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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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Fisichella bangs in the fastest lap we've seen so far from the #51 AF Corse Ferrari that is second in GTE. He's battling with Milner's Corvette.
The #18 Porsche heads into the pits for fuel. Dumas is still aboard that car, which runs sixth.
Good job from Bamber in the leading #19 Porsche. He's extending his lead now.
Here's how things stand:

1 #19 Porsche (Bamber)
2 #7 Audi (Treluyer), +57.595s
3 #9 Audi (Albuquerque), +1m59.929s
The #8 Audi is back in the pits. It holds fifth place in the hands of di Grassi.
Webber is at the wheel of the fourth-placed #17 Porsche. He's lapping in the 3m23s bracket, making him the slowest of the four cars on the lead lap.
The #9 Audi has been brought into the pits, with Albuquerque staying on board after taking on fuel.
Leaders as the sun slowly rises:

Overall: #19 Porsche (Bamber)
LMP2: #47 KCMG ORECA (Howson)
GTE Pro: #51 AF Corse Ferrari (Fisichella)
GTE AM: #98 Aston Martin (Lamy)
In the lead battle, Bamber and Treluyer are still evenly matched. The gap stands at 55.897s.
A trio of LMP2 pitstops have just been completed - G-Drive in second, Murphy in third and the #34 OAK in sixth have all visited the lane. No driver changes, with Bird, Chandhok and Estre continuing.
There are some question marks about the weather this morning. Depending on who you believe it's either definitely going to rain or definitely not going to rain. There are also unconfirmed reports of a plague of locusts sweeping in from the south, which could make strategy interesting.

For now, it's dry, so let's not worry about bad weather until it turns up. Or doesn't.

AUTOSPORT's high-tech weather system (looking out the window) can confirm it is getting lighter rapidly.
There are still two Nissans moving, down in 44th and 47th place. Chilton is aboard #23 and Krumm in #22. Didn't look especially likely that any of the Nissans would still be around come sunrise, so the fact two-thirds of them are still running is a positive.
Bamber is nudging the lead up to the one-minute mark. It's currently 57.743s over Treluyer in the #7 Audi.
Bamber pits in in the #19 Porsche and hands over to Nico Hulkenberg. This should be Hulkenberg's final go in the car.
Big news at Toyota - Buemi has done the #1 car's fastest lap of the race with a 3m22.548s. That's five seconds off the fastest lap overall...
Hulkenberg was massively impressive during his second stint overnight. Let's see what he can do here.
Well, there's a threat of rain, so Porsche will be very happy to have Hulkenberg - who is very good in the wet and brilliant on a damp track on slicks - in the car.
Treluyer has a lead of 17.682s over Hulkenberg.
Treluyer is due in in a couple of laps, which will bring his quadruple stint to an end.
Is Hulkenberg going to feel his way into this stint? Take it easy as he acclimatises perhaps. Not a bit of - he bangs in a 3m19.493s on his first flying lap. He's always been a class act and it's great to see a driver of his ability in a potentially racewinning car.
A pitstop for the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari, currently second in GTE Am. Bertolini is now in the car, as the team looks to challenge the leading #98 Aston.
Treluyer is due in shortly, so Hulkenberg will assume the lead when that happens.
Treluyer brings the #7 Audi into the pits from the lead. He will take tyres and hand over to Fassler.

Hulkenberg takes the lead in the #19 Porsche.
Yellow flag
A moment of alarm as AUTOSPORT is momentarily fooled by one of the 'decoy' Porsches, which is in the wall at Indianapolis. Fortunately for the German marque, it's not a Porsche at all, it's the white #12 Rebellion LMP1 driven by Nicolas Prost.
Up front, Hulkenberg's lead is now 67 seconds over Fassler
Yellow flag
We have a slow zone at Indianapolis to allow for the recovery of the Rebellion.
Not much to report in LMP2, Howson still leads Bird by more than one lap, with Chandhok and Turvey the next cars on the road, a further lap behind.
Right on cue, the director rolls out some slow-mo footage of Chandhok, Bird and Howson, and the latter has pitted in the KCMG ORECA.
Lamy has pitted in the GTE Am-leading Aston, rejoins without relinquishing top spot to the SMP Ferrari.
Webber brings the #17 Porsche into the pits for fuel.
Green flag
The slow zone has cleared.
Fisichella has pitted in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, but unlike recent hours, the team hasn't relinquished the GTE Pro lead to the Taylor-driven #64 Corvette.
Hulkenberg crosses the line with a 3m18.841s as he bids to extend his lead.
Following Howson's stop, the #26 G-Drive Ligier is back on the lead lap, although Bird is still the best part of three minutes - 2m51s to be precise - behind KCMG.
Dumas brings the #18 Porsche into the pits and returns to the track.
Hulkenberg is stretching his lead up front. It's now 82.928s.
Bird has been one of the strongest drivers in LMP2 all week. He's chipping away at KCMG's lead, it's now 2m42s with just over eight hours of racing remaining. A lifetime, basically.

The car has looked good, but ultimately you'd suggest Rusinov and Canal haven't been able to get as much out of it as the 2013 GP2 runner-up.

KCMG on the other hand, has so far far enjoyed a very balanced, high-level output from its three drivers.
Di Grassi brings in the #8 Audi and hands over to Oliver Jarvis.

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

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