Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Live Text
More stops in the LMGT3 class now. James has pitted from third in the Heart of Racing Aston, and now Martin comes in from the lead to hand over - we believe - to Ahmad Al Harthy, while his left-front corner had some attention from mechanics. This will mean Sturm cycles back to the front in LMGT3.
It is indeed Al Harthy now in the #46 BMW, which makes sense to chip away more of his bronze driver time. The camera shots we're seeing at the approach to Mulsanne Corner suggest barrier repairs are going to take a long time yet.
Several other teams are cottoning on to the strategic opportunities this presents too. In LMP2, Nielsen Racing has pitted Simpson from third and inserted David Heinemeier-Hansson to use up some of his drive time, while Barnicoat is in to hand back the AF Corse car to Francois Perrodo and Paul Lafargue returns to the cockpit of IDEC's entry.
Tyre warming analysis from Peugeot's Mikkel Jensen, who drove the #93 car for two hours and 21 minutes at the start of the race: "The soft is quite easy, the medium is very hard. And that's also a bit the reason we took the soft because of all the drizzling all the time, so the soft is a bit easier to deal with in these conditions. The medium I think is still the best tyre whenever you make it work."
As to what Peugeot can expect for the remainder of this race: "You see one Alpine is burning and the other Alpine is in the box, so we don't want to gain positions by others being in the box, but you can't predict the position."
If you're just joining us, we're behind the safety car after Dries Vanthoor's #15 BMW hit the barriers hard on the approach to Mulsanne corner following contact with the race-leading #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica. There's no indication for the time being of when we'll get back to green, but that doesn't mean this segment of the race is entirely lacking for intrigue.
This safety car period is the perfect time to look at the weather, isn't it? It currently is 14°C in Le Mans, and MeteoFrance forecasts showers... from now to 10am, then from 2pm onwards.
Alpine is striving to see a silver lining following its double retirement due to engine failures.
Reflecting on the aforementioned intrigue, consider the LMP2 race. The United Autosports #22 machine currently running second is using up the drive time of its silver, Bijoy Garg, without losing any time to the leading #37 Cool machine which has one of its two leading lights Malthe Jakobsen aboard. The same goes for the Nielsen car in fourth, which has silver David Heinemeier-Hansson installed, while Francois Perrodo in the #183 AF entry is doing the same laptimes as poleman Louis Deletraz in AO by TF's car. Could these offsets prove crucial later on?
We understand from McLaren that Iribe's visit to the pits was the result of some contact that damaged the radiators on his Inception Racing car. It has been repaired and is back out in the hands of early leader Frederik Schandorff, but the 28-minute repair has surely cost any chance of a good result.
The #77 Mustang has been repaired! A mega effort by the Proton crew after three hours and 27 minutes in the pits. The #66 JMW Ferrari meanwhile is in and having its brakes changed, while Larry ten Voorde has vacated the cockpit.
This safety car intervention has already lasted for more than 45 minutes and is a serious blow to any hopes we had to beat the 2010 record distance (5,410.713km in 397 laps by Audi's Bernhard, Dumas and Rockenfeller).
Meanwhile, a dog has entered the track despite obviously not having the right credentials to do so.
A perfect time to look at famous dogs in motorsport? Norman is an integral part of Simon Pagenaud's family, the IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner having taken part in the Le Mans 24 Hours five times. He took a famous second place with Peugeot in 2011, under 14 seconds off the victory, alongside Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy.
Norman, the dog of Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske
Photo by: BorgWarner
Al Harthy meanwhile has pitted from the lead in LMGT3, three (slow) laps after he replaced Martin. So Sturm is back in the lead once more in the #92 Porsche. Hawksworth has been shuffled up to third in the #87 Lexus that led early on in Esteban Masson's hands, while Michelle Gatting is fourth for the Iron Dames and Dennis Olsen is fifth in the #88 Proton Mustang. James Cottingham is sixth in the United Autosports McLaren, using up more of his six-hour bronze time.
I'm afraid not much has been happening in the Hypercar category, with all cars remaining on track behind the safety cars, without pitting. The order remains the following:
1. #83 Ferrari (Kubica-Shwartzman-Ye)
2. #5 Porsche (Campbell-Christensen-Makowiecki)
3. #8 Toyota (Buemi-Hartley-Hirakawa)
4. #50 Ferrari (Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen)
5. #6 Porsche (Estre-Lotterer-Vanthoor)
More pitstops now for the LMP2 runners, with Jakobsen and Richelmi coming in. Pilet is back aboard the Vector Sport car.
An update from race control says: 'incident clear, prepare for merging'. And now the rain has started again...
We didn't flag it at the time, but the #60 Iron Lynx Lambo has rejoined too after a delay of 50m59s. Plaudits to the hard-working mechanics to get Matteo Cressoni back into the race, albeit 11 laps down.
The tiredness is beginning to set in on the Autosport desk. A yawn from Stephen Lickorish triggered an instinctive reaction from James Newbold, with Ben Vinel following suit within moments. It's catching...
Perhaps it's a good thing that they're behind the safety car at the moment, because the rain is starting to come down heavily in the first sector at the moment and you could imagine it being total bedlam. Meanwhile Tom van Rompuy has come into the garage in the #81 TF Corvette.
A few bronze drivers in LMGT3 are inching closer towards their six-hour minimum time being completed. Ian James is closing in on five hours in the HoR Aston, having stayed in throughout this safety car. It's a similar story for Johnny Laursen in the Spirit of Race Ferrari (in which Jordan Taylor is yet to drive), while James Cottingham has now surpassed four hours too in the #59 United Autosports McLaren.
The pass around has been completed, we're informed by race control. That is perhaps apart from Tom van Rompuy, who rejoins the fray in the #81 Corvette after his quick visit to the pits to replace the nose because of a faulty light panel. The Belgian is one lap down, but now has fresh brakes.
For the purposes of housekeeping, Jakobsen remained in the Cool Racing car when he pitted under the safety car earlier. Garg (United) is your current LMP2 leader, ahead of Heinemeier-Hansson (Nielsen), Jakobsen and Pilet (Vector), with Deletraz still in the AO by TF ORECA in fifth, then Perrodo (AF Corse) and Lomko (Inter Europol) also on the lead lap in seventh.
There are 12 cars still on the lead lap in LMGT3. Sturm leads Al Harthy, Hawksworth, Gatting, Olsen, Cottingham, Lietz, James, Johnny Laursen, Sato, Boguslavskiy and Leung. Wainwright's GR Ferrari is the first car one lap down, with Yoluc, Sorensen, Hartshone, Heriau, Van Rompuy and Baud also in that grouping.
At least the drivers have been able to enjoy the firework displays more than they normally would.
It's still raining here, at least at some points around the track. The drivers are going to have to be ultra-cautious at the restart on tyres that have lost all their heat in the hour-plus we've spent behind the safety car. The other point is that tyres that have been run at low temperatures are difficult to bring back to life. There could be a flurry of stops after the green flag.
Safety car in this lap. Nearly time to go...
Green flag, we're back racing again. Will the drivers behave themselves as the rain continues to pour?
Makowiecki takes the lead straight away with the #5 Porsche, as every other car in the top nine pits!
The #311 Cadillac, driven by Pipo Derani, is up to second.
Immediately we have pit callers in the classes too. Everyone aside from the leader Garg and Lomko's InterEuropol car have dived into the box from LMP2.
Meanwhile in LMGT3 Sturm spun on his way into the pits for Klaus Bachler to take over. Jordan Taylor has finally climbed into the Spirit of Race Ferrari for the first time, while Dennis Olsen ahas pitted but remained in the #88 Ford.
Derani was EIGHT seconds faster than Makowiecki over the first two sectors of this lap.
Something happened to Derani there, he just lost 40 seconds in the third sector. The #311 Cadillac is down to fourth position.
Garg and Lomko now come into the pits one lap later than the rest of the LMP2 pack. Most of the P2 teams changed drivers, but Cool left Jakobsen in and he's at the head of the queue of cars that pitted immediately on the restart, with Fabio Scherer (Nielsen), Ben Barnicoat (AF Corse), Patrick Pilet (Vector) and Louis Deletraz (AO by TF) next in line.
Kubica, who pitted five minutes ago, is catching leader Makowiecki, and fast. The #83 Ferrari's driver was ten seconds faster in the first sector of this lap, then, 11 seconds quicker in the second. He's just 11 seconds off the lead now!
I'm a Brit, so I love talking about the weather. The rain intensified at the top half of the circuit as the race went green, bringing all bar two cars of the Hypercar field in for wets. New leader Makowiecki has stayed out for another lap now: it's dry around most of the circuit. If Mako can hang on with the slicks, it's going to be a massive gain. Derani in the Action Express Caddy is the other slick-shod runner.
In the LMGT3 race, Jack Hawksworth has cycled to the lead in the #87 ASP Lexus. Michelle Gatting is now second in the Iron Dames Lambo, with Richard Lietz third in the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche. James Cottingham is still going in the #95 United Autosports McLaren, with Timur Boguslavskiy fifth in the #78 Lexus and Ahmad Al Harthy's #46 BMW sixth.
The #83 Ferrari is back into the lead with Kubica at the wheel! The Pole easily overtook struggling Makowiecki, with the Porsche driver coming under pressure from Toyota's Hirakawa.
By: Autosport Staff
