Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
Live Standings
Live Text
It's been an eventful opening to the race of the WTR Cadillac, as Ricky Taylor explains:
“Not the start we wanted so far. At the start, I think we got hit at the back and the side at the same time. We have damage to the floor, the wing and the tail. So, the car was a lot at the beginning, along with a tyre issue. There was also a bollard in the road that I didn’t see and it got wedged under the car, which led to a lockup that led to a flat spot. When we pitted, we probably should have changed tyres in the subsequent stint, so we lost a lot of time. Again, not the start we wanted but we have a long way to go so hopefully we can adapt as we go and continue to make changes to the car.”
After almost three hours in the car, Ryan Hardwick does now come into the pits. Bravo sir. He is relayed by Richard Lietz, who won this race last year and is starting his 19th Le Mans 24 Hours.
Well that's a detour you don't see too often. Kobayashi has a huge right-front lock-up into Mulsanne Corner and elects to take to the run-off, via the roundabout. Gymkhana at Le Mans, anybody?
Fuoco has pitted from the lead, meanwhile Giovinazzi moves ahead of Drugovich for a net fourth place. For the time being, he's up to third behind the two Porsches of Vanthoor and Jaminet. All owe us a pit visit too.
Change for second in LMP2, as Perera deposes the recently-installed Jensen (in for Pilet). Smiechowski has 25s in hand at the head of the field, the 2023 LMP2 winner having extended his advantage through that last pit sequence.
Jaminet was complaining earlier about not being able to brake or steer as he wished, and now comes into the box. Can those issues be remedied? He is followed in by Giovinazzi and Drugovich.
Arnold Robin now pits from the lead in LMGT3, and is followed by Bernardo Sousa's Ford, which cycles Ahmad al Harthy back to the top in the #46 BMW. He's got half a minute in hand over Alessio Rovera in the #21 Ferrari which started second but lost time earlier with its bronze Francious Heriau at the wheel - and had that big spin on the run to Indianapolis.
As Laurens Vanthoor comes into the pits from the lead in Hypercar, cycling Fuoco back to the front, I too shall take my leave and pass the baton on to Ewan Gale. Thanks for joining thus far, and I'll be back from 3am BST.
Thank you James! Well, it has been a fascinating three hours with track conditions starting to swing the advantage from one marque to another - and that is only going to continue as the sun sets in a few hours.
Such is the lack of pace of the Peugeot, exacerbated by its fuel strategy, that the #94 car with Malthe Jakobsen at the wheel is behind the leading Ferrari even though it has yet to make its fourth stop.
Disaster for the LMP2-leading #43 Inter Europol car as Smiechowski complains of a gearbox issue. Meanwhile, Kubica makes a stunning move on his outlap in the #83 Ferrari to move past Drugovich in the #311 Whelen Cadillac.
The #43 is continuing at the head of the LMP2 field but any suspicion of a gremlin at this stage will fill the team with fright. Just under 21 hours is a long way to go when you have complained of an issue, especially with something as major as a gearbox.
The #94 Peugeot finally makes its latest stop and drops right down the order. That's 17th in Hypercar now and the French manufacturer is in desperate need of a full-course yellow or two.
All of a sudden the #5 of Jaminet looks all the more competitive again after a lull in the third hour. The PPM is now back on the hunt for third from the #51 Ferrari.
The #51 and #83 Ferrari's leapfrogged the Action Express Caddy at that round of pitstops. All three cars spent similar time on pitroad. Intriguing.
A huge impact for the #88 LMGT3 Ford, driven by Levorato, who loses it at Tertre Rouge and finds the tyre barrier to bring out localised yellows.
That happened just in front of the battle for third in Hypercar and gave Jaminet the chance to leap Giovinazzi on the run to the Daytona chicane.
The #51 got back through before the second chicane to retake third!
The first slow zone of the race! The Mustang is going nowhere with all of that damage. Replays showed the left-rear wheel detach on entry to Tertre Rouge and gave Levorato no chance. There's also damage to the #25 Algarve Pro LMP2 car, with Kaiser trying to get back to the pits for a service.
BMW makes a position swap as it instructs the #15 to cede eighth to #20. Robin Frijns has been on some mission since taking his place behind the wheel.
Great work from the marshals down at the site of the #88's incident as the slow zone is already removed. That didn't take too long at all, and we are back to a full-track green.
The traffic seems never-ending for the Hypercars and Kobayashi uses all his experience to mug the #35 Alpine to put the #7 Toyota into 14th. That begins to make up for his off at Mulsanne earlier.
The #25 car's damage has thrown a spanner in the works - debris has led to the first full course yellow!
Kaiser hit the #16 RLR M Sport car as they slowed for the slow zone - that could lead to a penalty to compound his misery, even having remained on the LMP2 lead lap.
Here's the incident that began the chain of events leading to the FCY:
We are back green! Not the timing, nor the length of FCY that Peugeot was really hoping for...
The gap between the #50 Ferrari in first and the #6 PPM is now up to almost 22 seconds, with the #51 and #83 Ferraris now on the back of Laurens Vanthoor.
Three seconds further back, the #5 Porsche is leading a train that extends to the #4 team-mate in 11th - with the #8 Toyota, the #20 and #15 BMWs and the #38 Cadillac in tow.
Another drama in LMGT3 that happened at the same time almost as the #88's crash saw the #10 Aston lose three laps.
An engine system issue has been resolved but that's taken one of the early class leaders out of contention, barring a minor miracle.
Potential trouble for the #83 Ferrari driven by Robert Kubica - the Pole is under investigation for gaining a lasting advantage off-track at the Michelin chicane.
He has dropped back a second or so through traffic as Giovinazzi hounds the #6 for second, only to duck into the pits at the end of lap 58.
A 12-lap stint for the #50 and #51, the race leader already departing as the third-placed car has only just begun its service. The #15 BMW almost collided with the #7 Toyota on pit exit, though those positions have now swapped.
A significant penalty for the #5 Porsche - a drive-through for Jaminet after a slow zone infraction.
The #24 Nielsen LMP2 entry has been given the same fate.
Jaminet just pitted for a driver swap and a new set of tyres, so a double-whammy for new driver Michael Christiensen.
A drive-through to take and a loss of time scrambling around on cold tyres takes the former overall-leading #5 out of the lead battle... for now!
It may not be the overall lead at the moment but Kubica takes the lead on the road as he flies past the #6 Porsche.
Vanthoor L then gets hampered by LMP2 traffic as the #83 scampers down the road. Ferrari is looking strong at this stage.
I feel like the bringer of doom with all these issues since taking over. The #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes LMGT3 is moving slowly with an apparent issue in the second half of the lap, but Rueda stays well out of the way en route back to the garage.
The #83 and #6 finally pit and should give the off-script #94 Peugeot the race lead temporarily. A FCY would be very handy now.
Great work from the PPM crew as the #6 gets out ahead of the #83!
As expected, the Algarve Pro #25 has been hit with a penalty for hitting the #16 on entry to the slow zone earlier.
Meanwhile, the #15 BMW is under investigation for an unsafe release earlier.
Oh my goodness, Giovinazzi, you do realise there's 20 hours left, right?
The #6 and #83 do battle ahead of the #51 for net-second on the road and the Italian tries to make it three-wide on the run into Indianapolis. That's a crazy risk to take so early in the event and the team radio quickly calms him down.
Somehow, the trio didn't hit each other and the Porsche remains in front.
The next lap sees Kubica lunge up the inside into Mulsanne as they clear traffic and it looked like the #83 goes off-track to make the move after contact. Vanthoor gets back through before Indianapolis anyway. Fantastic racing!
Brother Vanthoor, Dries, has completed his first stint in his BMW and has addressed one of the biggest challenges facing drivers over the next 20 hours - bugs:
"It's actually extremely bad. You don't see anything. Basically, you're going to the Porsche corners and you're just guessing where the corners are. Yeah, it's very bad. But it's the same for everyone, you know, everybody has the same issue.
It's annoying, very annoying. But I mean, I don't think anyone can do anything about it, so we have to just live with it."
Here comes Kubica again and this time it's a done deal into Indianapolis for the #83.
But it's a five-second penalty for the previous infraction for gaining an advantage off-track, which will be added to the next stop.
The #6 has been swamped by the #51, making it a Ferrari 1-2-3!
After just over four hours, here are the top three in each class:
Hypercar - #50, #83, #51
LMP2 - #43, #48, #9
LMGT3 - #21, #46, #92
The #36 Alpine was hit by a drive-through earlier for pitlane speeding but a move from Gounon gets the squad ahead of the #9 Proton Porsche for 12th.
By: Autosport staff
