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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours – Race

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Jani pulls clear, well ahead of Bernhard and Conway.
We will finally have some proper racing! 
Mechanical problem
#33 Eurasia Oreca is wheeled into the garage.
Safety car in this lap! Get ready, everyone...
Safety car
Lights still on the safety car, the track is damp – rather than wet – on the run to Indianapolis.
Pit Stop
The second ESM Ligier, the #30, pitted on that lap.
Video
Judge the conditions for yourself on Ford's onboard cameras...

 

 

Stopwatch
Priaulx sets the fastest lap now, a 6m28.300s.
Safety car
LOTS of jeering from the crowd at the Dunlop Esses.
Quote
Bernhard reports from the #1 Porsche: "It's drying quite quickly now."
The #12 Rebellion has left the pits – it has lost a couple of laps.
Pit Stop
Some more pitstops to update you with: #49 Shank Ligier, #33 Eurasia Oreca, #50 Larbre Corvette, #62 Ferrari and #27 SMP all stop on that lap.
That'll be helped by not being right behind the safety car after he pitted, of course.
Stopwatch
The fastest lap saga takes another odd twist as Mikkel Mac sets the pace in the #60 Ferrari, a 7m00m585s for the Dane.
Quote
Duval is told "The Race Director is considering [starting the race proper] in the next few laps".
Off Track
Marshals busy themselves, brushing water off the kerbs.
Quote
Actor and GTE team boss Patrick Dempsey, who's not driving this year: "In this weather I'm quite happy to be in the dry! It's been nice to step back and work on my other career and my family. I think Brad [Pitt] had a good ride in the prototype [with Alex Wurz] – good for him to have this perspective."
They're just as impatient as we are for this thing to get started properly.
The fans are angry! Jeering and thumbs down from the main grandstand as the cars come by...
Conditions are now much better than on Thursday for qualifying, here's a video that shows just how bad the conditions were – keep watching until the end for Dalmas in the safety car!

 

 

Stopwatch
Fastest lap update - it's now Vincent Capillaire in the #22 Ligier (!) on a 7m38.177s.
They're expecting the race to go green soon.
Pit Stop
No doubt gambling on a "free" pitstop.
Pit Stop
GTE Am leader, the #61 Clearwater Ferrari, has pitted.
Race Control has instructed the safety car to "pick up speed". They should get Yannick Dalmas back in it!
There's 180 drivers in this race (well, 179 after Cooper MacNeil's exit) – and Alex Wurz had some fun with them earlier this week...

 

 

Quote
Priaulx reports a "small vibration" from the rear of his car. That's the #67 Ford that's already lost two laps.
Stopwatch
Fastest lap of the race so far is - bizarrely - Rene Rast in the LMP2 class-leading #26 G-Drive Oreca, a 7m38.626s last time round for him.
Video
Lovely helicopter shot of the #2 Porsche on the Mulsanne straight. At this speed the heli can keep up!
Pit Stop
The #60 Ferrari of Mikkel Mac is in too. New set of wets going on the Formula Racing GTE Am machine.
Mechanical problem
The car goes into the garage. Oh dear. It was running eighth.
Pit Stop
Lap three in the books and Heidfeld pits the #12 Rebellion.
Quote
Conway on conditions from the #6 Toyota: "Still too early, visibility is very poor."
Cumming is by far the slowest driver in the #31, so getting some of his hours in behind the safety car is probably behind the thinking.
The #31 ESM Ligier has dropped to 58th thanks to the pitstop for Derani to hand over to Cumming.
Sun
Weather forecast update: once this shower clears (supposedly in 20 minutes or so), no more rain is expected for the remainder of the race.
Quote
Mark Webber, pre-race: "We know they don't hand the victories out around here. We're ready to go, the car is immaculately-prepared. We cross our fingers that Le Mans will give us a bit of luck. We respect the competition and we respect the race."

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