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24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates
Updates and live commentary throughout the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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GTE Am: Porsche ace Matt Campbell is now back aboard the #77 Dempsey-Proton 911 which currently runs seventh. But he's monstering up behind Raffaele Giammaria - for whom we are starting to run low on facts - and has sixth firmly in his sights.
Pit stop
LMP2: The #41 Team WRT pits from second place in class. That usually triggers the frontrunning pitstop cycle - and right on cue the #22 United Autosports USA and the #65 Panis Racing come in from third and fourth place respectively.
GTE Am: The imminent scrap over sixth is happening around half a minute behind the #71 Inception Ferrari, which still has Ben Barnicoat at the wheel. The trio are a lap down on the #54 Ferrari that is having something of a lonely race in P4. It now has three-time F1 race winner Giancarlo Fisichella back at the wheel.
Pit stop
LMP2: And the rest of the class top five arrive to the pits a lap later. It includes class leader #31 Team WRT with Milesi at the wheel who grabs fuel and continues to keep the lead in class and P5 overall.
GTE Pro: Seven laps after Serra vacated the cockpit for Bird, Pier Guidi comes in - though the timing screens say he's remained at the wheel rather than hand over to Come Ledogar.
GTE Pro: We now have official confirmation from Porsche that the chassis of the WeatherTech car is damaged after MacNeil's off and no repair is possible.
Off track
LMP2: Garcia has spun in the #70 Realteam Racing but avoids the wall before coming to a stop on the outside of the track. It causes a brief yellow flag until Garcia finds a safe spot to rejoin.
GTE Pro: Following that most recent stop, Pier Guidi continues to lead Taylor by 17s, with Bird a further 16s behind. Christensen in the best of the Porsches, #92, is 1m50 off the lead in fourth.
Pit stop
LMH: Buemi makes a quick stop for fuel in the #8 which allows the #7 Toyota's advantage to grow to 1m25s in the lead.
GTE Am: Barnicoat has now stepped out of the Inception Ferrari and handed over to Ollie Millroy, who emerges from the pits just ahead of Giammaria.
One last Giammaria fact for you: while the 2003 Monaco F3000 race is best-remembered for Bjorn Wirdheim's start-finish gaffe that handed victory to Nicolas Kiesa, Giammaria remembers it best as the scene of his first of two podiums in the F1 feeder series.
One last Giammaria fact for you: while the 2003 Monaco F3000 race is best-remembered for Bjorn Wirdheim's start-finish gaffe that handed victory to Nicolas Kiesa, Giammaria remembers it best as the scene of his first of two podiums in the F1 feeder series.
Pit stop
LMH: A lap after Buemi's stop, Kobayashi does the same, so the gap between the leaders is back to around the 20-second mark. Across 11 hours and 18 minutes of racing that is a tiny margin.
GTE Pro: To recap, we've still got five cars on the lead lap - although only just. The two Porsches have been hurt badly by safety cars and slow zones, after threatening to come into play at various stages earlier on. Christensen in #92 is just a shade under two minutes off the lead, with Lietz a further 45s back in #91. They're hanging on, but need something major to get back into the fight.
GTE Pro: Pier Guidi's lead over Taylor is inching ever-closer towards the 20s mark. He appears to have a slight edge over the Corvette in these night conditions.
LMP2: The Team WRT train continues to lead by a handy one-minute margin, Milesi in the #31 from Ye in the #41, but the #22 United Autosports USA, #65 Panis Racing and #28 JOTA all remain on the lead lap.
GTE Am: Look who has crept back into the top 10 - it's poleman Julien Andlauer in the #88 Proton Porsche. His pace has been electric at times this week, but it takes a team to win at Le Mans and his 75-year-old co-driver Dominique Bastien unsurprisingly doesn't have the pace of some of his younger contemporaries.
LMH: The last of the top-class contenders, the #709 Glickenhaus, hasn't had much attention since the start but Dumas is at the wheel and currently 11th overall, gradually clawing back time to LMP2's #34 Inter Europol Competition in 10th. The gap stands at 2m02s.
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GTE Pro: They may be several laps down after needing to change the diffuser (remember that clout from Calado on the warmup lap?) but the #64 Corvette is still plugging away. Nick Tandy is P6 in class now, thanks to WeatherTech's demise, and storming onto the back of P3 Am class runner Rino Mastronardi's #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
Pit stop
GTE Pro: Bird kicks off the latest round of pitstops by peeling in from third aboard the #52 Ferrari. He was around 30s down on leader Pier Guidi in the #51 car.
Pit stop
LMH: Pitstop time for the #36 Alpine and the #708 Glickenhaus, dropping Mailleux in the Glickenhaus briefly to sixth overall before the LMP2 leading duo pit again, as the Alpine holds on to third place.
Pit stop
GTE Pro: Now Catsburg hopes aboard the #63 Corvette brought in from second by Jordan Taylor. The Dutchman has won the Spa 24 (2015) and Nurburgring 24 (2020) with BMW but this would be a very special addition to his CV indeed.
Pit stop
GTE Am: Our class leaders both pit, one minute apart. Nielsen remains behind the wheel of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, but Dylan Pereira hops out of his #33 TF Sport Aston and hands over to Felipe Fraga. Remember, he got turned around on lap one!
Pit stop
LMP2: Milesi, who must have been in the #31 Team WRT for most of the night, continues after pitting for fuel. The French driver retains the class lead keeping clear of team-mate Ye.
GTE Am: The gap between the two leaders was just over a minute prior to the pitstops and it's exactly the same now. Fraga is trying to get the hammer down and make inroads on Nielsen's advantage, but it's remaining fairly static at the moment.
Pit stop
LMH: Buemi brings in the #8 Toyota for fresh tyres, fuel and a driver swap as Hartley hops in to relive the Swiss.
GTE Pro: Catsburg dropped behind Bird after that last round of stops, but the battle for second is hotting up again with the Corvette driver beginning to loom large in Bird's rear-view mirror.
LMH: That stop for the #8 Toyota opens up the gap at the front to 1m51s but Kobayashi is due to pit fairly soon.
GTE Pro: It's been a while in coming, but at last Tandy has the satisfaction in moving up a place on the leaderboard as he clears third-place Am runner Mastronardi who pits. Sometimes 24-hour racing can be a long, old, slog.
LMP2: Could we be about to see a challenge for the lead from the #41 crew? Ye is just 2.8s behind leader and WRT team-mate Milesi in the battle of the Silvers.
GTE Pro: And there's the change for second as Catsburg launches a move up the inside of Bird at the second chicane. Nicely done.
Pit stop
GTE Pro: Meanwhile leader Pier Guidi has come in and handed over to Come Ledogar. He rejoins still with 26s in his pocket.
LMH: Meanwhile we've had Kobayashi into the pits from the lead. All routine, nothing to worry about there and he rejoins comfortably still ahead of team-mate Hartley.
Forgive us for not formally marking the half-way point in the race - here's an update on what's happened so far by the way - but we have now completed 12 hours of the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours. As a well-known commentator once said, "with half the race gone, there's still half the race to go".
GTE Pro: Although he's got through into second, Catsburg hasn't been able to completely pull away from Bird - the Ferrari returnee subbing for Davide Rigon has kept him in sight, within two seconds last time around.
GTE Pro: The #64 Corvette that was already well down the order is back in the garage having some work done to the rear.
GTE Pro: It appears to be the clutch giving trouble on the #64 machine which has been plagued by misfortunes ever since it led early doors.
GTE Pro: Catsburg appears to have the legs on Ledogar and has chipped the lead down to 23s. Ledogar though is no slouch - you may remember he won the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup title back in 2016 with Rob Bell and Shane van Gisbergen when he was a McLaren-linked GT driver.
LMH: There's nothing in it on laptimes at the moment between Kobayashi in the lead and his pursuer Hartley. The Kiwi was a tenth quicker last time around, but it will take more than that to dig into the #7 car's lead. Still, with so many hours remaining, the #8 crew needn't worry just yet.
That'll be it from Haydn and myself, we'll be back later on (we can't really say tomorrow, can we?) at 9am. For now, here come some very suitable candidates for the night hours in Charles Bradley and Jamie Klein. Take it away chaps.
Pit stop
LMP2: The leader Ye is in for service after a decent stint out front in the #41 WRT ORECA. Louis Deletraz hops in, which is appropriate for a Swiss lad.
By: Loris Capirossi
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