Le Mans 24 Hours 2019
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Pit stop
Sirotkin pits the #17 SMP Racing car a lap after Aleshin had stopped.
LMP1
Some new tyres being fitted, but Sirotkin stays in the car.
LMP1
Nakajima's lead is now down to 0.6s over Lopez.
LMP1
Here's the current state of play in LMP1
LMP1
But since that last update, Nakajima's extended the lead to 2.583s after lapping close to a second quick than Lopez.
Pit stop
Jani is in to make the #1 Rebellion's 11th stop, right on schedule.
Green flag
The slow zone has now been lifted.
LMP1
Lopez is within 0.9s of Nakajima now, so the two keep trading fastest laps in an outright fight for the lead.
LMP2
That slow zone coming in has really helped the #38 and #31 in third and fourth, which have gained around 40 seconds on the leaders. Tung is just 42 off the lead now, the closest that car has been for some time. Davidson was right on his coat tails, but has now pitted.
LMP1
Traffic is playing a big role down the Mulsanne and all the way to the Porsche Curves and Lopez had made a move stick on Nakajima beforehand.
LMP1
So that's our long-time leader, the #7 Toyota back in front.
Keeping up with us?
Keeping up with us?
LMP1
Lopez is now 1.2s ahead of Nakajima, but the battle seems to have eased a little.
We hope we're wrong and the two go head-to-head again, obviously!
We hope we're wrong and the two go head-to-head again, obviously!
LMP2
That's another double stint down for Perrodo, who hands back to Vaxiviere. TDS employed a similar strategy last year to use up most of their Bronze's time before nightfall, so expect Vaxiviere and Duval to go back-to-back most of the way through the night from here.
Information
No floppy this time, but we do have a bollard on the track at the exit of the Mulsanne, so that's a yellow.
Driver Change
Meanwhile the two LMP2 leaders have pitted, as they have done since the start, on the same lap. Negrao stays behind the wheel, but Vergne is back aboard for the first time since the third hour.
LMP1
We were wrong, the battle is on again! This time it's just 0.4s between Lopez as he's chasing Nakajima.
GTE PRO
Quick reminder of the state of play in GTE Pro. It's still the #92 Porsche out front, Estre having built a three-second buffer over the #51 Ferrari of Pier Guidi. Next up is the sole surviving Corvette of Antonio Garcia and the second WEC Porsche, the #91 of Bruni - now ahead of Tandy's #93 Porsche.
LMP1
Ebb and flow of the lead battle continues onto the 108th lap, it's 1.8s in favour of Lopez now.
Pit stop
Nakajima is into the pits - keeping the standard practice of the #8 pitting before the #7. The gap was only a second or so beforehand, so will this next phase be decided in the pitlane?
GTE PRO
Bruni has pitted the #91 Porsche out of fourth in GTE Pro.
LMP1
So Nakajima's stop was 1m2s - that's the target for Lopez to beat when he pits the #7 Toyota.
LMP1
Lopez is still on track, 1m3s lead for him right now.
LMP2
We've had a change for fifth in LMP2. A drive-through penalty for Filipe Albuquerque, who was pinged for overtaking under the safety car, has dropped him back behind Ricky Taylor's #37 Jackie Chan DC ORECA, which originally lost the place due to a poorly-timed stop after the earlier FCY for Castelacci's spin.
Pit stop
It's not Lopez, instead Laurent has brought the #3 Rebellion into the pits.
LMP2
Meanwhile, the ding-dong battle for the lead in LMP2 is set for another bout, as Vergne has closed right up to Negrao. The Brazilian is nearing the end of a triple stint while Vergne is on a fresh set of boots, so it's likely a matter of time until he gets through.
Pit stop
Lopez is now in!
LMP2
And as we write it, Vergne gets through.
LMP1
Lopez is back out on track with a 5.3s lead and his stop was actually 2s slower than Nakajima.
LMP1
111 laps completed and 10 stops for both Toyotas, so that's as expected.
LMP1
Aleshin and Laurent have served their latest stops too, it's their 12 stop compared to Toyota's 10. Remember the privateers can't run quite as long as the hybrids.
LMP1
So after Lopez's outlap, he's 6.3s up on Nakajima.
LMP1
We've had another round of stops including third-placed Sirotkin, the sister SMP car and Rebellion's Laurent.
LMP1
We're trying to work out if Lopez and Nakajima traded places on the track or if the timing screen was slow to update after the last round of pitstops.
Right now, Nakajima is 2s clear.
Right now, Nakajima is 2s clear.
LMP1
The last lap by Lopez was nine seconds slower - but that seems a lot for traffic.
Crash
We have a replay! Lopez locked-up on entry to Mulsanne corner and skated across the gravel, he lost momentum and Nakajima slipped past.
LMP1
So after that off, Nakajima is 2.3s clear of Lopez.
GTE PRO
Pier Guidi pits the #51 Ferrari from second in GTE Pro, having slipped five seconds behind Estre. Tincknell and Briscoe are also on pitlane in their Fords.
LMP1
We've been a bit preoccupied with Toyota but for DragonSpeed and ByKolles aficionados, the picture is less good.
The DragonSpeed is still in the pits and is now 40 laps off the lead and the ByKolles water leak has left it 57th overall.
The DragonSpeed is still in the pits and is now 40 laps off the lead and the ByKolles water leak has left it 57th overall.
LMP1
Lopez made up ground last time around, lapping around seven tenths quicker than Nakajima to bring the gap down to 1s.
By: Geoff Creighton
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