Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours
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Make that third for the #48 as the Iron Lynx-Proton entry gets through as Franck Perera navigates his outlap. The #43 pits at the end of its next lap from the lead.
In LMP2, the #48 VDS Panis car has just made a pitstop and returned to the circuit ahead of the #9 and leaving the #43 out in the class lead.
It never ceases to amaze how the race complexion can change through the night, even after a relatively clean first quarter of the race. For those just waking up, penalties really were the name of the game for much of the night as well as a safety car after an incident for the #24 Nielsen LMP2 entry at Tertre Rouge, which in Hypercar at least has brought Ferrari's rivals back into the fight.
Cheers James! Well, when I clocked off for the night, darkness had descended, but the plum June spot for this race means it's already light, which is handy for car spotting! The #50 Ferrari just got badly hampered by traffic while hunting down the #8 Toyota which will have annoyed current driver Nielsen.
As a new left-hand door goes on the #10 Aston Martin, it's time for a fresh pair of hands on the tiller. Here's Ewan Gale to take you through the next three hours of action. Over to you.
Nine hours to go at Le Mans, and although we've not mentioned it for a while, the LMP2 fight is hotting up. Nick Yelloly has just set the best lap to date for the #43 Inter Europol ORECA and is 11.9s behind leader Esteban Masson.
An expected drive-through penalty for Schmid in the #87 Lexus. He has just passed team-mate Arnold Robin in the #78 machine for fourth, but will drop back possibly two or more places with Klaus Bachler in the #90 Manthey Porsche and Mattia Drudi's HoR Aston not far behind.
The Swiss is fiddling with the dials and knobs on the dashboard. She does get the car moving again, but is crawling back to the pits for what is likely to be a lengthy repair job.
More problems for the Iron Dames. Rahel Frey has brought the Porsche to a halt on the side of the road not far beyond the exit of Mulsanne Corner.
Nielsen lost a bit of time in the pits at his last stop, but has now clawed his way back onto the tail of Buemi in the battle for third. The pair are line astern, although Nielsen has the distraction of Neel Jani's Proton Porsche (two laps adrift) on fresh tyres filling his mirrors.
Unsurprisingly, the contact at the second Mulsanne Chicane concerning Rahel Frey and Clemens Schmid will be investigated by the stewards. A penalty surely incoming for the Austrian, who currently sits sixth in the LMGT3 class aboard the #87 Lexus. Here's what happened.
Change of position for eighth meanwhile as Frijns takes Conway into Indianapolis. Estre meanwhile has been into the pits and rejoins in fifth, ahead of Nato, having been the other way around before the most recent stops.
Calado has slightly more virtual energy in his tank, 81% to Hanson's 73%, so can give this a good go. And he does, getting ahead into Indianapolis. Minimal resistance offered by Hanson, as Calado returns Ferrari #51 to the front.
The lead battle has closed up too through the FCY. Hanson is only half a second ahead of Calado. This could get spicy before too long.
We go back to green, and Lietz immediately takes Heriau for the LMGT3 lead down the inside at the first Mulsanne Chicane.
Frey is back on the road, and we have been informed by race control that the race will resume imminently.
A tractor comes to retrieve Frey from the gravel and point the Porsche back in the right direction. Hopefully we will resume racing before too long.
It turns out that Rovera didn't stay in, Francois Heriau is now aboard the leading LMGT3 Ferrari. He's the bronze in that car, so once the track returns to green you would expect Lietz to quickly make inroads.
Frey is doing her best to get out of the gravel, but a full course yellow is coming out to retrieve her. You'd be surprised if the Lexus doesn't get a penalty for that.
Off the road has gone Rahel Frey in the Iron Dames Porsche. She's in the gravel at the second Mulsanne Chicane. It looked like a touch from a Lexus that spun her around.
Rovera pits from the LMGT3 lead and stays in the car, while a fresh set of Goodyears are bolted on. Rovera stays ahead, but finds the run-off as he rejoins with Yelloly's LMP2 machine down his inside. However, Lietz is stuck behind Ben Keating's Corvette and isn't able to take advantage.
Calado has come in, returning Hanson to the lead. Meanwhile, Estre is up to third as Nato, who has the fastest lap of the race thus far, also makes his way to the pits.
Lietz has been into the pits and returns to the track still in second, now with a minute in hand over Tom van Rompuy, the bronze in TF Sport's #81 Corvette. Rovera we expect will be in shortly.
Time for a bit of housekeeping. The #31 WRT BMW is now listed as a retirement after its rabbit strike earlier.
The next wave of Hypercar stops begin with Hanson, Buemi and Nielsen all in. Calado continues for another lap to take the lead in #51.
Nielsen is giving Buemi a real workover in the battle for third. Fresher tyres on that #50 Ferrari are really paying dividends here, as Buemi is running on rubber that had already completed a stint with Hirakawa at the wheel.
Pitstops are imminent for the LMGT3 leaders, with Rovera still doing just enough to keep Lietz at bay behind him. We anticipate that the Ferrari will be due tyres sooner than the pursuing Porsche, which could mean the pass takes place through the pit sequence.
Masson now pits from the lead in LMP2, cycling Yelloly back to the front from Jonas Ried. PJ Hyett is also in from the pro-am class lead and fifth overall in P2.
There is nothing in it in the battle for fifth between Nato and Estre, who have both dropped Magnussen. Meanwhile there is a fight for eighth brewing between Mike Conway, who recently took over the #7 Toyota from Nyck de Vries, and Button's #38 Jota Caddy.
Jani is in the wars again in the #99 Proton 963 and goes straight on at Arnage, needing to grab reverse. He's complaining of a vibration over the radio.
Cars have still got their headlights on, but they are scarcely needed now. It is properly light now at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Lietz is relentlessly closing on Rovera in the LMGT3 lead. Just 1.2s between them now, the gap visibly closing as the Austrian eyes a sixth category win at Le Mans. He first won here back in 2007, when Rovera was a mere teenager.
James Calado has set the fastest lap for the #51 Ferrari, and sits 13s back from leader Hanson. Could we soon see a battle for the lead between the two Prancing Horses?
Contact back in the pack at Mulsanne Corner, as Vesti's Action Express Caddy takes a look down the inside of Neel Jani's Proton 963. The Swiss is nerfed into the gravel, which may attract the attention of the stewards. What's more, it wasn't a pass for position as the #311 machine is many laps down after its earlier issues and remains 19th, while the privateer Porsche is two laps back in 16th.
We have an exciting battle brewing for the lead in LMGT3, with Alessio Rovera's Ferrari just 2.4s ahead of Richard Lietz in the #92 Porsche. The Austrian veteran we believe has fresher tyres than the Italian, so one to keep an eye on in the coming laps.
Toyota junior Esteban Masson has again set his car's fastest lap of the race in the LMP2 lead, the #48 VDS Panis ORECA stretching his gap out to 16s over Nick Yelloly's #43 Inter Europol Competition example. Job van Uitert, meanwhile, has taken third in the #28 IDEC Sport ORECA from the #9 Iron Lynx - Proton example of Jonas Reid.
Estre rejoins sixth, right behind Nato's #12 Jota Caddy. He has to keep his elbows wide to hold of Magnussen in the #15 BMW, which has a little sniff into Arnage when Estre went deep into Indianapolis. The status quo holds for now.
Campbell does now pit, with Kevin Estre climbing back in and taking fresh tyres. Ferraris now run first and second, with Hanson's #83 ahead of James Calado in #51, while Buemi's #8 Toyota occupies third from Nicklas Nielsen's #50 Ferrari - which has just set the fastest lap of the race so far at 3m27.327s. Buemi didn't take fresh tyres at the last stop, remember, where Nielsen did.
Over in LMP2, Clement Novalak is the first car one lap down in sixth place aboard the #29 TDS ORECA. But he's just down the road from class leader Esteban Masson's #48 VDS Panis machine, and has in his sights the prospect of getting back his lap. That could have big repercussions in the event of a safety car. The #29 crew's main rival for pro-am honours, the #199 AO by TF machine, is in fifth with PJ Hyett currently circulating to use up some more of his bronze time.
The #6 Porsche is back in the lead with Campbell at the wheel, but is due a stop soon. That will relay Hanson, who sits 4s back currently.
By: Autosport staff
