Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 The 83rd Le Mans 24 Hours
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Vanthoor has also pitted, handing the Honda-powered OAK Ligier over to Estre.
Bernhard, Jani and Lotterer have broken away in that traffic, and they are nose-to-tail! Lotterer is looking very feisty as they cross the line, and he passes Jani for second into Turn 1, before having a look at Bernhard as well into the chicane.
He doesn't make it stick, but he passes him on the exit instead - Audi leads!
He doesn't make it stick, but he passes him on the exit instead - Audi leads!
Lancaster pits from P4 in LMP2 and rejoins, while leader Gommendy peeled into pitlane a lap later. That leaves Bradley in the lead, about 40 seconds clear of the next pack.
In the fight for third in GTE Am Long has got the #77 Porsche ahead of the #55 Ferrari.
The leaders have caught a train of GTE cars - this could shake things up. Jani is right on Bernhard's rear wing for the lead, and the #7 Audi is there too.
Hulkenberg passes Bonanomi's Audi for fourth into the second Mulsanne chicane.
The incident between the expired #92 Porsche and the two cars that tripped over each other behind its apparent blown engine at the Mulsanne chicane – the #13 Rebellion LMP1 and the #42 Strakka LMP2 – is under investigation.
The #9 Audi of Bonanomi is now on its 12th lap since it stopped. That will be the frontrunning car in for a scheduled stop, although the safety car will have allowed it to save fuel and extend the stint length.
Twitter
@KrohnRacing: "Pit stop 2: @barbosaracing suffered LR flat tire @MichelinAlley pitted under caution."
Lotterer, Bonanomi, Hulkenberg, Duval - that's the train on Jani's tail right now as they head from Mulsanne corner to Indianapolis.
The Toyotas, which restarted behind the Porsches and the Audis, have already slipped five seconds behind sixth-placed Duval's #8 car.
Jani's mirrors are full of Audis. Lotterer is all over him as they head back onto the Mulsanne. Up front, Bernhard is 1.5s clear of this fight.
Bernhard breaks away, and behind it's all kicking off. The Audis are all at it on Jani's tail, with Lotterer passing Duval for third.
Bonanomi then attacks Duval as well, with Hulkenberg briefly making it three-wide on the Mulsanne!
Duval slips back to the third of the Audis, and Hulkenberg passes him into the Porsche Curves. A painful restart for the #8 car that was third just a minute ago.
Bonanomi then attacks Duval as well, with Hulkenberg briefly making it three-wide on the Mulsanne!
Duval slips back to the third of the Audis, and Hulkenberg passes him into the Porsche Curves. A painful restart for the #8 car that was third just a minute ago.
The GTE Pros come across the line...line astern. Didn't think that word order through.
It's Thiim, Bruni, Mucke, Stanaway, Gavin, Calado. Great roster of talent there.
It's Thiim, Bruni, Mucke, Stanaway, Gavin, Calado. Great roster of talent there.
Twitter
@OAKRacingLive: "@kevinestre is getting ready for a driver change on the #34!"
Green flag
The safety cars pull in, we're back racing at Le Mans, with Jani and Duval chasing Bernhard for the lead in LMP1.
Restart is imminent.
A look at the times from the first GTE Pro stint shows Thiim firmly in control in the #95 Aston.
He was stretching his lead comfortably with a series of quick laps. The half-dozen before the stop was very impressive:
3m56.908s
3m56.723s
3m56.790s
3m57.147s
3m56.539s
3m56.414s
How's that for consistency around an 8.47-mile track?
He was stretching his lead comfortably with a series of quick laps. The half-dozen before the stop was very impressive:
3m56.908s
3m56.723s
3m56.790s
3m57.147s
3m56.539s
3m56.414s
How's that for consistency around an 8.47-mile track?
Yellow flag
We're now onto the fourth lap of the safety car.
In LMP2, Gommendy and Bradley will restart together at the front of the field, while the pack led by third-placed Vanthoor is 85 seconds further back.
Toyota was the real winner under this safety car. It was falling to around a minute off the lead with both cars before the race was neutralised. Now it has both cars back within 20s of the front.
The #13 Rebellion leaves the garage, it's heading back into the action after that shunt caused by oil from the GTE Porsche.
And the GTE Am order:
1. #72 SMP Ferrari, Bertolini
2. #98 Aston, Lamy
3. #55 AF Corse Ferrari, Griffin
1. #72 SMP Ferrari, Bertolini
2. #98 Aston, Lamy
3. #55 AF Corse Ferrari, Griffin
This is the GTE Pro order under the safety car. All the cars are together, fortunately:
1. #95 Aston, Thiim
2. #51 Ferrari, Bruni
3. #97 Aston, Mucke
4. #99 Aston, Stanaway
5. #64 Corvette, Gavin
6. #71 Ferrari, Calado
7. #91 Porsche, Lietz
1. #95 Aston, Thiim
2. #51 Ferrari, Bruni
3. #97 Aston, Mucke
4. #99 Aston, Stanaway
5. #64 Corvette, Gavin
6. #71 Ferrari, Calado
7. #91 Porsche, Lietz
Bertolini has taken over lead of the GTE Am class.
Bertolini Le Mans 2015
We've just had a replay of Wurz spinning the #2 Toyota at the second chicane, seemingly under safety car conditions.
Here's the average pace for the leading LMP1 cars between their pit-stops and the deployment of the safety car:
1 Duval, 3m22.976s
2 Bonanomi, 3m22.908s
3 Hulkenberg 3m23.119s
4 Lotterer, 3m23.389
5 Bernhard 3m24.161s
6 Jani, 3m24.712s
7 Buemi, 3m25.872s
8 Wurz, 3m27.449s
1 Duval, 3m22.976s
2 Bonanomi, 3m22.908s
3 Hulkenberg 3m23.119s
4 Lotterer, 3m23.389
5 Bernhard 3m24.161s
6 Jani, 3m24.712s
7 Buemi, 3m25.872s
8 Wurz, 3m27.449s
LMP1 lead order behind the safety car:
1 #17 Porsche
2 #18 Porsche
3 #8 Audi
4 #7 Audi
5 #9 Audi
6 #19 Porsche
7 #1 Toyota
8 #2 Toyota
And, fortunately, all eight are in the same safety car queue so nobody has been disadvantaged.
1 #17 Porsche
2 #18 Porsche
3 #8 Audi
4 #7 Audi
5 #9 Audi
6 #19 Porsche
7 #1 Toyota
8 #2 Toyota
And, fortunately, all eight are in the same safety car queue so nobody has been disadvantaged.
Bernhard Le Mans 2015
Twitter
Positivity from Jota after its gearbox troubles:
@JotaSport: "Gearbox potentiometer replace @OliverTurvey reports all good now. We came back last yr from a longer early pit stop."
@JotaSport: "Gearbox potentiometer replace @OliverTurvey reports all good now. We came back last yr from a longer early pit stop."
Heavy front-end damage on the Rebellion #13 as it comes back to the pits. The cars goes into the garage, where the team will check out if it's bodywork-only or something more serious underneath.
Before the safety car, Gommendy led LMP2 by seven seconds, over Bradley and Bird - who is taking advantage of this caution to make a pitstop.
With Bird pitting and handing over to Rusinov, Vanthoor is now third, ahead of Lancaster, Chatin, Berthon and Webb.
With Bird pitting and handing over to Rusinov, Vanthoor is now third, ahead of Lancaster, Chatin, Berthon and Webb.
Yellow flag
There is a lot of oil down on the racing line on the approach to the first Mulsanne chicane. Marshals are at work trying to dry it out with powder, as the field files by on the right-hand side.
Twitter
@StrakkaRacing: "Replacing rear wing, cut in tyre."
The #13 Rebellion has rejoined the circuit, and it's making its way back to the pits with damage to the front bodywork after that clash with a GT car and the Strakka down at the first Mulsanne chicane.
Looks like the top eight LMP1 runners - so all of the works Audis, Porsches and Toyotas, are in the same safety-car queue. So there will be no splits among them.
Prior to the deployment of the safety car, Audi were coming on strong. When traffic wasn't in the way, its drivers were able to lap in the 3m20s, whereas the Porsches at their quickest were in the 3m21s.
The #13 Rebellion is being towed out of the gravel.
Remember, there are three safety cars, such is the length of the track. One joins at the Ford Chicane, another at the first chicane on Mulsanne and the other at Arnage. So the field should end up in three clumps.
Looks like Imperatori in the Rebellion hit the LMP2 Strakka Dome coming into the first Mulsanne chicane.
It's the #92 Porsche. Pilet is out of the car. Big fire and it's pulled off on the side of the Mulsanne straight.
By: Scott Mitchell, AUTOSPORT staff, Mitchell Adam, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Gary Watkins
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