Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 The 83rd Le Mans 24 Hours
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Treluyer takes over the leading car, which takes tyres this time, having made its most-recent scheduled stop only three laps ago.
Two decent laps from Thiim have stopped Stanaway hacking into his lead, but the gap is eroding – down to under five seconds now.
What's going on here? Lotterer is pitting the #7 Audi from the lead, way off schedule.
Breaking news
No further action on the incident between the #92 Porsche, Strakka LMP2 and #13 Rebellion LMP1.
GARY WATKINS: So the strategy cycle is (for the moment): Audi 13 laps on the fuel and quadruple stints on the tyres; Porsche 13 laps and triples; and the same for Toyota.
So in the last round of pitstops, all three Audis continued onto a quadruple stint, with Lotterer, Duval and Bonanomi staying aboard.
Both Porsche and Toyota took fresh tyres, Davidson (#1) and Sarrazin (#2) took over the Toyotas and Hartley (#17) and Lieb (#18) got into the Porsches.
A stop for tyres/new driver takes around 16 or 17 seconds longer, usually.
Both Porsche and Toyota took fresh tyres, Davidson (#1) and Sarrazin (#2) took over the Toyotas and Hartley (#17) and Lieb (#18) got into the Porsches.
A stop for tyres/new driver takes around 16 or 17 seconds longer, usually.
Hartley takes over the #17 Porsche from Bernhard, who led the early part of the race before Lotterer picked things up after the safety car and made Porsche pay.
The #7 Audi, which unlike the Porsches is yet to complete a driver or tyre change, now leads by 28s as a result of its faster stop.
The #7 Audi, which unlike the Porsches is yet to complete a driver or tyre change, now leads by 28s as a result of its faster stop.
Car #96, that's the GTE Am Aston, has been reported to the stewards for not respecting the pit entry.
GP2 ace Mitch Evans is now in the race, taking over Jota Sport's recovery after the earlier gear selection problem.
Evans is making his Le Mans 24 Hour debut with the reigning LMP2 victor and while he’s the first member of his family to feature in the race, he's not the first to lap here.
"My father [Owen] had a passion for motorsport and still holds the New Zealand Land Speed Record (217mph)," Evans said pre-race.
"He qualified for the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours but after the test day, crashed heavily while attempting to better the record just before the 24 hour race.
"His heart stopped beating seven times, had a fractured skull, broken ribs causing both lungs to collapse, fractured his left leg and knee, and his left arm was almost severed requiring two months in hospital.
"So it will be good to finally get the Evans name in the Le Mans race.”
The Gibson is 13th in LMP2, about a lap-and-a-half down.
Evans is making his Le Mans 24 Hour debut with the reigning LMP2 victor and while he’s the first member of his family to feature in the race, he's not the first to lap here.
"My father [Owen] had a passion for motorsport and still holds the New Zealand Land Speed Record (217mph)," Evans said pre-race.
"He qualified for the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours but after the test day, crashed heavily while attempting to better the record just before the 24 hour race.
"His heart stopped beating seven times, had a fractured skull, broken ribs causing both lungs to collapse, fractured his left leg and knee, and his left arm was almost severed requiring two months in hospital.
"So it will be good to finally get the Evans name in the Le Mans race.”
The Gibson is 13th in LMP2, about a lap-and-a-half down.
The Riley Motorsports Viper has stealthily made its way into the lead of GTE Am. Top stuff, Jeroen Bleekemolen.
The leading #17 Porsche will pit this lap.
Buemi hands over the #1 Toyota to Davidson. It's all about staying in reach for Toyota in the hope of things going wrong for Audi and Porsche.
As expected, Jani is in in the #18 Porsche from second place. The tyres are being changed and Lieb takes over.
Sarrazin takes over the #2 Toyota from Wurz.
Another slow time from Thiim, in the 4m01s again, and Stanaway is just 6.6s behind.
Christensen's slowly getting the Porsche back to a respectable distance from the next GTE Pro car, which is the #64 Corvette.
Christensen's slowly getting the Porsche back to a respectable distance from the next GTE Pro car, which is the #64 Corvette.
GARY WATKINS: It's triples also for Toyota. Certainly no surprise there, because that they told us they were going to do.
Wurz pits the #2 Audi from P8, having fallen more than 1m30s off the lead before coming in.
The #17 Porsche leads, with the #18 Porsche up to second now that the Audi has pitted. #18, driven by Jani, is due in this lap.
Pitstop and driver change for LMP2 leader KCMG. Bradley is out, Lapierre is in.
Lotterer brings the #7 in after a hot inlap, and a ruthless chop around a backmarker at the pit entry. Fuel only for this Audi, too.
Thiim's being caught quite rapidly by Stanaway now. The gap was 10s+ but is now 8s and falling.
Mucke's all over Fisichella for third.
Mucke's all over Fisichella for third.
The #7 Audi that leads in the hands of Lotterer is due in this lap, as is the #2 Toyota of Wurz.
GARY WATKINS: Bonanomi has stayed in for a fourth stint on the tyres in the Audi and Porsche has changed drivers and sent Tandy on his way on new Michelins. That' s exactly what we expected — Audi doing quadruples and Porsche triples.
Both cars did 13 laps on the fuel. Whether Porsche will stretch its stints to 14 laps, as its rivals have been predicting, is still an unknown.
Both cars did 13 laps on the fuel. Whether Porsche will stretch its stints to 14 laps, as its rivals have been predicting, is still an unknown.
Here comes Duval, stopping the #8 Audi after a rapid inlap.
That driver change cost the #19 Porsche 19 seconds to the #9 Audi, which kept Bonanomi at the wheel.
Twitter
@FerrariRaces: "#LeMans Bad luck for #55 @AFCorse running very slow with a blown tyre. Duncan Cameron is driving #Readyforcomeback."
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Having his first stint in the Signatech Apline, Pancianatici has taken fourth place from Lancaster, who's still in the Greaves Gibson he started.
The #8 Audi of Duval is now due in.
Tandy has taken over the #19 Porsche from Hulkenberg, while Bonanomi stays in the #9 Audi.
The Audi heads back out after taking on just fuel, but the Porsche stays in for tyres and a driver change, with Tandy taking over from Hulkenberg.
Twitter
@Audi__Sport: "New track record (race) for No. 7 @Andre_Lotterer in 3m 18.865s."
Lotterer took three seconds out of Bernhard with that stunning 3m18s lap. He now leads by 7.6s over the Porsche that had the first hour or so under control.
The #19 Porsche of Hulkenberg and the #9 Audi of Bonanomi head into the pits.
During that pitstop, Badey replaced Gommendy in the TDS ORECA. He sits behind Berthon, who - like leader LMP2 Bradley - is yet to pit.
Could team-mate Karun Chandhok's Formula E experience be helping with the Murphy entry's fuel consumption?
What we've learned at Le Mans so far
Could team-mate Karun Chandhok's Formula E experience be helping with the Murphy entry's fuel consumption?
What we've learned at Le Mans so far
Stopwatch
Lotterer sticks the boot in to Porsche - a new fastest lap of 3m18.865s.
Twitter
@sambirdracing: "First stint down. Many to go. This will be a great fight all the way to the finish I hope."
An issue for the #55 Ferrari, which Duncan Cameron is nursing back to the pits with a puncture. That car was running third in GTE Am.
Lotterer's lead over Bernhard has hovered around 3-4s over the last few laps.
Jani, in third, has slipped to 15s off the lead, while Hulkenberg is +27s to Lotterer in the third Porsche.
Without Lotterer's heroics in the #7, we'd have a Porsche 1-2-3 at the moment with Bonanomi and Duval being kept at arm's length.
Jani, in third, has slipped to 15s off the lead, while Hulkenberg is +27s to Lotterer in the third Porsche.
Without Lotterer's heroics in the #7, we'd have a Porsche 1-2-3 at the moment with Bonanomi and Duval being kept at arm's length.
The first of the frontrunners we're expecting in for the third round of pitstops is the #9 Audi, currently in the hands of Bonanomi and the Hulkenberg Porsche.
The reason Fisichella and Mucke are squabbling over third is simple: Stanaway's leapt back to second in the #99 Aston by virtue of not making a driver change.
This is the order after the second stops:
1. #95 Aston, Thiim
2. #99 Aston, Stanaway
3. #51 Ferrari, Fisichella
4. #97 Aston, Mucke
5. #71 Ferrari, Rigon
This is the order after the second stops:
1. #95 Aston, Thiim
2. #99 Aston, Stanaway
3. #51 Ferrari, Fisichella
4. #97 Aston, Mucke
5. #71 Ferrari, Rigon
By: Scott Mitchell, AUTOSPORT staff, Mitchell Adam, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Gary Watkins
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