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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 The 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours

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Milner's right with Bergmeister now as they hammer the Ford chicane and cross the start-finish line.
Milner looked like he might be trying to nose up the inside of Bergmeister to take the lead into Dunlop chicane, but he backed out of it. Still together down the Mulsanne straight.
We've had six official retirements so far. They are:

#0 Nissan ZEOD RC (Garage 56)
#3 Audi R18 e-tron quattro (LMP1)
#37 ORECA-Nissan 03R (LMP2)
#41 Zytek-Nissan Z11SN (LMP2)
#71 Ferrari 458 Italia (GTE Pro)
#91 Ferrari 458 Italia (GTE Am)
LMP1: 1 Hartley; 2 Sarrazin +19s; 3 Treluyer +54s; 4 di Grassi +1m38s.
Frey is doing an excellent job in the LMP2-leading #34 Race Performance ORECA to keep the #35 Ligier of Brundle behind him.
Change for the lead! Brave move from Milner through the right-hand kink on the long run from Mulsanne to Indianapolis.
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Darren Turner, talking about his early stint in the Aston, said: "It was a good battle between the two Corvettes, AF Ferrari and Sam Bird. The rain came down but we're still very much in the pack. It was a fairly exciting first couple of hours."

Since he said that Senna's taken over from Mucke, and is running sixth overall – about a minute off the lead.
GARY WATKINS: Hartley appears to have a narrow edge over Sarrazin on pace, but Treluyer is lapping quicker than both of them. That doesn't mean the Audi is the quickest car on the track - Buemi is fastest of all in the delayed #8 car.
Patrick Long FINALLY pits the Dempsey Porsche after a terrific stint. He made the most of choosing slicks while others went for wets, rode out the difficult patch as he dropped down the order slightly, and had actually taken back the GTE lead before that stop.

Milner/Bergmeister were catching him but still, great effort. He relinquishes the lead with a good stint behind him – and with Dempsey still leading GTE Am.
Well, the Dempsey Porsche was still leading GTE Am – Nygaard's swept pass while the Porsche was stationary in the pits.
Bergmeister's not letting Milner go. He's fallen about a second behind the Corvette but was barely half that distance behind before the final sector.

Holzer's dropping back and is being caught by Vilander now.
Frey is now inching away from Brundle in the lead of LMP2.
Badey in the #46 TDS Ligier takes fourth in LMP2 from the #43 Morand Morgan of Hirsch.
LMP1: 1 Hartley; 2 Sarrazin +20s; 3 Treluyer +52s; 4 di Grassi +1m44s.

That means Sarrazin has lost a little bit of time, Treluyer has gained a bit, and di Grassi is falling back.
Brundle pits the #35 Ligier from second place in LMP2.
Milner's checking out at the front now in GTE, pulling 5.5s clear of Bergmeister.
The #12 Rebellion is running fifth behind the leading factory cars. Prost is two laps down on Hartley out front.
Brundle stays in the Ligier and gets new Dunlops.
Badey pits from third in LMP2 in the #46 Ligier.
And Frey brings the LMP2-leading Race Performance ORECA-Judd/BMW into the pits. This will hand the lead to Chatin in the Signatech Alpine ORECA.
GARY WATKINS: The balance has changed in the battle up front. It is now Sarrazin who is setting the fastest times - and is edging towards Hartley.
Hartley's lead is down to 10s, after he held it around the 19-20 mark for so long. Now Sarrazin is taking chunks of time out of him.
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Alex Wurz on his first stint out front in the Toyota: "At the start everything was fine and under control; the car was running well. The balance was pretty good and I was able to pull away from the cars behind and extend our lead.

"Then it started raining and it was extremely difficult to survive out there. I had really a lot of aquaplaning on the straight. Thankfully the car stayed straight and I could stay on track.

"From the road safety training I do, I know that in these situations you have to drop the clutch in order stay straight and that’s what I did."
Chatin has now pitted in the Signatech Alpine ORECA, so Frey has retaken the LMP2 lead in the #35 Ligier.
Di Grassi pits the #1 Audi from fourth place - taking on diesel only.
The #72 SMP Ferrari's had an off at Mulsanne, going through the gravel, but continued. Shaitar's in that car, which is fourth in GTE Am.
Hartley pits in the #20 Porsche, so Sarrazin now leads from Treluyer.
With the latest round of pitstops complete, here's how it stands in LMP2: 1 Frey (#34 ORECA); 2 Brundle (#35 Ligier); 3 Chatin (#36 ORECA); 4 Badey (#46 Ligier); 5 Hirsch (#43 Morgan); 6 Canal (#26 Morgan).
Brundle, who took fresh tyres at the last stop, is scything into Frey's lead in LMP2.
Lieb - having recovered to 10th after the #14 Porsche's earlier fuel pressure problem - pits the car for the fourth time.
Yellow flag
The #43 Morand Morgan is in the gravel. Hirsch is at the wheel. Was fifth in LMP2.
The #52 Ram Ferrari, which was some way down the GTE Pro order, has stopped on the exit of Arnage.
LMP1: 1 Sarrazin; 2 Treluyer +33s; 3 Hartley +55s; 4 Di Grassi +2m24s.
Yellow flag
That's Parente, and he's out of the car. Yellows.
A little later, this one, to accommodate a late Porsche pitstop.

HOUR 4 ORDER:
1 #7 Toyota
2 #2 Audi
3 #20 Porsche
4 #1 Audi
5 #12 Rebellion

Leading LMP2 runners:
1 #34 Race Performance ORECA
2 #35 G-Drive OAK Ligier
3 #36 Signatech ORECA

Leading GTE Pro runners:
1 #74 Corvette
2 #91 Manthey Porsche
3 #92 Manthey Porsche

Leading GTE Am runners:
1 #98 Aston Martin
2 #77 Dempsey Porsche
3 #53 Ram Ferrari
Brundle is now just 10.462s behind the LMP2-leading #34 Race Performance ORECA. He's around six seconds a lap faster and has fresher rubber.
Treluyer pits the #2 Audi from second, while Buemi (38th) brings the #8 Toyota in as well.

By: Geoff Creighton, Scott Mitchell, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Gary Watkins, AUTOSPORT staff

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