotterer is not keen and immediately fights back ahead. McNish is right behind as well.
0h7m LMP1: Lotterer gets back ahead by Arnage. What an outstanding start with 23 hours and 57 minutes still to run.
0h16m LMP1: Absolutely nothing to choose between Lotterer and Lapierre in the first two positions.
Yellow flag
0h17m GTE Am: Safety car out, a big crash for an Aston Martin. It's Allan Simonsen in the GTE Am polesitting car.
0h17m GTE Am: The accident happened at Tertre Rouge and has caused huge damage to the Aston. We're on lap three.
0h16m GTE Am: We're still under safety cars here, and this could be a long one. Devastating for the #95 Aston squad.
0h17m LMP1: The accident came after a scintillating start, with Toyota taking the fight to Audi right from the outset.
0h20m 
LMP2: Across in LMP2, Olivier Pla had established an early lead over the rest of the field (although that has obviously now been eradicated). Shinji Nakano has just pitted from fifth in the #25 Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan.
Le Mans 2013
LMP2: Across in LMP2, Olivier Pla had established an early lead over the rest of the field (although that has obviously now been eradicated). Shinji Nakano has just pitted from fifth in the #25 Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan.
0h22m GTE Am: Simonsen was leading the class before his shunt, so the #77 Dempsey Del Piero Porsche - in the hands of Patrick Long - is now the GTE Am leader.
He heads a Porsche 1-2-3; the #67 Imsa and #88 Proton machines following behind.
He heads a Porsche 1-2-3; the #67 Imsa and #88 Proton machines following behind.
0h25m The twin-safety car system used by Le Mans had briefly created an intriguing problem - everyone from 31st position down (that's from the #91 Manthey Porsche) was caught behind the second car, and lost three minutes as a result.
We think they've now been let by, to group the field together and run under one safety car - we'll let you know for certain as soon as we can.
We think they've now been let by, to group the field together and run under one safety car - we'll let you know for certain as soon as we can.
0h26m LMP2: Plenty of work going on in the #25 Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan garage. Nakano has stayed in the cockpit, but we're now at six minutes and counting for this impromptu stop.
0h29m LMP2: Brendon Hartley now pits in the #48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan, which was running sixth in class. Early reports suggest the car might have an electrical problem.
0h30m Clean up nearly finished down at Tertre Rouge. We've been underway for 30 minutes now, 21 of which have been run under the safety car.
0h34m GTE Am: Dumas pits the #70 Larbre Chevrolet - Manuel Rorridgues takes over.
0h36m GTE Pro: Confirmation that the dual safety car policy has indeed split the field, most severely affecting the Pro field.
Darren Turner, Marc Lieb and Rob Bell (in the #97 Aston, #92 Porsche and #99 Aston respectively) are behind the safety car, but the rest of the group is now stuck behind the second vehicle and half lost half a lap as a consequence. The #91 Porsche, #51 Ferrari and the two Corvettes are at the head of that second group.
Darren Turner, Marc Lieb and Rob Bell (in the #97 Aston, #92 Porsche and #99 Aston respectively) are behind the safety car, but the rest of the group is now stuck behind the second vehicle and half lost half a lap as a consequence. The #91 Porsche, #51 Ferrari and the two Corvettes are at the head of that second group.
0h37m LMP2: John Martin now pits in the #26 G-Drive ORECA-Nissan, which had started second in LMP2 and was running fourth.
0h39m Most of the debris from Simonsen's accident has now been removed, and there's talk over team radios that the safety car period might be ended soon. The lights are still flashing for now though.
0h39m LMP1: As we edge nearer to a resumption of racing, an update on the #21 Strakka HPD: Danny Watts had got the car up to 10th before the safety car.
0h43m GRAND-AM boss Jim France waved the flag to start the 90th anniversary Le Mans 24 Hour and will return the favour next year. He's invited ACO president Pierre Fillon to start the Daytona 24 Hours. That's an equally important race as the first round of the new-for-2014 United SportsCar Racing series.
0h45m LMP2: Confirmation that Martin pitted for a slow puncture, while Nakano was struggling with gearbox issues.
0h48m 
GTE Am: Paolo Ruberti pits aboard the GTE Am-leading Proton Porsche. New driver getting in, not sure who. Ah, it's team boss Christian Ried.
Le Mans 2013
GTE Am: Paolo Ruberti pits aboard the GTE Am-leading Proton Porsche. New driver getting in, not sure who. Ah, it's team boss Christian Ried.
0h51m GTE Pro: Marc Goosens is running 10th in class in the #53 Viper he shares with Ryan Dalziel and Dominik Farnbacher.
The GTS-R had lacked pace in qualifying, but Dalziel told AUTOSPORT that it didn't attempt a qualifying run and has pace in hand - even suggesting that, should it have a completely clean run, a podium is not out of the question.
The GTS-R had lacked pace in qualifying, but Dalziel told AUTOSPORT that it didn't attempt a qualifying run and has pace in hand - even suggesting that, should it have a completely clean run, a podium is not out of the question.
0h53m Meanwhile TV replays show huge sections of the barrier down by Tertre Rouge are being replaced. Simonsen's Aston Martin, which caused the damage, has returned to the back of the paddock on the back of a low loader.
0h56m LMP1: Incidentally, we're now onto lap nine here at Le Mans - roughly the point we expected to see the first Audis start to pit. Toyota is expected to have a fuel advantage, although we're not sure by how much - it spent time on Thursday evaluating how much longer than Audi it could feasibly run.
1h02m Well, we're officially 1/24th of our way into this year's Le Mans, and after 51 minutes behind the safety car race direction reporters we have one more lap to wait before the track goes green once more.
1h03m The leaders are behind safety car B, which will pull off at Arnage this lap.
1h07m LMP2: Pitstops for both the #43 Morand Morgan-Judd of Franck Mailleux and the similar #45 OAK example of Jacques Nicolet.
That's an interesting strategical switch by Morand, which has Natacha Gachnang at the wheel of its car now.
That's an interesting strategical switch by Morand, which has Natacha Gachnang at the wheel of its car now.
Green flag
1h08m We're racing again; the lead safety car pulling in at Arnage and allowing the lead battle between Lotterer and Lapierre to resume.
1h09m LMP1: As Lotterer leads the front group round in the #1 Audi, he's edged about a second clear of the two chasing Toyotas.
1h11m LMP2: A gaggle of LMP2 cars pit, including Pierre Kaffer in the Pecom Racing ORECA-Nissan that currently leads the FIA Trophy standings in the WEC.
There was a significant gain for Ryan Briscoe, who got ahead of Jann Mardenborough during those stops in his #33 Level 5 car.
There was a significant gain for Ryan Briscoe, who got ahead of Jann Mardenborough during those stops in his #33 Level 5 car.
1h12m LMP1: Lapierre drops behind Toyota team-mate Davidson, while McNish and di Grassi in the #2 and #3 Audis are also past the #7 Toyota.
1h15m LMP1: McNish is now having to defend from Lucas di Grassi into Mulsanne Corner, but the pair have dropped Lapierre - who had been rather animated on the radio to his Toyota team just now.
1h15m LMP2: Olivier Pla brings the #24 OAK Morgan-Nissan into the pits for fuel. That gives the category lead to Jota's Oliver Turvey.
1h16m LMP1: McNish pits in the #2 Audi.
1h16m Not for long. Turvey's dropped to third on that lap with Alexandre Imperatori (#47 KCMG Morgan-Nissan) and Tom Kimber-Smith (#41 Greaves Zytek-Nissan) go by.
By: Jamie O'Leary, Gary Watkins, Sam Tremayne, Scott Mitchell, Geoff Creighton, Matt Beer
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