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The Le Mans 24 Hours remains one of the most-watched sporting events around the world as fans clamour to see the ultimate test of motorsports endurance, which takes place this year for the 87th time in its illustrious history.
Toyota will start from pole position after securing a front-row lockout in qualifying , with the Japanese factory team looking to retain the crown that the No 8 car of Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima won last year.
But with 61 cars filling the grid , the competition throughout all four classes will be fierce, and both SMP Racing and Rebellion have shown enough to suggest that Toyota will have to remain on their toes throughout if they are to return to ‘Victory Lane’.
Around 280,000 fans attend the Le Mans 24 Hours, with half of that number travelling across the Channel from the United Kingdom, and British hopes remain as high as ever with Aston Martin on pole in the GTE Pro class.
Here’s all the details you need to watch every minute of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Show all 67 1 /672019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The Patrouille de France display a Tricolor over the start/finish straight ahead of the race.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The start of the 87th Le Mans 24 Hours saw the No 7 Toyota lead the field away.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Princess Charlene of Monaco waves the start flag for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Mike Conway kept the No 7 in the lead ahead of Sebastien Buemi in the No 8.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 3 Rebellion managed to jump the No 17 SMP Racing to move up to third.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours But the No 1 Rebellion hit early problems to drop down the order.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The GTE Pro battle commenced immediately between Aston Martin, Ford, Porsche and Chevrolet.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Porsche led the early stages in the GTE Am class.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The pole-sitting No 95 Aston Martin qucikly pummted down the order as the team struggled with its tyres.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 98 Aston Martin also had early issues with a power steering poblem dropping it down the GTE Am order.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Sebastien Buemi settled into second place in the No 8 Toyota.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 3 Rebelion of Gustavo Menezes made third place his own.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The championship-leading Signatech Alpine moved ahead of the No 26 TDS Racing to take the lead in LMP2.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The G-Drive Racing LMP2 No 26 took the fight out in front to the Signatech Alpine crew.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 7 Toyota led for the first six hours of the race without drama.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Mechanics grabbed sleep wherever possible as night-time fell.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche started on pole position but spun three times under Satoshi Hoshino, before causing a race-ending crash with the No 64 Corvette of Marcel Fassler.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Thomas Laurent recovers the No 3 Rebellion to the pits after crashing during the Le Mans 24 Hours
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Numerous safety cars started to break up the field as cars were held at the end of the pits.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Sebastian Buemi took over from Kazuki Nakajima as the night session began.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Mike Conway returned to put the No 7 back into the lead.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Corvette and Ford found themselves hindered by the post-Aston Martin crash safety car.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 71 Ferrari was forced to retire with engine troubles.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours SMP Racing's No 11 of Vitaly Petrov, Mikhail Aleshin and Stoffel Vandoorne was left to lead the charge for the team after the No 17 car crashed out.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 51 Ferrari battled with the No 92 Porsche for GTE Pro lead.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The remaining No 63 Corvette fell away from the podium battle after getting caught out by the safety cars but mounted an impressive resurgence to get back into contention.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Mechanics grab as much sleep as possible during the hard hours in the night.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The sun comes up on Le Mans early on Sunday morning.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The bright skies revealed the No 7 still in the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 8 Toyota struggled to stay with its faster teammate as it dropped more than a minute off the lead.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Trouble for the No 3 Rebellion moved the No 11 SMP Racing BR1 into third place overall.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Kamui Kobyashi continued to extend the lead in the No 7 throughout Sunday morning.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 11 SMP Racing excelled in keeping out of trouble where the Rebellions could not.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 36 Signatech Alpine took LMP2 lead back when the G-Drive Racing No 26 suffered an alternator problem.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 7 Toyota suffered a puncture an hour from the finish that cost it victory when Toyota changed the wrong tyre int he pits.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 8 Toyota took the lead an hour from the finish after the No 7 car suffered a puncture.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 36 Signatech Alpine took a second consecutive victory at Le Mans in the LMP2 class.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 8 team of Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Fernando Alonso celebrate their second successive Le Mans victory.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Fernando Alonso leaves Toyota as a two-time Le Mans winner and three-time world champion.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The top three celebrate their success on the Le Mans podium.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The win was tarnished by the No 7's heartbreaking agony in having victory snatched away from them.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours The No 8 team celebrate their victory.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans 24 Hours Toyota's two teams celebrate winning their one-two finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi will start the Le Mans 24 Hours on pole in the No 7 Toyota.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 The No 95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Darren Turner and Marco Sorensen took GTE Pro pole.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 The No 88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche claimed GTE Am pole.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 SMP Racing took third place behind the Toyotas.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 Rebellion endured a difficult Thursday as both of their cars suffered engine failures.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 3 Aston Martin Racing topped the GTE Pro timesheets in third qualifying.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 2 The No 8 Toyota was the big improve in LMP1 moving up from fourth to second.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 2 The No 10 DragonSpeed LMP1 sports the traditional Gulf colours this year.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 The No 1 Rebellion shows off the new multi-coloured design for the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 The No 8 Toyota was low on pace as it finished first qualifying in fourth.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 The No 3 Rebellion flashes through the Porsche Curves.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 The No 7 Toyota left it late to top the timesheets with its penultimate run.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 Kamui Kobayashi celebrates putting the No 7 Toyota on provisional pole.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 The No 36 Signatech Alpine leads the LMP2 championship heading into the Le Mans finale.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Qualifying 1 Mathias Lauda, son of the late Niki Lauda, drives the No 98 Aston Martin Vantage.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day The No 8 Toyota is favourite to win the two LMP championships at Le Mans.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day The sister No 7 car is the only rival to the No 8.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov lines up for the SMP Racing BR1 AER.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Former McLaren F1 star Stoffel Vandoorne also lines up for the Russian LMP1 outfit.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Chevrolet return for their 20th consecutive year at Le Mans.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Rebellion's two cars will battle it out for third place in the championship.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Toyota are looking to win their second consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Fernando Alonso will be making his final appearance for Toyota.
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2019 Le Mans 24 Hours in pictures Le Mans test day Le Mans is the ultimate test of endurance on motorsport.
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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.
Schedule 7:55am-9am (Eurosport 1) - Warm-up
10:25am-11:40am (Eurosport 1) - Road to Le Mans race
11:40am-1pm (Eurosport 1) - Qualifying highlights
1pm-1:45pm (Eurosport 1) - On the grid with Tom Kristensen
1:45pm (Eurosport 1) - Live Le Mans 24 Hours race coverage
Coverage is then uninterrupted on Eurosport 1 for the entire race, with post-race analysis ending at 2:45pm on Sunday.
When does the race start? The 87th Le Mans 24 Hours starts at 2pm BST (3pm CET) on Saturday 15 June, and ends at 2pm BST (3pm CET) on Sunday 16th June.
Aston Martin start from GTE Pro pole position (Getty) (Getty Images) How to follow Live timing is available on the official Le Mans website .
You can also follow the latest updates and analysis with The Independent’s live blog .
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