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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: We may be 21 hours in, but that's not stopped some of the drivers improving their lap times! Van der Zande in the sixth-placed Inter Europol ORECA seta a 3m31.663s to clock the quickest LMP2 lap of the race so far.
GTE Pro: Less than 2.5 hours to go now and Pier Giudi still leads from Garcia and Christensen.
Here's the latest recap on recent events as the race heads into its final stages:
Pit stop
LMP2: The regular order is restored with Deletraz pitting the #41 machine promoting Frijns in the #31 WRT car back to first in class.
Pit stop
LMH: Nakajima now pits from second but has no such problems. Frijns's stop means the five Hypercar cars now occupy the top five places - and we've not been able to say that for a very long time.
Pit stop
LMP2: Slight delay for the formerly class-leading #31 WRT ORECA in the pits as the mechanics battle to get the skate jack at the rear of the car out from underneath it. Eventually it frees itself and Frijns is back on his way, but having dropped behind the sister machine.
GTE Pro: Calado has pitted from the GTE Pro lead - two laps later than Garcia.
GTE Am: Hancock and Bovy came together, with Hancock spinning the Aston as Bovy took to the gravel.
Yellow flag
LMH: Replays show a nervy moment for leader Conway in the #7 Toyota as he came across a spun GTE Am Aston in the middle of the track, but was able to just about avoid it and continue on his way. Another reminder of how quickly things can change.
GTE Pro: Garcia is in for Catsburg in the #63 Corvette.
Mechanical problem
LMP2: There's been an update from Oliver Jarvis of the #82 Risi Compeitizione squad, whose ORECA was seen smoking badly earlier. That engine trouble has proved terminal and the car is out of the race.
GTE Pro: Keating pits from the lead, putting Rovera back into the top spot in the class.
Pit stop
LMH: Conway now pits the #7 from the lead and it continues to enjoy a laps lead over the sister Toyota.
Breaking news
LMH: We have another update on the #8 Toyota, which has had a few struggles of late, but sportscar guru GARY WATKINS reports that the car has got a new door and that explains its latest short stint.
Pit stop
LMH: The top Glickenhaus car is also now in and Mailleux hands over to Derani for what could be the final driver change.
Pit stop
LMH: The Alpine makes its latest pit visit and continues to hold third place.
Our thanks go to Haydn and James for another sterling stint. Now we've only got three hours to go. But, three hours is plenty of time for things to change - and this race is far from over.
Right, it is time for the final stint handover. Guiding you through the final three hours of the race will be Stephen and Megan. From James and I it is time to say goodbye and go for a long lay down.
GTE Am: Rovera is inching ever closer, the gap now 12s between him and Keating. Anxious times down in the TF Sport camp - they had it much easier last year!
GTE Am: With three hours to go, it's still all to play for: 1. TF Sport Aston Martin #33 (Keating), 2. AF Corse Ferrari #83 (Rovera) +14s, 3. Iron Lynx Ferrari #80 (Ilott) +1 lap, 4. Iron Lynx Ferrari #60 (Giammaria) +3 laps, 5. Dempsey-Proton Porsche #77 (Evans) +3 laps, 6. D'Station Aston Martin #777 (Hoshino) +4 laps.
GTE Pro: With three hours left on the clock, here's the order: 1. Ferrari #51 (Calado), 2. Corvette #63 (Catsburg) +35s, 3. Porsche #92 (Christensen) +1 lap, 4. Porsche #91 (Lietz) +1 lap, 5. Ferrari #52 (Bird) +14 laps, 6. Corvette #64 (Tandy) +32 laps.
LMP2: And here's the order with three hours to go: 1. #31 WRT (Habsburgi), 2 #41 WRT (Deletraz) +1 lap, 3. #28 Jota (Vandoorne) +1 lap, 4. #65 Panis Racing (Canal) +2 laps, 5. #34 Inter Europol (Brundle) +3 laps.
LMH: With three hours left on the clock, here's the order in LMH: 1. Toyota #7 (Conway), 2. Toyota #8 (Hartley) +1 lap, 3. Alpine #36 (Vaxiviere) +4 laps, 4. Glickenhaus #708 (Mailleux) +5 laps, 5. [6th overall] Glickenhaus #709 (Dumas) +8 laps.
GTE Pro: One lap later, Estre comes in and hands over the #92 Porsche to Michael Christensen, who will be entrusted with keeping team-mate Lietz at bay for third.
LMH: It won't really change the race for the #709 Glickenhaus but it is creeping up to sixth place overall which is held by the second LMP2 car of the #41 Team WRT. Our quick maths says if no further trouble the Glick will regain that place before the end but it may just miss out on fifth overall to the LMP2 leader.
GTE Pro: Lietz takes over from Bruni in the #91 Porsche that was running around 20 seconds behind the sister car in fourth. Given we've got three hours to go, we could see the Austrian veteran run to the end now. It's certainly within the window where teams would consider making their next driver changes their final ones.
GTE Am: Ilott is having a rather lonely race in third, the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari almost a full lap down on the class leader and three laps ahead of fourth-placed team-mate in the #60 entry Raffaele Giammaria.
GTE Am: Keating's advantage over Rovera currently stands at a rather slender 20s. We'll keep tabs on how that evolves over the Italian's first stint back in the car.
LMP2: The #31 Team WRT retains a comfortable 90-second advantage at the head of the filed from the sister #41 car - so not much has changed in that fight for the last few hours. Still plenty of racing to go though.
GTE Pro: Corvette says at the last stop for Catsburg he took fuel only, where Calado had left-side tyres. Sounds a bit like NASCAR, doesn't it?
GTE Am: Lead change! In comes Perrodo, handing over to Rovera. Keating remains out there and takes over in front, but we anticipate he's got a bit more of his driving time to do - where it appears that Perrodo's work may now be done.
Pit stop
LMH: Now it is the turn of the #8 Toyota to pit, as Hartley stays in the driving seat with fresh tyres and fuel given to the car. That gives the #7 Toyota the one-lap advantage back.
GTE Pro: Our report that the Ferrari had gained in the pit sequence must have been a quirk of the timing screens - now they're showing Catsburg is closer to Calado than he was before the pitstops, the gap 28s last time around.
GTE Am: This is a good turn of pace from Keating. He's reduced the gap to 1m05s, a gain of around 10 seconds in recent laps.
Pit stop
LMH: Lopez pits but it is a bit of an awkward entry as the #20 High Class car is also in the pit directly in front of its box. So the Toyota mechanics have to manoeuvre the car into position before getting to work. Things calm down as Conway takes over from Lopez and the car gets away again.
GTE Pro: The two leaders in class have both pitted, with Calado and Catsburg both remaining aboard. Ferrari appears to have gained time somehow during that pit sequence, the gap having stretched out by around 10s to 41s.
GTE Pro: While we're in a housekeeping mood, we should also mention that the #52 Ferrari is still running in fifth place after its earlier blowout and time in the garage, but is now 13 laps down with Bird at the wheel.
GTE Am: Plus of course, we should say that those who used their Pro drivers early to build up a gap were subsequently advantaged by the Safety Car. The #77 crew kept Matt Campbell in reserve until nightfall when Christian Ried had already done two stints, but much of the Aussie gun's first stint was nullified by a Safety Car - which trapped him well down the order. Tactically, the #83 and #33 squads have played this very nicely indeed.
GTE Am: It's an interesting tactic to leave much of the Bronze running until the end of the race. It's very hard on the pro and Silver-graded drivers going through the night back-to-back, but it means the Bronzes have better visibility and a clearer track with fewer cars on it to disrupt their rhythm.
GTE Am: The slow zone also appears to have worked in favour of the #33 TF Sport team, with Keating having reduced the gap to Perrodo back to 1m15s.
By: Loris Capirossi
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