Le Mans 24 Hours 2019
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Fassler's Corvette suffered significant front damage
GTE PRO
The Corvette, meanwhile, is going nowhere. It's still stranded at the Porsche Curves, minus most of its front bodywork.
GTE AM
Hoshino has the #88 Porsche back in the garage for a second time. He'd already had an off in the first hour, after taking over from GTE Am poleman Matteo Cairoli.
Pit stop
Spot on strategy from the top two in LMP2 - both Negrao and Rusinov quickly dash into the pits to recieve service.
Just before that Corvette incident, we had a brief stoppage for the Gulf-liveried Porsche
GTE PRO
It's the #64 car of Marcel Fassler, who got tangled up with the #88 Dempsey Porsche of Satoshi Hoshino.
Safety car
Safety car. That's a big one.
GTE PRO
Meanwhile, we have a Corvette in the barriers at the Porsche Curves!
Here's that very forceful pass in LMP2!
GTE AM
Hmm, false alarm. Preining appears to be back on the move. That car is ninth in class, by the way - it ran third early on before Michael Wainwright took over.
GTE AM
We have an immobile GTE Am Porsche - it's the #86 Gulf Racing car of Thomas Preining. That could be a slow zone or a full-course yellow on its way...
Rain
Race control has declared a 'light shower level 1' until 20.38 local time. That's not for much longer, but we can see actual spots of rain on the camera lenses at the Esses this time.
Pit stop
Jani pits the #1 Rebellion from sixth place, he stays in the car and cracks on.
LMP2
That was a physical pass by Negrao on the way into the second chicane. Rusinov edged him right over to the left-hand side of the track and in retaliation, Negrao forced him back to the right-hand side.
LMP1
Laurent's position is very much down to another rapid Rebellion stop - he rejoined 5.9s ahead of the #17, and his visit to the pits was 6s quicker!
Pit stop
Laurent has visited the pits in the #3 Rebellion and rejoins in fourth - 5.590s ahead of the #17 SMP car. So that's one position reclaimed already.
LMP1
The gap at the front between the Toyotas is going up. It's now 1m13s, about seven more than how it stood a couple of laps back.
As things have been so hectic, here's the top five in LMP1 in case you forgot
GTE PRO
Interesting dynamic here in the fight for second in GTE Pro. Vanthoor in the #92 and Bamber in the #93 are team-mates on the other side of the Atlantic in IMSA. In fact, they've been doing pretty well over there lately, winning the most recent two races in GTLM in Long Beach and Mid-Ohio.
Rain
A weather map up on the screens suggests that there might be some rain coming.
LMP2
Just eight cars left on the lead lap in LMP2 as Memo Rojas comes into the pits from ninth in the #48 IDEC Sport ORECA, which hasn't been the same force as it was last year.
Pit stop
The #11 car is now in the pits, which temporarily promotes the #3 back up to third.
The ARC Bratislava car receives a tap
LMP2
Just half a second between Rusinov and Negrao now at the front - this could get spicey soon!
LMP1
Sirotkin rather stuttered out of his pitbox just then, but is back out on track without issue.
LMP2
Change for third as Maldonado gets past Tung. That FCY really did cost the #38 crew dearly. Remember, they're in a winner-takes-all battle with the #36 Signatech crew for the WEC LMP2 title.
LMP1
Despite that sluggish stop for the #3 Rebellion, it's still in the fight. Laurent has just inherited fourth, as Sirotkin has pitted, and is 42s behind Aleshin.
LMP1
Lopez has increased his lead ever so slightly since the restart - he's now 1m07s ahead. Aleshin in the third-placed #11 SMP is now a lap down.
GTE AM
Ried pitted from second in the #77 Porsche, so Hankey's Aston is now up to second in Am.
LMP2
The battle of the Silvers between Van Uitert and Thiriet was clearly weighted in favour of the former, but the battle of the Golds between Rusinov and Negrao seems a bit more evenly-matched. Negrao is catching the Russian and now sits just 2.6s adrift.
GTE AM
Also worth noting that FCY played right into the hands of the Keating Motorsports Ford GT, which had its lead of around 35s over the Proton Porsche extended to a whopping 1m17s. Christian Ried is now having to fend off Euan Hankey's TF Sport Aston, which is up to third.
GTE PRO
Lead change in GTE Pro as we return to racing, Serra in the #51 Ferrari has jumped the #92 Porsche of Vanthoor! We have a change for third as well, as Bamber's #92 Porsche is up ahead of the #63 Corvette of Rockenfeller.
LMP1
Ah - so Toyota didn't keep Kobayashi in the car, the timing screen just hadn't updated because the #7 hadn't left the pits. Lopez is at the head of the field now.
Green flag
The safety cars have been called in, and we're back up and running.
To bring you up to speed, this is the RLR car - with Farano at the wheel - beached at Tertre Rouge before the safety car.
Pit stop
The #7 car has also been in for a stop and is now at the end of the pitlane awaiting a green light. Kobayashi remains in the car.
LMP2
The RLR car, which had also stopped just before this safety-car period, is back up and running on the Mulsanne Straight.
LMP1
We said "Nicely timed" about the Toyota stop, but it came just as one of the three safety car trains came past the pits.
By: Geoff Creighton
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