Le Mans 24 Hours 2019
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LMP1
We're into the last two hours now and Kobayashi holds a two-minute lead over Alonso.
Yellow flag
And Eng has gone off in the MTEK BMW at the second Mulsanne chicane, the lights appeared to shut down on the car as he went straight on.
Odd one. It's just a local yellow for now.
Odd one. It's just a local yellow for now.
And here's the stopped BMW of Eng
GTE PRO
Serra's now back in the leading AF Corse car and has a nice one minute lead to take into the final two hours.
LMP2
The leading LMP2 car of Negrao visits the pits once again, new tyres and fuel and he's back out again.
Driver Change
Kobayashi is in quite early - we made the last stint a seven-lapper - and hands the #7 Toyota over to Lopez, who is charged with seeing the job through to the finish in these final two hours.
GTE AM
The GTE-Am leader has also been into the pits, with Keating staying aboard. There is a change of nose however.
LMP1
Lopez currently has a 1m14.255s lead over Alonso to manage into the final two hours.
LMP2
That's a turn-up for the books. Racing Team Nederland has managed to fix the Dallara that De Vries shunted into the barriers on the approach to Indianapolis earlier. Giedo van der Garde returns to the track in a car that we thought would be good for very little, albeit some 26 laps down.
LMP1
It's a 1m10s lead for Lopez now after an early decent gain for Alonso.
Driver Change
Petrov has come into the pits in third aboard the #3 SMP machine, with Vandoorne now behind the wheel to the finish.
Driver Change
Alonso pits too, as well as Jani in the fourth-placed Rebellion.
Nakajima replaces Alonso, while Senna gets into the Rebellion in place of Jani.
Nakajima replaces Alonso, while Senna gets into the Rebellion in place of Jani.
LMP1
Lopez's #7 Toyota has made one more stop than Nakajima's #8, but the former leads by 2m12s currently.
GTE AM
Worth noting that the Keating Motorsports Ford GT's lead is down to under a minute for the first time in a long while. Jorg Bergmeister is giving chase to Ben Keating at the moment, the gap is a still-comfortable 58s.
LMP2
There aren't too many positions still up for grabs in LMP2, but the fourth-place duel between the #22 United Autosports Ligier and #30 Duqueiene Engineering ORECA is still fairly close. Di Resta has consolidated his position since the last round of stops, coming in three laps later than Ragues and stretching his advantage to 10s.
GTE AM
And to give further cause for alarm to the #85 Keating Ford crew, we've just had a message pop up on our screens that it is being investigated for a possible pitstop infringement.
Driver Change
A final driver change surely in LMP1? Laurent brings in the #3 and hands over to Menezes for the run to the flag. That car is fifth.
LMP2
The travails for the #29 Racing Team Nederland crew continues, as Giedo van der Garde suffers a puncture on the Mulsanne. Easy to forget that car was third for a while in the early stages.
GTE PRO
The GTE Pro-leading #51 Ferrari pits, probably for the penultimate time. Serra hands over to Pier Guidi for the run to the flag, 56s is the lead gap over the #91 Porsche of Makowiecki.
LMP2
Di Resta continues to gap Ragues, the gap between the fourth and fifth-placed cars now 20 seconds.
LMP1
The #11 car is six laps behind the leader as we enter the final 80 minutes of the race. It shouldn't go any further down.
GTE AM
Jorg Bergmeister continues to take little chunks out of Ben Keating's lead, which is down to 46s. Bergmeister's Project 1 Porsche team is already on course to win the WEC GTE-Am title, but it would be extra sweet if the veteran could snatch a first class win at Le Mans since 2004.
LMP2
In comes Negrao from the lead - he's had a fine race, in which he took the battle to Rusinov and kept Vergne honest too. Pierre Thiriet jumps back aboard for the final 75 minute run to the flag.
LMP1
We haven't checked in on the leaders for a while, but that's because there's not all that much to report. 2m16s is the gap between Lopez and Nakajima as things stand.
GTE AM
37s is now the gap between Keating and Bergmeister for the the Am class lead. This is a real test of Keating's mettle - if he can just keep pumping in the laps, it might just be enough.
GTE AM
Well, that was terribly timed. Keating gets a stop-go penalty for spinning his wheels at the end of his last pit stop!
Pit stop
Lopez, now ahead of the #8 car in the stopping schedule, has been in and out of the pits for what is likely to be the penultimate time in the #7.
LMP2
Meanwhile Loic Duval has been plugged into the #28 TDS Racing ORECA go to the end of the race.
Pit stop
Nakajima is in now in the #8 Toyota, as is Senna in the fourth-place #1 Rebellion.
GTE AM
Keating comes in for his stop/go, and just about rejoins ahead of Bergmeister. The gap is now just 5.4 seconds - we could be set for a grandstand finish!
Pit stop
Lopez has been back in the pits for what looked like a top up and at least a right-front tyre change.
LMP2
The battle for fourth in LMP2 is not over either - Phil Hanson has climbed back into the #22 United Autosports Ligier to go to the end, and has 22s in hand over Nico Jamin's Duqueine ORECA. Will that be enough to hold on?
Crash
Surely not?! The #7 is reported to be slow on track between the two chicanes. Disaster.
Crash
The TV director has zoomed in on Lopez's steering wheel, which shows the car is stuck in third gear. Sounds like Lopez is reporting he's lost his hybrid.
LMP1
The gap between the two diminished rapidly, and Nakajima is now into the lead in the #8.
Pit stop
Lopez stops for a second lap in a row, and Toyota changes the front-right and rear-left tyres on the #7.
LMP2
We've got the LMP2 leader back in the pits again - Thiriet completes only five laps before getting out, with Lapierre taking the car over.
LMP1
It seems that the #7 Toyota needed the tyre change - perhaps because of a software glitch - because Lopez is back up to full speed now. He's a full minute behind Nakajima, though, who is surely only due one more stop.
With less than an hour to go, here's how things stand in LMP1
GTE AM
Ben Keating has pitted the GTE Am-leading Ford to hand over to Jeroen Bleekemolen, so it's a race to the flag now between Bleekemolen and Bergmeister's Porsche.
By: Geoff Creighton
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