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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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Remember, there are three safety cars at Le Mans. Which group you are in can have a big impact on the gaps.
Replays show that Goethe spun into the wall at the exit of the Porsche Curves after having just been passed by the #19 Porsche of Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg and Rast are together under the safety car. As Rast recently stopped, that should mean that the #19 Porsche's lead is not dramatically affected by the safety car.
The team has confirmed that Goethe has been talking to the team and is out of the car. He's being taken to the medical centre.
Murphy took the opportunity to pit during the safety car period, with Patterson replacing Chandhok in the fourth-placed LMP2 car.
Yellow flag
Still under safety car here. The top three are all in the same safety-car pack, meaning that Hulkenberg is as good as a lap up on both the #9 Audi and the #17 Porsche.
Varying levels of fortune for the top three in LMP2 with the safety car groupings. Leader Bradley is in the same group as second-placed Canal, but behind in the queue and could put a second lap on the G-Drive entry.

Meanwhile, third-placed Turvey is now back on the same lap as Canal.
So here's the order:

1 #19 Porsche (Hulkenberg)
2 #9 Audi (Rast)
3 #17 Porsche (Webber)
4 #7 Audi (Fassler)
5 #8 Audi (Jarvis)
6 #18 Porsche (Jani)
7 #2 Toyota (Wurz)
8 #1 Toyota (Buemi)
Hukenberg brings the #19 Porsche into the pits for fuel under the safety car.
And he's been wheeled into the garage. It seems that there might have been contact with the #96 Porsche when he was lapping it at the exit of the Porsche Curves.
But the car is quickly sent back out. Tandy, who has taken over from Hulkenberg, is being held at the exit of the pitlane, ready to join the next safety car group.
There was no real time loss from that visit to the garage for the #19 Porsche. It would have had to waited at pit exit anyway and it has rejoined in the safety-car pack behind the one that Rast and Webber are in. So when the race gets underway, the car's lead won't be that different to what it was before.
Hulk getting out of the car means that his was just a double stint. But given that the safety car was out and the car needed refuelling anyway, it made sense to give the car fresh tyres and put Tandy in. That did not cost any time.
Fassler brings the #7 Audi in for fuel.
And the safety car is due in this lap.
A couple of GTE stops behind the safety car, with the lead pair of the #64 Corvette and AF Corse's #51 Ferrari both taking the opportunity to stop. By virtue of pitting first and rejoining at the front of the group, Vilander is ahead of Gavin.
Green flag
Instant move at the restart, Webber dives past Rast and into second place.
Now that the timing has shaken out, an update on the LMP2 lead - KCMG was queuing behind G-Drive in the safety car group to relap the car for the first time. It's now done that, rather than putting it two laps down.
Webber has pulled out a 3-second gap on Rast since getting past at the restart. Tandy is two minutes up the road, based on his safety car group.
So the #19 Porsche's lead is much the same as it was before the safety-car period at a little over two minutes.
All three of the drivers in the #19 Porsche - Tandy, Bamber and Hulkenberg - have done a very good job. Only Tandy has contested this race before, both times in GTE machinery, so given the experience level, what they have achieved is remarkable.

With a clean run to the end, victory will be assured. But there's still 6 hours and 40 minutes to go. At Le Mans, nothing is assured...
KCMG pits Bradley, putting the #26 G-Drive OAK back on the lead lap for the time being. Clean stop and he's back in the race.
Vilander has edged out an 8-second gap over Gavin in the Corvette following the restart, in the fight for the GTE Am lead.
Rast loast a heap of time last lap round in traffic - 15 seconds to second-placed Webber.
Tandy bangs in a 3m20.452s. He just needs to control the gap and not take any unnecessary risk. Doing exactly what is needed.
Webber brings the second-placed #17 Porsche into the pits for fuel and some polishing.
And Webber returns to the track.
What are the Toyotas doing, you ask? Well, they are still down in seventh and eighth place. Wurz is in the #2 car, which is lapping five seconds off the leading pace, while Buemi has just brought the #1 into the pits. Neither car is a factor. All Toyota can do is bring them home and hope for drama up ahead.
And how about the Rebellions? Well, it's fair to say that, while the Rebellion hasn't quite been quashed, it has been largely subdued. The #13 car driven by Abt is down in 17th, while the #12 car of Beche is 35th.
How they stand:

1 #19 Porsche (Tandy)
2 #9 Audi (Rast)
3 #17 Porsche (Webber)
4 #7 Audi (Fassler)
5 #8 Audi (Jarvis)
6 #18 Porsche (Jani)
7 #2 Toyota (Wurz)
8 #1 Toyota (Buemi)
You get the feeling Jota fancies a crack at second place. When racing resumed, Turvey was about 3m30s behind Canal. That gap's down to an even three minutes.
Fassler is on the move - he's just set the fastest overall sector 3 time of the whole race.
The #18 Porsche of Jani is in the pits again. He takes fuel and heads out.
The stewards are investigating the #12 Rebellion for driving standards. Beche is at the wheel.
Yellow flag
There's a slow zone at the the second Mulsanne chicane thanks to Krohn spinning his Ligier.
Pitstops for the two leading GTE Am entries, Dalla Lana is still in the class-leading Aston, Shaytar climbs aboard the pursuing Ferrari.
The Krohn car has fired up again, so the tractor is reversing back off the circuit. Slow zone should be cleared shortly.
Canal pits in the G-Drive Ligier from second in LMP2, rejoins in the same place.
Jarvis brings the #8 Audi in from fifth place, having been running 50s behind the #7 R18 beforehand.

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

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