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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 78th Le Mans 24 Hours

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0h10m Franck Montagny eases the #2 Peugeot past Marc Gene in the #1 machine. Peugeots still very much in control at the front of the field in the early stages.
0h12m Peter Kox leads LMGT1 in the Young Driver Aston Martin DBR9 with Oliver Gavin heading the GT2 pack in his Corvette C6.R.
0h14m Montagny is running much quicker than the #3 leading car with Pedro Lamy. They now run together at the head of the pack, with the #2 Peugeot now being caught by Nicolas Lapierre in the #4 entry.

Nigel Mansell has maintained 17th position in the #5 Beechdean Mansell Motorsport car in these opening minutes of the race.
0h15m The GT2 scrap is already hotting up with the #95 Ferrari driven by Jean Alesi in a scrap with Patrick Long in the IMSA Porsche.
0h17m Pedro Lamy is badly held up in the Ford chicane by one of the Ford GTs, but there are bigger problems for Nigel Mansell. He has crashed at the Mulsanne corner.
0h18m The safety car has been deployed.
0h19m The #5 Beechdean Mansell Motorsport car appeared to have a puncture. Possibly unaware of this, Mansell lost control of the Ginetta-Zytek and hit the barrier.
0h20m Mansell is not yet out of the car and a team of ACO marshals are attempting to get the 1992 Formula 1 champion out of the car.
0h22m The #70 Matech Ford has taken the opportunity to pit to have tape removed but is now being held at the end of the pitlane.
0h24m Nigel Mansell is now being carried from the #5 car to a waiting ambulance. There is obviously no news as yet regarding his condition.
0h25m The pack is formed up behind the pair of safety cars as the clean up continues from the crashed #5 car.
0h25m The #009 Lola Aston Martin comes into the pits, as does the #11 Drayson Racing Lola. The #009 is being held at the end of the pitlane to wait for the next safety car to appear.
0h27m The #5 Beechdean Motorsport car is being removed by a tractor as the field remains under the control of the safety cars.
0h29m At the end of the pitlane, the #009 Lola Aston Martin and the Drayson Racing Lola #11 have been held for at least two minutes and will be forced to restart the race behind the third and final safety car.
0h32m The Audi squad has lost out badly in the safety car chaos following Nigel Mansell's accident in the #5.

All three R15s are behind the second safety car, some way behind the leading Peugeots.
0h34m The Beechdean Mansell Motorsport has been cleared and we should be back to racing quite soon, with the four Peugeots now enjoying an early advantage over the Audis.
0h34m There are a handful of lapped GT2 cars behind the four leading Peugeots on the road, with the majority of the pack behind the second safety car.
0h36m The #81 Jaguar XKR5 is in the pits. Reports indicate that Mansell had just passed that car when he suffered the puncture.
0h36m Unsurprisingly, it's a troubled start for the #81 Jaguar, which is undergoing work in the pitlane.
0h37m The #81 Jaguar team are reporting an electrical problem causing a misfire.
0h38m The third safety car has the LMP2 battle in tow, with the Strakka Racing HPD driven by Jonny Kane holding the class lead.
0h38m The ambulance with Nigel Mansell inside is now on its way towards the paddock and the medical centre.
0h39m At the scene of the accident, there is some damage to the armco barrier. It is now being repaired by a team of marshals and course workers.
0h41m Dindo Capello tells Eurosport that he expects to lose half-a-lap immediately when the safety cars peel in and allow racing to resume.

"When you lose such a big gap it is not easy to recover,", said the Audi driver.
0h42m The ambulance carrying Nigel Mansell has arrived in the pitlane.
0h44m The first safety car crosses the start-finish line yet again with several cars in tow behind it. Now we see the #4 Team Oreca Matmut in the pits for routine service. Nicolas Lapierre will continue behind the wheel.
0h45m So Peugeot #3 leads the field behind safety car one, followed by the #2 and #1 machines.
0h46m The #4 Oreca Peugeot has been held at the end of the pitlane as the officials wait for the next available safety car train, as we see the #008 Lola Aston Martin now into the pits.
0h47m Race control states that the safety cars will be withdrawn at the end of this current lap.
0h48m The safety car comes into the pitlane and we are racing once again.
0h49m The #29 Racing Box Lola Judd has spun as the safety cars peeled off to allow racing to resume.
0h50m The factory Peugeots immediately begin ripping through the traffic as the field sorts itself out following that 31-minute safety car period.
0h51m The Team Oreca Matmut #4 entry with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel has dropped all the way down to tenth place after that stop in the pits.
0h52m Lapierre fell back in the second safety car queue, and thus back behind the three Audi R15s.
0h54m Now we have the three factory Peugeots leading the three Audi R15 Plus cars. The Audis are almost one minute back.

In seventh place we now have the #14 Kolles Audi R10 being driven by Christophe Bouchut.
0h56m Strakka Racing #42 still holds a narrow lead over the #26 Highcroft Racing entry as the LM P2 battle continues. They are 14th and 15th overall.
0h59m Marcel Fassler brings the #8 R15 into the pits for the first Audi stop of the day. No driver change, just fuel and tyres
0h59m Unofficial petrol class leader, the #6 ORECA-AIM comes in for its first stop of the day. Soheil Ayari heads back out
1h00m Franck Montagny closed right up to the back of leader Pedro Lamy, then dived into the pits in the #2 Peugeot
1h00m One hour down, 23 to go.

By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton, Steven English, Sam Tremayne

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