2022 24 Hours of Le Mans Live Blog

Hour 20:19: Toyota's intra-team battle at the front is still alive, but that window is closing. Kamui Kobayashi has that gap down under 3 minutes, cutting about a minute off what that lead was when the No. 7 first suffered its hybrid system issues earlier in the morning.

Hour 19:35: After half a stint under green and another round of stops, Gianmaria Btuni and Porsche No. 91 now lead in GTE Pro.

In LMP2, the safety car cut what was once a full lap lead into just two minutes. That leaves a narrow window for the No. 28 JOTA entry to catch the No. 38 JOTA car that has led the race all day, but it is the first window in more than 12 hours.

Hour 19:02: Back to green. All eyes on that GTE Pro battle.

Hour 18:47, Safety Car 1: The No. 31 LMP2 car of WRT, previously running around the top five in class, has crashed in between Indianapolis and Arnage. That's a tricky place to both recover a car and repair barriers, so the first full-length safety car of the race has finally been called.

When the race restarts, that should bring the No. 51 Ferrari and No. 91 Porsche together on track in the battle for the GTE Pro lead.

Hour 18:17: Francois Perrodo, for what it's worth, has gone from the AF Corse LMP2 garage to the Corvette Racing garage to apologize to the team directly for the crash with the No. 64 car.

Hour 18:00: We're at the three-quarter marker and, with the No. 64 Corvette now destroyed, the closest battle for the lead in any class is down to the 20 second gap between the No. 51 Ferrari and No. 91 Porsche.

Here's the replay of the incident between the Corvette and the AF Corse LMP2 car. Perrodo over-corrected on the straight without lifting, seemingly completely unaware a GT car was next to him. The result was a brutal side-check and a destroyed GT leader.

Hour 17:50: The No. 64 Corvette has just been wrecked from the net GTE Pro lead, while battling the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari for the on-track lead.

The car was simply door slammed by Francois Perrodo, driver of the No. 83 LMP2 car also run by AF Corse, on a straightaway after the first Mulsanne chicane. The No. 64 Corvette is heavily damaged and Corvette Racing's day is over.

With all-pro GT racing leaving Le Mans after this year, this means that this iteration of the C8.R will not win a 24 Hours of Le Mans in class with Corvette Racing.

Hour 17:28: Finally, a milestone in LMP2. The No. 38 JOTA entry is a full lap ahead of the No. 28 JOTA and No. 9 Prema cars in second and third in class. That No. 38 has been the dominant force in LMP2 all day long.

Hour 17:15: The No. 36 Signatech Alpine, the grandfathered-in LMP1 car racing in Hypercar, has crashed relatively hard in the Porsche Curves while working past lapped traffic. That car is well off the overall pace after struggling in the opening hours. It will require some help with recovery, but is not necessarily done for the day.

Hour 17:05: A very encouraging last hour for the No. 7 Toyota, which is putting in competitive times and has not suffered from any further hybrid issues. With the No. 8 still without any issues at all, Toyota's race looks back under control.

Hour 16:47: With slow zones now encompassing nearly half the track, the No. 51 Ferrari is finally in the garage for a brake change. The team will save some track position with the well-timed stop, but should still fall well behind the leading No. 64 Corvette it had been battling in GTE Pro.

Hour 16:39: In the biggest crash of the day, the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche has spun under braking and hit the wall hard ahead of the first Mulsanne chicane. That car has sustained significant front end damage and will be done for the day. Driver Brendan Iribe was running third in class. This will just be another slow zone, not a safety car. The day still has not seen a single full safety car stoppage.

Hour 16:30: The no. 75 Iron Lynx Ferrari has also blown a right-front tire after a massive lock-up and run through the gravel in Mulsanne Corner. Like the No. 92 Porsche, the flat has destroyed the car's bodywork. Unlike the No. 92 Porsche, that car was not leading its class.

Hour 16:18: If you watch IMSA, you might be interested in the battle for fifth in LMP2. That's between the No. 37 Cool Racing and No. 5 Penske cars, but, more importantly, it's between former Penske Acura teammates Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron. Taylor has stayed on with Acura in advance of a new LMDh program starting in 2023, while Cameron has stayed with Penske as they scale up to become Porsche's factory operation next season. For now, they're just racing at Le Mans in LMP2 for the experience.

Hour 15:57: While all the Toyota drama was happening, the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche that is trading the GTE Am lead with the No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin on another strategy spun in the Porsche curves. Those are the fastest corners on the track, but driver Thomas Merrill kept it out of the wall. That car has nonetheless fallen down the order in class.

Hour 15:53: Toyota No. 7 returns to the track after another power cycle in the pit lane. Miraculously.

That car has lost a lap on the overall lead, which is no longer a competitive intra-team battle for Toyota. No. 8 may now choose to pursue a more conservative strategy, or the No. 8 might choose to push harder to build a larger gap in case there is another issue later. Based on previous pace, the maximum gap these cars can build on the Glickenhaus No. 709 is five or six laps.

Hour 15:47: Catastrophe. The No. 7 Toyota, the overall leader, has stopped on track out of Arnage to attempt a hard reset. It gets moving again, then stops again. Driver Jose Maria Lopez gets back on track after the second attempt at a full reset, but that has cost that car the lead and a minute of time on track to the No. 8 Toyota and, worse, indicates a potential issue that could pop up again and derail their race for good.

The car darts into the pit lane, where a light signals a hybrid system issue that makes the car unsafe to touch.

Toyota has four laps on the lead Glickenhaus car. They may need every one of them to retain their 1-2.

Hour 15:45: The No. 92 is finally back in the pit lane. Even if the car has suffered no other damage, it has lost a lap on the GTE Pro field.-

Hour 15:42: After the No. 92's crushing blowout, the No. 64 Corvette leads GTE Pro by 25 seconds. The No. 91 Porsche, the only shot left in the Porsche arsenal unless the other two leaders lose a lap or two of their own, is a minute behind the leaders.

But the No. 51 Ferrari team seems to be setting up for a brake change, which should give the Corvette a sizable lead and throw the Ferrari back into the clutches of the other Porsche. A lot of racing left to run in what is currently the most competitive class on track.

Hour 15:40: A massive and sudden shift in GTE Pro: The leading No. 92 Porsche has a blown right-front tire and no front bodywork. A replay shows Christensen went off at the Mulsanne corner and then blew his tire with such ferocity that the entire front bumper was immediately blown off along with both front fenders. The surprisingly clean break means the car should be able to limp back and stay in the race, but Porsche will lose a huge fuel advantage that gave it an effective lead in class and should fall at least a few minutes behind the battle for the class win.

Hour 15:35: One odd consequence of later starts over the past few years is that there's more than eight hours of this left. At this point, only the GTE classes seem to be in play.

Hour 15:06: A drive-through penalty has been handed down for the No. 31 WRT LMP2 entry. That car is running third in class even after its spin.

Hour 15:00: Toyota's theme of the race continues as the No. 7, which gained a significant lead on slow zone timing, now leads by just 15 seconds as the No. 8 looks faster. No matter which car is behind, that car seems to be Toyota's best. With the gap to third now bordering on four laps, those cars may have a real shot to race each other hard for the win in the closing laps.

Hour 14:45: The No. 31 WRT LMP2 car, one of maybe seven cars in contention for second in that class, has spun after making contact with the No. 10 Vector Sport LMP2 car at Indianapolis. Both join without any real issue, but that could warrant a penalty for the WRT entry.

Hour 14:34: The No. 79 Porsche just stopped on its last time by the pit lane, so that solves the battle in GTE Am: The No. 33 Aston Martin has a fuel advantage, but only leads by 30 seconds when the No. 79 Porsche stops first. In other words, the Aston Martin looks to be about as likely to cut a stop off the Porsche as the Porsche is to cut a stop's worth of time off the Aston Martin.

Hour 14:32: AF Corse No. 51 stops, indicating that they're 10 minutes ahead of the No. 63 Ferrari but 30 minutes behind the No. 92 Porsche on fuel. This car will need tires and a driver change, so it will also lose some time to the other two on track with the longer stop. All three remain the clear contenders in GTE Pro.

Hour 14:30: Porsche No. 79 is back to the GTE Am lead, where it and the No. 33 Aston Martin appear to be on different strategies. How different? Unclear, as the ACO does not share a timing-and-scoring system that will tell you when a car pit most recently and the world feed broadcast does not show the GTE Am class unless someone is crashing.

Hour 14:22: Corvette No. 64 pits, handing the class lead back to the Ferrari and Porsche. That means the Corvette is something like 40 minutes off-cycle from the Porsche, with the Ferrari falling somewhere in between. With fuel stints around an hour and the Porsche team stopping at the top of the hour for their brake change, that's a worrying sign for Corvette Racing.

Hour 14:20: The No. 92 Porsche, aggressively chasing those GTE Pro leaders from a second back, has a bad lock-up into the Mulsanne corner and nearly crashes into the back of the No. 51 Ferrari. Driver Michael Christensen avoids the crash and rolls through the gravel trap without incident, but he's just lost a ton of time on track.

Hour 14:17: That strong run could only go for so long. Tommy Milner moves the No. 64 Corvette to the GTLM lead. If you were watching on MotorTrend TV, this happened during a Frank Thomas testosterone booster ad. In keeping with tradition for races going into the overnight hours on cable, I guess.

Hour 14:12: The battle for the GTE Pro lead is, by far, the best battle on track. The No. 51 Ferrari is holding a narrow leading with double-stinted tires and no brake change reported, then the No. 64 Corvette with tires at the end of a single stint and an early brake change, then the No. 92 Porsche with fresh tires from a recent stop and brakes changed during that stop. Despite being the slowest of the three in qualifying, Alessandro Pier Guidi still has the Ferrari in front of that group.

Hour 14:07: The No. 65 Panis racing LMP2 car, currently being driven by Nicholas Jamin, is in a wall and beached in gravel in a corner runoff. That car had been running third in LMP2 but will now fall well down the order.

Hour 14:05: The No. 92 Porsche comes out in third in GTE Pro. Coincidentally, that car is in third by just two seconds. The No. 51 Ferrari leads the No. 64 Corvette just ahead. Somehow, the GTE Pro field always find each other.

The Porsche has a significant fuel advantage on both cars and, as far as the broadcast has shown, only the Porsche and Corvette have completed a brake change so far. Corvette's swap was very early and made necessary by what seemed to be a parts failure, but that car should still be good to go to the end.

Hour 14:02: The No. 65 Panis Racing entry has moved into third in LMP2 at some point, moving past both the No. 5 Penske and No. 28 JOTA entries. The Penske car, which passed the JOTA car but lost a spot to the Panis car, stays stagnant in fourth. As ever, they're all just about a lap behind the class leader.

Hour 14:00: Porsche No. 92, the dominant force in GTE Pro, has just been wheeled behind the garage for a brake change. After a stunningly quick stop, that car loses about a minute in a procedure the No. 64 Corvette already went through early last night.

Hour 13:58: Over the last hour, the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche has fallen from its class lead to third in GTE Am. Still just a second behind the second-placed No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche, but both are half a minute behind the leading No. 33 TF Sport Aston Martin. The No. 98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin seems to be the only other key contender in that class as they run right now.

Hour 13:48: At some point in the last cycle of stops, the No. 64 Corvette again lost second in GTE Pro to the No. 51 Ferrari. Both remain well behind the class-leading No. 92 Porsche.

Hour 13:40: Inception Racing driver Alexander West is behind the wall with that car, where cameras have spotted him waiting patiently while leaning on the No. 59 Ferrari. It's that time around sunrise where the daylight reveals plenty of abandoned cars.

Hour 13:20: Toyota No. 7 back to the front in the overall race. That is the nominal lead car for Toyota, but the pair seem to be allowed to race one another if they do it gently.

Hour 13:10: Ferrari No. 59, a GTE Am car from Inception racing, is stopped on track. That'll be a slow zone for recovery in the Porsche Curves, but should not be a safety car.

Hour 12:58: The No. 35 LMP2 team entered by a team just called Ultimate has crashed at fairly high speeds in the Porsche curves. It is the day's first real crash, but driver Jean-Baptiste Lahaye is able to limp home with one headlight for repairs. Still no safety cars after nearly 13 hours of running.

Hour 12:42: After switching to their silver-rated driver Emmanuel Collard, Penske's No. 5 has fallen out of the battle for second in LMP2. That car now runs seventh, clearing the way for Prema and Cool Racing to hold second and third in class. This entire group is, once again, nearly a lap behind the LMP2 leader.

Hour 12:35: The battle at the front is once again on between the two Toyotas, which seem to keep finding each other every 90 minutes. The No. 8 still leads the No. 7, but Kamui Kobayashi has that gap down to just 3 seconds.

Hour 12:05: The No. 27 CD Sport Ligier, the only non-Oreca entry in LMP2, is back in the pits after briefly losing an entire wheel at speed. The car never actually crashed on its half-lap with only three wheels, so I guess it could have gone worse?

Hour 12:00, halfway: As expected, this has been among the most quiet 24 Hours of Le Mans in quite some time. Also as expected, Toyota's overall lead is safe. The big surprises of the day are not the leaders in the LMP2 and GTE Pro classes, but the size of their leads.

Toyota's No. 8 GR010 leads a 1-2 by 2 laps overall and in Hypercar, with that car just 18 seconds ahead of the No. 18. The No. 709 Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG 007 runs in third.

in LMP2, JOTA's No. 38 Oreca leads the field by nearly an entire lap. The No. 9 Prema, No. 31 WRT, No. 28 JOTA, and No. 5 Penske cars complete the top five, where they all find themselves in a spirited on-track battle for second.

The No. 92 Porsche is in control in GTE Pro, where Corvette is down to just one car after an early suspension failure. Their No. 64 is a minute and a half behind the class leader, with the No. 51 Ferrari leading the class podium. In GTE Am, the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche leads the No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche. Two Aston Martins, the No. 98 Northwest AMR and No. 33 TF Sport entries, are also in contention in that group.

Hour 11:58: Another change in position in LMP2, where the No. 31 WRT car is back by the No.5 Penske car for third in class. Oliver Rasmussen is the driver completing the pass.

Hour 11:45: Second in LMP2 is about to be in play: Penske's Felipe Nasr has the No. 5 just four seconds behind the No. 9 Prema car and is gaining significantly every lap. Both of those cars are about a lap behind the LMP2-leading No. 38 JOTA car.

Hour 11:28: Not much going on out there. Might be a good time to point out that it is 3:30 AM local time at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Hour 11:15: The best battles on track continue to be those for position behind the leader in LMP2. The No. 5 Penske entry is up to third after clearing the No. 65 Panis Racing car. That brings the LMP2 podium back to where it was a couple of hours into the race: Jota No. 38, Prema No. 9, Penske No. 5.

Hour 10:43: The Toyotas are now about three laps ahead of the leading Glickenhaus car. In other words, unless the No. 709 SCG 007 has some serious speed in reserve, Toyota would need more than six laps (or 20 minutes of delays) to both of its cars to lose this race overall.

Hour 10:20: A change for second in LMP2, where the No. 9 Prema entry is past the No. 31 WRT car. Both are more than two and a half minutes behind the class leader.

Hour 10:12: Corvette Racing, the dominant force in GTE Pro in the race's opening hours, still has the No. 64 left. That car has chased down the No. 51 Ferrari over the past ten laps and has just moved ahead to second in class. The No. 92 Porsche that leads GTE Pro is still some 90 seconds up the road.

Hour 10:02: The No. 30 Duqueine Team LMP2 entry spun on the exit of the Mulsanne corner and parked perpendicular to the field, but the car was able to re-fire and the driver was able to complete a seven-or-so-point turn without being hit by anyone exiting the corner before going again. Disaster averted.

Hour 09:58: The overall gap is back up to nearly 30 seconds. The No. 7 Toyota had previously lost 30 seconds in a slow zone and made almost all of it back before falling back again.

Hour 09:20: The lead in LMP2 is 2 minutes. Still that No. 38 JOTA entry up front. An absolutely dominant day in what was supposed to be the most competitive class in the race. Behind the No. 38, it largely has been.

Hour 08:58: A massive slow zone to clean up a coolant spill from Tetre Rouge to the first Mulsanne chicane has caught out the No. 7 Toyota, which now trails by 30 seconds in the overall battle. These slow zone rules do this in this race all of the time, as do the segmented safety cars we will see if the entire race needs to be slowed at any point. Are we sure this system is any better than traditional single safety cars that eliminate gaps among cars on the lead lap entirely?

Hour 08:54: If you're wondering why GTE Am has not come up often today, a big part of that is the dominant form of the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche. That car has a minute-and-a-half lead, still short of the near-lap the No. 38 JOTA LMP2 car has on its class

Hour 08:36: A scary moment for Toyota, whose race can only really be derailed by reliability issues or damage on track. The No. 7, running second, just locked up into a slow zone and came dangerously close to hitting the leading No. 8 before avoiding a crash that would have changed the course of this race in an instant.

Hour 08:25: Michael Fassbender is beached in the gravel, the second time off track of the stint for the X-Men star. Unlike the last one, this spin is both minor and not the result of another car barreling into his No. 93 GTE Am Porsche.

Hour 08:08: Yet another overall lead change in the pit lane. Toyota No. 8 leads again in what has been a close internal battle all race.

Hour 08:00: The No. 63 Corvette, still behind the wall, apparently suffered a suspension failure:

Hour 07:47: Another overall lead change between the two Toyotas, with the No. 7 being allowed past the No. 8 on a straight after making up a ten second gap over the past hour. Those two cars already have a nearly three lap lead on third.

Hour 07:26: The No. 708 Glickenhaus car is back in the pit lane with what seems to be a major suspension issue causing it to crawl at an angle down the pits. That will require a trip to the garage.

Hour 07:18: A major development in the overall battle: The No. 708 SCG 007, the leading Glickenhaus car and only non-Toyota on the overall lead lap, has spun and stalled at Tetre Rouge. Replay shows a very high speed spin, but only very slight contact with the wall. The car is back going after a long delay.

Corvette No. 63, meanwhile, remains in the garage.

Hour 07:10: The No. 93 Proton GTE Am Porsche is hard in the gravel after some contact with another car in the corner before Indianapolis. Notably, actor and Le Mans rookie Michael Fassbender is behind the wheel of that car right now.

Hour 07:02: Another disaster for Corvette Racing, whose leading No. 63 C8.R has suffered a right-rear puncture. That car is safely back in the pits, but it has fallen to sixth in class and has some lasting damage. It joins the No. 52 Ferrari in having a recent puncture, while the No. 51 Ferrari and No. 91 Porsche have both been forced to serve drive-through penalties for track limit infractions. The No. 64 Corvette came in for a brake change earlier in what has been a very busy early evening for GTE Pro.

The No. 63 is now in the garage undergoing repairs. The No. 92 Porsche now leads GTE Pro.

Hour 06:44: Toyota No. 8 retakes the overall lead in the pit lane. Those two GR010s now have a three-minute lead on the third-placed SCG 007.

Hour 06:40: The No. 52 Ferrari, running sixth in GTE Pro, has nursed a flat right-front nearly half a lap after a major issue in Indianapolis. That car now has some significant splitter damage, too. That car makes it back to the pit lane and will fall to sixth in class.

Hour 06:25:The No. 64 Corvette, running second in GTE Pro, dives into the garage for a quick repair on the right-rear brakes. That car comes out about two minutes later, now falling to sixth in class. The No. 63 Corvette still leads by about 35 seconds.

Hour 05:51: The No. 91 Porsche, fourth in GTE Pro, has been assessed a penalty for exceeding track limits. The No. 51 Ferrari was previously handed a similar penalty.

Hour 05:40: The No. 38 JOTA car has now checked out to a lead of almost 2 minutes in LMP2, a gap nearly as large as the overall lead.

Hour 05:15: Finally, an overall lead change between the Toyotas. Kamui Kobayashi and the No. 7 have moved to the race lead over Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 8 car.

Hour 05:09: The No. 5 Penske LMP2 entry has just changed nose structures. That car is in second in class, but over a minute behind the leading JOTA car.

Hour 05:04: The No. 64 Corvette is now back to second after current driver Alexander Sims completed an aggressive inside move in the second chicane. Back to a 1-2 for Corvette Racing in GTE Pro.

Hour 04:49: The gap from the No. 63 Corvette to the No. 92 Porsche in GTE Pro is now a hefty 45 seconds, but the No. 64 Corvette has fallen back to third, just behind that Porsche, during the most recent cycle of stops. It is the first time the Corvette 1-2 has been broken all day.

Hour 04:26: A massive penalty for the No. 1 Richard Mille-branded Signatech LMP2 car, which will have to serve a one minute stop-and-hold for a pit lane blend violation resulting in a car going off track. That car was running fourth in LMP2 and eighth overall.

Hour 04:17: A great battle for second in LMP2, where the No. 5 Team Penske entry is up to second after passing both the No. 1 Signatech and No. 32 WRT entries. That car is still behind the No. 38 JOTA entry.

Hour 04:07: The No. 36 is out of the pit lane after about 12 minutes of work. That car is three laps behind the overall leaders.

Hour 03:58: The Toyotas are, surprisingly, still directly together on track. They are just a minute ahead of the lead Glickenhaus car, a slightly smaller gap than the one they had an hour ago.

Hour 03:55: The No. 36 Alpine is now in the garage with a clutch issue. That car has had a disastrous opening stretch and separately appears to be notably slower than the Glickenhaus cars it is fighting for what is currently the last spot on the overall podium.

Hour 03:45: A battle between the overall leading Toyotas, with the No. 8 of Brendon Hartley leading the No. 7 of Jose Maria Lopez. Given that these two cars will win this race on pace unless they suffer an issue on track, this could be the battle for the overall win.

Hour 03:28: After switching to silver driver Niklas Kruetten, the No. 37 Cool Racing car is down to seventh in LMP2 from third. The No. 9 Prema car, previously running third, is now down to fifth.

Hour 03:09: The No. 36 Alpine is really struggling for pace. The No. 709, which went behind the wall for a minor issue earlier, just caught and passed it on track

Hour 03:03: The No. 37 Cool Racing car is now up to third after a fantastic outside-inside move by Ye Yifei on the No. 9 Prema car.

Hour 02:58: The No. 57 Kessel Racing GTE Am Ferrari survives a massive, full-speed off in the Ford chicanes. That car is running sixth in class and continues on without an issue.

Hour 02:45: For those keeping score, the No. 7 Toyota is a minute and a half ahead of the Glickenhaus No. 708 in the battle for the overall win. As expected, that race is not competitive at all.

Hour 02:35: The No. 37 car is now up to fourth in LMP2. That may not seem all that interesting on its own, but that team is called Cool Racing. A team called Cool Racing is up to fourth in LMP2. Incredible.

Hour 02:18: The No. 5 Team Penske LMP2 car is clear into second in class. That car is a warm-up effort for both Team Penske and its lead drivers, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, ahead of next year's Hypercar tie-up with Porsche.

Hour 02:05: Jim Glickenhaus says that the No. 709 Glickenhaus entry's brief trip behind the wall was precautionary after seeing a sensor issue on telemetry. That car runs sixth overall, a lap behind the overall leaders.

Hour 01:48: The No. 709 Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus car is in the garage, but all the bodywork is still on. Should be a quick repair of some sort, but we'll have to wait to see more.

Hour 01:43: The No. 51 Ferrari gets a drive-through penalty for a track limits violation. That car was running fifth in GTE Pro, leading the Ferrari group.

Hour 01:35: A lead change in GTE Am, where the No. 79 WeatherTech Porsche is past the No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche on the inside through Indianapolis. 911s now run first through sixth in that sub-class.

Hour 01:30: The No. 63 Corvette now leads in GTE Pro ahead of the No. 64 Corvette. It's the first lead change in class today, but that pair are still three seconds clear of the first Porsche in third.

Hour 01:22: The No. 8 Toyota has lost a ton of time in traffic, now 14 seconds behind the leading No. 7 and just 16 seconds ahead of the No. 708 Glickenhaus entry. By contrast, the No. 7 Toyota has maintained the 15 seconds of increased gap on the Glickenhaus car from its last stint.

Hour 01:11: In the ten minutes before it had to pit again, the No. 23 United Autosports car was running third in LMP2. Unfortunately for that team, that car remains off-cycle with the field after an early flat.

Hour 01:00: Antonio Felix da Costa, the leader in LMP2, is under investigation for violating track limits. A potential penalty would knock the No. 38 Jota car back into traffic, but would not take them out of such a long race.

The No. 99 Hardpoint Porsche now leads the GTE Am Porsche shuffle. That remains a 1-2-3-4-5 for the 911 GT3 RSR.

Hour 00:55: GTE Pro remains formulaic: Corvette, Corvette, Porsche, Porsche, then three Ferraris, with the Riley-run car behind both AF Corse cars. The No. 64, the car currently drien by Nick Tandy, leads that group.

The No. 28 JOTA LMP2 car moves to third in class, passing the No. 5 Penske car. LMP2 remains the only class with major on-track battles.

Hour 00:45: After stopping a lap earlier, Toyota No. 7 now leads overall for the first time today. Both Toyotas are more than 15 seconds ahead of the No. 708 Glickenhaus car. That translates to 1 lap over 14 hours, both a substantial gap and a significantly smaller one than expected.

Hour 00:41: The No. 23's unscheduled stop was for a tire going down on track. United Autosports has gone from two cars in the LMP2 top ten to none.

Hour 00:39: The No. 23 United car stops for what seems to be an unscheduled extra stop in the middle of their stint. That car was running third in LMP2.

Toyota No. 7 stops for the first time today. That's a 10 lap stint after pace laps. The No. 709 Glickenhaus and sole Alpine LMP1 car are both following. The No. 708 Glickenhaus and No. 7 Toyota will both go 11 laps.

Hour 00:35: The No. 38 JOTA entry is into the lead after the first round of LMP2 stops. Antonio Felix da Costa is in that car, leading the No. 9 Prema, No. 23 United, No. 5 Penske, and No. 28 Jota entries. After the two other WRT cars suffered damage in an opening lap clash and one of them was assessed an additional penalty, the No. 32 WRT car is up to sixth.

Hour 00:28: Pit stops for LMP2 have begun, with Hypercars soon to follow. Kubica and da Costa have traded that class lead

The No. 31 WRT LMP2 car, which was running second and had started on pole, has been assessed a one minute stop-and-hold penalty for its part in the collision with the No. 22 on the start. That will mire Rene Rast far back in traffic.

Hour 00:24: A lead change in GTE Am, where the No. 46 and No. 86 Porsches of Team Project 1 and GR Racing have moved past the No. 77 for the class lead. Both the gaps and order remain consistent near the top of the other three classes.

Hour 00:13: The Toyotas are already out to a sizable lead, with the No. 7 in second five seconds ahead of the first Glickenhaus car in third.

Robert Kubica has the No. 9 Prema car just under a second ahead of the lead WRT car, the No. 31 currently driven by Rene Rast, in LMP2. JOTA's Antonio Felix da Costa and Team Penske's Felipe Nasr are up to third and fourth, respectively. As truly elite driving talent representing exceedingly successful teams, all four of those cars were among the group seen as heavy pre-race favorites.

The pole-sitting No. 61 Ferrari of AF Corse is down to ninth in GTE Am, leaving space for the Dempsey-Proton No. 77 currently driven by Harry Tincknell to lead a 1-2-3-4-5 in the secondary GT class for Porsche.

Hour 00:05: Replays reveal that the No. 22 United Autosports car ended up in the gravel because it was stuck between the No. 31 WRT and No. 9 Prema entries in a three-wide run on the start. That would have been a battle for the lead.

Hour 00:01: The race has begun.

Toyota gets both of their cars through turn 1 together, with No. 8 leading No. 7, but both of the Glickenhaus cars pass the No. 36 Alpine before the first corner. One of them even briefly takes the lead after skipping the Dunlop Chicane, but that driver gives the position back. Toyota-Toyota-Glickenhaus-Glickenhaus-Alpine early on.

The No. 22 United Autosports and No. 47 Algarve Pro Racing cars are of in the dirt on the start, with the No. 22 flying off screen through the gravel as the Hypercar smade their way through the first few corners. The No. 47 car is still rolling, but the No. 22 is stuck deep in the gravel. That car had started second in class and seventh overall.

The order has not changed in GTE Pro, where Corvettes lead Porsches that lead Ferraris.

Hour 00:00: Every 24 Hours of Le Mans counts the same in the record books. That means next year's 24 hour classic, the one where at least five factories will vie for the overall win with a group of new cars in two classes, will be just as significant in 20 years as this one, a race where just five cars are participating in the entire top class. It might not be the greatest Le Mans in history, but it's still Le Mans. Let's get to it.

In Hypercar and overall, Toyota remains a heavy favorite. Their two GR010s have locked out the front row, led by the No. 8 of Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa. Their closest competition comes from Alpine, who have again entered one grandfathered-in LMP1 car originally built by Rebellion in preparation to enter their own factory-built car in 2024. While that was close in qualifying, a late balance-of-performance update removed some power from that car and it is not expected to be particularly strong in the race. Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus completes the class with two SCG 007 entries of their own.

LMP2 is the biggest class in the race, boasting more than 25 cars. WRT, the team that won last year's race, will start on pole with their No. 31 of Robin Frijns, Sean Galael, and Rene Rast. Entries from United Autosports, JOTA, WRT, and Prema complete the top five in class.

Corvette Racing holds the entire front row in the final year of GTE Pro, a class with just seven cars this season. That group will start in order: Every Corvette, then every Porsche, then every Ferrari. The Ferraris make up that difference in GTE Am, where AF Corse and Kessel Racing's 488 GTEs lead the grid.

24 hours of racing start next, 24 hours where nothing is certain.

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