Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Live Text
Some really crucial laps here in all classes, with the track only a few seconds off being completely dry. Here's where drivers can make a big difference in very little time. In LMP2, notable sub-3m43s lap times are popping in for Louis Deletraz in P7 and Olli Caldwell in P9...
A swap up to Dunlop for the Toyotas as Buemi goes past Kobayashi.
The #6 PPM goes through as well though.
Lietz has passed Hawksworth to put Manthey's Porsche back in the lead of GT3. But the Lexus is right there, as is Gelael's Lexus.
The Toyotas are menacing at this stage of the race. Buemi has put the #8 ahead of the #6 PPM while the #7 attacks the #50 Ferrari.
Yellow flags stop the latter from completing the move.
After a lap of green racing, 10 seconds cover Pilet, Fluxa and Varrone in LMP2. Oliver Jarvis is a urther ten back for United Autosports.
The #311 is trying to get back to the pits but it was a heavy hit.
Derani has lost the #311 Whelen entry and has heavy damage at Indianapolis. That brings the yellow flags out.
They are THREE WIDE down to Indianapolis but all hold station. Wow!
Ooooo that's tight! The #7 Toyota looks to the outside of the #50 Ferrari into the first Mulsanne Chicane but a small rub keeps the former behind.
The #50 then drags past the #83 AF Corse into the second chicane, only for the yellow machine to fight back into Mulsanne Corner.
As GT3 also goes green, Richard Lietz crosses the line just a second behind Jack Hawksworth. Sean Geleael is right there in the mix too, making it a three-way fight between Lexus, Porsche and BMW.
With the safety car set to come in at the end of this lap, Patrick Pilet has Lorenzo Fluxa right behind him on the track - that's the fight for the lead in LMP2. Nicolas Varrone is also within a few seconds.
Bamber takes us back to green!
Dries Vanthoor was punted out of the race last night by the #83, which was leading at the time.
Safe to say the BMW driver isn't happy:
Now we've seen a shot of the Caddy up on jacks in its box, and there's a steady drip of oil. It's not looking good for a crew that starred this time last year on the way to fourth.
The top seven in Hypercar will be nose-to-tail when we go back to green.
But Bamber is due a stop soon.
Looks like the #3 Caddy has some kind of oil leak. There are mechanics trying to clean up the mess at its pit stall.
In LMP2 the plot for minimum drive times for the silver/bronze 'junior' driver is a little thicker. It's worth noting that (silver) Ryan Cullen in the leading car still has half an hour to clock up - and he's not currently on board. But when it comes to the Pro/Am sub-category, all the bronzes have already done their time, so to speak.
Stage three of the safety car period is underway, where cars between the SC and their class leader are waved around to rejoin the pack at the back.
Dixon's managed to find a different gear other than second - seventh - and is now at least getting back to the pits faster. But that is effectively race over for the #3, which had comfortably been in the top 10.
So we are into stage two of the safety car period, where the three separate groups merge to form one long train of cars ready for the restart.
While we're neutralised and people get stops out of their systems, let's consider drive time in GT3. Which bronze racers have already done their minimum six hours? In the last moments, Giorgio Roda ticked over that mark in the #88 Mustang. Apart from that, all of the current top nine have ticked that box. The quicker men will take it most of the way to the end in most of those cars, one imagines!
He's back going now but under electrical power only. Race direction has asked the team to pull into "any opening" if it cannot get back to the pits. Dixon is going through the second Mulsanne Chicane now.
The #3 Cadillac has stopped at the side of the circuit with Dixon at the weel. He gets going, then stops, then goes, then stops. A nightmare for the team.
Still under safety car conditions, the 93 Peugeot has gone off at Indianapolis and into the tyre barriers. Mueller is at the wheel and he has returned to the track with minimal damage.
The #6 and #8 have returned to the track in sixth and seventh.
The #2 Cadillac now leads, ahead of the #5 PPM and the #83 AF Corse.
The Iron Dames Lambo has also pitted as we look forward to the safety cars merging, so that puts Saucy into the lead...oh no, someone pitted before I could finish my sentence again! Scratch that and make the leader Jack Hawksworth. Tell you what, we'll try and do another summing-up when the safety cars merge ;)
Thanks for the tidy summary of matters in the classes! Inevitably they're not capable of all staying out for a minute or three...Europol and United Autosports have just pitted in LMP2. For Smiechowski in the former entry, it's the second visit in as many laps. Some folk really love the pits!
Confirmation from race direction that this is the last lap of the three safety car split.
Thank you very much - I left under safety car earlier and have returned to a safety car so lucky me!
Key pitstops happening now with the #6 race-leading PPM and second-placed #8 Toyota in, with Vanthoor swapping with Estre and Buemi in for Hirakawa.
Meanwhile in the LMP2 class Barnicoat has a buffer back to the next group of cars headed by Jarvis, with Pilet and Fluxa next in line. We're all set for a barnstorming finish to the race, so don't go anywhere! Next up at the wheel are Ewan Gale and Richard Asher.
Assuming they all stay out, we could have a real scrap on our hands in GT3 when the race resumes as the top five are all bunched right together on track, with Gatting ahead of Saucy, Hawksworth, Lietz and Gelael.
We've got a tad over six hours remaining in the race - the equivalent of an entire regular WEC round! So still plenty of time for things to change - especially as the top 11 Hypercars are all on the lead lap.
As the clean-up operation continues down at Indianapolis, de Vries pits from third in the #7 Toyota and hands over to team boss Kobayashi.
Gatting is now the leader in LMGT3, still behind the safety cars of course, with Sato having peeled into the pits. Notably, the Dames have only done 18 pitstops, relative to 21 for Saucy's McLaren that is next in the queue, and 20 for Hawksworth (third) and Lietz (fourth) respectively.
But defending LMP2 winner Smiechowski is under investigation for exiting the pitlane under the same safety car at 9:39 local time. That appears a fairly straightforward penalty call.
Time for an LMP2 update. Barnicoat has stayed out to lead Jarvis. Pilet is now aboard the Vector car, and Fluxa has taken over from Jakobsen at Cool. De Gerus (IDEC) and Inter Europol now pit too, with Smiechowski inserted aboard the Polish car, perhaps to finish off his driving time.
Calado now stopping means all three Ferrari 499Ps are in the pits now. Although, just as we type that Shwartzman and Fuoco are now released.
Pitstops for the P2 runners now. Jakobsen was a little offset from the rest in the #37 Cool ORECA, and he is followed in by Richelmi. Barnicoat, who had just lost the lead on track prior to the safety car, now cycles back to the front.
The #50 and #83 Ferraris have both pitted under this safety car but are now being held at the end of the pitlane. But worth noting that Shwartzman in the privateer car jumped ahead of Fuoco with a faster stop.
By: Autosport Staff
