Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours
Live Text
Hour 18 LMP2 leaderboard
- #30 Duqueine
- #343 Inter Europol
- #43 Inter Europol
- #26 Vector Sport
- #29 Forestier Racing by Panis
Hour 18 Hypercar Leaderboard
- #12 Cadillac
- #20 BMW
- #7 Toyota
- #8 Toyota
- #51 Ferrari
The #9 Proton Competition car that had been running in fourth in LMP2 has picked up a track advertising board after an off into the final chicane and cannot shake it from the front of the car. Jonas Ried at the wheel of the car has to stop on the side of the track in a bid to dislodge it.
The #20 BMW pits having extended this stint by a lap. Frijns jumps in and returns to the action in second place.
One new tyre also went on to Hirakawa's Toyota during that stop and he comes out in fourth place behind the sister #7 car. That change cost the thick end of a minute that the #8 car really couldn't afford.
Hartley squeezes out the last of the juice from his #8 Toyota with a new fastest lap of 3m25.421s. In goes Hirakawa - but he's delayed as the team undertakes a brake change on the front-left, which is highly unusual for a Hypercar.
Might be a case of commentators curse there, as Pin skates over the gravel at Indianapolis in the lead LMP2 but gets away with it with only a couple of seconds lost.
While in LMGT3 it is as you were with the #33 Corvette enjoying a 2m34s lead over the #78 Lexus.
In LMP2, Pin continues to lead in the #30 Duqueine but the gap is coming down with Muller in the #343 Euro Interpol chasing her down and is currently at 13s. Perhaps no surprise given it is a silver driver vs a platinum driver but kudos to Pin for a strong stint so far.
Hartley gets up to second! The Kiwi swings around the outside of Deletraz with the aid of a slipstream from a GT car ahead and with clean air immediately begins to build a gap. The #8 Toyota is now 23s behind the leading #20 BMW.
Much was made through practice and qualifying about the advantage of the Caddy and some of the other LMDhs on the straights over the LMHs. But Hartley outdragged Deletraz there on the fastest section of track.
Hartley is told over team radio he has "about a second pace per lap on the #20 BMW and more on the #12 Cadillac" as he approaches the rear of Deletraz in the Caddy. Hartley did a great job of holding off van der Linde earlier in this stint, now it is his turn to apply the pressure on a rival.
The #58 Garage 59 (I know) McLaren has been given a drive through penalty for speeding during the full course yellow. Meanwhile the team manager of the #50 Ferrari has been called to race control.
Still a long way to go, but this has the feeling of a three-way fight for the victory between the #20 BMW, #12 Cadillac and the #8 Toyota (barring a major intervention like a safety car). So, is it a second ever win for BMW, a first ever win for Caddy or a sixth ever win for Toyota?
The #15 BMW is crawling along with an electrical issue so more heartache for that car. Meanwhile the #12 Cadillac pits again now we're back to green flag running so duly drops to second behind the #20 BMW but in front of the #8 Toyota.
The top three are covered by under 25s. Oh boy.
Back to green flag conditions we go!
A sixth full course yellow has been called and again it is a track tidy up job as there is nobody off or in the wall. The #12 Cadillac pits for a top up of fuel and remains in the lead but it will need to pit again before the #20 BMW and the #8 Toyota.
So Hartley came off three-stint old softs and is now on mediums. Van der Linde stayed on his softs - he's now into the final leg of a triple.
In comes the #20 BMW, and while the fresh soft tyres are ready van der Linde doesn't take them and that time saved puts him ahead of Hartley in the #8 Toyota in second place. The gap is around 20s, so how much can Hartley eat into that gap with his fresh mediums?
Back out on track and the #8 Toyota slots into third place on new rubber.
The #8 Toyota pits from the lead to release the #20 BMW to the head of the field. Just as Hartley pits, van der Linde confirms he can do another stint on this set of tyres. The South African will have a couple of laps of clean air running before it needs to pit again, so it'll be curious to see how his pace is and what impact the added stint on old tyres impacts his pace later on.
There must be an issue with the #101 Cadillac with its system for full course yellows and slow zones as it gets yet another drive through penalty - this time for the most recent full course yellow. Earlier Albuquerque radioed that he "knew why" the #12 Cadillac got penalised for the same infringement, so is that another issue creeping in for Caddy?
Hour 17 LMGT3 leaderboard
- #33 Corvette
- #78 Lexus
- #27 Aston Martin
- #74 Ferrari
- #91 Porsche
Hour 17 LMp2 leaderboard
- #30 Duqueine
- #43 Inter Europol
- #343 Inter Europol
- #9 Proton Competition
- #26 Vector Sport
Hour 17 Hypercar Leaderboard
- #8 Toyota
- #20 BMW
- #12 Cadillac
- #7 Toyota
- #51 Ferrari
The #28 IDEC Sport has spun at the final corner, but thankfully van Uitert gets it going again in quick order to limit the damage - but not the embarrassment. That car led the early running in LMP2 but has faded to eighth place now.
Hartley goes for another lap so remains in the lead for now, but it is a position under constant threat from van der Linde in the #20 BMW that has been hassling him for the entire stint.
Deletraz duly serves his drive through penalty and comes out in third place, 13s off new leader Hartley. The Toyota driver's time at the front will be short-lived as he is due to pit for tyres and fuel next time around.
The #48 RD Limited - the car owned and driven by Romain Dumas - has also been given a drive through penalty as well which is currently running in 17th in the LMP2 class.
The #12 Cadillac race leader has been given a drive through penalty for a slow zone infringement... that'll shake this race up!
The full course yellow is withdraw and we are back to green flag conditions once again.
Going back to the retirements, so far we have zero DNFs from the LMP2 class after close to 17 hours of racing. They build them tough at ORECA.
A full course yellow has been called, the fifth of the race so far, but there doesn't appear to be an obvious reason for it. That most likely means it is for some debris clear up.
Our eyes trackside captured the moment the #17 Genesis was given its send-off from this race. That makes it six official retirements so far: #17 Genesis, #38 Cadillac, #79 Mercedes, #54 Ferrari, #61 Mercedes and #13 Corvette.
Photo by: Ben Vinel
Van der Linde is on the tail of Hartley in the fight for second place. The Kiwi has struggled to replicate the outright pace of Buemi in this stint, but perhaps the Toyota is struggling more as the temperatures are creeping up.
Looked like it was the medium going on the race-leading #12 Cadillac when Deletraz took over. So Caddy was the first to switch to the soft as darkness was falling and pretty much the first to go back to the medium. That's not counting the #83 Ferrari that barely used the soft and the #15 BMW, which switched back and forth a couple of time between the two compounds during the night.
A slow zone is called to cover the stricken Genesis which has stopped just down the hill from the Dunlop/Goodyear (delete as appropriate) bridge. That'll need a tractor to come on to the track to crane it off.
The #17 Genesis driven by Jaubert has suffered a broken front-right suspension and has come to a halt on the track. That is game over for that car as there is no way it will get back to the pits.
And it sounds like the #12 Cadillac is managing an issue as Stevens warns his co-driver about pumping the brakes before he starts his stint. Nothing catastrophic but given what happened to the sister car, the gremlins might need to find a new victim to feast on in the team garage.
The #20 BMW pits on schedule which will cycle it back to third place. Elsewhere the leading LMP2 runner, the #30 Duqueine, pits with Pin jumping in for Verschoor.
There's also a change of driver in the Hypercar leader, as Stevens hands over to Deletraz, The Swiss takes on a fresh set of medium tyres to begin his stint.
By: Autosport staff
