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24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 2017: The race
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Pit stop
Piquet brings the second-placed LMP2 #13 Rebellion ORECA into the pits for its 11th stop.
LMP1
The slow zones have caused the gaps at the front to fluctuate slightly, with Sarrazin's lead now down to 14s and Lotterer has also closed to within 10s of Nakajima.
LMP2
Panciatici in the #35 Signatech ORECA passes Graves in the #24 Manor ORECA for fifth place while being lapping by the #2 Porsche.
Race leader Sarrazin doesn't have the consistency of Nakajima in the sister Toyota. The French veteran is having the odd slowish lap – a 3m24s or two – and that explains why the gap at the front is slowly coming down.
LMP2
So after that has shaken out, the gap between the #31 Rebellion ORECA and the #13 machine is 91 seconds. Currently, Oliver Jarvis is between the pair in the #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA but he will put in the not-too-distant future.
LMP2
Petrov bangs in the #25 Manor ORECA's fastest lap of the race as he tries to make up for the time lost since his first series of stints. He's in fourth.
GTE PRO
Seven hours of racing and all the remaining GTE Pro cars are on the same lap.
Pit stop
Jarvis brings the #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA into the pits. That means the #13 Rebellion ORECA of Piquet Jr is back up to second place.
LMP2
ORECAs currently lock out the top seven in LMP2. The best of the rest is the #32 United Autosports Ligier, which is down in eighth in the hands of de Sadeleer.
Driver Change
Nakajima has pitted from second place and has handed over to Buemi in the #8 Toyota. Can he continue to close the gap to the lead car?
It's worth pointing out that all the remaining GTE Pro cars - 12 of the 13 cars – are all on the same lap.
LMP2
Barthez, former World Cup winning goalkeeper, is on track in the #23 Panis Barthez Ligier. That car is 12th and he's proving to be a safe pair of hands. There will be no apologies for that pun.
Information
The stewards are investigating a #27 SMP Dallara pitstop for a potential rules infringement.
That was a 13-lap stint from Nakajima. It would be interesting to know why we are not seeing the full 14 laps that the LMP1s should be doing between fuel stops.
LMP2
The #36 Signatech ORECA is down in 37th place overall in the hands of Menezes. It's been a difficult race, with first Menezes going off at Mulsanne corner (claiming a small brake problem) and then a gearbox problem consigning it to the garage for some time.
Crash
Pedro Lamy's GTE Am-leading #98 Aston is picked up on camera missing its right-front wing and limping around on a shredded tyre. No indication at the moment whether this is cause or effect.
LMP2
Here's how it stands in LMP2:
1 #31 Rebellion ORECA (Senna)
2 #13 Rebellion ORECA (Piquet Jr)
3 #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA (Jarvis)
4 #25 Manor ORECA (Petrov)
5 #35 Signatech ORECA (Panciatici)
6 #24 Manor ORECA (Graves)
1 #31 Rebellion ORECA (Senna)
2 #13 Rebellion ORECA (Piquet Jr)
3 #38 Jackie Chan DC ORECA (Jarvis)
4 #25 Manor ORECA (Petrov)
5 #35 Signatech ORECA (Panciatici)
6 #24 Manor ORECA (Graves)
Driver Change
Sarrazin pits from the lead - will be interesting to see how big Conway's lead is when he emerges in the #7 car. Lotterer also pits too.
GTE AM
A close up look at the damage to the #98 GTE Am Aston:
LMP1
The Porsche #1 car has reclaimed second during those latest stops!
LMP1
So the order now is Conway leading in the #7 Toyota by 22s from Jani in the #1 Porsche, who has Buemi in the #8 Toyota just a second behind.
Slow Zone
A slow zone is about to be deployed on the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis.
GTE AM
TV replays show it was a blow-out at the exit of the Mulsanne Kink - a fast part of the circuit! - that caused that damage to the #98 Aston. And, lo, another slow zone ensues.
So that was 14 laps for the #7 Toyota, but only 13 for the #1 Porsche. Everyone is tripling at the moment. Will they now go onto quadruples now the light is fading and the temperature is dropping.
GTE AM
Continuing our theme of looking very closely at the state of the right-front corner on the #98 Aston, which is now back in the pits after suffering a spectacular blowout.
GTE PRO
The #66 Ford has come in - that's the one running anomalously from the others after puncturing five hours ago - and Pla is now at the wheel. That leaves Gavin, now running third in class in the #64 Corvette, with a job on his hands: ideally he needs to make up enough ground so as not to end up behind the #66 car when it pits next, but he also needs to be wary of Westbrook approaching from the rear in the #69 Ford.
LMP1
It didn't take Buemi long to get back ahead of Jani! He passed the Porsche in the final sector of the lap to reclaim second.
We might pop down to Dunlop's lair in the media centre to pump them for information about Lamy's blow-out - and to raid their store of Haribo.
LMP1
#1 Porsche vs #8 Toyota fighting over second place again - this time in darkness:
You have to feel for Lamy, Lauda and Dalla Lana. They are the best GTE Am line-up in the WEC, but Le Mans isn't a happy hunting ground for them. Remember two years ago when Dalla Lana crashed in the final hour when seemingly on course for the class victory? The Aston had run out of fresh tyres and Dalla Lana opted to stay on the used rubber for the run to the flag rather than handing over to one of his professional team-mates.
Driver Change
While that battle for second was resolved, Kunimoto handed over to Lapierre in the fourth-placed Toyota.
Green flag
The slow zones are clear.
LMP2
The #13 Rebellion ORECA has actually gained from that slow zone. The gap is down to 34s to the leading #31 car.
Crash
The LMP2 class-leading #31 Rebellion ORECA has been given a drive-through penalty for overtaking through a slow zone! That's going to give the lead to the #13 Rebellion ORECA.
GTE PRO
In green-flag conditions, let's take the temperature of the leading battle in GTE Pro: Turner leads in the #97 Aston by 22.6s from Priaulx in the #67 Ford. Gavin's #64 Corvette is a further 17.6s down the road and gaining gradually. His last lap was 2s faster than Westbrook, who is chasing him in the #69 Ford and is 5.4s behind.
LMP1
It was a shame that Buemi got ahead of Jani so easily, as things have stagnated now. Conway's lead is 22s while Jani is now four behind Buemi. The other Toyota is drifting in no-man's land in fourth.
LMP1
But just as we say that it has all changed! Jani is now right back on the tail of Buemi.
LMP2
The leading LMP2 #31 Rebellion has served its drivethrough penalty now and has immediately returned to the pits on the next tour.
GTE AM
After the #98 Aston's misfortune, the JMW Motorsport Ferrari has moved into the GTE Am class lead. Stevens is at the wheel now, over a minute ahead of the #77 Porsche, but that car has made one more pitstop.
LMP1
Whatever it was that caused Buemi to slow briefly was nothing serious as it's now Jani's turn to have a slow lap - he has dropped to six seconds behind.
By: Matt Beer
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