Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
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Van der Zande has made it back to the pits in the ailing #22 United ORECA. His regular IMSA team-mate Yelloly is having a better time of it in the P2 ranks and continues to lead the class, as Masson gives way to Oliver Gray.
Kubica's lead for now is stable at 15s. But Nielsen, who is flashing the lights at Calado, could make inroads into that should he make it into second place.
Nielsen is certainly closer to Calado than Vanthoor is to Nielsen. Ferrari could swap positions if they want to. But, it seems, what they want to do is race.
We may have a battle on our hands for second in the LMGT3 class, as Rui Andrade's Corvette is just 15s back from Simon Mann in the Ferrari. They haven't been that close for a very long time.
We have a slow-moving LMP2 car on the Mulsanne Straight, the #22 United Autosports entry of Renger van der Zande that was fifth in class. He's got the indicators on, and it appears to be in strife.
The #6 Porsche was short-fuelled at that round of stops, which is why Vanthoor is so close to Nielsen. Penske is obviously back-calculating from the end of the race on its fuel strategy. Seems like it is trying to put some pressure on the red cars as the race enters its crunch stages. Time to roll the dice.
Second, third and fourth are now on the same piece of real estate. How will Ferrari play this? Could Calado, on his older tyres, be asked to let Nielsen through and hold up Estre?
Calado comes in, for fuel only and is 15s behind Kubica. Nielsen is 18s off the lead in third, but has Estre right on him. This could be interesting, as Estre is known for not taking prisoners...
It is shaping up to be a Porsche versus Ferrari fight in the final three hours. Roger Penske has one bullet in the gun, against three 499Ps, but all bets are off in the closing stages. It does appear thought that Cadillac is out of the fight for victory, although Norman Nato continues to circulate in fifth position, 1m42 behind Kubica's #83 Ferrari.
Dries Vanthoor has come back into the pits for a proper service, and we expect the leading #51 Ferrari of James Calado will be in this time by.
Vanthoor is fired up for this and scents a podium. He is running 2.5s behind Nielsen, who is briefly held up behind the #90 Manthey Porsche running sixth in the LMGT3 class.
Yelloly has extended his advantage in the LMP2 class though that flurry of interruptions. It now stands at 22s over Masson.
FCY ends and green flag returns, with Dries Vanthoor now in the pits aboard the #15 BMW. That was a short fuel, unfortunately for the Belgian.
Porsche brought Vanthoor's #6 PPM 963 in under the slow zone, so he's now on the same run plan as the #83 and #50 Ferraris.
"Maximum push mate," Calado's engineer tells him. We're going to get a full course yellow shortly.
We are now back to green flag racing. Calado leads the freshly-installed Kubica by 43s, but does owe us a stop.
While the slow zone is on to recover the IDEC machine, a good time for Ye to come into the pits. He's followed in by Nielsen, while Calado continues on. Remember, that car has more energy than the others and is slightly offset, because Pier Guidi had to take an emergency service at the last full course yellow (caused by debris from the Lexus shunt at Porsche Curves).
Richard Lietz has now climbed back into the #92 Manthey Porsche that leads LMGT3, with Simon Mann taking over the #21 Ferrari. This battle has been fairly one-sided since Lietz passed Francois Heriau following a FCY at daybreak. The gap stabilised while Rovera was in the car against Pera, but will surely be extended now Porsche's veteran wheelman is back in the hot seat.
The unfortunate demise of IDEC's #28 car gifts third on a platter to Capietto in the #9 Iron Lynx - Proton machine, while poor old Job van Uitert trudges behind the barrier. Through no fault of his own, a good chance at a Le Mans podium has slipped away.
Oh no! Another right-rear wheel missing on an IDEC Sport ORECA! It's Job van Uitert, who we had just mentioned was running third in LMP2. He loses his wheel and Michelin tyre through the Dunlop Curve and is stranded in the gravel. Game over, in bitterly disappointing fashion for IDEC after it lost Andre Lotterer to a similar problem this morning.
Hirakawa has now rejoined with an entirely new left-front suspension, at the tail end of the Hypercar field in 19th overall. A bitter disappointment for Toyota, but an excellent job to get the machine race-worthy again. It looked rather second hand when the Japanese brought it back.
Cameron rejoins fifth overall in P2. We've not talked a huge amount about the battle for third in class, a position that is currently held by the #28 IDEC Sport crew with Job van Uitert aboard doing a solid - er - job. Maceo Capietto, son of the renowned Prema technical wizard Guillaume, is chasing after him in the #9 Iron Lynx - Proton car but has a 49s deficit to overcome.
Dane Cameron has taken over from Louis Deletraz in the LMP2 pro-am leader, which pitted from fourth overall in the P2 ranks. That crew has been pretty solidly established in the lead of that sub-division since the safety car reshuffled the pack earlier this morning while the track was still in darkness. It's been a very clean run for the car named 'Spike, the LMP2 Dragon'.
#199 AO by TF Oreca 07 - Gibson: PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron, Louis Deletraz
Photo by: Nikolaz Godet
The best Hypercar battle on track right now is over seventh, with the two WRT BMWs running line astern. Dries Vanthoor in #15 is just 2s ahead of team-mate Sheldon van der Linde in the #20.
The times are pretty nip and tuck between Pera and Rovera in first and second of the LMGT3 runners. The two Italians are still split by around a minute, with Andrade's Corvette now back in a comfortable third place after HoR brought in Drudi, with Robichon taking over.
Looks like a whole new left front suspension is being bolted onto the wounded Toyota. Its race is effectively over, but calling it a day at Le Mans is unthinkable.
Nielsen's fresh tyres are working nicely, which has helped the Dane to set the #50 Ferrari's fastest lap of the race so far. However, he remains 31s back from Ye, whose call to keep the same tyres at the last stop looks a masterstroke.
With three wheels on his wagon, Hirakawa has brought the car back to the box. The #8 GR010 HYBRID is wheeled back into the box, and is now surely out of the running for points. A bitter shame for the crew that had been circling on the outskirts of the top five.
Yelloly versus Masson in LMP2 remains an incredibly close fight, the two leaders split by 14s last time by. Does the VDS Panis car have anything for Inter Europol Competition in the remaining four hours? Both are regulars in the European Le Mans Series, which has races of four hours in duration, so still plenty of chances for drama to materialise. Just ask Alessandro Pier Guidi...
Not taking tyres at his last stop means Ye now has a 35s advantage in the #83 Ferrari over Nielsen, with Calado 47s back in third. Laurens Vanthoor has just climbed back into Porsche #6, which is back to being 57s off the lead.
In comes Pier Guidi, with Calado taking over the #51 Ferrari. He won't want to rewatch footage of his spin entering the pits which put his crew on the back foot. An emergency service had been required moments before, due to the FCY brought out for debris from the Lexus shunt at the Porsche Curves, and in his haste to return to the pits Pier Guidi made what could turn out to be a race-defining error.
Hirakawa is having to crawl back to the pits, which is going to take a while and may even take the #8 Toyota out of contention for points. Replays suggest the wheel nut came off as he put load on the tyre, which has now punctured.
Crumbs, that's an unusual one. Hirakawa, fresh in the #8 Toyota, spears off the road exiting the pits and goes through the gravel. His left-front was not properly tightened it seems. Disaster for Toyota!
In comes Ye now from the lead. He stays in and just takes fuel, which should mean an extended lead when he rejoins.
The sole surviving United Autosports McLaren is currently in the garage having an alternator problem fixed. It hasn't been a specular run for the British-run cars; remember, Darren Leung was left stranded by the side of the road with a drivetrain problem that also impacted the fuel delivery, and so was a retirement yesterday evening.
Molina has pitted from second, and hands over to Nielsen. Ye is expected in next time around.
The best Hypercar battle on track is for ninth place, with Frijns pressuring Jaminet's Porsche. BMW reckon a triple stint can help him jump the #5 machine that led early on yesterday.
How is Ye's advantage looking? It is holding steady for the time being at 17s. Pier Guidi's mini push to get back on terms with Molina has stalled for the time being at 5s.
Pera has just been into the pits from the LMGT3 lead, with Rovera following him in as the Porsche returns to the track. We've now got Rui Andrade back behind the wheel of the #81 Corvette to give Charlie Eastwood a breather, which shuffles Mattia Drudi back into third place aboard the HoR Aston - but we expect that back in shortly too for Zach Robichon to be installed.
By: Autosport staff
