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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours – Race

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Hartley stays in, no new tyres.
Stopwatch
Dumas has just set the #2 Porsche's fastest lap, a 3m23.707s.
Stopwatch
So if we look at the fastest lap times overall, Hartley leads the way on 3m23.010s, 0.247s quicker than Conway.
Gianmaria Bruni steps aboard the #51 car for the first time today, Alessandro Pier Guidi will get his chance later on.
Muller up to third in class, by the way, after that #51 changeover, ahead of Bird and Bamber.
Quote

Nico Prost on the #12 Rebellion's early problem: "We had a small issue with a sensor on the engine, and lost about three laps. It would have been worse if it had not been for the safety car."

The car is running 43rd right now, five laps down.

It's a temporary Toyota 1-2 again right now, but the real picture is different.
Pit Stop
#2 Porsche pits.
Frantic action in GTE Pro, as Fisichella's Ferrari hassles Westbrook's Ford for the lead!
The battle briefly broken up by a couple of interloping LMP2 cars.
Breaking news
Our WEC expert Sam Smith thinks Porsche's strategy is playing out just as his pre-race analysis suggested it would. Clever clogs!
Quick LMP2 update, Rast has brought in the #26 G-Drive car out of sequence. Merhi in the #44 with a healthy 40s buffer over Beche in the #46.
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Let's have some 'Wurz of wisdom' – the now-retired Toyota WEC star is giving us the benefit of his thoughts this weekend.

Alex Wurz: "Qualifying was not a real showdown, because of the conditions. We only had the cars go out during Q1 on Wednesday. Every car had traffic so the times are not a real reflection of performance. Nevertheless you can see the teams are close together, that there’s no runaway favourite."

Pit Stop
#6 Toyota pits from the lead.
Pit Stop
Conway is staying aboard, again no fresh tyres. As usual, #5 pits right behind him.
Hartley JUST retakes the lead into Dunlop. A GT Porsche helps him out in blocking Conway.
Nick Tandy in the #91 Porsche picks off Pla's Ford for P6 in GTE.
Pit Stop

Latest cumulative pitstop times:

#1 Porsche: 3m28s
#6 Toyota: 3m41
#8 Audi: 3m44

Stopwatch
Hartley leads Conway by 3.56s, third-placed Duval is now 15.2s off the lead.
Mechanical problem
Westbrook has brought in the #69 Ford from the lead in GTE Pro, so it's now Fisichella from Muller.

Bruni meanwhile appears to be stuck in the garage...
Mechanical problem
Crash
Spin! It's the Shank Racing Ligier.
Yellow Flag
Yellows out at Arnage for that spin.
Mechanical problem
Another car dropping down the order is the #43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier, which Albuquerque was driving. That's in the garage.
John Pew was at the wheel, unsurprisingly.
Stopwatch
The #13 Rebellion sets its fastest lap of the race in Impretori's hands, 3m28.692s.
Pit Stop
Fisichella in from the lead of GTE Pro.
Pit Stop
Bird brings in the #71 Ferrari too, that was running third. Muller back to the lead.
Mechanical problem
Confirmation that the #26 G-Drive car got a puncture, hence Rast's premature pitstop.
Toni Vilander and Davide Rigon climb aboard the respective #82 and #71 Ferraris.
Quote
Richard Westbrook on the start of the race: "I think we coulda gone green earlier, we were on the full wet – that screwed us. The car's not bad, we're fighting with the Ferraris – who woulda thought! It should be better for us when the track rubbers in."
Stopwatch
Leader Hartley laps in a rapid 3m23.230s. The gap has extended to 8.456s.
Beche and Bradley are nose-to-tail in the LMP2 battle for second - albeit 47s behind leader Merhi...
Stopwatch
Duval is now over 20s behind the leading pace in the third-placed Audi.
Pit Stop
Leading #44 car gets stuck behind the Garage 56 entry of quadruple amputee Sausset at the pitlane entry.
Pit Stop
Vilander now at the wheel of the #82 Risi Ferrari.
Stopwatch
Lead gap is now over 10s. Are we seeing the true pace of the Porsche 919 Hybrid now?
After three hours, the #68 Ganassi Ford GT and #78 KCMG Porsche are leading the GTE categories.
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Let's have some 'Wurz of wisdom' on the Porsche's pace.

Alex Wurz: "Porsche will be trying to pull a gap at the start. If they can maintain a 1.5s/lap advantage, they will be hard to beat.

"I personally don’t think they can, no-one has tyre wear data and usually Toyota is good on the long runs."

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