Live ticker 24h Le Mans 2025: Big safety car reset just before halftime

The pit stop just before the safety car was fine. The #8 Toyota thus avoided a penalty. However, Ryo Hirakawa lost the lead to Yifei Ye in the yellow #83 Ferrari. Next up is likely Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51, who has already made up a lot of ground. It's striking how Ferrari always seems to be able to mobilize reserves that the others don't have.

The #6 Porsche dropped back to fifth place during the first round of pit stops after the restart. The reason: All four wheels were being changed. The #8 Toyota of Ryo Hirakawa has now inherited the lead, but his pit stop shortly before the safety car is under observation. We'll see what happens. Yifei Ye in the #83 Ferrari is right behind the Toyota, and behind him, Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 is closing in fast.

Laurens Vanthoor defends the lead in the #6 Porsche, with Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 Toyota 6.5 seconds behind. Another 4.5 seconds behind is Yifei Ye in the #83. Then there's a 15-second gap to Raffaele Marciello in the #15 BMW, who has the two factory Ferraris and Alex Lynn in the #12 Cadillac hot on his heels. Behind them, there's a large gap because all the Hypercars on the lead lap have already been in the pits since the restart.

Remember the investigations earlier? The Porsche #4 (Nasr/Tandy/Wehrlein), Porsche #5 (Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet), and the AWA Corvette #13 (Fidani/Kern/Bell) have to serve a drive-through penalty for speeding in the slow zone for Kelvin van der Linde's stranded BMW. The same applies to the WTR Cadillac for the FCY that followed shortly after, but the #101 is already out anyway. The Kessel Ferrari #57 (Kimura/Serra/Stevenson) also has to drive through the pit lane once, in this case for speeding in the pit lane. The BMW #15, however, gets off, and the AWA Corvette #13 also escapes a second penalty, being acquitted for the FCY.

- Porsche leads at the start - Jota-Cadillacs fall back quickly, Action Express with repair break - Mick Schumacher's car lags behind - Ferrari establishes a one-two-three lead in the evening - Tire damage and penalties for Porsche and Ferrari during the night - Rossi's class victory hopes end after a defect in the gravel trap

- Complete reset by safety car shortly before halftime

The #46 has now been withdrawn from the race due to electronic problems, officially marking the fifth retirement after the #88, #60, #95, and #24. Shortly after the restart, the WRT BMW #31 (Shahin/Boguslawski/Farfus) also reappeared. The reason: Timur Boguslawski collided with a hare. This completes the disaster in the LMGT3 for WRT, and for the hare as well, of course.

The letters W, R and T are apparently not bringing any luck at the moment, because the WTR Cadillac #101 (R. Taylor/J. Taylor/Albuquerque) also rolled out shortly after the restart and is at the second Hunaudieres chicane.

The race is back on. All of the cars listed below are now directly behind each other. Alpine, Peugeot, and Aston Martin, among others, did not benefit. These cars were already out of the lead lap before the SC arrived. The same applies to the Proton-Porsche and the non-Jota Cadillacs.

The merger, the complete, controversial reunification of the field, is complete. So, things should resume immediately. Curiously, all but 14 cars had to lap back. The following cars are on the lead lap: - Hypercar: #6, #8, #83, #4, #20, #12, #15, #50, #51, #5, #38, #7 (12 cars) - LMP2: #48, #9, #43, #18, #28, #199, #29, #183 (8 cars)

- LMGT3: #92, #27, #81, #78, #21, #87, #85, #13, #31, #54, #90 (11 cars)

Almost all teams are taking advantage of the opportunity to pit. The private Ferrari #83 is also getting a new nose. As a reminder: A new SC mode has been in effect at Le Mans since 2023. The field will be completely merged. This mode has been harshly criticized by purists for representing an Americanization of the race. We currently count twelve Hypercars on the lead lap, but we still have to wait for the merger to take place.

Now, for the first time in this race, there's been a big bang. Race control decides to deploy the safety car. We can't shake the feeling that this is being done to breathe some excitement back into the race, because that could easily have been solved with a slow zone. This puts Ferrari back in business.

The trigger was the Nielsen-Oreca #24 (Rao/Bölükbasi/Braun) with Cem Bölükbasi at the wheel. The Turkish driver crashed into the Tertre Rouge.

Some collect stamps, Ferrari AF Corse is collecting penalties: Another five seconds for the #50 for cutting a chicane. Both factory Ferraris are currently two minutes behind the leading Porsche, which is currently extending its gap to the yellow Ferrari. It was five seconds earlier, now it's 15. But don't forget: The lead changes between the two depending on their pit stops.

As expected, this wasn't a driving error by Kelvin van der Linde. BMW just informed us that a technical error caused all power in the car to collapse, including the power steering. This explains why the BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo simply pulled to the left. The #46 is now back in the car, but the fun cost three laps. However, the incident could prove costly for other cars. "Under Investigation" for speeding in the slow zone are: - Porsche #4 (Nasr/Tandy/Wehrlein) - Nick Tandy - Porsche #5 (Andlauer/Christensen/Jaminet) - Mathieu Jaminet - BMW #15 (D. Vanthoor/Magnussen/Marciello) - Raffaele Marciello - AWA-Corvette #13 (Fidani/Kern/Bell) - Orey Fidani. Two more investigations are underway for the FCY: - WTR-Cadillac #101 (R. Taylor/J. Taylor/Albuquerque) - Filipe Albuquerque

- AWA Corvette #13 (Fidani/Kern/Bell) - Orey Fidani (yes, again)

Our picture of 28 or 33 seconds has changed dramatically because the #6 Porsche got fresh tires and the Ferrari didn't. The battle for third place is about to get exciting: The #8 Toyota is only half a second ahead of the #50 Ferrari.

Meanwhile, it's FCY. It must be debris, because there's no car at the affected post in the Esses. Should move on immediately.

That's the end of hopes of an LMGT3 victory for the #46 WRT BMW (Al Harthy/Rossi/K. van der Linde). Kelvin van der Linde is stuck in the gravel of the Porsche Curves. How he got there is unclear. In any case, he can't get out of it without outside help – slow zone.

The replay shows that after turning, he suddenly jerks to the left and simply understeers. Possibly a puncture on the front left tire or a problem with the steering. It didn't look like a driver error.

The lead now changes at every pit stop. Kevin Estre currently has a 33-second lead again after Robert Kubica stopped. Remember, it was 28 seconds earlier. A five-second gain for the Porsche.

The #51 has dropped to eighth place due to the penalty. The #8 Toyota is now third, but it should stop soon, clearing the way for the #50 Ferrari.

Now the pit speed limit has been exceeded! A 20-second stop-and-go will set the #51 Ferrari back a long way.