Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours
Live Text
Giuliano Alesi in the #62 Mercedes goes off exiting the Ford chicane. He was running eighth in LMGT3. The car looks to have a problem - its left-rear suspension appears to have collapsed as it hit the kerb, just as happened with the sister #61 entry earlier. Alesi drags the car out of the gravel but has a whole lap to bring the car back to the pits.
Whatever the issue with that BMW stop was, it doesn't appear to have had much effect. Their deficit to the leader remains about the same at around 14 seconds.
Norman Nato hands over the race-leading #12 Cadillac to Will Stevens. Just behind, Rene Rast is back in the #20 BMW although the WRT team don't look too happy with that stop.
The #009 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen has received a drivethrough penalty for overtaking under double waved yellows. The Aston comes in for a regular stop from 12th. Harry Tincknell in the sister #007 car runs 10th.
Out front, Norman Nato is flying in the #12 Cadillac. He sets the fastest lap of the race at 3m26.305s and the lead over Frijns in the #20 BMW stretches to 15s.
Hour 14 GT3 leaderboard
- #33 TF Sport Corvette
- #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
- #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
- #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
- #2 TF Sport Corvette
Hour 14 LMP2 leaderboard
- #30 Duqueine
- #343 Inter Europol
- #43 Inter Europol
- #29 Forestier Racing by Panis
- #26 Vector Sport
Hour 14 Hypercar leaderboard
- #12 Cadillac
- #20 BMW
- #8 Toyota
- #7 Toyota (with pitstop imminent)
- #101 Cadillac
A quick spin for Matthieu Vaxivierre in the #183 AF Corse Oreca, right in front of Felix Da Costa in the #35 Alpine who does well to avoid him. Vaxivierre's car, shared with Ben Barnicoat and Francois Perrodo, is down in 14th in LMP2.
Approaching the end of hour 14 at Le Mans, the darkness is lifting and drivers can see more than just dazzling headlights in their mirrors now. Norman Nato continues to lead the way in the #12 Cadillac. With fresher tyres, he's eked out a 4.5s lead over Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW. Sebastien Bourdais in the #8 Toyota is another 40s adrift after that costly drivethrough.
Bourdais brings the #38 Cadillac back in to the garage. There's no urgency as the mechanics take a good look over the V-Series.R. The car is now 10 laps down.
Juncadella brings his #19 Genesis into the pits after his earlier problems on track. It gets plugged into the umbilical chord before being sent, stutteringly, back on its way. It's now dropped behind both Peugeots to 15th.
Robert Kubica is flying in the #83 Ferrari. He's just set the car's best lap of the race so far, a 3m27.303s. That's still almost a second slower than Buemi's best in the #8 Toyota though, and the satellite Ferrari runs seventh, 3s behind Jordan Taylor in the WTR-run #101 Cadillac.
Sebastien Buemi, whose lightning pace in the early stages of the race brought the #8 Toyota into contention, is back in the car, taking over from Ryo Hirakawa. That drivethrough penalty for a FCY infringement has hit the car's hopes but it still runs third.
Charles Milesi completes a quadruple stint through the night in the #35 Alpine and hands over to Antonio Felix Da Costa. Having started third on the grid, the A424 rejoins in ninth, with the eighth-placed sister car about to make its stop.
Dani Juncadella in the #19 Genesis grinds to a halt at the Forest Esses. A quick reset and he's back under way. The car runs 13th on its Le Mans debut, two places behind the sister #17 entry.
It's vital to snatch a few moments' sleep whenever you can...
Crew member sleeps
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW is putting the pressure on race leader Norman Nato in the #12 Cadillac. The gap is now less than two seconds after more than 13 hours of racing.
Driver change in third-placed #7 Toyota. Mike Conway takes over from Kamui Kobayashi and gets a new set of tyres. He rejoins in sixth for now.
Robert Kubica has also just taken over last year's winning Ferrari from Yifei Ye.
Just behind that top five in GT3, there's a close battle between the #57 Ferrari and #87 Lexus. Conrad Laursen in the Ferrari has just charged past Petru Umbrarescu in the Lexus. They're around a minute and a half behind the leading Aston Martin.
Hour 13 GT3 leaderboard
- #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
- #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin
- #33 TF Sport Corvette
- #21 AF Corse Ferrari
- #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
Hour 13 LMP2leaderboard
- #343 Inter Europol
- #30 Duqueine
- #43 Inter Europol
- #26 Vector Sport
- #9 Proton Competition
Hour 13 Hypercar leaderboard
- #12 Cadillac
- #20 BMW
- #7 Toyota
- #8 Toyota
- #83 Ferrari
Over in LMP2, Bijoy Garg in the #343 Inter Europol car holds a 16s lead over Julien Andlauer's #30 Duqueine entry. The second Inter Europol machine of Tom Dillmann (#43) lies third after the latest round of stops.
Louis Deletraz brings the leading #12 Cadillac in and hands over to Norman Nato after completing a triple stint. Among the leading quartet, the #20 BMW and #8 Toyota have also just been in.
The #38 Cadillac is back in the race.
A devastated Sebastien Bourdais knows his victory hopes are over but somehow he has to get his focus back. The car is down to 17th, last-but-one of the Hypercars, eight laps behind.
Sebastien Bourdais, Cadillac Racing Team Jota is consoled by his father Patrick Bourdais
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The #94 Peugeot of Theo Pourchaire is receiving attention in the pits. They've managed to combine it with a scheduled stop but the mechanics appear to be having trouble replacing the rear end bodywork. Out comes the hammer, and job done. Pourchaire rejoins but it hasn't been a good race for the French cars - they currently run in 14th and 15th.
James Calado in the #51 Ferrari passes the satellite #83 of Yifei Ye for seventh on the road, taking advantage of the fresh rubber on his 499P.
We're hearing it's a power-steering problem that has ended the #38 Cadillac's challenge. A cruel blow.
In his 19th attempt at Le Mans, Bourdais shows his frustration as he exits the car. He cuts a sad figure as he sits in the garage, head in hands. Another year without that elusive win. Is it that long brake pedal Bourdais was suffering with earlier that's the issue?
Having started with three bullets in their gun, Cadillac appears to have only one car in contention now. But, crucially, the #12, with Louis Deletraz aboard, is leading the race.
Problems for #38 Cadillac
Drama for Bourdais in the #38 Cadillac. He'd done four laps since taking over and comes back in with a problem. The Caddy is on the jacks and the mechanics are furiously working on the front end. They seem to be working around the pedal box. The hopes of Bourdais, Aitken and Bamber appear to be over.
The #8 Toyota and #101 Cadillac are among four cars to receive drivethrough penalties for infringements under the last FCY, along with GT3 cars #2 (TF Sport Corvette) and #69 (Team WRT BMW). That must put the Hirakawa Toyota out of contention!
The #8 Toyota, with Hirakawa at the wheel, appeared to lose a few seconds in the pits that time around.
Hypercar leaderboard
With that latest cycle of pitstops complete, the #12 Cadillac has moved ahead by not changing tyres. So the Hypercar leaderboard looks like this:
- #12 Cadillac
- #38 Cadillac
- #20 BMW
- #8 Toyota
- #7 Toyota
Alright, that does it for me, Nick DeGroot. Handing off to Mark Paulson, who will handle the next three hours as the sun rises on Le Mans!
HOUR 12 LM24 LEADERS (mid-pit stop cycle):
LMP1: #12 JOTA Cadillac
LMP2: #30 Duqueine ORECA
LMGT3: #33 TF SPORT Corvette
It's 4am at the track, but still plenty of racing ahead.
We are officially halfway through the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
#101 Cadillac is changing drivers, with Jordan in for his brother Ricky.
By: Autosport staff
