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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours Live Commentary and Updates

Updates and live commentary throughout the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

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GTE Pro: Catsburg brings in the Corvette from second after another cracking stint and Antonio Garcia takes over at the wheel.
LMH: Vaxiviere pits the Alpine, and hands over to Lapierre. Both of them have suffered spins today, but neither of which is likely to have cost them a place in the grand scheme of things.
GTE Am: Keating brings in the TF Sport Aston from second and stays on board for another stint. It's fair to say though he'll be more focussed on the threat from Ilott behind than catching Rovera in front, as the former is now a little over a minute in arrears.
LMP2: Just had another class pitstop sequence, main changes being Robin Frijns taking over the leading #31 Team WRT car. Will Stevens is also back in the #65 Panis Racing entry, which looks like it's lost third place in class to the #28 JOTA currently driven by Sean Gelael.
GTE Pro: It's hotting up again in the fight for the class lead. Calado has just 9.3s in hand over Catsburg as it stands...
GTE Am: The #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche is wheeled into the garage following a reported puncture. It's been a rough time for the Weissach marque in both GTE classes, but especially in Am - the best 911 RSR-19, the #77 Proton car, is sixth class behind no fewer than four Ferraris and the TF Aston.
LMH: All is not lost for the #8, however, as Nakajima has rattled off a 3m29.489s lap – by far the quickest lap it's produced in a long time. So we can perhaps assume that aero balance/downforce loss has been solved?
GTE Am: It's still all looking good for AF Corse - Rovera is now 2m16s to the good ahead of Keating's TF Sport Aston.
LMH: After that stop, the #7 car's lead is 1m05s over the #8.
LMH: The leader, Toyota #7, is in the pits. Lopez stays in the car, so that's a triple stint for the Argentinian. He's done a great job, and once again it's fuel-only.
LMH: The long stop for the #8 to get that new bodywork has dropped it over two minutes behind the leading #7. A far cry from when they were racing nose-to-tail not so long ago.
GTE Pro: Good news, Ferrari fans! The #52 is finally back out after that long delay, now with Daniel Serra installed at the wheel. That suspension issue cost the car eight laps in relation to the sister #51 machine, though.
GTE Pro: Calado has stemmed the advance of Catsburg's Corvette. In what's shaping up to be a replay of that ferocious 2019 battle between Ferrari and Corvette, it's 15s between the two leading cars right now.
LMH: Ryan Briscoe has claimed another P2 scalp, this time the #65 Panis Racing ORECA, and Glickenhaus #709 is now up to seventh overall.
LMH: Sounds like Lopez has suffered a similar problem in Toyota #7 to Kobayashi earlier, in that he's had a moment due to the brakes getting too cold. No video evidence of anything yet, certainly not the huge scare that Kamui had when he almost fenced the car at Indianapolis!
LMH: Hartley pits and he relays to Nakajima. And, unsurprisingly, the front bodywork section is replaced.
GTE Pro: It's a left-rear suspension failure for the #52, according to the WEC's official commentary, and it sounds like Ferrari is also changing the brakes while they are at it.
LMH: Lopez is back under the 3m30s laptime barrier, and Hartley is poised for another pitstop – be interesting to see if any bodywork gets changed or cleaned on the #8.
GTE Pro: Furious work is going on in the AF Corse garage on that stricken #52 Ferrari. Both the front-left and rear-left corners are being attended to, but still no word on the exact issue yet.
The Innovative-class #84 car of Aoki has skidded to a halt at Arnage. He is underway again.
GTE Pro: Both Porsches have been in the pits and now both have new drivers installed. In the #92 it's Kevin Estre, in the #91 it's Gianmaria Bruni. Estre has a daunting 2m52s to make up to Catsburg in second.
GTE Am: Remember a while ago we said Rovera was going to pull away from Keating? Well, the gap has gone out to a massive 1m53s now. In fact, Callum Ilott in third is (slightly) closer to Keating than Keating is to Rovera.
LMH: In other Glickenhaus news, the #709 has passed the #28 JOTA P2 car for eighth place overall.
GTE Pro: Ledogar finally brings in the class-leading #51 Ferrari, which is now the only Prancing Horse still in realistic contention for the win. James Calado takes over the controls, and he's got a reduced margin of 14s ahead of Catsburg's Corvette.
LMH: The #708 Glickhaus pits, dropping back to fourth behind the Alpine.
GTE Am: Another Am runner in strife, it's the #86 GR Racing Porsche of Tom Gamble. That's gone into the garage.
LMH: Vaxiviere pits in the Alpine, and rejoins right behind the #708 Glickenhaus that it passed for third place a couple of hours ago. The Glickenhaus should stop in a couple of laps' time.
GTE Pro: Catsburg is really flying now in that #63 'Vette, as he posts a new fastest lap of 3m48.429s. Ledogar is still yet to stop, but the gap will surely be less than 20s when he brings in the #51 Ferrari.

LMP2: Pitstop sequence completed, so it's still the #31 leading the sister #41 for Team WRT. The #65 Panis Racing car is third, ahead of JOTA's #28 car – that suffered such a costly penalty double-whammy earlier.

Speaking of teams who've suffered a 'mare, the #23 United Autosports has rejoined the fray after a long time in the pits.

GTE Pro: The #52's woes have promoted the factory Porsches (haven't mentioned them for a while!) to third and fourth in class. Neel Jani, who knows his way around this place, is third in the #92, while Fred Makowiecki is fourth in the sister #91.

LMH: "I'm struggling" complains Hartley over the radio – he's told he has lost 2% aero balance and 10 points of downforce.

GTE Pro: Ah, the #52 Ferrari of Molina is back in the pits. That definitely wasn't scheduled. More as we hear it...
LMH: Even with a full fuel load on board, Lopez continues to lap in the 3m30s out front for Toyota. Another 4s added to his lead over Hartley, which is up to 23s.
GTE Am: Ben Keating has taken over at the helm of the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin. That means we have a mismatch in terms of driver rankings at the head of the class - Keating may be rapid for a bronze, but expect silver-rated Alessio Rovera to pull away in the #83 Ferrari.
GTE Pro: Change for second after that round of stops, as Molina has jumped ahead of Catsburg. We're still waiting for leader Ledogar to come in.
LMH: Just 15 minutes away from 10 hours remaining, who would've bet on all five Hypercars running reliably – and all in the top nine places?
GTE Am: The #71 Inception Ferrari is back on track after its earlier misadventures. Barnicoat is now nine laps off the class lead.
GTE Pro: Catsburg pits the #63 Corvette from second in class, which will take the pressure off Ledogar in the #51 Ferrari somewhat.
LMP2: Deletraz kicks off the P2 pitstop cycle from second in class.
LMH: Right on cue, Lopez pits for more gas. And is soon on his way.

By: Loris Capirossi

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