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24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 The 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours
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Gavin's had a terrible lap – 4m02.117s – and with Mucke just 1.4s behind we could be about to see a lead change in GTE Pro.
Gavin's responded to that poor lap and actually gone 1.2s faster than Mucke, which means his lead is 1.6s at the end of it.
Fassler is on a charge at the moment in the fight for the lead. He's taking 3-4 seconds per lap out of Wurz, and the Toyota's lead is cut to 1m27s.
Mardenborough, who got fresh rubber at his last stop, is again flying at the front of LMP2. Fifth-placed Pla is also rapid.
Mucke's got the Aston back ahead of Gavin's Corvette in the middle sector. It did seem inevitable as the Vantage slashed the C7.R's lead.
Mardenborough's LMP2 lead in the #35 OAK Ligier is now one minute over the #46 TDS Ligier of Gommendy. The Signatech Alpine ORECA is still running well in third, 1m17s behind the leader, with the #34 Race Performance ORECA still in the hunt 80 seconds off the lead.
Bruni's going to be on Gavin's case soon, with the Italian just under 5s behind and closing in on the Brit.
Jani has been off at Arnage and continued. It's cost him around 9s based on the pace he's been running at in the #14 Porsche, which currently sits fifth.
That makes Jani the third Porsche driver (after Hartley and Webber in the #20 car) to go straight on at Arnage in similar fashion.
That makes Jani the third Porsche driver (after Hartley and Webber in the #20 car) to go straight on at Arnage in similar fashion.
"Emmanuel Collard, please turn both headlights on." That's pretty much race control's message to the #75 Porsche.
Yellow flag
Yellow flags at the second Mulsanne chicane.
GARY WATKINS: Fassler's pace right now is bloody impressive. He is on tyres approaching the end of their third stint and closing in Wurz, who is on fresh rubber.
Howard Blank's had an off at the second Mulsanne. Not the first time he's erred in this race.
The #26 OAK-run G-Drive Racing Morgan of Pla, currently fifth in P2, seems to have hit trouble. Might have been the car that stopped at the second Mulsanne chicane. That's a real blow for that car - Pla has been setting some quick times.
Webber brings the #20 Porsche in for a scheduled stop. No tyres; just fuel.
LMP1: 1 Wurz; 2 Fassler +1m35s; 3 Gene; 4 Webber; 5 Jani.
The top three are all on the same lap.
The top three are all on the same lap.
GARY WATKINS: Webber is now on the third stint on his Michelins. What affect this will have on his pace, which wasn't a match for the top three anyway, will be interesting to see.
Patrick Long's been given a three-minute stop-go penalty for spinning his wheels in the pitlane. Hoon.
Gommendy brings the second-placed LMP2 car, the #46 TDS Ligier, into the pits for a scheduled stop.
Wurz appears to be responding to those quick laps from Fassler - he's put in a couple of 3m26s to negate the recent inroads the #2 Audi had been making.
The gap is up to 1m36s now.
The gap is up to 1m36s now.
Gene pits the #1 Audi, which will be taken over by nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.
The #91 Porsche is tumbling down the order – but that's because of pre-planned brake change.
Kristensen doesn't get into the #1 Audi - Gene stays in, keeps the same set of tyres...and has a minor off at the first Mulsanne chicane on his outlap.
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That's it for the #48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA. After trying to get the car, which had a steering problem, back to the pits for several hours, Berthon has had to give up the fight.
@MurphyPrototype: "Sadly we cannot safely bring the car back to the pits from that part of the circuit. We would like to thank EVERYONE for their support!"
@MurphyPrototype: "Sadly we cannot safely bring the car back to the pits from that part of the circuit. We would like to thank EVERYONE for their support!"
Fassler responds to Wurz out front, taking four seconds out of the Toyota's lead. It's now 1m34s. Those two are trading blows at the moment, but Toyota will be pretty satisfied with the fact that they are fighting with a cushion of around a minute and a half.
Bruni pits, and is back out in the Ferrari. No tyres.
Mardenborough pits in the LMP2-leading #35 Ligier.
Fassler pits the #2 Audi from second.
Mardenborough just took fuel, so retains the lead in LMP2 over the Signatech Alpine, which is due in three laps after the LIgier.
Now the leading #7 Toyota comes in, right on schedule. Let's see how the gap shakes out between the top two.
We've passed midnight here at Le Mans. Here's the LMP1 order:
1 Wurz
2 Fassler
3 Gene
4 Webber
5 Jani
1 Wurz
2 Fassler
3 Gene
4 Webber
5 Jani
The first gap has come in at the front. Fassler appears to be 1m40s back from Wurz, meaning he lost a little bit of time during that pit sequence.
Gavin pits and moves aside for Tommy Milner in the Corvette – which rejoins behind Bruni. The Ferrari moves into second. Makowiecki's just a few seconds back, but a pitstop behind.
Gene (third) is 1m18s behind his Audi team-mate in second.
Quote
Anthony Davidson on the problems for the #8 Toyota, and the need for the car to recover a good result for the sake of its WEC hopes: "The task now for the #8 is to score as many points as possible for the World Championship. We are pushing as hard as we can and we will try to get the best result possible.
"My stint was cut short a bit; after my second stop I felt something wasn't right on the left rear so we had to pit early."
"My stint was cut short a bit; after my second stop I felt something wasn't right on the left rear so we had to pit early."
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Confirmation from Porsche that it's more than a brake change keeping the #91 car in the garage.
@PorscheRaces: 911 RSR #91 still in garage. Repairing a fuel pressure problem.
@PorscheRaces: 911 RSR #91 still in garage. Repairing a fuel pressure problem.
Fassler is slipping back from leader Wurz at the moment. The gap is up to 1m44s between the top two - perhaps the Audi's tyres are giving up in the closing stages of this quadruple stint.
P3 Gene is 2m58s behind the leading Toyota.
Bruni's bringing Mucke's lead down. This GTE Pro fight is epic, only now it's Aston vs Ferrari, not Aston vs Corvette!
That said, Milner's only 33s behind Bruni – though the Porsche challenge seems limited to fourth. It's basically like last year's race, only Corvette and Porsche have switched places.
That said, Milner's only 33s behind Bruni – though the Porsche challenge seems limited to fourth. It's basically like last year's race, only Corvette and Porsche have switched places.
The #48 Murphy Prototypes ORECA has now posted its retirement officially. That's the ninth car that has officially retired from the race.
Yellow flag
Yellow flag at the second Mulsanne chicane.
By: Geoff Creighton, Scott Mitchell, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Gary Watkins, AUTOSPORT staff
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