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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: And as we type, the timing screens say Ruberti has taken fifth from Barnicoat in the car that had two right-rear punctures earlier, plus a clash with Sam Bird's #52 Pro Ferrari when Brendan Iribe turned in on him at the Ford chicane.
GTE Am: The demise of Kessel has laid out the prospect of a three-way scrap for fifth. Barnicoat currently occupies the position in the Inception Ferrari, but has Paolo Ruberti's #60 Iron Lynx machine (remember, the one that had the lurid spin into the first chicane a while back?) and Evans in the #77 Proton Porsche not far behind.
LMP2: The #22 United Autosports USA driven by Hanson has climbed up the back of ex-F1 driver Stevens in the #65 Panis Racing. Will they aim to work together to reel in the two Team WRTs that are a couple of minutes up the road, or will they battle it out for P3 in class? Probably only one answer to that.
LMP2: Not wishing to tempt fate but you've got to say Team WRT have put in the near-perfect performance coming up to complete the opening 10 hours of this race. The #31 car remains in the class lead with a 1m37s gap to sister #41 car. Both the #65 Panis Racing and #22 United Autosports USA cars remain on the lead lap in class and well in contention, mind.
GTE Am: Sure enough, the Kessel car's demise is a gift for TF which brings Pereira in. After Nielsen pitted under green a short while ago, that will mitigate the time loss for the Dutch driver, who trailed prior to this most recent round of stops.
That means we've got another slow zone, which may tempt a few into making a pit visit.
Yellow flag
GTE Am: Dramas for Jensen! The Kessel car that briefly led earlier that was running P5 in the future Peugeot hypercar driver's hands has come to a halt on the approach to Tertre Rouge. No damage, just looks like it's broken down.
LMH: That cheap pitstop under the slow zone for the #7 Toyota means it is back in the lead with a 43-second advantage over the sister car. The #708 Glickenhaus is back up to P3 after the Alpine pitted, with both cars three laps behind the leaders.
GTE Am: Meanwhile the class leader Nielsen has pitted, cycling Pereira back to the lead in the #33 TF Aston. Nielsen rejoins in second, 8 seconds clear of Matteo Cressoni's #80 Iron Lynx car that you may recall had a ding-dong scrap with Nielsen's team-mate Alessio Rovera when Callum Ilott was at the wheel.
GTE Pro: Estre is now running third in the #92 Porsche, which is about as high as the car has been all day. It remember spun early doors, when Estre was at the wheel, then had an off in the gravel after changing to slicks. After fighting back to third, it got overtaken by #63 and then got dropped into a different SC train, so has had plenty of drama to get to this stage.
GTE Pro: That slow zone came at a good time for Corvette, which was in the process of swapping Jordan Taylor in for Garcia in the #63 Corvette that was running second before its stop.
Green flag
And sure enough, we're back to green.
Yellow flag
GTE Am: No lights on with the #66 JMW car - which remember got into a tangle earlier with Van Eerd's RTN LMP2 car. Rodrigo Sales is the man at the wheel, the car having stopped at the pit exit. Its been craned away, so we should hopefully be back to green soon.
LMP2: The top five in class all pit on the same lap so it rather nullifies any changes to the running order. Still a Team WRT 1-2 with Frijns in the #31 leading and P5 overall.
LMH: Ah, now the #7 Toyota pits for fuel, with Conway staying in the car, which allows him to retain the lead. As things stand the #8 Toyota has made one more pitstop than its sister car.
GTE Pro: Serra pitted the third-placed Ferrari a lap ago, and now it's Garcia's turn to come in from second. Meanwhile we've got a slow zone on track to recover the JMW Am Ferrari.
LMH: The #8 Toyota pits as expected, with Nakajima handing over driving duty to Buemi, while the #7 Toyota retakes the lead in the process. The new gap is currently 1m23s.
GTE Am: All credit to Dylan Pereira here, he's doing a great job in the #33 TF Aston to keep Nielsen honest in the leading #83 Ferrari. The gap between them has remained stable at around 6.4s and has, if anything, been coming down over the last few laps.
With that we wave goodbye to Jake and Tom who take some well-deserved rest. For the next time stint it is James and I - just as the night running gets serious.
LMH: Not really a fair fight that one, as Lapierre powers around Frijns at the Porsche Curves. The #36 Alpine is back up to P3.
LMH: An LMH vs LMP2 battle is coming up. Fresh from passing Pla, Lapierre now has Frijns just a couple of seconds up the road in the leading LMP2 car that is the #31 Team WRT ORECA. That fight will be for the final podium spot overall.
LMH: After a couple of frustrating laps stuck behind Pla, the #36 Alpine gets ahead as Lapierre dives in front under braking at the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Pla fights back at the second chicane in the Glickenhaus but overdoes it and runs wide.
GTE Pro: The #64 Corvette has dropped back behind the Hub Auto Porsche after a stop and driver change, with Milner back at the wheel.
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GTE Am: The dice for the lead between the #83 AF Corse and #33 TF Sport is about to heat up again. Pereira is 2s behind leader Nielsen.
LMH: Lapierre, in the #36 Alpine, has P3 in class and P4 overall in his sights as he is all over the rear of the #708 Glickenhaus which has Pla at the wheel.
GTE Am: Replays show the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari (Thomas Neubauer) was involved in that incident with #29 Racing Team Nederland.
LMP2: The #29 Racing Team Nederland has got going again, currently down in 16th place in class, having pitted to check over its damage from the off.
LMH: Recovering from its earlier problems, the #36 Alpine was a lap or two away from regaining fourth place overall and climbing past the leading LMP2 runner (#31 Team WRT), but needed to pit as planned which put it further back on the lap. Time to do it all over again.
GTE Am top five order at 9H: #83 AF Corse Ferrari leads #33 TF Sport Aston Martin. P3 #80 Iron Lynx, P4 #54 AF Corse and P5 #57 Kessel Racing.
Yellow flag
LMP2: The #29 Racing Team Nederland driven by van Eerd has become beached at the exit of the Dunlop curves which has created a slow zone as the car is recovered by the marshals.
GTE Pro top five order at 9H: #51 AF Corse leads #63 Corvette, P3 #52 AF Corse, P4 #92 Porsche and P5 #91 Porsche. Top three have made eight stops. The #52 AF Corse has snatched third after the #92 made its ninth stop. The #52 AF Corse had lost time with its driver change due to a slow puncture.
LMP2 top five order at 9H: #31 WRT (Frijns, P4 overall), #41 WRT (Kubica, P6 overall), #22 United Autosports (Albuquerque, P7 overall), #65 Panis Racing (Stevens, P8 overall), #34 Inter Europol (van der Zande, P9 overall)
GTE Am: The leading AF Corse comes into the pits with Rovera at the wheel. Nicklas Nielsen is back in the hot seat, he returns in P2.
LMH order at 9H: #7 Toyota (Conway), #8 Toyota (Nakajima), #708 Glickenhaus (Pla), #36 Alpine (Lapierre, P5 overall), #709 Glickenhaus (Westbrook, P11 overall)
GTE Pro: Estre has brought the #92 Porsche up to third ahead of #52 AF Corse Ferrari. Both have completed eight stops.
GTE Am: The leaders, TF Sport pit. Fraga's excellent stint is over, and Pereira is back. Rovera (#83 AF Corse) regains the lead.
LMH: As it's all shaken out with safety cars and slow zones, the #8 Toyota has got within 30s of the #7 now at the front. The #708 Glickenhaus sits third in class, about 3 laps behind them.
GTE Pro: Garcia brings the second placed Corvette into the pits for stop number eight. The leading AF Corse and the #91 Porsche are yet to stop in this sequence.
GTE Pro: The earlier diffuser change on the #64 Corvette was required after it gave up due to damage sustained after contact from the #51 AF Corse Ferrari at the ceremonial start. Incredible.
By: Loris Capirossi
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