Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates

We still have eight Hypercars on the lead lap, but the #38 Jota Caddy is no longer among them. Regarding his fastest lap, Bourdais has just been asked why he's been unable to produce that sort of pace more often and said it is due to a combination of factors, including traffic and fuel. In short, it needed these grippier track conditions to arrive sooner. He concedes that its hopes of a fightback have long since passed.

We've just had another round of stops in LMP2, with Yelloly emerging still in front of Masson to the tune of 18s. Deletraz has also pitted in the AO by TF car which continues to lead the pro-am sub-category in fourth overall.

As the margins between Pera and Rovera at the front in LMGT3 continue to ebb and flow, Charlie Eastwood has solidified TF Sport's control over third in the #81 Corvette. He had 90s in hand over Mattia Drudi's HoR Aston before coming into the pits for a service.

Pier Guidi is really pushing on in #51 as he seeks to make up for his mistake. He's 3.3s behind Molina, who doesn't quite seem able to take chunks out of Ye's 19s advantage.

It's far from over in the classes either. Yelloly is 17.6s clear of Masson in the LMP2 classification, which is just slender enough that any slight hiccups for the yellow and green machine in the closing four hours could have significant consequences.

Well, who saw that coming? Suddenly there is a real sense of collective moving forwards on your seat to be closer to the monitor. And to top it all off, look at Kevin Estre. He's just 30s off the lead now. Could Porsche yet throw a spanner in the works for Ferrari?

From the lead, Pier Guidi has been shuffled down to third and is now only just ahead of Estre in fourth. Ye takes the lead, 22s ahead of Molina, with an irate Pier Guidi now 25s behind in third.

Pier Guidi comes in too hot in the chicane that leads to the pitlane, clips the kerb and rotates his #51 Ferrari. It briefly comes to rest in the gravel, facing the wrong way, and he does well to get it back out. But that could be a potentially costly error in this race.

Now we have representative gaps again, we can tell you that Pera has a 59s lead on Rovera in the LMGT3 class. Can the Ferrari man whittle that down to give us a proper fight at the front?

The handshakes in the garage suggest that is going to be an official retirement.

The car is wheeled into the garage. It had been lying inside the top six in LMGT3 before the German tripped through the gravel at the Porsche Curves and clapped the barrier. Unfortunately for him, the contact was much heavier than the one Paul di Resta had earlier in the race, hitting firmly enough to spin the car around and clip the front bodywork too. The rear suspension is broken.

Estre hasn't been able to make much of an impression into the Ferraris ahead. He remains 61s off the lead, a gap that has been fairly constant since he entered the fray in the #6 PPM Porsche 963 in fourth spot.

Riccardo Pera has taken over the #92 Porsche that still leads in LMGT3. As he exits the pits, Simon Mann brings in the #21 Ferrari that holds second place for Alessio Rovera to clamber aboard. Rovera, GTE Am winner here in 2021, should be quicker than Pera, the silver in the 911. But Pera is no slouch it should be said and has a GTE Am class podium to his name from 2020.

In the P2 pro-am class, AO by TF's #199 machine still has the upper hand and remains on the lead lap, albeit only just. Louis Deletraz is fifth overall in P2 running directly ahead of outright class leader Nick Yelloly on the road. His nearest class rival is the #34 Inter Europol car of Luca Ghiotto, although the Italian is in turn almost a full lap behind Deletraz.

Pier Guidi continues to gap Ye at the front, with the gap now out at 23s. The dice earlier on between Calado and Hanson, when they ran nose-to-tail, seems a long time ago now.

Dillmann has pitted from the P2 lead, and hands back to Nick Yelloly. He has 13s in hand over Masson's VDS Panis machine, in this fight which has rumbled on for hours now.

That was all rather messy, as Bourdais attempts to bail on his pit visit by crossing the white line, but then returns to the lane via the grass. Could be a penalty coming the Jota team's way for that.

Richard Lietz has been eking out his LMGT3 lead in LMGT3, which now stands at 64s over Simon Mann in the #21 Ferrari. He is the silver in that car, so you would expect Lietz to be making hay at this stage. But that is a whopping margin for the AF Corse Ferrari crew to make back.

Inter Europol won this event in LMP2 back in 2023, and look good value for a repeat. Its lead is somewhat inflated though, as Esteban Masson has just taken over the pursuing #48 VDS Panis ORECA, so you'd imagine Tom Dillmann in the lead car will be in soon.

Tom Gamble in the #007 Aston is asked by his team to stay off the marbles, as debris is overheating the left-hand duct and causing the gearbox to overheat. You imagine he is not the only one facing issues at this stage of the contest.

The #5 PPM Porsche has had a tricky few hours since it dominated the early phases of the race. A right-rear puncture has brought it into the pits for a new set, and means Mathieu Jaminet is now running 11th.

Good grief, the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie has a real moment on the grass passing traffic approaching Mulsanne Corner. Remarkable that Alex Riberas not only manages not to touch the armco barrier, but is able to keep going without shedding bodywork. Winces audible in the HoR garage...

Estre faces a mammoth task to get back on terms, with a 57s deficit to Pier Guidi. Hartley in fifth is 80s behind so, although they are on the lead lap and not altogether out of contention, it is looking like a tall order to disrupt the Ferrari status quo without a safety car.

Following that last round of stops, the lead #51 Ferrari with Pier Guidi now aboard has extended its advantage. Ye is now facing a 15s deficit, while Molina is now a smidge closer - although still 19s back. His tyres on the #50 Ferrari are older too, so it will be a diminishing window in which he can reasonably expect to close on the yellow #83 machine ahead.

Mulsanne Corner has been a problem spot for several drivers during the race so far, and the latest to fall foul is Pascal Wehrlein. The #4 PPM 963 runs deep and only just makes the turn. Running 12th in the Hypercar order, his team-mates Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr seem unlikely to follow up their Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 Hour triumphs with a clean sweep of the prototype classics in the same calendar year.

Kubica pits from second in the #83 Ferrari, which Ye takes over with a fresh set of tyres. Molina is chasing hard behind and has kept the same set used previously used by Fuoco, which means he'll avoid the initial pain of bringing them up to temperature that Ye is experiencing.

Fuoco has been in from third, with Miguel Molina returning to the car for the first time since the dark hours earlier this morning. Meanwhile, we've a battle brewing for 10th spot between Kobayashi in Toyota #7, still bearing the signs of damage from an opening lap fracas with a Peugeot, and Sebastien Bourdais in the #38 Caddy.