Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Live Standings
Summary
Live Text
The #12 Jota follows into the pits and has to serve its penalty, so will drop out of the top 10.
Drama in LMP2 as Miyata spins at the Dunlop chicane. He gets going again, but loses precious time in what is a tight battle. He is currently listed in sixth place.
And a slow zone is enforced for the stopped LMGT3 car.
That won't affect strategy in Hypercar too much with the stops for slicks having just taken place.
Now that things have settled slightly, here's the top 10:
- #8 Toyota
- #6 Porsche
- #7 Toyota
- #2 Cadillac
- #50 Ferrari
- #83 AF Corse Ferrari
- #51 Ferrari
- #38 Jota Porsche
- #3 Cadillac
- #5 Porsche
In GT3 we're about to have a Manthey Porsche 1-2 as the Akkodis Lexus pits. Lietz leads Bachler by 31s, with Mikkel Pedersen third in the Proton Mustang. Next up is the #59 McLaren and the #85 Lamborghini.
Not only is it a Manthey Porsche 1-2 in GT3, but also an Austrian 1-2! I have to mention that as a resident of the Alpine republic, of course!
The #311 Whelen Cadillac has been given a drive-through penalty which will put the entry perilously close to dropping off the lead lap.
A big slide and a nose into the barrier for the #93 Peugeot in the hands of Jensen. That was on the run to Tertre Rouge.
It seems as though he has gotten away with it and continues.
The slow zone has lifted, so the track is back to full green.
Things are quiet in LMP2 at the moment, with the #14 Deletraz car leading but due a stop. Strategies are not exactly aligned at the moment, so it's hard to get a clear picture. Slow zones have also complicated things, but we now have a 'green' track and may get some representative times to report.
The #92 Bachler car is under investigation for its slow zone procedures...
A great move from Fuoco in the #50 - on medium tyres - to get past Bamber's #2 into the second chicane on the Mulsanne.
Bamber is fighting back though and uses LMGT3 traffic to box his rival out of it into Indianapolis.
Bachler's penalty is confirmed in the latest slew of punishments. It will be a drive-through.
The #94 Peugeot has been hit with a drive-through for a slow zone infringement.
Fuoco is back ahead of Bamber into the first Mulsanne chicane but again, backmarkers are up the road. Can the Cadillac fight back?
The short answer is no, but Bamber remains on Fuoco's tail.
Team WRT's Sean Gelael is another man to earn a drive-through.
Up front, the #6 PPM is rapidly closing in on race-leading #8 Toyota.
Laurens Vanthoor is the last remaining of the Belgian brothers in the race and he is flying. The gap is down to 1.3s now.
Mikkel Pedersen may have briefly stopped out on track, according to the timing screens. But not for terribly long - the Mustang is mobile again and able to slip into second as Lietz pits and hand over to Morris Schuring, who owns that car's quickest lap.
The LMP2 leader is also into the pits, where PJ Hyett takes over from Louis Deletraz. Stops coming up at regular intervals now...
The #311 has taken its penalty and the stop did indeed put the team a lap down.
Buemi has responded with some fast sectors of his own in the fight with Vanthoor. The gap between the two has stabilised for now.
Gregoire Saucy has just set the #59 McLaren's quickest lap of the race. At present the car is seventh in GT3.
Bamber may find himself in trouble if previous penalties are to be taken seriously. The #2 has hit the #11 Isotta Fraschini at the Ford Chicane, sending it into the gravel.
Bamber's charge against Fuoco has come to an end as well, having now fallen almost six seconds off the #50.
Bachler has served his drive-through penalty as well as his latest stop, so expect to see that Porsche a little lower down the order for a while at least.
We are into the pitstop window for the top class and it's Bamber who blinks first in the Cadillac.
Jordan Taylor has spun his Ferrari. The #155 car is still listed as 'stopped' out on track....it's doing its darndest to get going though!
The two race leaders are in a lap later, with Vanthoor following Buemi in.
Lotterer jumps aboard the #6 while Buemi stays onboard. Neither car changes tyres.
The #7 is also in.
The #7 keeps Kobayashi onboard and the merge back onto the track is just ahead of Fuoco, who sweeps past at the Dunlop Chicane to take third.
The #51 Ferrari now pits, with the #50 seemingly looking to make two extra laps in the sister car. But the energy levels are low...
We've got an update from United Autosport's bronze driver James Cottingham. "My last two stints weren't quite to plan," he said. "But me spending that time behind the safety car was quite advantageous for us strategically. Now I'm going to leave the boys to do all the hard work overnight!" Saucy is still at the wheel of that car, chasing team-mate Nicolas Pino in what is for the moment a McLaren 1-2.
Replays show that Fuoco made the move on Kobayashi having jumped across the runoff area at the first chicane. That could bring trouble from race control.
Mathias Beche of Panis Racing has earned himself a drive-through. He's currently 10th in LMP2.
Here comes the #50 - the energy levels were too tight to eke the second extra lap out. Fuoco stays on board.
Meanwhile, the #94 Peugeot currently driven by di Resta has been handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking in a slow zone. Whoops!
The #38 Jota Porsche is the next to make a stop, with the rejoin likely to be behind the #51 Ferrari in eighth at least.
Aha, a South African in the lead of GT3 - more to celebrate for me! That's Kelvin van der Linde in the Akkodis Lexus, which is actually some way off its next stop and there on merit, so to speak. But the pleasure didn't last, as Schuring passes him while I write these words. That puts the #91 Manthey Porsche back at the front.
Lotterer hasn't got Buemi's pace early in his stint. Two seconds per lap is the difference at the moment and the lead gap is out to 11 seconds.
By: Autosport Staff
