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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 The 83rd Le Mans 24 Hours

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There's a tractor on the circuit collecting the #21 Nissan, so the slow zone is still in action and drivers are being told to keep to the left.
Stanaway hands over the #99 Aston to Rees, who rejoins 25s behind Gavin's Corvette.
Badey pits for fuel from P2 in LMP2. The Frenchman's deficit to leader Bradley's #47 KCMG ORECA had increased to 2m20s by this point.
A problem for the third-placed (well, it was) #83 Ferrari, which Aguas is limping back to the pits with a crocked front-right.
Lotterer pits the #7 Audi, handing the lead back to Tandy in the #19 Porsche. Bonanomi slots into second in the #9 Audi.
The #30 Extreme Speed Ligier has seemingly lived up to its name and is under investigation for speeding in the pitlane. Down in 44th overall, it's unlikely to make a massive difference.
Tandy (#19) leads Bonanomi (#9) by 33s, and Lotterer (#7) by 45s.

It's all about those three cars (and their rotation based on pit strategy) at the front, with Bernhard keeping the fourth-placed #17 car on the lead lap without making inroads.
Bradley's lead in the #47 KCMG car is now over three minutes after that latest stop for Badey's #46 Thiriet by TDS machine. The Briton has come incredibly close to lapping the entire LMP2 field.
Into the pits comes the #51 Ferrari of Fisichella.

Aguas' car has been wheeled into the garage by the way. Mechanics have been scrambled.
LMP1 order:

1 #19 Porsche
2 #9 Audi
3 #7 Audi
4 #17 Porsche
5 #18 Porsche
6 #8 Audi
7 #2 Toyota
8 #1 Toyota
The #18 car is beached in the gravel at Mulsanne Corner, with Jani at the wheel.
That's a carbon copy of the straight-on incident we saw from Dumas that cost the #18 before Jani got in the car. Massive lock-up, bouncing through the gravel, tapping the barrier then trying to reverse out.

The difference is, Dumas didn't get stuck when trying to back out of the gravel, but Jani is stuck.

And we have a slow zone in place now.
Bradley pits the #47 KCMG from the lead of LMP2. His advantage is so huge the question is how big will it be afterwards, not where he will emerge.
The #18 Porsche has already lost fifth place to the #8 Audi, as the recovery tractor comes along and picks it out of the gravel.
Jani brings the #18 into the pits. He hands the car over to Lieb, and just like when Dumas brought the car in, the mechanics change the front bodywork before sending the car on its way after spending 1m29s in the pitlane.
Lapierre's advantage is still a very healthy 1m45s even after that latest driver change.
Tandy's lead continues to grow. Bonanomi is now 38s behind the #19 Porsche, with Lotterer 53s adrift.
Lieb is one lap behind the fifth-placed #8 Audi now that things have shaken out after Jani's off at Mulsanne corner.
Tandy continues to charge, setting a new best lap for the #19 car - a 3m18.6s.

His lead is up to 42s over Bonanomi, while Lotterer slips to 55s back. Tandy is well-and-truly picking up where Hulkenberg left off, and the #19 car's position continues to strengthen at the head of the field.
A 55-second stop/go penalty has been dished out to the #30 Extreme Speed Ligier for speeding in the pitlane. With the lead Nissan still being worked on in the pits, it may not drop a place from its current 43rd.
More bad news for Extreme Speed as the #31 car has now hit the barrier at the Porsche Curves. Fogarty is trying to limp the car back to the pits.
Gavin pits, but may have got stuck behind that crawling LMP2 making its way back to the pits.

Rees takes the lead in the #99 Aston. These two cars have been doing this dance for a while.
Replays show Fogarty lost the car midway through the corner before hitting both the front and rear of the car against the wall.
Duval pits the #8 Audi from P5, more than two minutes behind the #17 Porsche in fourth.
Some quick times in LMP2 as both Badey (#46 ORECA) and Bird (#26 Ligier) in second and third try to hunt down leader Lapierre.
Gavin stayed in the car but that was quite a lengthy stay in the pits, even if he's taken on tyres. That might make the difference at this stage of the race.
But Lapierre responds with a personal best himself to counter any threat from behind.
Porsche's description of Dumas's off at Mulsanne corner (that was the first time the #18 car went straight on there) was simply that the driver "locked the brakes".

Given that Jani's incident looked so similar, perhaps he just made the same error, rather than there being something wrong on the car.
Bonanomi pits from second, having been no match for Tandy during that stint. Lotterer, who continues to fall back from the Porsche and is now 58s adrift, picks up second place in the #7 Audi.
Naughty. The GTE Am class leader's pitstop is under investigation. That's the #98 Aston (as it has been for ages).
Tandy increases his lead to 1m00s over Lotterer, who can't match the 3m20s (and lower) laptimes the #19 Porsche is pumping in at the moment.

Bonanomi is 1m40s back in the #9 Audi, with Bernhard 2m39s behind the leader in the #17 Porsche.
After that apparent protracted stop the Corvette is over 20 seconds behind the #91 Porsche.

The #99 leads by a fair chunk.
LMP1 order:

1 #19 Porsche
2 #7 Audi
3 #9 Audi
4 #17 Porsche
5 #8 Audi
6 #18 Porsche
7 #2 Toyota
8 #1 Toyota
9 #13 Rebellion
Tandy pits the #19 from the lead, which he had extended to just over a minute. He rejoins with an 18s lead over the #7 Audi of Lotterer.

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

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