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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours – Race

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Wow, that was close! The #25 LMP2 almost put race leader Conway into orbit on the Mulsanne Straight. Totally didn't see the Toyota, which was forced off track and through a puddle.
Pit Stop
#2 Porsche pits. It had risen to third in the pitstop cycle, but it's true position is a distant fifth.
Pit Stop
Fuel only, no new tyres for #2.
Quote
Leader Conway is asked whether he wants to double stint his tyres too: "Yeah, should be OK," he replies.
Pit Stop
Toyota's decision to stay out longer on its rain tyres is paying some long-term dividends now – as it means they can stop later now. Conway pits from the lead.
Pit Stop
Conway rejoins with the minimum of fuss and delay. The #5 car pitted right behind him. No new tyres for that either.
Hartley regains the lead then, we'll get a read on the gap next time by.
Pit Stop
GTE Pro-leading Porsche has just stopped too.
Pit Stop

Some interesting pitstop times so far for the leaders...

Porsche #1: 2m20s
Toyota #6: 2m32s
Audi #8: 2m35s

Hartley's lead is 4.404s over Conway. Duval is 6s back in the Audi.

Toyota #5 is 30s off the pace, with Porsche #2 42s back.

Here's an interesting view of the start, in 360 degrees...

 

In Brad Pitt news, he's still here – just had a look from the Audi pitwall. Looks like he's enjoying himself.
In LMP2, the #44 Manor is 21s clear of the Thiriet by TDS, with Strakka running a strong third.
Video

While the race settles down into a nice rhythm, there was another race today – the 'Road to Le Mans' event for LMP3 and GT3 cars.

We've been getting exclusive blogs from TV star Martin Brundle, and here's his insight into today's race...

 

Pit Stop
A small fire in the #99 pit, but the Beechdean Aston Martin returns without further incident.
Keeping an eye on the gap between the leaders, Hartley is 3.368s clear of Conway. Duval is 7s off the lead. It continues to be Porsche, Toyota and Audi at the front.
Close battle in LMP2 for fourth place, between Rast's pole-winning G-Drive and last year's winners, the KCMG car of Richard Bradley.
Sun
That threat of rain a while ago has completely disappeared – wonderful sunshine right now.
Conway got stuck in traffic there, lost a heap of time to Hartley (ahead) and Duval (now right behind).
There's been plenty of change in GTE Pro in the last pit window, with the expected Ford v Ferrari battle now in full flow.

Westbrook in the #69 Ford leads the #51 Ferrari of Calado by 3.5s, then it's Fisichella's #82 Ferrari and Muller's #68 Ford.
The #92 Porsche lost time as Earl Bamber took over from Makowiecki, that car is down to P6 behind Bird's #71 Ferrari.
It's still Porsche domination in GTE Am, but it's Henzler back in command from Long and Keen.
Pit Stop
So, a couple of hours into the race, and the only real casualties of the early stages have been the #7 Audi – forced to change a turbo – and the #67 Ford, which has suffered gearbox issues from the start.
Mechanical problem
Having said that, the ByKolles is in the garage now.
Stopwatch
The #7 Audi is 5 laps down, just making a pitstop now. Treluyer had been storming along though, his best lap a 3m23.524s. That's the fastest lap of the race, outright.
Stopwatch
Times are tumbling now as the track rubbers in. Leader Hartley sets 3m24.965s; Conway 3m24.868s; Duval 3m25.412s.
Quote
Kamui Kobayashi, #6 Toyota: "We're looking pretty good, we need to keep going and see what happens. But we're in good shape. We knew from practice we'd be quite strong. Let's see what we can do."
Fisichella passes Calado for P2 in GTE Pro, and is now under three seconds from Westbrook's class-leading Ford.
Crash
Brief spin for Memo Rojas in the #41 Greaves Ligier at Arnage, but he's going again.
Stopwatch
Buemi joins the quick-lap party in the #5 Toyota, a 3m24.183s is his fastest lap so far. He's 26s off the lead.
Conway is down to 1s off the lead again. Gap fluctuating a lot in traffic right now.
Stopwatch
Top three cars separated by 2.5s. Game on. Again.
Breaking news
Here's a reminder of the full entry list, by the way.
Stopwatch
Conway is flying, 3m23.010s.
Pit Stop
#8 Audi pits from third.
Pit Stop
Calado brings in the #51 Ferrari from third in the GTE Pro class.
Duval stays in the #8 Audi. So a quadruple stint for Duval, right from the start.
Pit Stop
Hartley pits after a rapid in-lap in the #1 Porsche.

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