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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours – Race

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The #44 Manor is back on track with Tor Graves at the wheel, a full 12 laps down on the class-leading #46.
Mechanical problem
The #47 KCMG car has ground to a halt!
That's the car that had been running third in class, with Tsugio Matsuda at the wheel. He's stopped on the run between Mulsanne and Indianpolis.
Stopwatch
His last lap was a rapid 3m39.713s. But he's going nowhere now.
Pit Stop
The #1 Porsche has pitted and rejoined.
And now the leading #46 car of Thiriet has hit pit lane, handing the top spot in LMP2 back to the #36 of Richelmi.
Inheriting third after KCMG's misfortune is the #26 G-Drive squad, Rusinov at the wheel right now.
Yellow Flag
We're getting some slow zones, to retrieve the KCMG Oreca.
Pit Stop
#2 Porsche follows #1's lead. Jani is 1m43s behind Sarrazin as he pits.
Breaking news
News straight from KCMG, they've been without telemetry since the first hour when water leaked in to the car. They've been worried something might happen ever since, as they've been 'blind' technically.
Mechanical problem
The #92 Porsche - the one that led in the wet earlier, remember? - is having a lengthy spell in the garage, and is seven laps off the class lead.
Off Track
The moon shines bright now above the Mulsanne skyline. Lovely stuff.
Video
We are seeing a lot of lift and coast from the onboard cameras of the leading LMP1s as they eke out these fuel stints.
Time for a FUN FACTOID (not had one of those in a while): the record for the fewest retirements ever at the 12-hour mark is six, in 2013.

We may have just got ourselves a second with the demise of the #47, but we could be on for a new record unless something crazy happens in the next four hours.
Crash
Big lock-up from one of the Porsches! And it's to avoid a spinning #48 at the Dunlop Chicane.
Bourdais is building a healthy lead at the head of the GTE Pro category, 23 seconds between he and Ford stablemate Dixon at the moment.
Meanwhile, Pedro Lamy in the #98 Aston has Pat Long in his sights for the GTE Am class lead.
And he's done him - Lamy grabs the lead.
Penalty
PENALTY ALERT: Drive-through for ex-Manchester United star Fabien Barthez in the #23 for speeding in a slow zone. Own goal there, you could say.
Quick LMP2 update, Thiriet has closed into 16s of class leader Richelmi, who has made one less stop in the #36.
Laptimes are not as quick as you might have expected post-dusk, a lot of traffic with 58 cars still circulating.
Pit Stop
Richelmi hands over to Lapierre in the #36, so that's Thiriet back in the lead. Rusinov brings in the #26 G-Drive car from third, too.
Pit Stop
#7 Audi heads into the garage. Nose is having alterations made.
Rast is strapped back inside the #26, prepare for the timing screens to light up in LMP2.
The engine cover is also off the #7.
Pit Stop
Some stops in the GTE Pro class, Westbrook is back aboard the #69 Ford. Fisichella pits but stays in the #82 Risi Ferrari.
Quote
Di Grassi is told in the #8 Audi: "We have to make a repair to the car, the #7 is the same."

Audi really has had all the gremlins in this race. So far, Porsche and Toyota have run troublefree.

The #7 Audi rejoins.

The #8 Audi is 1m20s behind the leading #6 Toyota. Will this upcoming pitstop repair put it a lap down?
Muller takes over the GTE Pro class leading Ford from Bourdais, resuming ahead of Fisichella and Westbrook.
Pit Stop
The #8 Audi is in the pits, and pushed into the garage as expected.
The #8 Audi is back on track, that was quite a rapid repair.
Speaking of rapid, there's been a switch of positions between the Porsches a few minutes ago. Jani in the #2 is now running ahead of Bernhard in the #1.
Pit Stop
There's now 5s between the Porsches. But the #6 Toyota held a 1m20s lead before it stopped.
Pit Stop
The #5 Toyota has pitted from fourth place.

Leading positions after 8 Hours:

1) #6 Toyota
2) #2 Porsche
3) #1 Porsche
4) #5 Toyota
5) #8 Audi
6) #13 Rebellion

LMP2:

1) #46 Oreca
2) #36 Alpine
3) #26 Oreca

GTE Pro:

1) #68 Ford
2) #82 Ferrari
3) #69 Ford

GTE Am:

1) #98 Aston Martin
2) #88 Porsche
3) #62 Ferrari
Video
Time for some expert opinion. Alex Wurz has been with us all weekend, and just before sundown he gave James Allen and our technical editor, Giorgio Piola, his thoughts on the early stages of the race...

 

 

Penalty
It gets worse for the #23 Panis-Barthez car: two minutes stop-and-go penalty for slow zone speeding. 

Time for the hammer icon again.
Stopwatch

We praised Conway and Kobayashi earlier, but Sarrazin is driving another beautiful stint here to keep the #6 Toyota clear of the Porsches. He is 22s clear of Jani in the #2, who is 5s ahead of Bernhard in the #1.

Nakajima is 1m47s in arrears of the leader in fourth in #5 Toyota. The lead Audi is the #8 car in fifth, but has gone a lap down.

After eight hours, the #36 Signatech Alpine LMP2 is the only one on the same lap as the class-leading #46 Thiriet By Tds Racing entry.

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