Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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If there is one bonus to the lengthy safety car stint, it's that the mechanics have probably enjoyed more uninterrupted sleep than ever at this race.
Meanwhile, in Hypercar, Ryo Hirakawa (#8 Toyota) leads Laurens Vanthoor (#6 Porsche), Nicklas Nielsen (#50 Ferrari), Nyck de Vries (#7 Toyota) and Robert Kubica (#83 Ferrari), with no fewer than 11 cars on the lead lap: both Toyotas, four Porsches, all three Ferraris and two Cadillacs.
Safety car in this lap, says race control.
The green flag is waved, four hours and a half after this safety car period started!
De Vries is attacking Ferrari's Nielsen with his Toyota, with unsuccessful assaults at Tertre Rouge and in the Daytona Chicane.
A few cars have dived into the pits upon the resumption of hostilities, with Jack Hawksworth bringing the Lexus that was fourth in LMGT3 down the pit road. Just 2s split Bachler and Lietz, but visibility out there looks terrible.
The #3 Cadillac and the #63 Lamborghini have been given a drive-through penalty for speeding under full course yellow. They're currently running in ninth and 14th.
De Vries has been overtaken by Kubica after all, with gaps growing fast. Porsche's Vanthoor is keeping up with leader Hirakawa, but Nielsen is nine seconds off in third.
The #51 Ferrari is currently seventh in the Hypercar pack but it has just been handed a drive-through penalty for incorrect FCY speeds.
Meanwhile the #59 McLaren also has a 30s stop-go penalty for causing a collision earlier this morning - which we believe was for Saucy punting Jordan Taylor's Ferrari into the gravel.
We could soon have a change for second in LMP2 on our hands, as Jakobsen has caught up to Bijoy Garg. And no sooner did we begin typing than the Peugeot reserve gets a better exit from the Dunlop Chicane and blitzes past on the run down the hill. Jakobsen's next task is to close the 19s lead that Barnicoat has built up.
So Hirakawa has maintained the lead in the #8 Toyota on the restart with the only positional change of note coming from de Vries pitting the #7 sister car, which has fallen from fourth to 11th and the last of the Hypercars on the lead lap.
We've had a change of lead meanwhile in LMGT3, with Lietz moving ahead and now pulling clear of Bachler. Gelael has moved into third, passing Hamaguchi, who has yet to complete all of his bronze time in the #95 McLaren.
Garg is was set to come under threat for his third place from Richelmi, but pits before that could materialise. Up to fourth now goes Lomko, with de Gerus into fifth.
Giovinazzi in the #51 has now pitted to serve that drive-through and has slipped a couple of places to ninth as a result. And for those interested in the Peugeots - both still circulating a lap off the lead in 13th and 14th, the #93 car has just pitted with Muller taking over at the wheel.
The top two in Hypercar are clearly pulling away from Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari in third. Both Hirakawa in the Toyota and Vanthoor pulled a further two seconds clear on the last lap.
Bachler had just pitted from second in LMGT3 and now has been wheeled into the garage. Could this be a costly delay for the #92 Manthey Porsche that leads the WEC standings?
Another lap and another chunk of time lost by the #50 Ferrari, although Nielsen is not exactly under pressure from the privateer #83 499P of Kubica in fourth - which had led for a chunk of the race before that long, long caution period.
Boguslavskiy in the #78 Lexus is in hot water now. He's been handed two 10s penalties at his next pitstop for overtaking under the safety car.
The closest battle in Hypercar currently is between two of the Porsches with Button in the #38 Jota car under pressure from the #5 PPM machine of Campbell in the fight for sixth.
We've had confirmation that there is a techincal problem on that #92 Porsche in LMGT3. The car, which took the lead after the safety car, has dropped off the lead lap.
Campbell had been glued to the rear of Button but has now finally taken sixth place with a move on the privateer Porsche into the second Mulsanne chicane. He is now 18 seconds behind Lynn in the #2 Caddy ahead.
After a lap where he essentially matched the leaders, Nielsen has now slipped a further two seconds back last time around and is now 18s behind the #8 Toyota at the front.
The other Jota Porsche with Nato at the wheel now has Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari right on its tail in the battle for eighth - which seems to be the next fight to watch in Hypercar.
Campbell has rocketed clear of Button since making that move just a couple of minutes ago - he is already 11 seconds in front of the sixth-placed Jota car.
Richelmi now pits from third in LMP2. Jakobsen hasn't been able to make much inroads into Barnicoat, who remains 17.8s up the road in the lead.
There's something very unfamiliar in the sky over Le Mans now. The sun has finally put in an appearance on the pit straight but, before we get too carried away, there are still lots of dark clouds about!
Hirakawa has now brought the leading #8 Toyota into the pits, promoting Vanthoor to first, while further back the #83 Ferrari, #5 Porsche and #38 Jota Porsche have also all dived in.
More stops now for the GT3 runners. Boguslavskiy has come in from what was second, but this will be a long stop for the Lexus because of those two penalties for overtaking under safety car conditions.
In comes Barnicoat from the LMP2 lead now. He gets a fresh set of wet boots before rejoining in fourth. Notably Oliver Jarvis is back behind the wheel of the #22 United car that is 20s back from the AF ORECA.
Next time around it's Vanthoor's turn to stop in the #6 Porsche, while he is also followed in by the #50 Ferrari and #2 Cadillac that had been running second and third.
The #12 Jota Porsche and #51 Ferrari are also in amid this flurry of Hypercar pit activity.
The #92 Manthey Porsche has now dropped five laps down and has still yet to resurface from the garage. We'll let you know the nature of the technical problem as soon as we can. Meanwhile, the #91 Porsche that is now carrying Weissach's GT3 hopes pits from the lead with Lietz remaining in the car.
The gap between the top two is more or less the same after that round of stops with the #8 Toyota leading the #6 Porsche by 2.5 seconds still. And there are no other major changes among the cars further back either.
Vanthoor has now got the gap to Hirakawa down to under two seconds - could a battle for the lead be about to commence?
Meanwhile, Bourdais brings in the #3 Cadillac that was one of the few Hypercars yet to stop since the safety car ended.
Following that most recent round of LMGT3 stops, Lietz still heads the way in the #91 Porsche but has Gatting 26s behind in the Iron Dames Lambo, which lost a minute last night to a clash with the #4 PPM Hypercar. Hamaguchi has rejoined third, with Mancinelli fourth for HoR and Gelael fifth for WRT and Costa sixth in the second United McLaren.
Maybe that gain for Vanthoor was just due to traffic as the gap is now back out to the regular 2.5 seconds between the leaders once more.
More pitstops in LMP2 cycle Barnicoat back to second, and he's 4.2s behind Richelmi at the head of the order. Jarvis is up to third, with Lomko next up ahead of De Gerus and Jakobsen.
Given all the rain we had during the night, it seems bizarre to say this but the track is actually starting to look noticeably drier now as the sim continues to shine over Le Mans this morning.
By: Autosport Staff
