Le Mans 24 Hours - Race Report - Hour 3

17:03 GTE Pro The third hour begins with Darren Turner and Tommy Milner side by side down the Mulsanne in the fight for second. The Aston hangs on by its fingerstips. Bruni still leads but has yet to make his second stop.

17:04 LMP2: The next round of P2 pitstops is about to get into full swing. First to pit is Tom Kimber-Smith, followed swiftly by Hughes, and then Brundle. Some confusion in overall class orderv is inevitable until this series is complete.

17:05 GTE Am The #99 Aston Vantage has returned to the race in the hands of Kristian Poulsen, but is some nine laps adrift of the class lead.

17:06 LMP2: More P2 cars pitting - Bouchut (#33) and John Martin (#25) among the top-ten.

17:07 GTE Pro Bruni pits, at pretty much the exact moment that Milner gets by Turner and assumes the lead. Bruni rejoins in third, not far behind the Aston.

17:07 Apologies for the technical issue - you might have noticed all of a sudden the username dailysportscar was added to all our message. Couldn't get it fixed on the old ticker, so restarted it. Data not lost as our hourly reports will be archived on dailysportscar.com so we can add pictures to the reports as well.

17:08 LMP2: Olivier Pla looks set to be one of the last to pit in P2 once again. The #24 Oak Racing Morgan has a surprisingly frugal engine, and seems capable of covering one or two laps more than anyone else, every time. The #24 is 11th overall.

17:09 GTE Am The #99 Aston returns to the pits. Clearly the misfire isn't yet cured.

17:11 LMP1: Missed whilst fixing the ticker - #16 Pescarolo is back on track. It just won't die!

17:11 LMP2: Jody Firth took over from Warren Hughes in that last pitstop (#48).

17:13 GTE Pro Andrea Bertolini brings the #71 Ferrari back into the pits after one lap and it is wheeled backwards into the pit garage.

17:14 LMP2: Martin Brundle on a real flyer and sets a new fastest lap for the #42: 3:43.126. The obvious loser in that last round of pitstops has been Pecom Racing (#49), who elected to swap drivers and put Pierre Kaffer into the Oreca 03, and that has allowed Kimber-Smith, quadruple stinting in the Starworks HPD #44, to move into second.

17:15 GTE Pro The top three in Pro are covered by less than five seconds, and the fight for fourth between the #73 Corvette of Antonio Garcia and the #77 Porsche of Richard Lietz is just as intense, with almost exactly a second separating the Spaniard from the Austrian.

17:16 GTE Am Brian Vickers is in the #61 Ferrari for his first race stint at Le Mans.

17:18 GTE Pro Turner retakes the lead from Milner at Mulsanne Corner.

17:19 LMP2: The top group in P2 now stands as: Olivier Pla leading for Oak (#24), with T K-S second (Starworks #44) and Matthias Beche third (TDS #46). Kaffer is fourth (#49) from Bas Leinders (#35 Oak, replacing Martin). Firth is 6th for Murphy Prototypes, ahead of Martin Brundle, starting his fourth stint in the #42 Greaves Zytek. Jan Charouz has taken over the #25 ADR-Delta Oreca from pole-stter John Martin, and he's well clear of Yelmer Buurman in the #30 Status GP Lola.

17:21 GTE Pro The #71 is back on the apron and ready to go.

17:22 LMP1: Nicolas Lapierre on a flying lap - 3:28.006, but the #7 Toyota has set the fastest second sector of all cars competing here today.

17:22 GTE Pro Pat Long has just set the #80 Porsche's fastest lap - 4:00.041 - suggesting that the repairs to its suspension have been successfully completed.

17:23 Brief update on the DeltaWing, which returned to the track unobserved by us, and is now running again. Michael Krumm has remained in the cockpit, and is holding 52nd position overall.

17:23 GTE Pro The battle at the head of the Pro lead is simply sensational, with Milner retaking the lead once more on the apporach to the Porsche Curves.

17:23 LMP2: The #40 is awarded a 30 second stop-go penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

17:24 LMP1: Benoit Treluyer (#1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro) is now 42.8 seconds clear of Tom Kristensen (#2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro). And with Lapierre and Buemi in third and fourth, the complete top 4 is hybrid.

17:25 GTE Pro Fred Makwiecki is flying in the #59 Luxury Ferrari as he attempts to claw back lost time. The car is currently seventh in class but a lap adrift of James Walker's #66 JMW Ferrari in sixth.

17:25 LMP2: Having enjoyed what looked to be an unassailable lead in P2, the margin between Pla and the following group has narrowed significantly. A combination of Tom Kimber-Smith's inherent pace, and a fast run-through at the last pitstop from Starworks, has brought the gap down to less than 10 seconds.

17:26 LMP1: Lapierre and Buemi both improved in sector 1. Matching the lead Audi at the moment.

17:26 LMP2: Car #23, the Signatech Nissan, has spun at the Karting corner, in the middle of the Porsche Curves, but appears to have continued without serious damage.

17:27 GTE Am Vickers passes his first car in sportscar racing when he takes 11th from Paul Daniels's #55 Porsche.

17:28 LMP2: Some of the new boys in the class are setting quick times, now that they've taken over. Kaffer and Leinders have both set new fastest laps for their respective cars. The #40 completes its penalty stop.

17:28 GTE Pro Turner is back at the head of the Pro class after outbraking the Corvette into the second chicane. This battle is going to run for some time yet.

17:29 LMP1: Sebastien Buemi pitted - after setting quicker first and second sector times.

17:29 GTE Pro The top two have now lapped the class up to fifth.

17:30 LMP2: Jody Firth, (6th in P2) is caught in the middle of the battle for GTE Pro, and is having to weave his way through one of the tightest three-car skirmishes currently being staged.

17:31 LMP2: Not to be out-done, Tom Kimber-Smith posts an improved best for the #44 Starworks HPD, and 3:42.404 is half a second quicker than anyone else has yet achieved.

17:32 GTE Am Pumpelly's lead has extended to 52 seconds, while Narac is eight seconds clear of Paolo Ruberti's #88 Porsche.

17:32 LMP1: Collard has just posted the fastest lap for the #16 Pescarolo. 3:44.206.

LMP2: Tom Kimber-Smith in 3:42.404, over three seconds quicker that last lap than Olivier Pla. The gap between first and second in LMP2 is now 10 seconds.

17:33 GTE Pro A momentary lapse from Turner see the #97 Vantage drift wide at Arnage, allowing both Milner and Bruni to go through; the #51 Ferrari having closed to within two seconds of the Corvette.

17:36 GTE Pro As Turner closes back up on Bruni, Milner takes advantage to pull away slightly. However, Turner then pits for his car's third scheduled stop and allows the Ferrari a free run at the leader.

17:38 LMP2: A lap of 3:41.997 is a new class-best from Pierre Kaffer in the Pecom Racing Oreca 03 #49. He's currently holding 4th, 14th overall.

17:39 For the sake of comparison, the DeltaWing, in the hands of Michael Krumm, has just set a PB of 3:47.134.

17:39 GTE Am Pierre Ehret has a spin at the Forza Chicane in the #58 Luxury Ferrari, but gets going again.

17:41 LMP2: A 30 second stop-go penalty for the #49 for pitlane speeding. Pierre Kaffer will not be best pleased.

17:42 LMP2: Pitstop for Matthias Beche in the #46 Thiriet TDS Oreca. The first P2 car to make a fourth stop, and seems a little early?

17:43 LMP1: #2 Audi wheeled back into its pitbox - that is not what Audi Sport Team Joest wanted!

17:45 LMP2: The stop for Beche is lengthening, so certainly not scheduled. The #46 has dropped to 12th in class.

17:45 LMP1: Audi engineers checking the engine bay of the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Audi #1 in for a regular pit stop - fuel only.

17:46 GTE Pro Bruni can't make any impact on Milner's lead, which holds steady at around the two-second mark. Garcia, meanwhile, has just handed the #73 Corvette over to Jordan Taylor.

17:46 LMP2: Olivier Pla ups the bar for P2 with a 3:41.838.

17:48 LMP2: The next series of scheduled pitstops for P2 is in full swing. Kaffer and Firth and among the first group, with Dalziel taking over the #44 from Tom Kimber-Smith.

17:49 The DeltaWing has completed its fourth pitstop - this time, scheduled.

17:49 GTE Am The #75 ProSpeed Porsche, which has lost a large number of laps already, is not helped in its efforts to improve by Abdulaziz Alfaisal dropping it at Indianapolis soon after he rejoined.

17:49 LMP1: Karun Chandhok with two fast sector times - as Bertrand Baguette cuts the grass on an odd route into the pit.

17:50 LMP1: Right rear corner of the #2 Audi R8 e-tron quattro "felt strange" after picking up a lot of rubber. Team cleaned it - and the #2 is back out again.

17:51 LMP2: Not easy to determine the exact order among the leading group in P2 until they've all completed this pitstop. The first two; Pla and Leinders, have yet to stop.

17:51 GTE Pro Bruni and Makowiecki have yet to stop for a third time, with the #51 now leading following the #74's latest stop and the #59 up to fifth.

17:53 LMP2: Leinders pits the #35 Oak Racing Morgan from second place. Straightforward stop, and speedy.

17:54 LMP1: Engine cover off from the Dome - and wheeled back into the box. Horrid Le Mans 24 Hours for Pescarolo Team (again) so far.

17:54 GTE Am Pumpelly and Narac both pit at the same time, and are likely to resume without losing any places. Niki Cadei has yet to pit in the #81 Ferrari and is currently fifth in the Am class.

17:55 LMP2: Pierre Kaffer is into the pits again. This is not scheduled - he was in the pits only a few minutes ago.

17:55 LMP1: Loïc Duval into the pits - allowing the Toyota's to move up into second and third for now. Strong performance by the Toyota's so far.

17:56 LMP2: Kaffer's additional pitstop allows several others to take advantage, and Firth (Murphy) is through to fourth, behind Dalziel (Starworks) and then Ragues (#26 Signatech). Kaffer may lose position rapidly if they can't get the car out again quickly.

17:58 LMP2: Kaffer rejoins, but has slumped to 8th or 9th in P2.

17:58 GTE Pro Bruni has still not stopped, but is likely to be in very soon. Other things being equal, the #51 should be making its fourth stop at pretty much the same time as the Aston Martin takes its fifth.

17:59 LMP2: The sole surviving Gulf Racing Lola makes its fourth pitstop. The transponder on the #42 is still telling fibs, and Alex has taken over from his father Martin in the Greaves Zytek.