Le Mans 2019 results: Positions and standings as No 8 wins 24 Hours after Toyota changed wrong tyre on No 7
Re-live all the action from the 87th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe
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Your support makes all the difference.Toyota took an expected victory in the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours, but noe was prepared for the controversial ending that saw the No 7 car lose the win an hour from the finish after the team replaced the wrong wheel during an unscheduled pit stop, leaving the car that had led for nearly 12 consecutive hours limping around the circuit with a punctured tyre.
The No 7 car of Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez lost the lead of the race to the No 8 of Buemi/Alonso/Nakajima at the start of the final hour after it picked up a puncture, only for a faulty sensor telling the team to change the wrong wheel when it pitted from the lead to gift the sister car the win, with the No 11 SMP Racing BR1 of Petrov/Aleshin/Vandoorne finishing in third. A series of safety car periods throughout the night saw the No 26 G-Drive Racing move clear in LMP2 only to suffer a 20-minute delay in the pits to leave the No 36 Signatech Alpine in the lead, while the GTE Pro lead is with the No 51 Ferrari after its nearest rival, the No 63 Corvette, spun out with three hours to go with the No 91 and 93 Porsches in second and third, while the No 85 Ford is clear in GTE Am.
However, both Aston Martins crashed out of the GTE Pro battle inside 20 minutes of each other, with the GTE Am class No 98 already out, while Corvette Racing saw the No 64 become the first official retirement after a heaving crash early on. Re-live the live updates below.
What time does it start?
The 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours starts at 2pm BST (3pm CET) on Saturday 15 June.
When is the finish?
The chequered flag will drop at the end of the first lap after 2pm on Sunday 16 June.
How to watch
The 24 Hours of Le Mans will be shown live on Eurosport, along with a number of other sessions during the week.
Twenty-four-hour race coverage will be shown from the moment the flag drops to the chequered flag on Sunday, along with pre- and post-race analysis.
Viewers can watch the race coverage online by subscribing to the Eurosport Player, which comes with the added bonus of no advert breaks for uninterrupted Le Mans coverage. Viewers can buy a monthly pass for £6.99, sign up for a monthly subscription for £4.99 a month or buy a discounted annual pass for £39.99.
There will also be regular 10-minute catch-up shows screened every two hours until 11pm on Saturday, and again from 8am on Sunday morning.
All 183 drivers join eight of their crew on the grid, standing to attention for La Marseillaise, as a French military Cayman Helicopter emerges from the distance to take position above the home straight. We know what comes next, and a number of paratroopers abseil down to the track with the official starting flag, which this year will be waved by Princess Charlene of Monaco and Formula One boss Chase Carey in just 20 minutes time.
The final grid evacuation notice is given, calling for all team members to make their way back to the pits and cue the start of the formation lap that will start in about three minutes' time.
The Patrouille de France, their version of the Red Arrows, display a beautiful Tricolor over the finish straight, and it's all coming together perfectly for the start of the 24 Hours.
So some quick housekeeping to do:
The GTE Pro Balance of Performance has been adjusted somewhat, with the ACO lowering the Aston Martin's weight by 5kgs but also reducing their boost and refuelling allowance, which will cost them between 12-15bhp during the race - something that the pole-sitters are far from happy about.
The Corvette has had the opposite with the boost turned up in an effort to bring them further into the race, although the No 63 is already nicely placed in third position to attack from the start.
Meanwhile, the aim for the LMP1s is for SMP and Rebellion to be within a one-second per lap gap to the Toyotas, though we do expect the Toyotas to be able to stretch their stints one lap more than their LPM1 rivals.
Of course, unlike F1 or regular WEC races, the formation lap takes a whole lot longer as they lap the 8.3-mile track at slow speed behind the pace car, which will time itself to perfection for the race to start on the stoke of 2pm BST.
Into the Porsche Curves goes the field as they start to line up two-by-two. Here we go, 24 hours of high-octane endurance racing is about to get underway...
Hour 1: The No 7 gets the holeshot for the Dunlop Chicane after Buemi in the No 8 showed his nose through the opening kink, though the No 3 Rebellion takes third immediately off of the No 11 SMP. Onto the Mulsanne they go and it's smooth sailing for the Toyotas so far, but behind there's action aplenty as Harry Tincknell takes the fight in the No 67 Ford to the leading No 95 Aston Martin. However the fight is coming from behind as Garcia in the No 63 Corvette pulls alongside the Ford going into Indianapolis, and Tincknell just about holds on to second.
TDS hold onto the LMP2 lead ahead of the No 31 DragonSpeed, with Dempsey-Proton Porsche out in front of GTE AM.
At the end of the first lap, we've had 35 overtakes already. 35!
Hour 1: The first yellow flag comes out at the start of the second lap and it looks as though the No 70 MR Racing Ferrari spun coming out of Tetre Rouge at the start of the Mulsanne. Motoaki Ishikawa gets the car going again, and in front of them Garcia gets by Tinckell to take second in GTE Pro for the Chevrolet team.
Meanwhile out in front, Conway puts in a flying 3:17min second lap to pull a healthy lead on the second Toyota, and any hopes that the Rebellion or SMP could challenge for the lead early on failed to materialise.
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