ELMS, 6 Hours of Le Castellet - Final Hour 17:02
Through into the final hour of the race. The relatively small numbers aside, this has still managed to be an entertaining race, so far at least. We've seen several changes in leader, not only in P2, but also within the GT category, and there have been close-fought battles all the way through the field. It's been a largely incident-free race as well, with just a handful of minor incidents and no safety cars. 17:12
Alex Brundle back into the pitlane for a scheduled pitstop, possibly the car's last of the race. 17:15
The Jota Zytek issued with a stop-go penalty, related to the incident with the Aston Martin. The nervous tension and excitement has eased somewhat, thanks largely to the various penalties, and in particular the one served on Greaves. A spokesman for the team suggests that one of the crew did rest the replacement panel on the car while waiting for the refuellers to complete their job, and this was sufficient to constitute "touching" the car. 17:20
The Status GP pits, potentially for the last time. It's not the fastest pitstop ever performed, and this may allow the Greaves car to get back into contention. Moments will tell. The #44 Extreme Limite Norma is in for a final pitstop as well. The car is running in 11th place, just behind the GT leaders. Much as the situation in P2 seems fairly stable, the duel for the GT lead has also settled down. There's a 22 second gap between Melo, leading from 9th, and Jonny Cocker in tenth. Curtis Racing has completed a sixth and probably final pitstop, with Alex Kapadia handing back to Phil Keen for the run to the flag. The pitstop cost the team a couple of positions on track, and the #42 resumes in 10th, not far behind Cocker. 17:29
Alex Sims in the Status GP Lola is really pushing hard, not only in an effort to close on the Seb Loeb Oreca, but also to safeguard his advantage over Alex Brundle in the Greaves Zytek. The trouble is, for Sims, that Brundle has the fresher tyres, and can probably maintain the pace more easily. Sims is certainly looking ragged, and has had the car twitching sideways several times in the last few laps. 17:30
Phil Keen takes the place back from Jonny Cocker, and moves back into 9th. Cocker, meanwhile, has lost a little ground on Melo, but the two Ferraris are fairly well matched. It could all come down to pitstops. Keen, meanwhile, is drawing a surprising level of pace out of the #42, and consistently lappng in the 1:55 bracket. 17:36
Stéphane Sarrazin pits the second-placed Oreca and the team complete a hasty but well accomplished front-end swap. The replacement nose doesn't quite match the livery of the rest of the car, but the headlights work, and it will do the job. 17:40
The leader pits, Pierre Thiriet bringing the #46 in for a final time, topping the tank up with fuel and then heading back out again. 17:43
The team manager of the lead car, #46, has been summoned to see the race director. In GT Am there's just 18 seconds between Marc Goosens, leading from 11th overall, and Nicolas Armindo, twelfth in the #67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche. These two are both clear of the Kessel Racing 'Pro' Ferrari. 17:48
The leader is back into the pitlane, again. The front end is coming off again, and a replacement nose is going back on. Part of the cover above one of the front wheel arches looked to have broken loose The car fires up and Thiriet as back out along the pitlane. That was another swift bodywork swap. 17:49
With only ten minutes to go and Jaime Melo pits unexpectedly. It's a brief stop for a last-minute splash'n'dash, but when Melo comes back out he's just in time to see the yellow JMW Ferrari flash by. They're into the first corner almost together, but Cocker has the lead. The battle resumes for GT in no uncertain terms. The theory is that Cocker has been driving within himself, and the car, for the last half hour or so to conserve fuel, in the hope that the Ferrari won't need to make another stop. Now he has to race, and hard, to defend a narrow lead. It's a thrilling prospect for the last few minutes. Stuart Hall sees the battle coming up behind him from the mirrors in his Aston and pulls over to let them throuigh. Elsewhere, Alex Brundle is closing rapidly now in Alex Sims for third, and narrowing the gap by two or three seconds a lap. Even the P2 podium isn't settled yet. The leader passes Jonny Cocker, to ensure they're both on the final lap. 17:58
The leader crosses the line for one last lap. Pierre Thiriet is on for a win here for Oreca. 18:00 FINISH
Six hours up, and Pierre Thiriet is heading for a classic win. The gap for thrd has narrowed to ten seconds, but probably too late now for Brundle to catch Sims.Thiriet takes the flag. Johnny Cocker hangs on by the skin of his teeth to the GT Pro win. Phil Keen takes LMPC for Curtis Racing Technologies, a credible 8th overall. Sims crosses the line eleven seconds ahead of Alex Brundle. Marc Goosens takes the win in GT Am. 1. #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing P2
2. #19 Sebastien Loeb Racing
3. #17 Status GP
4. #1 Greaves Motorsport
5. #11 Race Performance
6. #24 Oak Racing
7. #10 Pecom Racing
8. #42 Curtis Racing Technologies LMPC
9. #66 JMW Motorsport GTE Pro
10. #83 JMB Racing
11. #75 Prospeed Competition GTE Am
12. #44 Extreme Limite
13. #38 Jota
14. #67 Imsa Performance Matmut
15. #61 Kessel Racing
16. #99 JMB Racing
17. #69 Gulf Racing
18. #60 AF Corse
19. #40 Boutsen Ginion Racing
20. #18 Murphy Prototypes
21. #45 Boutsen Ginion Racing Full Result & Weekend Analysis >> (PDF) | 
