Antonio Giovinazzi has passed Sebastien Bourdais, and they are defending too from Sebastien Buemi. Ferrari #51, Cadillac #3, Toyota #8 through Indianapolis corner. Buemi told about the stop and go for the #50 Ferrari for the unsafe release. Track position, tire longevity, they will be crucial. Robert Kubica is on a tear through the field, slicing through like a hot knife through butter as all of the field are now moving to the meidum compound tires from Michelin for the Hypercars and LMP2's and Goodyear's for the GT3's. Neel Jani now in the garage in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 with trouble. Great livery hearkening back to the Porsche 962's that Joest Racing ran here at Le Mans in 1991. Rahel Frey in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 makes up a place, sharing with Sarah Bovy and with Michelle Gatting.
Some of the teams have been struggling with their radio frequencies. The recovering United Autosports LMP2 car is lapped by the sister car, Oliver Jarvis over Ben Keating and Malthe Jakobsen pushing hard in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca. Welcome, Tom Kristensen to the commentary box. Very disciplined racing and very competitive so far as we get into a rhythm. This has been very exciting so far. The race is up and running as the #94 Peugeot 9X8 is in the lane. Scotsman Paul di Resta at the controls sharing with Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne and Frenchman Loic Duval.
Buemi in Toyota #8 chasing Bourdais in the #3 Cadillac. 3:31.1 for Ferrari #50, 3:31 and change for Bourdais. Laurens Vanthoor is telling the Porsche team that the Ferrari is losing oil! My goodness! Did they overfill the oil tank? They are lobbying for Race Control to deal with the oil venting problem. The wind is blowing a gale as a headwind now as the LMP2 cars are in the pits, Cool Racing #47 and Algarve Pro Racing #25. The French military helicopter came in at an angle during the opening ceremonies. That is how windy it is. If you are walking, the wind will knock you over. So, be careful.
Toyota passes Cadillac. Buemi passing Bourdais. No one in the WEC era of Le Mans has won from lower than sixth on the grid. Massive oil on the #3 Cadillac windscreen for Bourdais. I really think they are losing significant oil. At Action Express, great work for Pipo Derani, and he is catching the field in front including the Alpine, the Porsche's and the Ferrari. The Ferrari's are whistling off into the distance and Porsche are strategizing, plotting, planning, knowing they are at a pace disadvantage. Nicklas Nielsen has to cool it but he is posting equal lap times to everyone else with just barely an hour of racing gone.
The prototype Hypercars are heavier than what we have seen in the past with LMP1, Group C and the like. Oil is sometimes visible and sometimes not. Alex Lynn being chased by Fred Makowiecki. Cadillac vs. Porsche for 12th and 13th. Ferrari has had two penalties they have copped and need to serve. A move under review for an incident between Paul di Resta in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 and Edoardo Mortara in the #63 Lamborghini SC63. The Alpine #35 is really impressive so far. Charles Milesi is sixth at this moment and they have a crack at getting to the podium. Panis Racing, Cool Racing, Vector Sport, and United Autosport are in the lane in LMP2.
Just as we were extolling virtues of the Alpine, Charles Milesi gets crossed up in the first corner and then he gets back on track, thankfully without losing time. Milesi has his hands full with Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, the yellow Ferrari. For some reason the #83 Ferrari has not delivered the pace that we thought we would see. It has been a touch off the pace here at Le Mans. We should check in now with the GT3 class as Maxime Martin is now being chased by Matteo Cressoni. #46 BMW M4 GT3 vs. #60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Martin struggling in sector three as the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini is in the lane, too, for scheduled service.
Every set of tires you change, take the pain of getting the temperature. Triple stints in the daytime and quadruple at night. Pit stop time for the #44 Proton Competition Mustang and the #95 United Autosport McLaren. Pit action continues as Bent Viscaal, a Formula 3 race winner, he is in the lane in the #9 Prema Oreca for his second stpp and we see the #34 Inter Europol car the erstwhie leader while the #12 and #38 Jota Porsche 963's and another spin there for the #47 Cool Racing Oreca of Naveen Rao. Rao sharing with Matt Bell and Fred Vesti.
P.J. Hyett is now getting into the #14 AO Racing Oreca, "Spike" the dragon. Louis Deletraz finishes his stint. Alex Quinn is the third driver aboard "Spike". The Inception McLaren #70 is in for a driver change. Fred Schandorff out and Brendan Iribe in. The #77 Proton Competition Mustang is in the lane and now, the #50 Ferrari is in the pit lane. He will serve the penalty first for ten seconds before they fuel the car and change tires. All three Ferrari's were in earlier and he cut in front of the #3 Cadillac. One of the Toyota's is also in the pits now.
Cadillac, Alpine, Ferrari, fourth, fifth, sixth. Cadillac #2 has pitted as well. Two separate car sets in each class dependinfg on pit sequence as the Isotta Fraschini #11 is in. Carl Bennett sharing with Jean Karl Vernay and Antonio Seravalle. Brendon Iribe told to get a feel for the McLaren. The cloud have rolled in and the rain is coming. Rain is forecast for the next ten minutes. Be prepared, everybody and be careful. So much of this race will need to be predicted and sussed out. The temperatures are dropping and the clouds are getting heavier.
The #6 Porsche is in for a driver change. Laurens Vanthoor out and Kevin Estre in. Excuse me, it is Andre Lotterer a former Le Mans winner, three times. Ferrari #51 in the lane now and the soft compound tires are moving into use at Porsche Penske and at Ferrari likewise. We will see rain soon and everyone will have to get onto the wet tires, perhaps. No intermediate tires in Hypercar. 20+ years ago we had intermediates but not anymore. Andre Lotterer says if you have tasted victory at Le Mans once, you want it again. He wants to go for four wins.
Rain in two laps, starting at Indianapolis is what Nicklas Nielsen is told by Ferrari in third place. Antonio Giovinazzi leads Sebastien Buemi, Nicklas Nielsen, and Sebastien Bourdais. Hello, to Lena Gade, three-time race winning engineer at Le Mans. Hello, Lena. A lot has been going on. Lots of tire choices for the start. A few cars have changed over to soft compound slicks in case the wet weather tires are needed in a wee while as the team manager of the #50 Ferrari has been summoned to Race Control and no, not for a croissant and a cafe.
Buemi told not to be afraid of adjusting the anti-rollbars on the suspension system. Sebastien Buemi is feeling it and needs to break the slipstream over the Ferrari. Tire choices and more. Hello to Oliver Webb. He is enjoying the race this year joining us in commentary on Eurosport. The rain is coing. Ferrari have still been losing oil and now, the #50 Ferrari team is telling Nicklas Nielsen that the Toyota is losing oil from the overflow and the windscreen wipers are useless at dispersing anything except rain. The rain will show up at turn two, turn 17 and turn 18. The track has now been declared wet.
Buemi under major pressure. Rain will end in less than ten minutes. So, we just got a slight sprinkle. Just stay out and hang onto it. No need for wet weather tires. Toyota #8 to the pit lane. What will Toyota do? They have the weet weather tires? Say what? Now the rain is getting heavier through the Ford chicane. Sebastien Bourdais in and so is one of the Alpine's. How long will the rain last? We have LMP2 cars taking the same camble for wets. Take caution and make sure the car stays on the road with 22 hours plus left. The #9 Iron Lynx LMP2 is in as well. This is sketchy as the #50 Ferrari of Nicjlas Nielsen being led by the sister car of Antonio Giovinazzi.
We have a Ferrari 1-2-3, #50, #51, and #83. Nielsen is telling the team that the circuit is dry. Wow. Now the #6 Porsche 963 of Andre Lotterer is chasing the #83 Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica, a one-time Formula 1 race winner. This is such a tight squeeze. The rain is beginning to increase, and the tires have no grip online, or offline it is like sandpaper. The rain is intensifying. The battle rages between Porsche and Ferrari and now Andre Lotterer takes the lead away from Nicklas Nielsen. At Action Express Jack Aitken is now in the #311 Whelen Cadillac on wet tires. Kubica having more confidence makes the pass on Nicklas Nielsen. Wow. The rain is really beginning to tip down.
So, the #6 Porsche 963 now leads the motor race. Andre Lotterer a brave soul, toughing it out on the slick tires. Different intensity at different parts of the road. Nicklas Nielsen will stay out and Lotterer now hits the lane, and we see Robert Kubica taking the lead in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Wet tires for Andre Lotterer in the #6 Porsche 963. There is nothing worse than rain on slick tires. The soft tire is working in the variable conditions. If the rain continues, wet tires could pay off but if it stops the Porsche boys will be in a real pickle. These intermediate conditions are such an ice cream headache. Looking at lap times, looking at sector times, stay on slicks if a significant portion of the road is dry or if it is wet, use the rain tires.
In the midfield a lot of cars are on wets and some of the front runners are on slicks. One of the Corvette's is stopped on the road at marshal point 20and the Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, one of them, has spun. We need a replay to see what happened as we look at the #44 and #77 Ford Mustang's. It might be beginning to dry up again. In this replay, a triple past and a synchronized spin for the #47 amd the #54 Ferrari of Thomas Flohr. Flohr sharing with Francesco Castellaci and Davide Rigon. Kubica leads the motor race over Nicklas Nielsen.
Rain in sector one. A lead change, side by side between the two Ferrari's! This is a race engineers' nightmare! Side by side and the Proton Competition Porsche behind. Kubica says to Nielsen, "not now, sunbeam. Not now." Nielsen tries the inside through the Porsche Curves. The Hypercar class right now, the order has been decided by swapping slick tires for wets. Thoe toughing it out are back into a very similar deal. Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota, 3:50.1 and those on the wets, 3:44.1 for Nielsen I think. Keep the car on the road, watch the exit curbs. Be consistent and stay safe. The wets were only four to five seconds quicker.
Robert Shwartzman is suited and booted to take over the race leading #83 Ferrari 499P. Variable weather is what we are dealing with. It is Le Mans, and it does not need to be comfortable. Toyota #8 in the lane swapping over for slick tires and he is looking for a fifth win as Nick Tandy is in the #4 Porsche 963, he shares with Felipe Nasr and Matthieu Jaminet while the #51 Ferrari is now on medium Michelin tires. You are now allowed to wheel spin in the pit lane to build the heat up. The LMH cars can wheel spin the fronts out of the lane and the LMDh cars are strictly rear wheel drive. Kubica thriving in the wet.
Flohr and Rao, the contact we saw is now under investigation by the stewards and we are only almost two hours into the race. The #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 in the barriers earlier in the week and then rebuilt and tested at the airfield, they are back in it and they will need some kip tonight between pit stops. Ferrari's are split by half a second and now, Andre Lotterer will box soon for soft Michelin tires. Now things are drying and Nicklas Nielsen goes back to the lead and the drive through penalty taken by Thomas Flohr. Penske Porsche in the pits with one of their cars and now, the battle in GG3 is Christopher Mies in the #44 Proton Competition Ford Mustang and the Iron Dames #83 Lamborghini Huracan of Rahel Frey.
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