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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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Yellow flag
LMP2: Not for the first time in this race the #44 ARC Bratislava is facing the wrong way. Matej Konopka spins coming out of the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight but avoids the barriers. That part of the circuit is soaking wet and it looks very tricky.
GTE Am: Immediately after the restart, Andrews comes in from second in the #57 Kessel Ferrari. It feels like he's been aboard that for ages. We expect the Am in that crew, Kimura, to now take his turn aboard the 488 that was started by future Peugeot hypercar driver Mikkel Jensen.
GTE Pro: If there's any crew that has welcomed that safety car interruption, it's the WeatherTech team. Cooper MacNeil, the Silver in that car, has used up some more of his drive-time nicely without losing any time relative to those around him.
Green flag
The safety cars pull in and it is green flag racing conditions once again.
LMH: #36 Alpine pits under this safety car in third place and looks set to go a lap down as a result.
GTE Am: It appears as though Pereira in the #33 Aston is once more a safety car train ahead of pursuer Andrews, who was two minutes down at the line last time around. Rovera, a very rapid Silver indeed, is in the same bunch as Andrews after taking over from Perrodo, with Lacorte in the next bunch along with Ilott, Duncan Cameron (co-founder of a well-known price comparison site) and Edigio Perfetti - the director of a group of companies that includes Mentos.
LMH: Shall we check in with the leaders while behind the safety car? Kobayashi has a lead of over three minutes in the #7 Toyota now due to being in a safety car train ahead of Hartley in the #8 Toyota.
GTE Pro: Alas we may have been a little hasty in declaring that Ledogar was behind a different safety car to Bird. The gaps on our timing screens now appear to indicate they're in the same bunch, but it's very difficult to see on the screens to verify.
We'll wait to find out the exact causes of those separate clashes, but the rain had been intensifying at the time and the drivers were on dry tyres, so it could be a simple of being caught out by the weather all at the same time.
LMP2: And on the United Autosports coming together, it appears the #32, driven by Manuel Maldonado, lost control under braking at the first corner and was powerless to stop from clattering into the sister #23 car with Di Resta at the wheel.
GTE Am: Callum Ilott was among the flurry of driver changes that occurred just as the rain began to fall and bedlam hit the LMP2 class. Not the dream start to his first Le Mans stint that the Alfa Romeo F1 reserve would have hoped for.
LMP2: Replays show Floersch in the #1 Richard Mille hitting the #26 G-Drive, which forced her into a spin. Then when trying to get facing the right way, side-on to the track, she is hit by Cloet in the #74 Racing Team India Eurasia. Thankfully it was at low speed and everyone is OK. Cloet gets back to the pits, while Floersch is trying to get her car going again.
GTE Pro: Bird, Jani (#92 Porsche) and Catsburg (#63 Corvette) are behind the same train, but once again the #64 Corvette now with Sims at the wheel is separated from the group ahead. Sims, Makowiecki's #91 Porsche and MacNeil's WeatherTech Porsche are in the next bunch.
GTE Pro: As before, the safety car's arrival looks set to have significant implications as Bird has been trapped behind a different safety car train to Ledogar - the class leader split from the rest of the field.
Safety car
LMP2: All of a sudden it is mayhem! Two United Autosports cars have collided, the #32 and #23, at the Dunlop curve. While elsewhere on the lap the #1 Richard Mille Racing spun and was then hit by the #74 Racing Team India Eurasia car.
Safety car
GTE Am: We've had plenty of pitstops in the Am class. Perrodo has vacated the #83 car and handed over to Alessio Rovera, although they might wish Perrodo had stayed aboard as we're now behind the safety car.
Yellow flag
LMP2: More drama, this time it is the #29 Racing Team Nederland car, which had been fighting for the top stops earlier. Van Eerd has spun off at the Porsche curves.
Rain
LMP2: As Kelly is recovered in the #24 car and able to get going again, the rain is really starting to fall at that part of the circuit.
GTE Pro: A messy collision there at the Ford Chicane involving Bird and Brendan Iribe, the Am in the Inception Ferrari delayed by two punctures earlier. Bird was well alongside, but Iribe just appeared to turn in and spun both cars. Bird was already set to lose time against Ledogar, due to the Frenchman being in the pits under the Slow Zone, but that really wouldn't help his cause.
Yellow flag
LMP2: The #24 PR1 Motorsports Mathiasen, driven by Patrick Kelly, has become beached in the gravel and is facing the tyre barrier at Arnage. That's caused a slow zone as marshals recover the car.
GTE Pro: Ledogar now does come in - that was two laps later than the sister, having gone one longer in each of the previous stints. Could that turn out to be a crucial advantage for the #51 crew later on?
GTE Pro: We're still waiting on Ledogar to come in, but interestingly Bird has rejoined ahead of Jani - it appears through the pitstops, the time taken to do driver changes has evened itself out now.
Pit stop
LMH: There's also a driver change for the #36 Alpine as Negrao takes a breather and lets Vaxiviere take over as darkness really descends at the end of the fifth hour.
Pit stop
LMP2: In comes the class leader, as the #23 United Autosport undergoes a full service, with Boyd hopping out to let team-mate Di Resta take over. The Scot returns to the action in P4 in class, P8 overall.
GTE Pro: Bird has been into the pits, so we can now expect Ledogar in #51 in from the lead on the next lap. Through that last pit sequence, Jani in the #92 Porsche jumped ahead of Catsburg's #63 Corvette for third.
GTE Pro: We've also had a flurry of stops in the Pro class. In come class leaders Taylor and Christensen, with Tandy also peeling into the pits. Nick Catsburg jumps into the #63 Corvette, Neel Jani takes over the #92 Porsche and Alexander Sims straps into the #64 'Vette.
Rain
LMH: Hartley is told over team radio that rain is expected again in the next 10 minutes.
GTE Am: Class leader Keating has come in after a trouble-free stint to hand back to Pereira. Job well done for the Texan.
Pit stop
LMH: The pitstop cycle continues with Hartley pitting in the #8 Toyota, but this time after just eight laps due to a right-rear tyre puncture, and the gap between the leaders balloons back to around 90 seconds.
LMP2: Back at the front of this class, Boyd has done an impressive job for the #23 United Autosports squad, inching clear of Vandoorne while also dealing with traffic. The gap is 3.5s, while the #28 Jota driver is now under pressure from Colapinto in the #26 G-Drive in third place.
GTE Pro: MacNeil has just pitted the WeatherTech car, but remains aboard after dropping to P7 in class behind Makowiecki. Now for the first time in the race, factory cars occupy the top six positions - quite the turnaround from qualifying...
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GTE Pro: You have to feel a bit for the HubAuto team that started this race on pole. It all went wrong for them at the first corner, and Alvaro Parente is still stuck behind Sernagiotto's Am class Ferrari - he's been close for several laps but unable to pass.
Yellow flag
LMP2: The #20 High Class Racing gets nudged into a spin at the Ford chicane right in front of the #8 Toyota. Thankfully, there is no further drama as Andersen gets his car going again.
GTE Am: Andrews has been chipping away at Keating's advantage and got the gap down under 50s for the first time in this stint. The Aussie remember is on older tyres than Keating, which may explain why the Silver-graded driver isn't making the inroads on a Bronze that might be expected. Certainly nothing for TF Sport to worry about though.
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GTE Pro: Porsche's head of factory motorsport Pascal Zurlinden isn't too displeased despite Porsche's low-key start to this race.
"The pace is good and both drivers are now happy with the balance of the car. The Ferraris have a lot of pace, but let's see what happens at night in the cooler conditions, it's still a long race."
When asked if the #91 car, which lost over a minute behind the safety car after a slow start, still has options to get to the front he said: "It's difficult but it's possible with the strategy. We will need some luck with slow zones, safety cars and things like this."
Pit stop
LMH: Kobayashi makes a scheduled pitstop in the #7 car and returns to the action still in the lead with a 16.3s advantage (and one pitstop in theory) over Hartley in the #8 car.
LMH: The #708 Glickenhaus is steadily climbing up the order after its earlier trouble, with Mailleux at the wheel and currently P8 overall - just the four LMP2s to catch before returning to the podium fight.
GTE Pro: Tandy has now taken MacNeil for fifth. The next target for the 2015 outright winner is Bird, who is 37s up the road ahead. A strong effort to recover from losing out behind the safety car earlier from Tandy.
GTE Am: Into the pits comes Ollie Millroy in the Inception Racing Ferrari run by British GT champions of a few years back Optimum Motorsport, in partnership with Ferrari specialists Kessel. What was turning into a promising day for that car was scuppered earlier by two right-rear punctures. If they keep it clean though, there's always a chance of moving up the order later on as others make mistakes.
By: Loris Capirossi
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