Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates

Not that the tension is showing in the cockpit of the #15 BMW polesitter, as a relaxed Kevin Magnussen sharpens his focus on the task at hand. He'll be aiming to hold off Will Stevens in the #12 Cadillac, with third-placed car #35 Alpine driven by Ferdinand Habsburg.

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

The grid has been cleared of mechanics, celebs and hangers on, and the three-minute board is shown. We're close to the start of the formation lap, as the tension cranks up a notch.

What we can confirm is the starting grid.

The #38 Cadillac had grabbed pole position on Thursday evening, only to lose it for a rules infringement, which meant that the honour was handed over to the #15 BMW, with the sister #12 Caddy joining it on the front row. Here's the full starting grid:

Grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Time	km/h
1	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	K. Magnussen R. Marciello D. Vanthoor	BMW M Hybrid V8	3'22.564	242.163
2	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	12	L. Deletraz W. Stevens N. Nato	Cadillac V-Series.R	+0.514 3'23.078	241.550
3	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	A. Felix da Costa C. Milesi F. Habsburg	Alpine A424	+1.056 3'23.620	240.907
4	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	R. Frijns R. Rast S. Van Der Linde	BMW M Hybrid V8	+1.200 3'23.764	240.737
5	Cadillac WTR HYPERCAR	101	R. Taylor J. Taylor F. Albuquerque	Cadillac V-Series.R	+1.214 3'23.778	240.720
6	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	19	M. Jaminet P. Chatin D. Juncadella	Genesis GMR-001	+1.259 3'23.823	240.667
7	Aston Martin THOR Team HYPERCAR	009	A. Riberas M. Sorensen R. De Angelis	Aston Martin Valkyrie	+2.165 3'24.729	239.602
8	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	+2.517 3'25.081	239.191
9	Genesis Magma Racing HYPERCAR	17	A. Lotterer P. Derani M. Jaubert	Genesis GMR-001	+3.552 3'26.116	237.990
10	Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA HYPERCAR	38	S. Bourdais E. Bamber J. Aitken	Cadillac V-Series.R	+4.301 3'26.865	237.128
View full results

Cav greets Pierre Fillon, ACO big boss, and Sarah Bovy, this year's Grand Marshal, to exchange pleasantries and mark the end of this section of the pre-race pomp and ceremony.

The Cavalry Regiment of the Republican guard are trotting up the grid to the front row to hand over the French flag to this year's official starter: Sir Mark Cavendish. A motorsport fanatic, but more familiar on two wheels with pedal power, he takes the tricolore from the guards on horseback and waves it to the cheering crowd.

The good news is everyone is present and correct on the starting grid so the pre-race ceremonies can take place as planned. The Race start is at 4pm CET/3pm BST and just 24 hours later we'll find out the winners.

As is familiar with this era, we have the three classes to keep track of: Hypercar, LMP2 and GT with 62 cars in total fighting for the biggest prizes in motorsport.

The French national anthem, La Marseillaise, is played to mark the arrival of the overall winners' trophy to the front of the grid.