Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Live text
WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 76th Le Mans 24 Hours

Live Text

Sort by
Up front, now that the latest round of stop have shaken out, the No.7 Peugeot has a lead of just over three minutes on the No.2 Audi. Villeneuve and Capello continue their fight on the lead lap of the race.
The No.32 Barazi Epsilon is in the garage. The team are focusing their attention on the rear of the car, but are also taking the opportunity to tidy up the front bodywork.
The second placed Audi No.2 begins to haul in the leader once again after the stops.

The gap is still over three minutes between Villeneuve and Capello, but Rinaldo has just turned a 3:29.649 in comparison with Villeneuve's 3:38.344.
Team Essex are back in the pits for fuel. The team also take the opportunity to connect up the laptops as they continue to diagnose a misfire in the Porsche.
Casper Elgaard remains in the Team Essex car as they finally finish their lengthy stop. They have fallen further behind the van Merksteijn entry in LMP2.
Villeneuve responds and increases his pace on the last lap with a 3:28.477, as the No.7 Peugeot continues to lead ahead of the No.2 Audi.

After twelve-and-a-half hours these are the only two cars on the lead lap. Christian Klien runs third in the No.9 Peugeot, with the No.3 and No.1 Audis fourth and fifth respectively.
The No.21 Epsilon Euskadi car has been in the pits with the rear bodywork removed in the pit lane. The sister No.20 has been in the garage for over three hours with the mechanics casually working away.
The No.11 Dome is back in the garage again for yet more repairs. That car has dropped right down to 23rd in the overall classification.
The No.26 Radical AER is back on circuit after attention to its cooling in the garage.
The No.9 Peugeot has been swung in to the garage ...
It is a very quick period of attention to the No.9, with cooling liquid nitrogen pumped in to the sidepods.
While we have been monitoring the incident-strewn machinery in the garages and the battle for the lead, the No.3 Audi came in for regular service and rejoined the race still in fourth place.
Christian Klien is back underway in third after what was perhaps a precautionary stop to keep the temperatures under control on the No.9 Peugeot.
The autosport.com team at the track also expect the No.7 Peugeot to be put in the garage for a cool-down of the system.
The No.7 Peugeot, still leading, is running laps slower and slower. Villeneuve's pace has dropped to 3:36.192, and our autosport.com news team on site tell us that the No.7 car is likely to be wheeled into the garage on its next visit to the pits to be cooled as well.
The No.7 is indeed put in the garage for a cool-down with liquid nitrogen.
The leader arrives in the pits. Villeneuve stays in the car and the machine is as predicted wheeled into the garage. The lead is shrinking all the time.
The No.7 is now cooled, wheeled back out into the pitlane, and Villeneuve rejoins the race.
Jonny Kane in the No.45 Embassy Racing Zytek has been prevented from going out on the circuit again as his lights are faulty.
Antonio Garcia takes to the controls of the 009 Aston Martin as the GT1 leader pits.
Rinaldo Capello has taken the lead of the 24 hours, passing the Peugeot No.7 of Jacques Villeneuve after the recent overheating issue suffered by the ex-leader.
The gap between the first two cars is four seconds after 13 hours of racing. However, the No.2 Audi is due to pit soon for a routine pitstop.
Capello brings the leading car into the pits, handing the top spot back to Villeneuve in the No.7 Peugeot.

The No.2 Audi takes on fuel only, keeps the same tyres, no driver change and Capello rejoins the race and continues to chase the leading Peugeot.

The battle at the front has been scintillating over the last couple of hours, and shows no signs of dying down.
The No.5 Courage-Oreca has been wheeled in to the garage. They were running 8th overall before the stop. The garage halt is quickly over and the car returns to the circuit.
The No.7 Peugeot leads by 54.4 seconds over the No.2 Audi.
The No.1 Audi comes into the pits and rejoins the race still in the fifth position. Marco Werner remains in the cock[pit.
The Van Merksteijn LMP2 leader is in the garage with the front bodywork removed. They currently have a four lap lead over Team Essex.
Reports of possible rainfall in the coming hours continue. Some sources say rain is imminent, while some still maintain that the rain won't arrive until dawn.

The latest rain radar looks pretty conclusive.
Rain is falling in the pit lane!
Moderate rain is now falling on most parts of the course. Track conditions will quickly deteriorate.
The No.5 car has spun out of the Ford Chicane ...
The No.9 Peugeot of Zonta is in for intermediate tyres. The No.8 has also stopped.
Soheil Ayari is driving that No.5 Courage-Oreca Judd and is sitting broadside on the start-finish straight. The ACO marshals do an excellent job in getting Ayari out of a position of danger.
Rain continues to fall as the cars begin to stream in to the pits for replacement tyres.
The No.8 Peugeot took on intermediate tyres as well.
The frantic scramble for rubber continues. The No.3 Audi takes full wet rubber and a driver change.
The No.7 Peugeot is in the pits and the team are bolting full wet tyres onto the lead car.
Villeneuve rejoins the race.
The 63 Corvette pits for full wet tyres as rain continues to fall.
The No.2 Audi is also in. Capello jumps out and Tom Kristensen takes the steering wheel. Full wet tyres are put on and Kristensen rejoins the fight.

By: Geoff Creighton, Emlyn Hughes

Published: