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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans practice and first qualifying

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LMP1
Kobayashi and Orudzhev bring the Toyota and SMP Racing machines in respectively.
LMP2
The top six runners in LMP2 are all using Michelins. The French tyre was the quicker over a single lap last year, but Dunlop's introduction of a new 'C' spec tyre at Sebring meant tyre choice was a big question mark heading into the event. Ricky Taylor is currently the best of the Dunlop runners, 2.6s off the pace in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
Kobayashi went purple in sectors one and two before pitting.
LMP1
Vandoore comes into the pits too.
LMP1
Hanley in too, looks like there's some driver changes afoot and darkness is falling.
LMP1
Hedman has taken over for Hanley in the DragonSpeed, he's heading back out to the track.
LMP1
Dillmann's pitted the ByKolles machine now.
GTE PRO
Scott Dixon has a spin in the #69 Ford - that's the faux Gulf-liveried one - exiting (aptly enough) the Ford chicane, but appears to be back on his way. That car is down in 12th in class right now.
LMP2
Anthony Davidson is now at the wheel of the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA which currently sits atop the charts in LMP2. He's clearly on it in sector one, getting a little bit sideways on the exit of the Dunlop Chicane as he attempts to clear Matthias Beche's slow-moving #20 High Class Racing ORECA on its outlap.
LMP1
Lotterer brings an end to his stint in the funky #1 Rebellion.

We're sticking with funky as the go-to description, by the way.
LMP1
And the timing screen suggests DragonSpeed's Hedman has stopped on track...
LMP1
Looks like he's stopped at the second chicane on the Mulsanne, but we've not seen pictures yet.
LMP2
The best non-Michelin is now Jean-Eric Vergne's Dunlop-shod G-Drive ORECA, but the reigning Formula E champion is still 2.3 seconds off the pace in P7, narrowly ahead of Ho-Pin Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
LMP1
The onboard from the #7 Toyota shows Hedman has pulled off to the left at the chicane, so we've got that right.

Good work Team Autosport.
LMP1
Sirotkin's heading out now in the #17 SMP Racing machine, having taken over from Orudzhev.
Full Course Yellow
And we have a full-course yellow caused by the spate of incidents.
Well this has been quite an eventful first 30 minutes hasn't it?
Green flag
And that full-course yellow has come to an end, we're back underway.
Timing screen is now suggesting Sirotkin has stopped on track, but that's been quickly updated on the monitors.

Hedman still isn't moving.
LMP1
Webb is now in the ByKolles and he leaves the pitlane.
GTE PRO
Just a summary of GTE Pro so far - it's Lynn's Aston ahead now on a 3m50.037s, narrowly clear of the Porsches of Bruni and Christensen. Nick Tandy has the #93 Porsche - the best of the Brumos-coloured IMSA entries - in fourth, followed by the second Aston. Then it's the top cars from Ferrari, BMW and Corvette respectively next up, so that's all the manufacturers inside the top 10 except Ford.
LMP1
Not a lot of representative times going on here in LMP1, it looks like some exploratory running early in the stints.
LMP1
Petrov is now in the #11 SMP Racing BRE-AER BR1 - try saying that car name after a few pints.
LMP1
Jani's in the #1 Rebellion now.

Looking across LMP1, the good lap times are around eight seconds off the early flurry of fast times.
LMP1
A lesser-spotted improvement in LMP1. Nakajima improves the #8 Toyota's best time to a 3m21.287s. That's still only good enough for fifth.
LMP2
Loic Duval had the provisional pole last year, but was subsequently docked his best time for failing to stop at the scrutineer's light. He's currently storming around in the #28 TDS Racing ORECA that was disrupted by throttle-related issues earlier, and has moved up to sixth in class, albeit two seconds off current pace-setters DragonSpeed.
LMP1
Nakajima heads into the pits after that improvement and has a change of front bodywork and a bit of a window clean. He's off out again.

Even though it's dark, that Toyota should climb up the order from fifth.
LMP2
WEC championship outsider DragonSpeed is currently on provisional pole courtesy of one-time grand prix winner Pastor Maldonado, with Signatech Alpine's Nicolas Lapierre second and the #22 United Autosports Ligier currently being driven by Paul di Resta third, thanks to the early lap by Filipe Albuquerque. The #48 IDEC Sport ORECA is fourth with Paul-Loup Chatin, then Romain Dumas fifth in the #30 Duqueine ORECA and Loic Duval sixth in the #28 TDS Racing ORECA.
LMP1
Actually, there's a correction to be made there. Buemi is in the #8 Toyota now.
LMP1
Mike Conway's taken over the #7 Toyota as well.
LMP1
Sirotkin's put in a fairly quick lap considering the current LMP1 pace - touring in 3m23.416s. That's still about six seconds off the car's best time, mind.
LMP1
Speaking of Sirotkin, he's called an end to that brisk night-time stroll and headed into the pits.
Driver Change
And it's Stephane Sarrazin who's taken over from Sirotkin now.
Driver Change
Thomas Laurent, Toyota's new reserve driver is also out on track now.

He's in the #3 Rebellion that's currently seventh.
GTE PRO
Shout-out for Risi Competizione, the one and only non-factory car in the GTE Pro ranks this year. Oliver Jarvis just set the #89 Ferrari's best time, a 3m54.496s, but that's only good enough for dead last right now. The next-slowest car, the #66 Ford, is 0.7s up the road.
LMP1
Jani's set the #1 Rebellion's best time with a 3m20.327s that's moved it up to fourth in LMP1.
LMP1
A suspected gearbox issue was the cause of Hedman's stoppage on track. That car is reading as still stranded on track.
GTE AM
In fact, there are six GTE Am cars faster than the Pro class Risi Ferrari. The quickest, still the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche, is up in 10th overall among the GTEs.

By: Matt Beer

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