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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 2017: The race

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Gonzalez brings the #25 Manor ORECA into the pits. That's the car that was started by Petrov and that has run in the top half-dozen throughout.
Traffic is of course playing a part in this, but for the past few laps the #8 and #9 Toyotas, running third and fourth, are lapping quicker than the #7 Toyota and the #1 Porsche ahead of them. We're only talking a couple of seconds, so with the gap between Tandy (second) and Davidson (third) at nearly 20 seconds we're not quite on the verge of a battle there just yet. Kobayashi's lead is 44 seconds.
Parente in the #60 Clearwater Ferrari has got the old black-and-white warning flag fro persistent abuse of track limits.
There's nothing between Adam in the #97 Aston and Derani in the #67 Ford at the head of GTE Pro. They are consistently lapping within a tenth of each other.
The #2 Porsche is still in the garage, now 14 laps down and 53rd overall. 
Pier Guidi is matching the top two in the third-placed #51 Ferrari and has actually made up a couple of seconds since the previous round of pitstops.
Canal occasionally makes inroads on leader Heinemeier Hansson in the lead battle, but while the #31 Rebellion ORECA is closer to the #13 example than it was when the last round of driver swaps happened, it hasn't looked like a battle is going to break out.
Hartley has his helmet on in the Porsche garage, so perhaps the #2 car is about to reappear. Let's hope so, just so we have another LMP1 car out there even if its hopes of overall glory are now shattered by that front-axle problem. 
Hankey in the #90 TF Aston is doing some impressive times in third place in GTE Am. Don't forget it's his first Le Mans and the first for the team.
The #36 Signatech ORECA is in the garage. That car had already lost time early on when Menezes went off.
Hartley is about to get back in the #2 Porsche in the garage, although it's certainly not urgent.
Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA passes Hirschi in the #24 Manor ORECA for third at Dunlop, with the pair appearing to make light contact.
Tung brings the Jota-run #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA into the pits after that brief stint in third place.
The #2 car finally rejoins the race, 19 laps down and 55th overall. 
Derani has pitted out of second in class in the #67 Ford. The cars in third through sixth follow him in.
Sarrazin takes over the #7 Toyota, as Tandy brings the #1 Porsche into the pits.
Just in case anyone was wondering that was the first lap that Porsche has led this year as it bids for a hat-trick of Le Mans victories.
The #47 Villorba Ligier has a spin at the Dunlop chicane. Lacorte is at the wheel and struggling to rejoin as his rear wheels are in the gravel.
Nakajima has taken over from Davidson in the #8 Toyota.
The yellow flags are flying at the Dunlop Chciane, so Lacorte is going to need some help to get himself dug out.
Here's Tung passing Hirschi at Dunlop a couple of minutes ago.
No he doesn't! Adam does, but he's due a stop too. Timing screen confusion. The #97 Aston is now on the first page.
It was all pretty equal in that pitstop cycle for the LMP1 boys. The top four were all within five seconds, with #7 coming out top on 1m23s.
Canal in the #31 Rebellion did a better job than leader Heinemeier Hansson in the #13 Rebellion in that slow zone, gaining 1.6s (provided he didn't speed!).
Class leader Adam should be a winner here in the #97 because he's making his stop while there's a slow zone in operation.
Lacorte tries in vain to dig his Ligier out of the gravel.
Race control notes that car #9 (the Kunimoto Toyota) has its door open. That could be troublesome if an unscheduled stop is required to fix (shut) it.
Molina stops out of second. The #71 is going to be another slow zone winner.
Kunimoto's door is indeed open, clearly shown on TV, with the team telling him over the radio to "close the door".
Lacorte has got back going again, so the track is clear.
Reports that the #51 Ferrari - currently running fourth in class - is losing fluid.
The #9 Toyota was the big loser in that slow zone. Lopez was about 43s down on the #8 car when he came in and is now about 1m11s in arrears.

By: Matt Beer

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