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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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LMP2: Vandoorne in the #28 Jota is hunting leader Boyd in the #23 United Autosports machine. The pair are split by less than one second over the start/finish line at the start of their 65th lap of the race.
GTE Am: Keating in the class-leading #33 TF Sport Aston is illustrating perfectly the value of a strong Bronze. Since he climbed aboard, he's kept the gap back to Andrews (a Silver, don't forget) in second pretty stable around 52s. But when Andrews hops out and Kimura jumps in, expect TF's advantage to stretch out again.
GTE Pro: We said a little while ago that Tandy was catching MacNeil - he's now just over 12s behind and likely to make an attempt on fifth place before too long. Bird is also being dropped a little by Ledogar, but certainly not by enough to cause alarm in the Ferrari camp.
Sun
It is almost time to say goodbye to the sunshine - granted it has been hidden behind the clouds for most of the race so far - as dusk arrives at Circuit de la Sarthe.
GTE Pro: Taylor is steadily stretching out his advantage over Christensen in the lead. It's currently around 8.3s between the pair, having been just over 5.5s a few laps ago. Ledogar beginning to close on the Porsche ahead, likely benefitting from fresh tyres when he jumped in.
Pit stop
LMH: And now it is the turn of the #8 Toyota to pit, as Hartley comes in for fuel, and resumes still in P2, 1m22s behind the leader.
Pit stop
LMH: Driver swap for the #709 Glickenhaus as Briscoe replaces Dumas. The car gets fresh tyres and fuel and returns to the action in 16th place overall - two laps down on the leaders.
Pit stop
LMH: As expected Negrao pits in the #36 Alpine. Just a quick fuel stop and he continues on and stays P3.
GTE Pro: Not wanting to be discounted after losing time to that safety car, Nick Tandy is making up ground in the #64 Corvette. That car was behind the same SC train as the #91 Porsche, but Tandy has completely dropped Fred Makowiecki and beginning to make inroads into MacNeil's fifth place. The gap was 30s last time around and falling by the lap.
GTE Pro: MacNeil is the only Silver-graded driver in the class, and so perhaps unsurprisingly has quickly dropped away from Bird - back in a Ferrari for the first time since Le Mans last year as a late replacement for Davide Rigon, still recovering from a back injury sustained in the Spa 24 Hours. Get well soon Davide.
Breaking news
Need a recap on how the opening four hours of this race have played out? Look no further - here's the latest report update.
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LMH: Kobayashi is told over his Toyota team radio that there could be some rain coming at the Porsche curves. It doesn’t look too significant yet but that'll keep the drivers on their toes again.
GTE Pro: Pitting under that earlier slow zone has vaulted Taylor into the lead in the #63 Corvette, with Christensen still gamely chasing in the #92 Porsche. They pitted four laps earlier than Ledogar, who comes out ahead of Bird by 10s in third.
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GTE Pro: Pier Guidi's #51 Ferrari has been pitting one lap later than the #52 on every stint since the opening laps when Calado stayed out longest of anybody on wets - then promptly dropped it in the gravel when he switched to slicks. Pier Guidi duly follows Bird in and hands over to Come Ledogar, who recently won the Spa 24 Hours with Pier Guidi and Nicklas Nielsen.
GTE Pro: Sam Bird has now jumped aboard the #52 Ferrari that led after the safety car with Daniel Serra at the wheel. He has Cooper MacNeil on his tail in the WeatherTech Porsche, but Bird is able to keep the Silver-graded American fairly comfortably at arm's length.
Stopwatch
LMH: Hartley is pushing. His last lap, a 3m27.607s, was the fastest of the race so far and took three seconds out of Kobayashi's lead in the sister Toyota to reduce its advantage to seven seconds.
LMP2: P3-5 in class is nose-to-tail down the Mulsanne straight - that is until the #26 G-Drive of Colapinto locks up at the end of the straight and nearly collects Allen in the #65 Panis Racing. Thankfully no harm done, as Colapinto loses a place to van Uitert in the #29 Racing Team Nederland having run wide.
GTE Am: The warring Kessel and Cetilar Ferraris pit as one on lap 54, and both rejoin behind Keating who is now fully up to speed and - for a Bronze - is a very handy pedaller indeed. Remember, the lead TF car gained over a minute by being split from the chasers behind during the Gomes safety car.
GTE Am: We've not seen it on our screens, but Andrews has indeed now passed Sernagiotto for the lead. Australia 1-0 Italy in that particular intra-Ferrari battle.
LMH: The #36 Alpine is still comfortably on the lead lap, in third place and around 1m45s off the lead #7 Toyota, but is due a fifth pitstop of its race shortly.
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Back to the LMH battle and Gary Watkins has the latest: "That was a 15-lap from Kobayashi in the leading Toyota. The target stint length for LMH is 12 laps, but you're allowed to use the energy allocation you're given as you want."
GTE Am: As we type, there's a ferocious battle raging for the class lead. Andrews spies his 15 minutes of fame and lunges up the inside of Sernagiotto at Mulsanne Corner, but the Italian robustly shuts the door. They make slight contact, but the Cetilar car remains ahead.
GTE Am: Keating, you may remember, won the class in 2019 but was denied the victory on a technicality. This will be his seventh appearance in the race, each in a different car!
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GTE Am: Our class leader Dylan Pereira now pits and hands over to Bronze driver Ben Keating, who rejoins in fourth.
LMP2: After that earlier spin for the #44 ARC Bratislava, Konopka has come to a halt in the pit entry lane and requires a push from the marshals to make it into the pits. That has created a new slow zone until the car is cleared.
GTE Pro: The third, fourth and fifth-placed cars take full advantage of that Slow Zone in the final sector by diving into the pits. Taylor is still ahead of Christensen, but the WeatherTech Porsche now has Cooper MacNeil aboard and rejoins behind them in fifth.
Pit stop
LMH: The leader pits for the fifth time in this race on lap 55 - all the fives. Kobayashi is able to retain the lead in the #7 Toyota with a 9.7s gap over the sister car.
Off track
LMP2: The #44 ARC Bratislava gets nudged into a half-spin at the Porsche curves but Konopka avoids the walls and is able to get going again.
GTE AM: The pass that we predicted earlier has happened, with Andrews now moving into third ahead of Perrodo.
LMP2: The #28 Jota has taken the lead as Ye pitted just before the end of the safety car period and has grabbed an early advantage over the chasing pack from the same safety car train. #23 United Autosports with Boyd at the controls is just over 10 seconds back in second place, fending off pressure from the #65 Panis Racing of Allen.
GTE Pro: The safety car has brought the Porsche factory right back into play. Christensen in the #92 car is just a few seconds off the lead - about as close as it's been since Estre rotated in the opening laps on the exit of the first chicane as the cars suddenly bunched up to enter a slow zone, requiring him to fight back through the Am class traffic.
GTE Pro: Serra was able to get a little jump there on Pier Guidi in the two class-leading Ferraris. Their safety car peeled off just before the Porsche Curves, and Pier Guidi was stuck behind a few slower GTE Am drivers.
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Our Le Mans 24 Hours guru Gary Watkins has been keeping an eye on the LMH battle and the various stint length tactics:
"Alpine can take some hope from the opening three and a bit hours — and so can the fans hoping for a real race here at Le Mans and round the world.
"It has managed at least 12 laps on every stint so far, and 13 on one during the protracted slow zone when Davidson was in the Dunlop Curve gravel. The Signatech team has said hitting that magic number is going to be key to its chances of staying in the fight and being in a position to benefit from any Toyota hiccups.
"The bad news for Alpine, though, is that the #8 car has twice managed to stretch its energy allocation to 13 laps, with a little help from the slow zones."
Green flag
And we're back to green!
Contrary to our earlier message, the race director says the safety cars will peel in on this lap.
GTE Am: One crew that had elected to go hard on its Bronze driver use early doors was the #77 Proton Porsche of Christian Reid, one of only two Bronzes to start the race. He's used up more time than anyone else, barring Claudio Schiavoni in the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari - they're incidentally now in the same train after Ried came in under the safety car.
LMP2: As the next safety car train trundles past pitlane the leaders are released to join the back of the impromptu conga line. So it is Ye in the #41 Team WRT leading the class from the #28 Jota with Blomqvist at the wheel. It appears the top six in class are all in the same train.
It might be some time before the race goes back to green again while the Aston is cleared away and the tyre barriers repaired. But there could still be plenty of strategic variation going on, because if teams pit now, they'll get held at the pit exit behind the red light and only be released onto the back of the next safety car train.
By: Loris Capirossi
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