Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

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

Live Text

Sort by
It's now midnight, and while the #19 Porsche of Hulkenberg leads the Le Mans 24 Hours with nine hours in the books, AUTOSPORT's Gary Watkins is now officially celebrating his birthday!
The #19 Porsche leads the #9 Audi by 6 seconds. In third, the #7 Audi is only 22s off the lead.
Jani is flying in the #18 Porsche. He's just set a 3m18.917s, comfortably the fastest on track.
More LMP2 pitstops, this time for Team SARD Morand and the second G-Drive entry, currently fifth and sixth in LMP2.
It's also worth giving a quick nod to the privateer Rebellion squad, which runs ninth and 10th with its ORECA-designed, AER-powered R-One. Remember, last year a Rebellion finished fourth.
A new personal best for the #99 Aston as Stanaway sets a 3m55.666s.
It's important to remember that there are Toyotas in this race. Currently, the #2 car is in seventh in the hands of Wurz, with the #1 car driven by Buemi in eighth. The Toyota doesn't have the pace to be a factor without the Porsches and Audis hitting trouble.
The gap between the top two is ebbing and flowing. Rast took time out of Hulkenberg last time round to bring it back to five seconds.
He's on new tyres, but Stanaway is putting together a superb run as he extends the #99 Aston's lead beyond half a minute.

3m58.397s
3m58.125s
3m58.096s
3m57.423s
3m56.264s

That's the best of any of the top four.
Now that the #17 Porsche has served its time penalty and made its stop, it's in fourth place and 2m11s of the lead.
Hulkenberg is extending his lead in the #19 Porsche. He's now 6.8s clear of the #9 Audi driven by Rast. Hulkenberg is in the final leg of a quadruple stint, while Rast is in part three of a similarly-lengthed run.
Bradley pits on the very next lap. Straight in and out for fuel as well.
Gommendy heads to pitlane in LMP2. He's straight back out, continuing his stint.
Rast's doing a good job in the #9 Audi. This is only his second Le Mans start, the first coming last year when he raced the Sebastien Loeb Racing ORECA and came home fourth in LMP2. He was among the stars of the secondary prototype class that year.

Rast Le Mans 2015

Rast Le Mans 2015

Webber pits again in the #17 Porsche, this time for a full service and to hand over to Bernhard.
Obviously Turvey didn't have a lot of fuel on board when he set that time, the Jota entry is in for a pitstop. Rejoins, but loses seventh to Strakka Racing.

Berthon has also pitted from third, handing that position back to the #26 G-Drive entry. No driver change there either.
Having served his drive-through penalty, Bradley leads Gommendy by 1m23.242s.
All of this gives the lead back to the #19 Porsche of Hulkenberg.
New fastest lap in LMP2, set by Turvey in the recovering Jota Gibson, a 3m38.406s.
Fassler, meanwhile, is getting a top up and will continue on his way.
The answer is: Stanaway leads! The #99 retakes top spot in GTE Pro, with Gavin someway behind.

Now, in theory they've both made the same number of stops. But as the #99 was brought in early to relieve MacDowall, it is staggered slightly.

The bottom line is it's fascinating. Don't worry about that.
Webber parks the #17 Porsche in the pit box, serving a 60-second penalty for passing under yellows. That minute is going to feel like an age...
The Corvette pits, and Gavin's in for Taylor. Where will it feed out in relation to the Aston?
Fassler is right on the back of Webber at Arnage. But Webber puts the power down and edges away again.
Fassler is still breathing down Webber's neck in the battle for the lead.
The #22 Nissan is still lapping down in 20th place with Tincknell at the wheel. He's lapping around 19s off the pace at the moment.
So, here's how it stands pre-Webber serving the penalty in the leading Porsche:

1 #17 Porsche
2 #7 Audi, +1.805s
3 #19 Porsche, +41.979s
4 #9 Audi, +46.711s
KCMG wastes no time serving the drive-through, Bradley is back out on track.
A drive-through penalty for the LMP2-leading KCMG entry has also popped up on the screens. An investigation into a pitstop was announced just under two hours ago.

As it stands, Bradley leads Gommendy by 1m57s.
Penalty for Porsche #17! Webber's car has been given a one-minute stop/go for overtaking under yellow flags.
Hulkenberg rejoins the action in third, six seconds ahead of Rast.

Webber leads Fassler by 0.3s in the other Porsche v Audi fight.

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

Published: