Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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Could slicks have been the right call? Kubica and Nielsen were 6s faster than the wet-shod Buemi last time around.
It's all kicking off in LMGT3! One of the Corvettes has stopped on the Mulsanne Straight while the #54 Ferrari has also gone off at the Porsche Curves after being given a hefty nerf by Rao in the #47 Cool LMP2 entry.
Buemi in seventh is the first of the drivers on wets. Kubica, Nielsen, Stevens, Caldarelli, Christensen and Mortara are all braving it out for now.
Now Lotterer comes into the pits and Kubica cycles into the lead ahead of Nielsen. Wets are going on the Porsche.
Olsen is the first of the front-running LMGT3 drivers to pit, but the rest are all opting to stay out for now as the rain has eased a little on the start/finish straight.
With his fresher tyres Lotterer zaps past Nielsen on the brakes into the second Mulsanne Chicane. Kubica isn't hanging around either and follows through into Mulsanne Corner, but the rain is now much heavier on the run to Indianapolis than it was one lap ago. The drivers are really earning their money here on the slick tyres.
Jakobsen has now pitted from the lead of the LMP2 class and is followed by Garg in the United Autosports car that was second.
Now Giovinazzi pits from the lead, and is followed in by Hanson, Nasr, Derani, De Vries, Bamber and Di Resta. Nielsen, Lotterer and Kubica brave it out, and the top three are nose-to-tail!
It's absolutely hammering it down on the pit straight, but it still looks fairly dry around much of the track.
Milesi, Bourdais and Lapierre all followed Buemi into the pits. That means a Ferrari 1-2-3 at the head of the order with Giovinazzi leading Nielsen and Kubica, but the yellow car is under attack from Lotterer. Hanson is right with the pair of them.
So far Viscaal in the second-placed Proton entry is the only of the LMP2 leaders to dive in for wets as the rain starts getting much heavier.
This is a repeat of what happened at Imola. Toyota was decisive in pitting when the rain arrived, while Ferrari decided to stay out. Will that pay dividends for the Japanese marque once again?
The wipers are on, and in comes Buemi to pit from second. Time to roll the dice!
Another unsafe investigation release is under way, and it's for Kubica's #83 Ferrari this time.
The track has been declared wet. And given the ominous-looking clouds, we're not surprised.
The team manager of Nielsen's #50 Ferrari has been summoned to race control. We're assuming that this is unrelated to the pit penalty the team has already served. Could more trouble be on the way for the 499P that currently sits third?
After that out-of-sync second stop, Rast has cycled up the Hypercar order to 14th in the BMW 'art' car. There's been a fair amount of shuffling elsewhere too, with De Vries now up to 12th from 23rd on the grid, just behind the #12 Jota Porsche that had dropped back to the tail-end of the top 20 on the opening lap.
Latest message from race control about class 1-2 rain being expected in a few minutes has left the Autosport team wondering which Class 1 machinery could soon be falling...
Schandorff handing the Inception McLaren over to Iribe in and Barker being replaced by Hardwick in the Proton Mustang has ensured that the JMW Ferrari of ten Voorde and another Proton Mustang of Olsen now head the LMGT3 field with Hardwick and Iribe now third and fourth.
Giovinazzi has a rather healthy lead it must be said, with 7.3s in hand over Buemi. The Toyota man has Nielen right on his tail, while Bourdais and Milesi are firmly in touch too.
One lap later than Nielsen and co, Vanthoor leads the rest of the pack in. Lotterer has climbed aboard the pole-sitting #6 Porsche, which rejoins eighth. Giovinazzi shuffles back to the lead as a result, with Buemi second and the penalised Nielsen third.
During that latest round of LMP2 stops, Jakobsen in the #37 Cool entry was the big winner as he has surged from fourth to first, now heading Viscaal (Proton), Garg (who has taken over the #22 United Autosports entry) and Pilet in the Vector entry, which we haven't really mentioned much yet.
Rain is expected in 10 minutes, we are told.
Into the pits come Nielsen from the lead starting lap 24. He's followed in by Lapierre, Nasr, Lynn, De Vries, Muller and Mortara; one lap later than Derani and Stevens had pitted. Nielsen remember has an extra 10s to wait after his unsafe release in front of Bourdais at his first stop.
The LMGT3 leaders have also made their stops and Iribe has climbed aboard the previously leading Inception McLaren.
Much further back, last-placed Naveen Rao in the #47 Cool entry that had a lengthy pit visit earlier has had a spin at the Dunlop Chicane but, unlike Keating earlier, he avoids the gravel and is able to continue.
LMP2 leader Viscaal in the #9 Proton entry now heads the remaining bunch of cars to head in for their second stops. Worth noting that the previously second-placed Panis car has had a driver change as Beche has handed over to Sales.
Now the other United McLaren, the car of Saucy that was running fourth, has also stopped as some of the LMGT3 runners are making early second pit visits.
Milesi's pursuit of Bourdais is briefly paused by an off-track excursion at Turn 1. Kubica is invited to have a look at his sixth spot, but thinks better of it into the first chicane.
And now we're onto the second round of LMP2 stops with the bunch of cars that were running fairly close from second to sixth in class all diving in.
There's an unscheduled stop for the #95 United Autosports McLaren of Sato, who was running the middle of the LMGT3 field.
There is an incident under review involving Di Resta and Mortara. Might that explain the Peugeot driver's early stop?
We've not talked much about him so far, but Phil Hanson has had a corker so far. From P17 on the grid he's quietly moved into the top 10 and currently sits ninth in the #38 Jota Porsche, ahead of Derani's Caddy that started 18th.
We've got the first penalty among the LMGT3 ranks as Hoshino in the 18th placed D'Station Aston has been handed a drive-through penalty for not respecting the slow zone procedures.
Buemi has now passed Bourdais into the first chicane, and moves back into fourth place. What can the #8 Toyota manage now he's been released into clear air?
The Bourdais-Buemi-Milesi squabble has been dropped somewhat by Giovinazzi, who has bolted 4.2s up the road in the #51 Ferrari. He'll soon be troubling Vanthoor's grip on second if this continues.
Di Resta has now brought the #94 Peugeot in after a shorter-than-expected second stint. Things appear to be fairly routine for now though.
While Proton is enduring a tough Hypercar race, Viscaal is flying in its LMP2 entry and has built up a lead of almost nine seconds. But, behind, there's a bunch of cars all running in close proximity and we could soon see some more overtakes.
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.
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.
By: Autosport Staff
