Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
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Estre's ability to edge away from Nielsen is very interesting. It's worth pointing out that in the couple of hours before it got back into the podium positions it lost virtually nothing to the Ferraris ahead of it.
Calado has pitted from second, with the other two Ferraris expected to follow through shortly.
It has been a weird day weather-wise. It was 20°C at 9am, 22°C at 4pm. Right now, just after 11:30pm, it's still 19°C. The temperature normally shifts much more than that throughout the day – as it did earlier this week, with some of the warmest temperatures there has been for Le Mans 24 Hours track action in the last decade.
All three Ferraris have now completed their 10th pitstop. Hanson (#83) leads Calado (#51) by 4.5 seconds, with Nielsen (#50) 26 seconds away from the latter. Porsche's Estre temporarily leads again wth a 55-second gap.
Calado is closing the gap to Hanson, currently 3.5 seconds behind, but has been flagged for a track-limits infringement in sector 2 (the Mulsanne straight). Cheeky James, cheeky.
The #20 BMW driven by Rene Rast has taken fourth place from Nicklas Nielsen (#50 Ferrari). They're both 33 seconds away from the lead Ferrari – which is set to lead the race again as the #6 Porsche pits.
Are we all set for a fight for the lead? Calado is just 2.4s behind Hanson now. Porsche's Estre is just 10 further seconds in arrears.
Based on the expected pecking order, the #94 Peugeot may be the good surprise of the race so far. The 9X8 has been one of the slowest two Hypercars this week, but it's 11th out of 21 thanks to its savvy tyre and fuel strategy. Malthe Jakobsen is currently driving it.
Calado is now under a second behind the lead Ferrari.
As we wait for the Briton to launch an attack on compatriot Hanson, let's talk about LMP2. VDS Panis Racing's #48 entry is still going strong with Esteban Masson; it's enjoying a comfortable 59-second gap on the Inter Europol Competition #43 car, now driven by Jakub Smechowski. IDEC Sport is third with a 90-second deficit for the #28 car in the hands of Job van Uitert.
The #20 BMW, currently driven by Robin Frijns, has just been awarded a 15-second stop-go penalty for pitlane speeding. It's running in 10th, 2m09s away from the lead.
Happy Sunday! Unlike Mother's Day, which is on different dates in the USA, the UK and France, today is Father's Day in all three countries. So happy Father's Day to all fathers, including mine, who definitely won't read this given he doesn't speak English and doesn't like motorsport (how dare he?).
A small chance of rain has been reported for the next hour, but don't get your hopes up.
The #83 Ferrari has had an off at Mulsanne! Just a harmless trip through the gravel for Hanson, but Calado's #51 car is now in the lead.
It's time for the now-traditional midnight fireworks at Le Mans.
It's also time to discuss sleeping strategies, with all of us hoping to get a couple of well-deserved hours of sleep in a real bed.
Autosport editor Haydn Cobb sadly isn't here this year, but has experience covering Le Mans on site... and sometimes sleeping in his hire car. "Once I woke up and couldn't hear any cars on track so had a real fright," he recalled. "Turned out it was just a safety car period, with a really big gap between safety car trains."
The #51 Ferrari pits from the lead and gets some more fuel, with Calado staying in.
In the battle for LMGT3 honours, the gap has been decreasing significantly, as platinum-rated Richard Lietz, in Manthey's #92 Porsche, brings the gap to bronze-rated Ahmad Al Harthy (Team WRT's #46 BMW) down to 25 seconds. On their latest lap, Lietz was 5.7s faster.
All three Ferraris have now pitted, and Hanson's yellow #83 is back ahead of Calado's #51 machine, with a four-second advantage. Estre's Porsche is back in the lead – for now.
Tiredness is setting in here at the Autosport/motorsport.com camp. We're gone into silly hour. With Rossi's BMW out front, we were talking about his love for Brands Hatch - and in particular 'Dingly Dell'. Which took us straight to the corruption of the name by another Italian who is here this weekend. Touring car legend Gabriele Tarquini, who was named as sporting director for the new-for-2026 Genesis Hypercar squad on Friday, once described the corner as 'Ding-a-Dong-a-Dell'!
Estre is pulling away from the Ferraris – 2.5s faster than Calado on the latest lap. That won't be enough to emerge from his pitstop in the lead, but he might be closer then.
Today was mostly overcast, but here's a pretty sunset picture for you.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
Bamber in the #38 Jota Caddy posts its fastest lap of the race, 3m27.981s, to fractionally miss out on the fastest lap of the race overall which is a 3m27.936s currently held by the #15 BMW. The Kiwi is at the end of his current stint so low on fuel and with some relatively new mediums tyres and in cooling conditions.
And a lap later Bamber takes the fastest lap time outright with a 3m27.534s - showing that car has pace, just as we saw in quali, but it is missing supreme race pace to challenge at the sharp end.
Calado is closing in on leader Hanson with the gap down to 1.1s, but so far the Ferraris have avoided unnecessarily battling one another.
Porsche's Estre is now under nine seconds away from the lead in the #6 car, after lapping some three seconds faster than both lead Ferraris on the latest tour.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Buemi (#8 Toyota) is putting pressure on Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari, but hasn't been able to actually attack him yet.
The #6 Porsche pits again after a significantly shorter stint, and changes tyres with another set of mediums. It's now down in fifth.
The #51 Ferrari is back in the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours, with Calado overtaking Hanson shortly before the end of the ninth hour.
The reason why the #6 Porsche pitted so early was a slow puncture, which makes sense.
Someone has decided to lie down right next to me in the media centre, fully hiding under a red blanket with a pillow against the wall. I've been there, and that's not super comfortable.
It's time for me to pass the baton to Haydn Cobb. Thanks Haydn for taking one of the tougher live stints, and enjoy the last 15 hours everyone!
Good morning everyone, it is far too early for the orange juice and toast, but it is the early hours of Sunday morning. Let's see what the next stage of this race delivers.
The #51 Ferrari pits and in pops Giovinazzi, who must be on the same stint strategy as me. New tyres and a helping of fuel and off he goes to chase down the top three.
The #15 BMW might have a transponder issue - not its first electrical gremlin - as it keeps flying around the track radar between the first half of the lap, cutting through the campsites and woodlands. Which would be a sight, even if completely illegal.
Aitken and Makowiecki are having a right old ding-dong (or a Ding-a-Dong-a-Dell - see Gary Watkins 23:27 BST entry) as they trade overtakes fighting for 12th place. For now the #311 Cadillac Whelen is winning that battle.
Giovinazzi has made an unscheduled stop after just five laps. Left front puncture.
In LMP2, the #43 Inter Europol Competition car has looked supreme so far and once the pitstop cycle plays out it should have a lead of approaching two minutes. Team boss Smiechowski is in the driving seat and putting in a stellar run.
While in LMGT3, the #46 WRT BMW - or the Valentino Rossi car as everyone knows it better - has around a 30s gap over the chasing #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, but Rovera is eating into that gap held by Al Harthy at the front of the class.
That extra stop for Giovinazzi has pushed the #51 Ferrari back to fifth, behind the sister #50 car in fourth, and when the #6 Porsche next pits it will put the #83 AF Corse Ferrari into a useful lead.
By: Autosport staff
