Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates

As we approach 6am local time, a strong move from Mattia Drudi in the HoR Aston Martin claims sixth position in class away from Clemens Schmid's #87 Lexus. He stormed down the inside at the second Mulsanne Chicane with a proper last of the late brakers manoeuvre that required some cooperation from the Austrian not to slam the door shut.

Replays show that Magnussen's #15 BMW was the car faced with Lotterer's errant wheel. He did a good job to avoid it and traverse the gravel.

Before the drama with Lotterer occurred, we had meant to raise that Deletraz had vacated the #199 AO by TF ORECA in LMP2, with bronze-rated PJ Hyett climbing aboard that entry. It still leads the pro-am sub-class from the #29 TDS ORECA which started on pole and led early doors with Mathias Beche. Masson remains the class leader from Yelloly and Ried.

As the recovery vehicle comes out to retrieve Lotterer's stranded #18 IDEC Sport ORECA, we have a slow zone in place. Charlie Eastwood has meanwhile exited the LMGT3-leading #81 Corvette, with bronze Tom van Rompuy now aboard, while Richard Lietz has relayed his #92 Manthey Porsche's bronze Ryan Hardwick. Alessio Rovera stays out to lead in the #21 Ferrari.

Molina and Hirakawa also exit their respective mounts, the #50 Ferrari and #8 Toyota. Buemi and Nielsen climb aboard, but the Toyota does not take tyres to coincide with the tyre change. Nielsen on the other hand is slithering all over the place. Positional swap there. 

That is such a disappointing way for the #18 crew's race to end, assuming that Lotterer won't be able to bring it back on three wheels, with so much of the lap to complete. It has finished no lower than second in the ELMS this year with Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert, and looked good value to be in contention once more. 

Hirakawa is 27s off the lead, but seems unable of clearing Campbell to make use of his fresh rubber. If he can get by, then Molina is just 4s up the road.

Back to Hypercar now, and De Vries has taken Button for eighth. For good measure, he sets the fastest lap of the entire race to date with a 3m27.370s. As the light starts to return, we may well see that become a trend in the coming hours.

And as we typed that, Deletraz pits from the LMP2 lead, with Jaubert following him in. Masson now leads in the #48 VDS Panis ORECA by 22s from Yelloly, with Jonas Reid now third in the #9 Iron Lynx - Proton entry.

The quickest car on track in LMP2 is the pole-sitting #29 with Clement Novalak at the wheel. However, it is one lap down. Also going quickly is Nick Yelloly, currently running fourth on fresher tyres than those ahead after relaying Kuba Smiechowski.

Campbell is staying in touch with Molina, who has edged around 2s clear after taking third place a few laps back. But Hirakawa may soon be joining the party, as the #8 Toyota is the same distance back from the Porsche in fifth. 

Rovera does now take second in LMGT3 from Hardwick. Mattia Drudi has just taken over from Ian James in the HoR Aston that started from pole in the LMGT3 class.

After its conflagration with a rabbit earlier, the #31 WRT BMW M6 remains in the box but we understand will be heading back out soon. Still, not a great deal of urgency from what we can see on our screens.

Charlie Eastwood has taken the lead in LMGT3 meanwhile. The TF Corvette driver has passed the bronze in Manthey's #92 Porsche, Ryan Hardwick, who is soon set to come under pressure from Alessio Rovera's #21 Ferrari. The Italian is fresh into that car, having taken over from Simon Mann.

Meanwhile in LMP2, Esteban Masson has taken over the #48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA from Oliver Gray and set the car's fastest lap of the race. It is currently fourth, 13s off the lead now held by Deletraz's #199 AO by TF machine. The Swiss stayed aboard at the last round of stops, which may explain the positional switchover. The two IDEC cars of Alvarez and Jaubert split the duo that were previously squabbling over the class lead. 

We mentioned that Nato dispatched Hirakawa while the #8 Toyota was getting his tyres up to temperature, but the Japanese has had the last laugh and recovered fifth place. The #15 BMW which Kevin Magnussen has taken over from Raffaele Marciello has been shuffled back to seventh, with the ongoing Button versus de Vries battle behind him over eighth.

Molina now does make the move for third, around the outside approaching the first Mulsanne Chicane in the #50 Ferrari. Campbell attempts to get back on Molina into the second Chicane, but went in too hot and has to relinquish the position on exit.

As Ye continues to lead in #83, Pier Guidi's factory #51 Ferrari has shuffled up to second following that recent round of stops, with Campbell now third in the #6 Porsche. Molina's #50 Ferrari is giving him all sorts of grief though as he seeks to make it a 1-2-3 for the 499P.

We had a bollard on the road at the first chicane, clobbered by one of the Inter Europol ORECAs. But it was hit hard by a following car before a marshal could reach it.

Julien Andlauer is back in the #5 Porsche and has a fresh set of tyres. Tentative driving necessary as multiple LMP2 cars lunge past into Tetre Rouge.

Nato comes whistling by Hirakawa as he tries to generate temperature into his fresh set of boots. No tyre warmers, remember, so it is imperative to be gentle in applying the throttle and avoiding being spat into the undergrowth.

Button has the #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries right on his tail in a battle for 11th. This duo are the last cars on the lead lap in Hypercar.

Jenson Button is now aboard the #38 Jota Caddy which has the fastest lap of the race so far. It is his fourth appearance at Le Mans and all have been in different cars, having sampled the BR Engineering BR1 back in the LMP1 days, the Porsche 963 last year and, of course, a Hendrick-run Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR in 2023. That was quite the sight.

It is nose to tail in the battle for fifth between Ian James in the HoR Aston and Razvan Umbrarescu's Lexus. Both are on very aged Goodyears, and James with 13% energy remaining will surely be in soon.

We flagged a little while back that Eastwood was looming large in the mirrors of Finn Gehrsitz. Sure enough, the Ulsterman has moved ahead into third in the LMGT3 class, with Simon Mann's Ferrari next in his sights.

Deletraz now pits to bring that LMP2 battle to a pause. Replays show Ye actually got the move done into the second Mulsanne Chicane on the outside line and struggled to get it stopped, allowing Hirakawa to get a better exit - although Ye kept his elbows wide and stayed ahead despite the Toyota getting in the slipstream.

Young gun Oliver Gray has done well to hold off Deletraz in the LMP2 lead. But in the Hypercar class Hirakawa and Ye are properly scrapping over the lead, with the #83 Ferrari finally triumphing after going side-by-side down to Mulsanne Corner. New leader at 4:52 in the morning.

One of those cars which fell off the lead lap is the #311 Action Express Cadillac, which ran a handy fourth earlier with Felipe Drugovich. It is now five laps back in 19th after the team was obligated to replace the steering torque sensor and ECU to try to resolve an issue reported by Frederik Vesti.

The top 12 are still on the lead lap in the Hypercar class, with the #36 Alpine of Mick Schumacher the first driver one lap down. 

Ye is still sizing up Hirakawa, but has a big old wobble over the kerbs at the Ford Chicane which will have done his teeth no good. The Toyota ahead has less energy than the pursuing yellow Ferrari, which suggests the Chinese driver will inherit the lead at least for a time when they next pit.

Gehrsitz has been jumped in the last round of stops by Mann, who gets himself back into second in LMGT3. Ryan Hardwick is back aboard the leading #92 Manthey Porsche and has 22s in hand. Charlie Eastwood may be the man to watch in fourth as the Pro in the TF Corvette, which sits right on the tail of the Lexus.

At the sharp end, Ye was six tenths quicker than Hirakawa last time around. It's shaping up to be a proper battle for the lead.

Autosport has reached the point in the race week when we have been left with little alternative but to open the packet of Dairy Milk Mega Buttons. Our equivalent of taking on fuel, which the Iron Dames Porsche now does for real. 

Campbell is now aboard the #6 Porsche and rejoins fifth on what we believe are fresh tyres. Hirakawa shuffles into the lead in the #8 Toyota from Ye's #83 Ferrari, 2.4s behind.

Following that last round of stops, there's nothing in it in the LMP2 lead fight with Deletraz right behind Gray. Could there be a change of position soon?

The leading #6 Porsche, #83 Ferrari and #50 Ferrari all pit together to shake up the order once again...