Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
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Uh oh, a pitlane speeding penalty for the #45 in LMP2 - picked up while completing a drive-through at the top of the hour. That's Kurtz in the Algarve Pro car.
The #83 will be in at the end of the next lap, with the leading #51 able to go one lap further. Porsche's #6 should be able to stretch out an extra lap as well.
Pitstops for the #50, the #8 and the #15.
The latter breaks up what was brewing into a good battle between BMW and Cadillac #12 for sixth.
Some pictures coming in from Ben Vinel on location. One is of a V12 Hypercar beast and one, um, isn't?
No, no, no. A pretty poor collision at the Ford chicane between the #77 Mustang and the #10 Aston.
Bronze drivers collide as Sousa lunges on Deboer and will likely pick up a penalty.
The gap between the #83 and the #51 at the front is closing back up as Robert Kubica chases Antonio Giovinazzi. These aren't the fastest Ferraris at the moment though - a 3m26.817s is the best lap of the race, set by Fuoco in the fourth-placed #50 on the previous tour.
And the move is made on the run to Indianapolis after a drag race from Mulsanne Corner. The HoR Aston loses another spot.
Now Robichon is under pressure again in the #27 Aston, again with a Lexus on his case.
This time, it's Hawksworth who tows himself behind his rival in the quest for a top-five berth.
Cadillac has put out a statement about the retirements of the #101 WTR and #311 Action Express V-Series.Rs. It's short and sweet and uses the same wording with regard to both cars. It uses the words "lost power" twice over and then states for each car: "We will diagnose the root cause of the issue and prepare to race again." No doubt it is too early to for Caddy to be 100% sure, but could very well be identical failures.
Drama for the #38 Cadillac as Bamber hits pitlane with a puncture on the front-left tyre. That was during that set's second stint, so far from ideal for the Jota squad.
Just had a text through from a mechanic working for one of the leading Hypercar entries. One word in that message: "Knackered".
This isn't just an endurance race for car and driver, it's a challenge for all involved.
Here's a great battle for fourth in LMGT3 as Jose Maria Lopez puts the #97 Lexus past the #27 HoR Aston for fourth.
Up ahead, the #15 BMW has just done the fastest lap of the race with Dries Vanthoor behind the wheel.
The end for the #311:
More drive-throughs are being handed out, this time for the #25 and #45 machines in LMP2. Yep, you guessed it, a slow-zone infraction!
Perera is closing in on Dillman in the race for the LMP2 lead! The #43 and #48 have controlled the class for much of the race so far.
The VDS Panis car is now under five seconds behind the Inter Europol, with another minute-plus to the #28 IDEC Sport car in third.
Good morning Gary!
What that slow zone did do is help those on the more desirable pit strategy get their stops done, including the leading two cars in Hypercar.
Good morning everyone. That period of slow zones has buried any hope of the 2010 distance being broken. At the top of the hour were were on about 16.1 laps an hour when 16.6 was required.
A slow zone for the #311 recovery does make this an attractive time to get those drive-throughs out of the way, at least as a damage limitation exercise.
Clearly something failed for Vesti as he ground to a halt at Turn 1 in the Whelen Cadillac - race over for that crew.
They are all drive-through penalties and crucially, the top two in Hypercar are involved.
Meanwhile, the #311 has hit more trouble, this time off the track and having to be craned behind the barrier by a recovery vehicle, while the #15 BMW has gone through the gravel at Mulsanne Corner.
Get your spotters guides out... penalties are being announced!
#9, #11, #13, #16, #27, #33, #51, #57, #77, #83, #90, #92, #183.
All for yellow flag infractions.
Eight hours to go, here are the top three in each class as the pit stop windows begin to cycle again:
Hypercar: #51, #83, #50
LMP2: #43, #48, #28
LMGT3: #92, #21, #81
The #38 Cadillac sits 10th as it stands having yo-yoed through the order, with Jenson Button recently handing over to Earl Bamber.
It wasn't the easiest of times for the former F1 champ though: "A frustrating shift for me. Sat behind the Toyota for two stints. That was quite painful. We might be able to get a good run on it now though. I definitely didn’t get the best out of the car and I struggled for front tire temperature mainly because I couldn’t max out on speed due to traffic. Not the best triple stint but good to see that we’re now making progress."
I was wondering when we would get the typical artistic slow motion replays for a two-minute window... finally my dreams are realised as we get largely pointless close-ups of cars over kerbs and the sun in drivers' eyes! While that happens, the #009 has a look at the #94 but has the door closed before ducking into the pits at the end of the lap.
This says a lot about Peugeot's current WEC programme, frankly. Aston Martin's #009 is challenging for position on merit with a brand new entry, while the French manufacturer is in season three of its effort.
Traffic finally does for the #94 Peugeot as the Alpine pounces into the Porsche Curves, only for the #35 to box at the end of the lap. New tyres will go on for Milesi.
The #51 has established a bit more of a lead over the #83, gapping the sister car to 2.2s.
The #6 being off-sync with its pitstop strategy has left Ferrari with a 1-2-3 again, albeit with two of its three under investigation.
A decent first stint from Perera in the #48 VDS Panis car, which pits from second in LMP2.
Meanwhile, the Peugeot and Alpine go side-by-side down to Indianapolis! It looked like Milesi had the job done, but clever car positioning from Jakobsen boxes the #35 behind the LMGT3 traffic to keep the place.
Some really good battles in Hypercar as the sun continues to rise: Peugeot vs Alpine for 14th is the closest as Milesi chases Jakobsen.
The #009 Aston Martin is having a fine race so far and is closing on the back of both drivers, though only after having to go around the roundabout following an error at Mulsanne Corner.
The #311 is changing brakes as a precaution and has therefore been wheeled into the garage. That will drop it back to last of the 20 remaining Hypercars.
A really fun battle in the LMP2 field sees the #22 United Autosports car get past the Pro-Am Inter Europol #34.
Good move from Pietro Fittipaldi on Luca Ghiotto at Mulsanne Corner as the #6 Porsche pits from third in Hypercar and Laurens Vanthoor returns to the wheel.
17 cars are being investigated for the yellow flag procedures during the Iron Dames recovery earlier, including the LMGT3-leading #92 and fourth in LMP2.
The gap at the front is just half a second, with 15 seconds back to the #6 Porsche and a further 30 seconds back to the #50.
The #51 is in from the Hypercar lead after a 13-lap stint. Mega saving from Calado who rejoins back in front.
Andlauer has been out for nine laps and thus has his #5 on warm, used tyres compared to Buemi's fresh tyres just in front and the Porsche is now an unwelcome issue as the Toyota battles for temperature on its initial exploration for grip. That won't last with less than three laps left on the energy meter for the Porsche though.
The second-placed #83 is in the pits for its latest service, as are the top two on the road in LMGT3.
Trouble is brewing for three of the top four in Hypercar as the leading #51, the #83 and the #8 are all under investigation for infringements during yellow flags when Frey and the Iron Dames machine hit strife a short while ago.
No tyre change for Ferrari but softs going on three corners for the Toyota - a medium rear-left tyre also bolted on.
A tardy stop from the Japanese crew though as the #50's considerably shorter stop gets it out ahead.
Right, game on between the #8 Toyota and the #50 Ferrari for third as Nielsen closes up to the back of Buemi.
They are on the same strategy, albeit on different tyres, and they both pit after navigating Karting corner.
Confirmation that the #18 IDEC entry that was driven by Andre Lotterer at the time of its troubles earlier in the morning is now a retirement. Hardly surprising.
That makes nine cars out, six of which, surprisingly, are LMGT3s.
By: Autosport staff
