Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours
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Duqueine's retirement has given Inter Europol a 1-2 lead in LMP2 class. The Polish team is gunning for a second consecutive win at Le Mans
Replays show Edgar grabbing second place from Robichon just before the FCY. The Corvette is up to second, while Robichon has dropped to fourth behind Hawksworth's Lexus
The full course yellow is out as marshals recover the stranded Duqueine Oreca
Major drama in LMP2. The 30 Duqueine that had led much of the race in its class has stopped on track. It looks like it is a mechanical issue
Hartley has closed in rapidly on Nato in this stint. Just seven tenths separate the two cars. We've got a battle for lead on our hands.
Toyota has tweaked the rotation on both its cars. Hartley has returned to the wheel of #8, which presumes that Buemi, who starred early doors, will now finish the race. De Vries is back into #7 after a triple from Kobayashi.Will be interesting to see if Conway returns to the cockpit.
Meanwhile, the #33 Corvette has dropped to third after its recent pitstop, but Edgar is right on the tail of Robichon's Aston. Barrichello leads in class in the #23 Aston.
There is a lead change in LMP2, with de Gerus now in front in the #343 Inter Europol. Duqueine completed a driver change at the previous stop, with Verschoor taking over from Andlauer, which could explain why the #30 Oreca dropped to second.
The #12 Cadillac and the #7 Toyota are in at the same time. Nato remains in the Cadillac, while De Vries takes over from Kobayashi. There are no changes in positions. Nato rejoins the race in the lead while de Vries slots in behind the sister Toyota of Hartley.
Hirakawa hands over to Brendon Hartley at Toyota, while Sheldon van der Linde takes the wheel of the BMW.
The #8 Toyota and #20 BMW pit.
Andlauer actually has opened up a gap of four seconds over the Inter Europol cars in LMP2.
Given how tight the battles for victory have been in Hypercar and LMP2, you'd think there'd be some action. Well, there isn't. Everyone's pretty clean, and nobody gets close enough to attack. Four hours to go.
Nato, Hirakawa and Kobayashi are now held within 1.3s. What a tense battle.
Hour 20 LMGT3 leaderboard
#33 Corvette
#23 Aston Martin
#78 Lexus
#27 Aston Martin
#87 Lexus
Hour 19 LMP2 leaderboard
#30 Duqueine
#343 Inter Europol
#43 Inter Europol
#29 Forestier Racing by Panis
#26 Vector Sport
Hour 20 Hypercar Leaderboard
#12 Cadillac
#8 Toyota
#7 Toyota
#20 BMW
#51 Ferrari
The BMW can't match the top three on pace and Frijns is falling away quite quickly. The M Hybrid was super-competitive in the happy hour conditions after the sun came up this morning, but once again it is not a match for Caddy and Toyota as the temperatures increase.
Live or relive the post-safety car action from earlier.
And it's not so different in Hypercar, with Nato, Hirakawa and Kobayashi within 2.3s.
That gap is down to 1.5s.
The LMP2 top three are now held within 1.7s.
Coincidentally, the same gap is Frijns' deficit to race leader Nato, with the BMW driver struggling since his pitstop.
In LMGT3, Nicky Catsburg is pulling away at the wheel of the #33 Corvette entered by TF Sport. He's leading the #23 Aston Martin, driven by Eduardo Barrichello, by 7.6s.
In LMP2, the battle for victory is tighter than ever. Just 2.4s separate Andlauer, de Gerus and Yelloly in the #30 Duqueine, #343 and #43 Inter Europol entries.
The #8 jumped the #7 during that pitstop cycle. It took three seconds less fuel that the sister car. That probably means it was short fuelled, though we can't be sure. Both Toyotas stopped early during the SC, but don't forget #8 had been in the pits only a handful of laps before.
Hypercar leaderboard
- #12 Cadillac
- #8 Toyota (+2s)
- #7 Toyota (+3s)
- #20 BMW (+5s)
- #51 Ferrari (+32s)
Nato emerges in the lead ahead of Hirakawa, Kobayashi and Frijns.
The race-leading #12 Cadillac and #7 Toyota pit simultaneously, as well as the #51 Ferrari!
Hirakawa pits... and rejoins right ahead of Frijns!
We have a new fastest lap of the race, courtesy of a Japanese Toyota driver... Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 car, setting a 3:25.041s. He's just two seconds behind Kobayashi now.
The Dutchman rejoins the race in sixth, courtesy of the safety car bunching up the pack.
Frijns pits from the lead, letting Nato and Kobayashi battle it out for first place.
Kobayashi is closer than ever now...
The late, great Murray Walker's oft used line that 'Catching is one thing, passing quite another' could be prescient here. The Toyota looks blindingly quick but we know the cars ahead of it have an advantage in terms of acceleration and straightline speed.
The Japanese really needs to get past Nato, as he's now losing time to the race-leading #20 BMW.
Kobayashi's consistency is remarkable, his latest time was a 3m25.196s – just 0.04s off his fresh fastest lap.
Nato also lost about two seconds to both Frijns and Kobayashi, so the #12 Cadillac coming under pressure from the #7 Toyota for second place.
Andlauer lost two seconds to de Gerus in the last lap, so the gap is down to 1.4s in the battle for the LMP2 lead.
That car is fast.
#7 Toyota Racing Toyota TR010 Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries
Photo by: Ker Robertson / Allsport via Getty Images
By: Autosport staff
