Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
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For all that we have said about the lack of pace for the Peugeot, the #5 Porsche has just made its way past the #94 for 14th. That's how damaging the drive-through penalty can be at Le Mans.
The #43 Inter Europol remains at the head of the LMP2 class despite gearbox concerns made about an hour ago. That's a promising sign for the squad.
A switch between Ferraris? No! There's no team orders here despite complaints of a loose rear-end from Kubica in the #83. Giovinazzi is trying everything to take second.
A short stint from Lynn. This hasn't been a great day for the pole-winning Caddy Jota squad. So far at least.
I wonder how much of Cadillac's struggles can be put down to a pure lack of race pace compared to qualifying, or whether it is purely conditions-dependent. It is cooler than previous days but the #38 is doing much better than the #12.
A quick tyre update for the Hypercar class - all cars are in mediums except the #35 Alpine, which is on softs. The #7 Toyota has one soft tyre after Kobayashi's off at Mulsanne earlier.
Expect plenty of quadruple-stints through the evening and into the night.
The pitstop cycle for Hypercar is open and the #51, #20 and #7 are all in.
New tyres go on the #51 which was third before Pier Guidi gets going. That leaves the #6 in third but eight seconds down on the #83.
Now the race leader is in: the #50 changes tyres and Fuoco gets back underway. The #311, #5 and #99 all stop as well.
There are a lot of tyre changes early on in the race as the #94 Peugeot attacks the Ferrari as it tries to get its new rubber up to temperature.
Correction: Molina is now in the #50 and he is right in the middle of an unneeded battle with Vandoorne in the #94.
The pitstops continue to cycle through as the #8 and #4 box - Hartley departing the Toyota for Hirakawa.
Kubica's time behind the wheel ends as he hands the #83 across to Yifei Ye - with a five-second time penalty to complete during the stop.
A great battle between the #38 Cadillac, the #4 Porsche and the #311 Cadillac sees Bourdais in the former emerge ahead and in 10th.
The #43 Inter Europol now has Yelloly behind the wheel and boasts a seven-second advantage over the #48 VDS Panis entry in LMP2.
The third-placed #9 Iron Lynx-Proton is a further 25 seconds behind.
The #6 pits and remains net-fourth on the road with Matt Campbell now at the helm.
Will Ferrari's advantage continue into the night running? Bad news for Porsche is that the #12 Cadillac has moved past as Campbell gets his new tyres up to temperature.
The #46 BMW now has Valentino Rossi driving and is enjoying an 11-second buffer to the second-placed #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche driven currently by Riccardo Pera in LMGT3.
But the entire class is host to various different strategies so trying to figure out who is in the driving seat is almost impossible right now!
The Ferrari 1-2-3 in Hypercar is restored as the #94 Peugeot makes its outstanding pitstop.
Wehrlein's #4 Porsche is holding off the #311 Whelen Cadillac for 11th in the closest battle in the class and allowing the #5 to close as it aims to make up for lost time.
The clouds have begun to part slightly and allow the golden sun to peek through onto the circuit as it begins to lower in the horizon. That will bring its own challenges, not least glare as drivers try to spot braking zones through their bug-splattered windscreens.
Looking at the GPS, there's hardly a patch of tarmac without one of the 61-remaining cars travelling on it. Traffic will now be a constant battle, unless a safety car period bunches things back up.
Already five hours have passed and just the one slow zone and one FCY period so far!
That traffic gives the #8 Toyota and the #20 BMW the chance to put a lap on the #93 Peugeot, which was delayed by a crash early on.
With 19 hours remaining, here are the top threes in each category:
Hypercar: #50, #51, #83
LMP2: #34, #48, #9
LMGT3: #46, #21, #92
The top two in LMGT3 pit at the turn of the hour, as does the #43 from the lead of LMP2.
Such was Inter Europol's advantage that Yelloly comes back out third in class.
Sheldon Van der Linde: "Visibility is really bad dude."
The driver of the #20 BMW is struggling with the 'sun x bug' combination during his latest stint and will likely get a tearoff taken away from the windscreen at the next stop.
The gaps at the top of Hypercar have extended somewhat, with 12 seconds between the #50 and #51 and a further six seconds back to the #83.
The #15 BMW was fourth but makes its pitstop to leave the #6 PPM and #8 Toyota to complete the top five.
Wehrlein still has Vesti behind in the battle for what is now seventh on the road. It's some effort from the Formula E world champion in his first Le Mans appearance.
Van der Linde does get a tearoff binned from his BMW as the #7 of de Vries also stops.
The #38 Cadillac pits and sees Jenson Button take the wheel as the #51 boxes from second place on the tour after.
Fuel only for Pier Guidi as he returns to the pits. #311, #5 and #99 are all in as well, so Vesti and Wehrlein are split up with the #4 staying out for one more lap.
The #43 LMP2 Inter Europol lost the lead in class because of a driver error at the last pitstops.
Yelloly pulled into the wrong box after mixing up his team for another.
This time around the #50 pits but will keep its advantage over the #51.
All eyes turn to whether the #4 will stay ahead of the #311 when emerging from the pits.
A strange issue emerges for Button as the drinks system in his Cadillac seems to fail and leaves fluid spraying around the cockpit.
The 2009 F1 champion simply unplug the feeding tube and carries on his way.
The #4 did stay just ahead of the #311 which will be to the dissatisfaction of Vesti in the Cadillac.
Meanwhile, the team manager for the Toyota #7 has been summoned to the stewards - something to keep an eye out for.
A heck of a battle is brewing for the last position in the top 10 as the #4, #311, #5, #38 and #7 line up in a four-car train. This could get very fun, very quickly.
The #6 cycles to the front as the #83 makes its latest stop and falls to fourth.
It does get fun!
Traffic costs Vesti through Karting corner and gives the #5 a sniff into the Ford chicane.
But Christensen has to skip across the chicane to avoid contact and, on the following lap, Button and de Vries take advantage of the Porsche's dirty tyres to go through.
"So pedal will be soft, have some margin." Christensen is told by his team.
The response: "Yeah it is soft already!" That may be an indication as to why he is struggling in that five-car battle. He has dropped right back already.
Pitstops underway in LMP2 and the top two both come in: the #48 and #9 being turned around without issue.
That leaves the #43 out in the lead ahead of the #29, which leads the Pro-Am class.
Huge penalty for the #7 Toyota: A FIFTY-second stop and go penalty for overspeeding in the pitlane.
That will be why the team manager was summoned earlier - but that must have been a huge overspeedn for such a severe punishment. Ouch.
That takes de Vries out of this epic train behind the #4, #311 and #38 which is now for ninth after the #94 pitted out of sequence, as it has done almost all race so far.
The #5 Porsche is now some 15 seconds behind now with its ailments.
Local yellows fly at the exit of the Michelin chicane as the #95 United Autosports McLaren grinds to a halt.
That turns into a FCY for the second time in the opening quarter of the race.
Poor Darren Leung has nothing he can do as his McLaren sits motionless. Strangely, the FCY is already ending... a very short period there.
The #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes remains in the pits after crawling back earlier with seemingly no fix coming soon for the team. That's bitter luck.
So we are back to green flag conditions, with the #46 WRT BMW pitting from what was the lead of LMGT3.
Rossi hands over to Kelvin Van der Linde for the next few stints - a job well done by the Doctor.
The gap between the lead Ferraris in Hypercar has been cut right down to six seconds or so. The #83 is within 10 seconds of the overall lead as well!
Leung has been asked to take a look from outside the car - that's permitted, as long as he remains within close proximity of his entry.
The #43 returns to its true position behind the #48 and #9 in LMP2 after Yelloly's earlier gaffe with its latest pitstop, though the car is well within half a minute of the class lead. We still aren't a quarter of the way through the race quite yet.
The pole-sitting #29 TDS Racing car, currently fifth in LMP2, has been assessed a drive-through for not respecting FCY procedure.
The #150 Richard Mille AF Corse LMGT3 entry has been given the same punishment.
By: Autosport staff
