European Le Mans Series, Donington 6 Hours - Race - Hour 5 to the Finish

Our coverage was posted "live", so please make allowances for any strange tenses - thank you.

16:54
The #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca is issued with a 30 second stop-go-penalty! The announcement appears on the monitors and is assigned to speeding in the pitlane.

16:56
Matthias Beche completes his stop-go, and returns to the track in third, behind Hartley, and with Pla now leading by 54 seconds. Just under an hour to go, and this could yet be very close at the finish.

16:59
Now the manager of the #18 Murphy Prototypes car is being summoned to race control. If there's another misdemeanour, then no clear indication what it might be.

17:01
Tom Kimber-Smith is into the pitlane, unexpectedly, and the car is back into the garage. Issue as yet unclear, but the team is working on the front-right suspension area.

17:06
A heart-stopping moment for Brendon Hartley, showing immense courage as he passes Nicolet around the outside at Redgate, and putting a wheel onto the grass. A slight twitch invites a sudden assault from Matthias Beche through the Craner Curves, but Hartley holds his nerve, and the line, and emerges through Old Hall with, if anything, an improved advantage. he re-establishes a two-second advantage over Beche, but second place is by no means secure. Nicolet pits at the end of the lap.

17:10
Olivier Pla enjoys a 52 second lead, with Brendon Hartley's concentration now focused on Beche in his rear-view mirrors. Just over 40 minutes to go. News from the pitlane suggests that the call for the #18 team manager to visit race control concerned the state of the nose section, which was not replaced at the last pitstop, as assumed, but simply removed, checked, and refitted. The observers subsequently decided that the modest damage does contravene the regulations, so will have to be replaced at the next pitstop.

17:13
Olivier Pla pits from the lead. The team refuels, and then fits new tyres to just the left-hand side of the car. The extra seconds saved could be critical. Hartley moves through to the front of the pack, but has another pitstop to make.

17:16
Hartley's advantage is just 19 seconds, but is about to make his final pitstop.

17:18
The Murphy Prototypes Oreca is into the pitlane. Fuel, cleaning out the radiators, and new nose. Olivier Pla is through. Refuelling is finished, and the old nose is removed. The new one goes on. Hartley leaves the pitlane at 17:19.

Hartley appears to have rejoined the race ion fourth place, so three positions lost. It's now a battle for third.

An update from our pitlane reporter, who advises us that the issue with the Greaves Zytek is/was "overblanked brakes", which effectively means the brakes were running too hot. The team is trying to address the issue, but time is running out to rejoin.

17:23
Olivier Pla maintains his lead, now to the tune of 25 seconds over Stéphane Sarrazin, pushing hard in the #19 Séb Loeb Racing Oreca, perhaps surprised to find himself running second now, but having made up ground steadily through the last two hours of the race. Matthias Beche holds third from Brendan Hartley by 13 seconds, but is just four behind Sarrazin and is, at times, lapping quicker.

17:29
Beche closes to within 3 seconds of Sarrazin, so still all to race for, at least in second and third. Hartley is matching Beche for pace, so they may yet both catch Sarrazin, but the gap between third and fourth still stands at 15 seconds.

17:30
A slow lap for Pla, at 24.5, but an equally slow one for Sarrazin, and the gap grows to 28 seconds to the leader. Beche though is now tight on Sarrazin's tail, but the chance to pass never comes, as Sarrazin pits from second. Beche and Hartley sail by. That stop for the #19 may be the final scheduled pitstop of the race, the out-of-sequence strategy not paying dividends for the team this time.

17:33
Twenty minutes remain and Hartley has closed to around 12 seconds on Beche for second. Their respective lap times are remarkably well matched, and if Hartley does have a modest advantage, it's small and may not be enough to close the gap before the close. The #18 was a second quicker on that last lap, but it doesn't happen every time around.

17:39
The spacing between the top three appears to have stabilised, almost as if they're each satisfied with their status. Pla leads by 27 seconds over Beche, with that 12 second gap to Hartley holding steady. Sarrazin is 45 seconds behind Hartley and, on his last lap, almost two seconds slower.

Inevitably, saving a stoppage, accident or mechanical failure, the JMW Motorsport Ferrari continues towards its almost inevitable destiny with the top step of the GTE-Pro podium. Jonny Cocker has a firm grip on 8th overall, two laps behind Tom Kimber-Smith, who has just rejoined in the Greaves Zytek after replacing both front "corners" in about 15 minutes, but a lap clear of Nicolas Armindo in the GTE-Am leading IMSA Performance Porsche. Armindo's advantage over Cioci in the AF Corse Ferrari, however, is just 24 seconds, proving that it only takes two cars to create a race.

The solo LMPC Oreca continues to circulate, but not perhaps with any great glory. The #40 has slipped back from an earlier high of ninth to bring up the rear as we approach the final minutes of the race, 11th.

17:49
Into the last few minutes of the race. It may not be a thrilling end, in as much as there's been no final battle, but the last six hours have still provided some great entertainment, plenty of track action, overtaking, and a few incidents. Once again, the LMP2 cars have demonstrated tremendous reliability and pace, equalling the kind of lap times we were seeing here from the LMP1 cars last time the Le Mans Series was here in 2006.

17:53.30
Olivier Pla crosses the line, weaving wildly to pass just under the pit wall to celebrate a win for Oak. Matthias Beche takes second, and enough, we think, to retain the lead in the Series. Brendon Hartley cruises through to secure a richly deserved third place, and another trophy to add to the Murphy Prototypes collection - following on from their debut third at Spa in May.

Full results and post-race quotes and comments to follow shortly. Thanks to anyone who's been with us for the last six hours.