Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Live Text
We've got another LMP2 pit visitor as this time around Olli Cadwell brings the #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA in. This is another car that qualified well down the order.
Further cars have made progress and escaped the Malykin LMGT3 train with Dennis Olsen next to pass him in the second of the Proton Fords.
Wittmann has kept going, but lost a lot of places with that spin and is now fighting his way back through the LMP2 pack. We've yet to see a replay of what happened to the German, and whether any contact was involved.
Now into the pits comes Wittmann. Replays show he lost it on his own and did touch the barrier.
It's side-by-side for second in LMP2! Van Uitert and Beche ran together down the Mulsanne Straight but it was van Uitert in the IDEC car that emerged ahead from the chicane to grab the place.
The leaders have started to catch up to the GT3 traffic and it's rather hectic for the Ferraris on the Mulsanne as they approach a wall of battling cars into the second chicane. Closing speeds this year are breath-taking at times.
Outside the top 10, Edoardo Mortara had been occupying 11th spot with the leading Lamborghini, but has lost a handful of places to the customer Porsches of Phil Hanson (Jota) and Neel Jani (Proton), plus the Action Express Cadillac of Pipo Derani. Mortara then is shuffled down to 14th, with the #4 factory Porsche of Felipe Nasr and Paul di Resta's Peugeot next to try their luck at getting past.
The two LMP2 cars that were early pit visitors are now both back out and in the race but Caldwell in the #25 Algarve Pro car is two laps off the lead, while Bell in the #47 Cool machine is five laps down.
Lapierre has snatched ninth away from Lynn under braking into the first chicane as the two ducked and weaved through GT3 machines. Traffic management not only a useful skill when navigating the M40.
Now clear of the GT3s, things have closed up between the two leaders. Giovinazzi has Nielsen firmly in his sights.
Now we have some scheduled LMP2 pitstops as eight cars have all made their first stops this time around. The highest-placed of those is the #28 IDEC car that had recently taken second.
And no sooner do we write it than the lead changes place - not just once, but twice! On lap 10 Nielsen locks up and slides wide into Mulsanne Corner. Giovinazzi gets a tidier run through and exits ahead, but Nielsen tows back ahead into Indianapolis. The circuit commentator was rather excited at that one.
There were a couple of early driver changes among those LMP2 stops as Francois Perrodo has replaced Ben Barnicoat in the #183 AF Corse entry and George Kurtz is in for Colin Braun in the #45 Algarve Pro machine.
Time for a run down of the order in Hypercar before the first round of stops:
1. #50 Ferrari - Nielsen
2. #51 Ferrari - Giovinazzi
3. #6 Porsche - Vanthoor
4. #3 Cadillac - Bourdais
5. #85 Ferrari - Kubica
6. #8 Toyota - Buemi
7. #35 Alpine - Milesi
8. #5 Porsche - Makowiecki
9. #36 Alpine - Lapierre
10. #2 Cadillac - Lynn
The remaining LMP2 cars are all in this time around.
Into the pits comes Derani to begin the stops for the Hypercar runners. Who can extend their fuel the most?
Those who come in at the end of lap 10 from the Hypercar contingent are Lapierre, Lynn, Nasr, Muller, Rast, De Vries and Vernay.
There is a significantly jumbled LMP2 order after those opening stops with Viscaal now in the lead in the #9 Proton car, followed by Beche and van Uitert (who have swapped places again) and then it's Jarvis, Jakobsen and Pilet that complete the top six. Former leader Deletraz has handed over to PJ Hyett, while Albuquerque has been replaced by Ben Keating.
Now almost the entire LMGT3 entry has visited the pits, too. And the it's as you were at the front although Ian James has now replaced Riberas in the fourth-placed Heart of Racing Aston.
The leaders manage 12 laps before coming into the pits, perilously low on energy. The rest of the Hypercar field yet to stop all pile in too. Vanthoor rejoins ahead of Nielsen, who then chops abruptly in front of Bourdais, who had to jam on the anchors.
Van Uitert has now lost a couple of places in the #28 IDEC car and is now down to fifth in LMP2. Jarvis in the lead United Autosports entry is now into third.
After serving their 10s penalties, Giovinazzi and Kubica both lose spots in that pit cycle. The #51 Ferrari rejoins fifth, behind Buemi's Toyota, while Kubica is now seventh, with Milesi's Alpine between the hustling 499Ps.
James' stint behind the wheel of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston GT3 has begun with him slipping to fifth behind the Proton Ford of Olsen.
It's all gone wrong for Keating in the other United Autosports LMP2 car as the has spun the #23 ORECA into the gravel at the Dunlop Chicane and it's beached. He had been running in sixth prior to that.
Trouble for the #99 Proton Porsche - Jani is wheeled into the garage.
We now have a slow zone for the recovery of Keating's car - the first time we've had one in this race so far as we pass the 45-minute mark.
Unsurprisingly, Nielsen's chop on Bourdais in the pitlane is under review for an unsafe release. The outcome appears somewhat inevitable.
Wittmann has also come back into the pits, but unlike the Proton Porsche is heading out again. Julien Andlauer has his head in his hands.
The marshals have now retrieved Keating's stricken car from the gravel and we're back to green flag running but the American's hopes of another Le Mans class victory seem far slimmer.
Lead change in Hypercar. Nielsen returns Ferrari to the top spot into Mulsanne Corner on lap 15. Vanthoor accepts he's lost the place and doesn't fight it too hard.
Gregoire Saucy in the #59 United Autosports has been on the charge since being one of the few LMGT3 runners to stop slightly earlier and he is now up to fifth in class, having also relegated James another spot.
The #99 Proton Porsche 963 has rejoined at the back of the Hypercar field, but lost 6m26s to that unscheduled stop. Jani remains aboard.
The fourth-placed Toyota of Sebastien Buemi is much closer to the front than he was prior to the stops. He's just under two seconds back from leader Nielsen and right on the tail of Bourdais ahead. Come to mention it, the top seven back to Kubica is all within 5 seconds.
Barker is now applying the pressure on Schandorff in the LMGT3 battle but, for now, the McLaren is holding off the Ford.
One of the many subplots to follow in the LMP2 ranks this year is whether a Pro-Am entry can challenge for outright spoils. Keating has been the fastest of the bronzes but has already made a key error while it is worth noting that only one Pro-Am entry is now in the top eight and that's because Beche is still aboard the #65 Panis machine.
There's absolutely nothing in it at the front in Hypercar, as Nielsen is coming under pressure from Vanthoor. It appears likely he'll loose the lead one way or another soon, as confirmation arrives that the #50 Ferrari will have a 10s penalty at its next stop for his too-hasty pit exit into Bourdais's path.
We've just seen another overtake on the straight by a Ferrari. The 499P has been hit by the new power gain feature of the BoP at Le Mans, which aims to equalise the top speeds of the cars. Ferrari were a bit moany about it after FP1 when they didn't look quick own the long chutes here, but from day two of race week it was clear that they had gained back something on the straights. Straightline speed played an important role in the Prancing Horse's victory last year, remember.
There's been a change for fourth place, as Giovinazzi fights back past Buemi. But hopes Bourdais had of getting a brief reprieve are short-lived, as Giovinazzi then motors around the outside at Mulsanne Corner to snatch third away. Two spots gained in the space of a few corners for the #51 Ferrari.
Into the pits comes Rene Rast in the #20 BMW, which is sooner than we might have anticipated with 17 laps complete. The #99 Proton Porsche comes back in again too, and is once more in the garage. Things not looking good for that private team.
The front splitter was changed on the #15 BMW that Wittmann spun earlier on. He's almost got back to the front of the P2 battle behind class leader Viscaal, but it's not been the start to the race for the WRT team that it would have wanted with its cars now 21st and 22nd.
By: Autosport Staff
