Le Mans 24 Hours race day
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GTE PRO
The #94 GTE Pro Porsche – the one of the four not really in contention — is in the pits.
LMP1
Kobayashi has pitted from the lead and stays ahead of Nakajima by 2s.
LMP1
We haven't checked in on the battle for third place for a little while. Isaakyan still has the place and is best of the privateers, and is a shade under 22s ahead of Menezes in the leading Rebellion.
LMP2
Buret is really beginning to struggle in the #23 Ligier. He's losing five seconds per lap to the ORECAs of Lapierre and Chatin, which has contributed to him losing third to the latter.
GTE PRO
The MTEK team is checking the car for suspension damage.
GTE PRO
The #82 Bimmer is up on roller skates and heading for the pits. No news yet on what the issue is.
LMP2
Lapierre has just set a blistering time of 3m28.805 - he's really pushing here. Buret in third just can't live with the pace and is now almost a full minute behind him.
LMP1
Nakajima pits from second, which puts him a minute behind the leader.
LMP1
Kobayashi is ahead now. He was a couple of seconds faster than Nakajima that lap.
GTE PRO
It's still a comfortable Porsche one-two at the front of GTE Pro, the #92 car driven by Christensen has a whopping 2m03s advantage over the #93 driven by Pilet.
The lead BMW of Tomcyzk is within a second of Pilet, virtually ever-presently close after the Porsche driver passed him.
The lead BMW of Tomcyzk is within a second of Pilet, virtually ever-presently close after the Porsche driver passed him.
LMP2
Lapierre is on a charge in the Signatech-Alpine. He was four seconds quicker than Rusinov on lap 94 and has reduced the gap to 1m22s. However, it should be factored in that the Russian is now on his third stint with those tyres, while Lapierre is on fresh rubber.
LMP1
Kobayashi has got the gap down to under a second. Just eight tenths now.
LMP2
Chatin took two seconds out of Rusinov on lap 94 and was just 1m08s behind before he came into the pits at the end of his 95th tour. Chatin is running slightly off-sequence with the #26 (Rusinov), #36 (Lapierre) and #23 (Buret) that now sit 1-2-3.
Information
And the Toyotas have now brought the race up to 100 laps as the sun sets.
GTE PRO
Even with that lastest BoP break, the Aston Martins simply have not been on the pace.
They are 13th and 14th in class and are over a minute behind the Ferrari of Calado ahead.
They are 13th and 14th in class and are over a minute behind the Ferrari of Calado ahead.
GTE PRO
Porsche driver Earl Bamber, a double overall winner of this race, is revelling in the GTE Pro battle. "It feels like a top class," he says. GTE Pro is definitely providing the best action in this 86th running of the great race.
LMP1
Button's just set a 3m22.463s, so he's certainly pushing in his SMP Racing BR1, he's 31 laps over the next running car though.
LMP2
Rusinov is still out in front after the ninth round of pitstops in the #26 G-Drive ORECA, but his pursuer is now poleman Paul-Loup Chatin. The #48 IDEC ORECA tends to pit five laps earlier in each cycle though. After taking over from the red-faced Thiriet, Nicolas Lapierre is still only 1m32s off the lead in third.
Autosport
Here is our latest hourly report from the race to bring you up to speed on what's been going on: 
GTE PRO
For all the concerns about the BMW's relative pace in GTE Pro, Tomczyk is keeping the #81 in third place - although Bruni is closing in aboard his #91 Porsche.
LMP1
Kobayashi was a couple of seconds quicker than Nakajima that time - the gap is down to a shade over a second now.
LMP1
Van der Zande's DragonSpeed is still in the pits, he's plummeted to 23rd overall - no sign of him rejoining yet.
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LMP1
Button's latest lap is a 3m26s - which keeps him in the outer fringes of the privateer LMP1 ballpark.
He's still in 60th place.
He's still in 60th place.
GTE PRO
Change for second in GTE Pro: Pilet's Porsche has moved ahead of Tomczyk's BMW, restoring the Porsche 1-2 in class. He's two minutes down on leader Christensen.
Quote
United Autosports team boss Richard Dean has explained Montoya's off: “I think he just locked up and went straight on, that’s what he said on the radio.
"He was pretty annoyed with himself. He damaged the nose, it was a quick change. We lost the time getting him out of the wall.
"Pace was quite good, right on target. We had some niggly problems early that cost us a lap, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.”
"He was pretty annoyed with himself. He damaged the nose, it was a quick change. We lost the time getting him out of the wall.
"Pace was quite good, right on target. We had some niggly problems early that cost us a lap, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.”
LMP1
Van der Zande is still in the pits and has dropped below the Manor-Ginetta of Robertson in 18th.
LMP1
Nakajima has a 1.9s lead over Kobayashi after that return to green flag racing.
Green flag
The slow zone has ended.
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LMP2
Second-placed man Thiriet has looped the car around at Arnage, as he applied the throttle coming out of the slow zone.That's an embarrassing moment he won't want to see again!
LMP1
Van der Zande's DragonSpeed car has the engine cover off and engineers at work around the suspension area.
Driver Change
Nakajima is in the lead now with a lead of almost 15s over Kobayashi who's now in the #7 car.
LMP1
Van der Zande is falling back into the LMP2 field, so this a long stop.
Montoya's recent trip into the gravel
LMP1
Lopez has pitted the #7 Toyota from the lead.
GTE PRO
Here's a recap of the GTE Pro order after that last round of stops, which featured numerous driver changes:
1. Christensen (#92 Porsche), 2. Tomczyk (#81 BMW), 3. Pilet (#93 Porsche), 4. Bruni (#91 Porsche), 5. Muller (#68 Ford), 6. Felix da Costa (#82 BMW).
1. Christensen (#92 Porsche), 2. Tomczyk (#81 BMW), 3. Pilet (#93 Porsche), 4. Bruni (#91 Porsche), 5. Muller (#68 Ford), 6. Felix da Costa (#82 BMW).
By: Matt Beer
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