Check out these pictures from the annual historic Group C race that takes place as a preliminary to the 24 Hours of Le Mans each year. It has hosted many types of sports cars that have raced at Le Mans over the decades. It just so happens that the Group C era has been highlighted numerous times in the last three or four years.
http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/photos/main-gallery/?s=5&y=2014&e=49944
Monday, June 30, 2014
The Ferrari 333SP
A tribute to one of the greatest, (and one of if not my all-time favorite), racing sports cars... the Ferrari 333SP. Pump up the volume, and listen to the glorious noise of a 4 liter V12 engine, screaming down the straightaway. The engine used in this car, was pretty much a bored out version of their famous Formula One motor from the early 1990s. Click the link, and enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjKgmQdE0m4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjKgmQdE0m4
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 6
The #4 car has the penalty, and it will cost them 20 seconds. The Audi could have turned in. Audi driver Christopher Haase (who won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring), is having fun in his first race at Watkins Glen. Box, box, box. Gustavo Yacaman is in the pits. He'll hand over the car to Alex Brundle, to finish this one off. Four tires and fuel for the OAK Racing car. There's some slight damage to the front splitter. Alex Brundle will have to plug in the radio, and does. Colin Braun stays behind the wheel of the #54 CORE Autosport Oreca Chevrolet as the team pits.
The #91 SRT Viper is pitting. The #3 Corvette is also running well, as they are going for three wins in a row. #91 comes out of the pit. But, there's brake dust in the car. That's not good. But you have to deal with it in a GT coupe. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype is going to pit. There's still debris on track that the marshals haven't taken care of. #90 is staying on course, trying to get five more laps on fuel, after what has been a 47 minute fuel stint. Rolling the dice with 50 minutes left in this race. Valiante is followed by Joao Barbosa, who is looking for three straight wins in the Six Hours of The Glen.
The #90 car is in. Richard Westbrook will take the car home. They need to get good mileage on this last stint. It's going to be a close one. He'll have to go 47 and a half minutes after having to hit the reserve fuel pump. Joao Barbosa is still in the #5. Michael Valiante, is spent. Barbosa pits. Once the leader pits, you have to respond because pit lane is closed if there is a yellow flag. The #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia hits the wall, and there will be a full course yellow. The Krohn car is spun around into the tires.
He has to fire the car. Everyone has to get fuel and will come now. The #57 car turned in and did not see the Prototype Challenge #85 car of Stephen Simpson. Alex Brundle is still going for it. Krohn fires the car up, and there will be no full course yellow. Richard Westbrook is 20 some odd seconds behind Alex Brundle. They have to wait for a yellow to be safe. Pitting under green, would not give the #90 a decent enough delta time. No sign of rain as this race is coming to a close, steadily.
Just 38 minutes to go. Alex Brundle might still need a splash and dash before the end of this race. Colin Braun has a lap advantage over the second place car in class, of John Martin, in the Prototype Challenge class. Antonio Garcia leads GT LM in the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. The #85 car will have a stop and hold penalty for the contact with the Krohn Racing Ferrari. The #94 BMW team will have to do a splash and dash before the end of the race. It will be neck and neck with the GT Daytona victory battle. Turner strategist Don Salama, might be turning up the wick a bit too much.
The #10 Velocity Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette pits. Jordan Taylor, will take the car to the finish within the last half hour of this race. Don Salama said that he's already strategized, and the team short filled the #94 BMW. Ah, race strategists are sly dogs, sometimes. Alex Brundle might be in the catbird seat as he's up by 30 seconds on Richard Westbrook at the moment. Watkins Glen is best known as a long-time home for the United States Grand Prix. Innes Ireland won the first race in 1961.
Check out the International Motor Racing Research Center, located in Watkins Glen.
http://www.racingarchives.org/
Colin Braun continues leading the Prototype Challenge class. Ooh! We have another big wreck. Two cars crash and we have our third full course yellow. 25 minutes to go. We'll have a shootout. Ian James turns into the #08 of Alex Tagliani. The radiator on the Porsche has been holed, and there could be water pooled in the tire wall. Can the #42 car make it to the end of this race? He may be good to go if this caution flag is too long. They have nine laps of fuel left. But, how much of the clock will be eaten up with the cleanup?
This could be a lengthy yellow with time dwindling on the clock. The water we saw was not from the Porsche's radiator. But, it was water in the tire wall. Meanwhile, does Alex Brundle have enough fuel to get to the finish? In 1967, Bob Bondurant, legendary racing driver, had a savage crash at Watkins Glen. He didn't drive again, but he founded his own racing school. He had a short, but glittering driving career. We're ready for the dash for cash at Watkins Glen. It's crunch time now.
We've got just a shade over thirteen minutes to go. Alex Brundle has lapped cars between he and Richard Westbrook. This is going to be good. This is war. Green flag again at The Glen. Alex Brundle alsmost got past the pace car as Burt Friesselle tries to get the lead lap back. But here comes Richard Westbrook, and he's past Burndle! Ugh! He has to get past Westbrook. Here he is, they otuch. He's trying into The Boot. Westrbook needs to get rid of Frisselle. Oh! A wreck! Another yellow. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford and the #7 Starworks Martini car of Renger van der Zande is off.
Full course yellow. Unreal! Scott Pruett is oput of the car. He's limping. He's had some injuries before in his carer. van der Zande slaps Pruett and Pruett crunches the wall, and then gets T boned. Alex Brundle is angry. He says, "this isn't racing!" The P2 cars don't have the speed of the Daytona Prototypes. The heavir Daytona Prototypes have quicker acceleration. Ganassi has not had the season they've wanted. No one did anything wrong. They won Sebring. But, it's a bad year for Ganassi. They have to build momentum going forward.
Brundle's car is good on the straights, but they don't have the pulling power uphill like the V8 powered Daytona Prototypes. We're going to finish this race under yellow, it appears. Action Express Racing won't get three in a row. But they'll get points in the driver's championship and in the North American Endurance Cup. Oh boy. It is a one lap sprint. Time it. Westbrook vs. Brundle. He's on it. It's a white checker. #5 passes Jordan Taylor. Does Alex Brundle have enough car? Here's the chicane. Barboda on the attack. Bbrundle needs to nail this corner. He might not have enough to get by Westbrook.
He's drawing up. He slips a bit. It's down to two. Can Burndle get to Westbrook. Here he comes. Westbrook has the gap though. He's going to win the Six Hours of The Glen! Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante do it!
Overall/Prototype: #90 Westbrook/Valiante Chevrolet Corvette Prototype
Prototype
Challenge: #54 Bennett/Braun/Gue Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #3 Magnussen/Garcia Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #94 Palttala/Cameron BMW Z4 GTE
Corvette gets their third win of the season. Turner Motorsports wins GT Daytona. The four winning teams are the leaders in the Patron Endurance Cup. We've got one more race, at the Petit Le Mans in October. Ten hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first. That will also be the curtain call for the Tudor Championship season.
The next race is in two weeks. It's at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The track formerly known as Mosport Park, is another of the world's great tracks. Hard to believe six hours can go by so fast when you are having that much fun. So long, for now. We'll see you at Mosport, in two weeks, fans.
The #91 SRT Viper is pitting. The #3 Corvette is also running well, as they are going for three wins in a row. #91 comes out of the pit. But, there's brake dust in the car. That's not good. But you have to deal with it in a GT coupe. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette Prototype is going to pit. There's still debris on track that the marshals haven't taken care of. #90 is staying on course, trying to get five more laps on fuel, after what has been a 47 minute fuel stint. Rolling the dice with 50 minutes left in this race. Valiante is followed by Joao Barbosa, who is looking for three straight wins in the Six Hours of The Glen.
The #90 car is in. Richard Westbrook will take the car home. They need to get good mileage on this last stint. It's going to be a close one. He'll have to go 47 and a half minutes after having to hit the reserve fuel pump. Joao Barbosa is still in the #5. Michael Valiante, is spent. Barbosa pits. Once the leader pits, you have to respond because pit lane is closed if there is a yellow flag. The #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia hits the wall, and there will be a full course yellow. The Krohn car is spun around into the tires.
He has to fire the car. Everyone has to get fuel and will come now. The #57 car turned in and did not see the Prototype Challenge #85 car of Stephen Simpson. Alex Brundle is still going for it. Krohn fires the car up, and there will be no full course yellow. Richard Westbrook is 20 some odd seconds behind Alex Brundle. They have to wait for a yellow to be safe. Pitting under green, would not give the #90 a decent enough delta time. No sign of rain as this race is coming to a close, steadily.
Just 38 minutes to go. Alex Brundle might still need a splash and dash before the end of this race. Colin Braun has a lap advantage over the second place car in class, of John Martin, in the Prototype Challenge class. Antonio Garcia leads GT LM in the #3 Corvette C-7-R-. The #85 car will have a stop and hold penalty for the contact with the Krohn Racing Ferrari. The #94 BMW team will have to do a splash and dash before the end of the race. It will be neck and neck with the GT Daytona victory battle. Turner strategist Don Salama, might be turning up the wick a bit too much.
The #10 Velocity Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette pits. Jordan Taylor, will take the car to the finish within the last half hour of this race. Don Salama said that he's already strategized, and the team short filled the #94 BMW. Ah, race strategists are sly dogs, sometimes. Alex Brundle might be in the catbird seat as he's up by 30 seconds on Richard Westbrook at the moment. Watkins Glen is best known as a long-time home for the United States Grand Prix. Innes Ireland won the first race in 1961.
Check out the International Motor Racing Research Center, located in Watkins Glen.
http://www.racingarchives.org/
Colin Braun continues leading the Prototype Challenge class. Ooh! We have another big wreck. Two cars crash and we have our third full course yellow. 25 minutes to go. We'll have a shootout. Ian James turns into the #08 of Alex Tagliani. The radiator on the Porsche has been holed, and there could be water pooled in the tire wall. Can the #42 car make it to the end of this race? He may be good to go if this caution flag is too long. They have nine laps of fuel left. But, how much of the clock will be eaten up with the cleanup?
This could be a lengthy yellow with time dwindling on the clock. The water we saw was not from the Porsche's radiator. But, it was water in the tire wall. Meanwhile, does Alex Brundle have enough fuel to get to the finish? In 1967, Bob Bondurant, legendary racing driver, had a savage crash at Watkins Glen. He didn't drive again, but he founded his own racing school. He had a short, but glittering driving career. We're ready for the dash for cash at Watkins Glen. It's crunch time now.
We've got just a shade over thirteen minutes to go. Alex Brundle has lapped cars between he and Richard Westbrook. This is going to be good. This is war. Green flag again at The Glen. Alex Brundle alsmost got past the pace car as Burt Friesselle tries to get the lead lap back. But here comes Richard Westbrook, and he's past Burndle! Ugh! He has to get past Westbrook. Here he is, they otuch. He's trying into The Boot. Westrbook needs to get rid of Frisselle. Oh! A wreck! Another yellow. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford and the #7 Starworks Martini car of Renger van der Zande is off.
Full course yellow. Unreal! Scott Pruett is oput of the car. He's limping. He's had some injuries before in his carer. van der Zande slaps Pruett and Pruett crunches the wall, and then gets T boned. Alex Brundle is angry. He says, "this isn't racing!" The P2 cars don't have the speed of the Daytona Prototypes. The heavir Daytona Prototypes have quicker acceleration. Ganassi has not had the season they've wanted. No one did anything wrong. They won Sebring. But, it's a bad year for Ganassi. They have to build momentum going forward.
Brundle's car is good on the straights, but they don't have the pulling power uphill like the V8 powered Daytona Prototypes. We're going to finish this race under yellow, it appears. Action Express Racing won't get three in a row. But they'll get points in the driver's championship and in the North American Endurance Cup. Oh boy. It is a one lap sprint. Time it. Westbrook vs. Brundle. He's on it. It's a white checker. #5 passes Jordan Taylor. Does Alex Brundle have enough car? Here's the chicane. Barboda on the attack. Bbrundle needs to nail this corner. He might not have enough to get by Westbrook.
He's drawing up. He slips a bit. It's down to two. Can Burndle get to Westbrook. Here he comes. Westbrook has the gap though. He's going to win the Six Hours of The Glen! Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante do it!
Overall/Prototype: #90 Westbrook/Valiante Chevrolet Corvette Prototype
Prototype
Challenge: #54 Bennett/Braun/Gue Oreca FLM 09 Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #3 Magnussen/Garcia Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #94 Palttala/Cameron BMW Z4 GTE
Corvette gets their third win of the season. Turner Motorsports wins GT Daytona. The four winning teams are the leaders in the Patron Endurance Cup. We've got one more race, at the Petit Le Mans in October. Ten hours or 1,000 miles, whichever comes first. That will also be the curtain call for the Tudor Championship season.
The next race is in two weeks. It's at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The track formerly known as Mosport Park, is another of the world's great tracks. Hard to believe six hours can go by so fast when you are having that much fun. So long, for now. We'll see you at Mosport, in two weeks, fans.
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 5
The top four cars are all on the same lap. One wonders how the #60 Riley Ford EcoBoost with John Pew at the wheel, has gone down three laps. Corvette Racing is running the same cars they ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago. Corvette wants to win. But it'll be like Elkhart Lake last year at Road America, and become a fuel race, according to team manager, Doug Fehan. Krohn Racing did the same thing with their green Ferrari 458 Italia, who were invited to Le Mans at the last minute of course. Christian Fittipaldi stayed in the car. He's hot, and fortunately got a new drink bottle.
It's going to be another long day for Christian Fittipaldi. Back in 2005, Krohn Racing won with Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson. They also won in 2006 with Oliver Gavin and Nic Jonsson. That was with a Riley Ford. In 2009, they also took a Lola Ford to victory with Nic Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta. David Hobbs, Jo Siffert, Paul Hawkins, Richard Attwood, Jacky Ickx, Lucien Bianchi, and others have raced here. Chassis 1075 for a Ford GT40, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 and '69 with Bianchi and Pedro Rodriguez, followed in '69 by Jacky Ickx and Jacky Oliver.
There was also a car called the Helmut Turbine that it raced against. Valiante still leads overall. It's interesting, because every car racing today, has more horsepower than the Ford GT40 did. The Turner Motorsports BMW still leads GT Daytona. The skies are cloudy. But no rain in sight. OAK Racing pits the #42. Gustavo Yacaman stays in the car. He pits from second. He'll finish a double stint and let Alex Brundle finish this race. The #54 Prototype Challenge car is in. Colin Braun shares with Jon Bennett and James Gue.
Mike Hedlund leads Prototype Challenge in the #38 car he shares with David Ostella. Hedlund is more of a GT specialist. The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW is headed out of the pits. But, the #4 Corvette will get a 35 second penalty for minot contact. Dane Cameron takes over the #94 machine. The stop and hold is actually 70 seconds. It allegedly hit the #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS. Paul Dalla Lana is supporting Will Turner and Dane Cameron, even though he has business ventures, and his commitment to running with Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The #90 car pits for fuel and tires. Valiante stays in the car. The back deck is pulling apart from the rear engine cover. Richard Westbrook takes over the car. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead, hoping for a 3-peat in the Six Hours of The Glen. We've had only two full course yellows. Scott Sharp has not had the run he's wanted with ESM. Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mike Shank Racing haven't nailed their setup either. Here's Boris Said in the #31 Chevrolet Corvette prototype, 18th in the overall, 11th in class. Joel Miller also is soldeiering on in the Mazda Prototype.
We're deep into the fifth hour and will soon have one hour remaining in this race. We check in with the Prototype Challenge spec class with the same chassis', engines, and tires. Colin Braun and CORE Autosport are leading. The #7 Starworks car is driven by John Martin. Alex Tagliani has the #08 car running well, too, even after his huge wreck in qualifying yesterday. Eerily reminiscent of a wreck he had at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Renger van der Zande is fourth in class in the Martini car. Frankie Montecalvo gets chopped by the Krohn Racing Ferrari! Yikes. David Ostella runs next. All these cars are on the same lap more or less. The PC race could go to the end of the six hours. The Krohn car slides through the chicane, which you are allowed to do if you stop. Martin Plowman is seventh in Prototype Challenge, with Stephen Simpson, next up. We've got an hour and 21 minutes left in this race, chaps. Dark clouds are looming. Will it come? If it does, how will it affect the race?
Antonio Garcia leads GT LM. Tommy Milner is in the #4 car. They've lost the right side door numeral on the car. Marc Goossens is running well in the Vipr. Now, there's still a penalty and an invstigation on the car for contact by the strwards. But, the Audi was at fault in this case. Not the Corvete. Dirk Muller runs next in the #56 car. John Edwards will finish the stint off. Pierre Kaffer is next in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari.
Patrick Pilet is in the #912 factory Porsche, with Nick Tandy in the sister car (#911). Will we see rain? There are dark clouds around the circuit at Watkins Glen. It's time to get your closer up. Eleven minuts to go in hour five. Christina Nielsen has handed the #30 Porsche to Kuba Giermaziak. Dane Cameron will take over from Markus Palttala in the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW. Townsend Bell is second in the Level 5 Ferrari 458 Italia.
Andy Lally is still hanging in there in the #44 Magnus Porsche. Andrew Davis is also running well in the #27 Dempsey Porsche. Madison Snow and Jan Heylen are in the sister car. Alessandro Balzan is running well in the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, driving defensively on the Mazda prototype. Dion von Moltke is in the #35 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS. The #46 Fall Line Audi R8 LMS is still hanging in there in the top ten in GT Daytona despite it's troubles throughout the day, as we have only 67 minutes left in this race now.
Gustavo Yacaman has taken the overall lead! Keep pushing. The "Yac Attack" is going for it, and quickly. Tacaman runs wide as he passes a Prototype Challenge car. He slices around the Corvette. Don't mess around and hurt the car. There's debris in turn nine. Dane Cameron still battles Townsend Bell in GT Daytona. Bill Sweedler is Bell's co-driver. Gustavo Yacaman is still gapping the #90 machine of Michael Valiante. Yacaman wants a yellow.
The #4 Corvette with get a stop & go penalty. That's acceptable, for contact with the #35 car.
It's going to be another long day for Christian Fittipaldi. Back in 2005, Krohn Racing won with Tracy Krohn and Nic Jonsson. They also won in 2006 with Oliver Gavin and Nic Jonsson. That was with a Riley Ford. In 2009, they also took a Lola Ford to victory with Nic Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta. David Hobbs, Jo Siffert, Paul Hawkins, Richard Attwood, Jacky Ickx, Lucien Bianchi, and others have raced here. Chassis 1075 for a Ford GT40, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 and '69 with Bianchi and Pedro Rodriguez, followed in '69 by Jacky Ickx and Jacky Oliver.
There was also a car called the Helmut Turbine that it raced against. Valiante still leads overall. It's interesting, because every car racing today, has more horsepower than the Ford GT40 did. The Turner Motorsports BMW still leads GT Daytona. The skies are cloudy. But no rain in sight. OAK Racing pits the #42. Gustavo Yacaman stays in the car. He pits from second. He'll finish a double stint and let Alex Brundle finish this race. The #54 Prototype Challenge car is in. Colin Braun shares with Jon Bennett and James Gue.
Mike Hedlund leads Prototype Challenge in the #38 car he shares with David Ostella. Hedlund is more of a GT specialist. The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW is headed out of the pits. But, the #4 Corvette will get a 35 second penalty for minot contact. Dane Cameron takes over the #94 machine. The stop and hold is actually 70 seconds. It allegedly hit the #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports Audi R8 LMS. Paul Dalla Lana is supporting Will Turner and Dane Cameron, even though he has business ventures, and his commitment to running with Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The #90 car pits for fuel and tires. Valiante stays in the car. The back deck is pulling apart from the rear engine cover. Richard Westbrook takes over the car. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead, hoping for a 3-peat in the Six Hours of The Glen. We've had only two full course yellows. Scott Sharp has not had the run he's wanted with ESM. Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mike Shank Racing haven't nailed their setup either. Here's Boris Said in the #31 Chevrolet Corvette prototype, 18th in the overall, 11th in class. Joel Miller also is soldeiering on in the Mazda Prototype.
We're deep into the fifth hour and will soon have one hour remaining in this race. We check in with the Prototype Challenge spec class with the same chassis', engines, and tires. Colin Braun and CORE Autosport are leading. The #7 Starworks car is driven by John Martin. Alex Tagliani has the #08 car running well, too, even after his huge wreck in qualifying yesterday. Eerily reminiscent of a wreck he had at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Renger van der Zande is fourth in class in the Martini car. Frankie Montecalvo gets chopped by the Krohn Racing Ferrari! Yikes. David Ostella runs next. All these cars are on the same lap more or less. The PC race could go to the end of the six hours. The Krohn car slides through the chicane, which you are allowed to do if you stop. Martin Plowman is seventh in Prototype Challenge, with Stephen Simpson, next up. We've got an hour and 21 minutes left in this race, chaps. Dark clouds are looming. Will it come? If it does, how will it affect the race?
Antonio Garcia leads GT LM. Tommy Milner is in the #4 car. They've lost the right side door numeral on the car. Marc Goossens is running well in the Vipr. Now, there's still a penalty and an invstigation on the car for contact by the strwards. But, the Audi was at fault in this case. Not the Corvete. Dirk Muller runs next in the #56 car. John Edwards will finish the stint off. Pierre Kaffer is next in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari.
Patrick Pilet is in the #912 factory Porsche, with Nick Tandy in the sister car (#911). Will we see rain? There are dark clouds around the circuit at Watkins Glen. It's time to get your closer up. Eleven minuts to go in hour five. Christina Nielsen has handed the #30 Porsche to Kuba Giermaziak. Dane Cameron will take over from Markus Palttala in the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW. Townsend Bell is second in the Level 5 Ferrari 458 Italia.
Andy Lally is still hanging in there in the #44 Magnus Porsche. Andrew Davis is also running well in the #27 Dempsey Porsche. Madison Snow and Jan Heylen are in the sister car. Alessandro Balzan is running well in the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia, driving defensively on the Mazda prototype. Dion von Moltke is in the #35 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS. The #46 Fall Line Audi R8 LMS is still hanging in there in the top ten in GT Daytona despite it's troubles throughout the day, as we have only 67 minutes left in this race now.
Gustavo Yacaman has taken the overall lead! Keep pushing. The "Yac Attack" is going for it, and quickly. Tacaman runs wide as he passes a Prototype Challenge car. He slices around the Corvette. Don't mess around and hurt the car. There's debris in turn nine. Dane Cameron still battles Townsend Bell in GT Daytona. Bill Sweedler is Bell's co-driver. Gustavo Yacaman is still gapping the #90 machine of Michael Valiante. Yacaman wants a yellow.
The #4 Corvette with get a stop & go penalty. That's acceptable, for contact with the #35 car.
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 4
The #2 Patron Racing HPD ARX-03 is back on track. The #3 Corvette is now seventh in GT LM. But, their team car #4, leads in GT LM. The #4 Corvette makes a scheduled pit stop. Action Express Racing still uses an H pattern transmission, instead of a paddle shift system. A couple pit stops for Starworks. We watch the two SRT Viper's with their beautiful, old livery in red and white, back. Oreca ran the cars, and had great success in North America and Europe. Christina Nielsen in the #30 NGT Momo Porsche in GT Daytona, is the second female driver in this race, along with Katherine Legge in the Deltawing.
Kuno Wittmer pits the Viper in GT LM from eighth overall. There will be a driver change. Jonathan Bomarito and Marc Goossens share the #93 car. Goossens is now in the car. Loosen your belts, but don't unbuckle when you come in for a driver change. We watch the #10 car pit. Routine stop. Jordan Taylor takes over from Max Angelelli. The #55 BMW Z4 GT also pits. Jordan Taylor had a mullet for 18 months, and just recently chopped it off for charity. There were tons of photographers around. The #5 Action Express Corvette pits and heads back out on track. Flying Lizard and Krohn Racing also make pit stops. It's been a pretty clean race so far.
We've got the same distance as a sprint race yet to run. Two hours and 45 minutes. Oh wow! Traffic in the way. A slower Porsche was trying to get out of the way, but couldn't quite do it. No harm. But' it's an interception as Fittipaldi got passes by Taylor going up the hill. Shall we dance? The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW pitted. They run first in GT Daytona, with Markus Palttala still at the wheel. John Pew runs seventh in class and in the overall in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Riley Ford EcoBoost as Markus Paltalla is still leading GT Daytona.
The HANS (Head & Neck Support) Device, has slots to guide the seatbelts in. But, sometimes, the belts get hung up if you aren't smooth about it. Jim Downing and his brother-in-law Bob Hubbard, invented it. The #555 car is running well with Townsend Bell at the wheel. This is the Level 5 car in GT Daytona. Action Express, Corvette Racing, RSR Racing, and Turner Motorsports, gained points for the halfway mark in this race. Scuderia Corse pits their #63 Ferrari 458 Italia with Jeff Westphal, Alessandro Balzan, and Brandon Davis, on the driver's strength.
GT Daytona is designed for the Porsche's, because other cars in the class like Ferrari's and Audi's, are designed for the GT3 class in Europe, like the Blancpain Endurance Series or the Blancpain Sprint Series. Rumors persist that Ferrari might come backTr to prototype racing, soon. Tristan Nunez has taken over the #07 Mazda prototype. Nunez's mom was texting and driving, and almost crashed with their family in the car. So Nunez is trying to raise awareness of what is a real serious issue.
Richard Westbrook continues to lead. The technology is so advanced, you can't have a lifelong mechanic work on the car. You have to have engineers and aerodynamicists work on these cars. Technology is incredible. Richard Westbrook returns to pit lane and Michael Valiante will take over. Westbrook just did a double stint. Watkins Glen is a very physical track in a high downforce situation, with fourth gear, fast right handers. Your helmet doubles in weight, and hurts your neck.
The body has tremendous forces exerted on it. The G forces are incredible. Road Atlanta is another very physical track. Jan Magnussen is running in the #3 Corvette. It's very hot in the closed cockpit cars, too. Cool suits help. But, not too much. Gustavo Yacaman is in the #42 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan. Yacaman chases the SkyActive Mazda prototype and passes. Contact in turn one. Ryan Lewis spins his Prototype Challenge car. Lewis gets forced inside by an Audi, with Marco Bonanomi at the wheel. Lewis' left rear tire is flat.
How could Bonanomi not have seen him? Bonanomi is damaged, with a right rear tire that's flat. Whoa! The officials are not going to like this, in the spot where the long and short courses meet. Bonanomi had a huge crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans of course. Ryan Lewis was leading Prototype Challenge. He won't be scored for this particular lap and neither will Bonanomi. He went to the left, straightened out, and plowed into the prototype. That's a bizarre wreck. He pulled right in front of a battle between the BMW and the Ferrari in GT LM.
The #09 car lost a lap but had a quick fix. Bonanomi took a boatload of grass with him. He's got superficial damage. But, if the radiator is blocked off, the engine could overheat. Bonanomi knows the Audi R8 because he races one in the Italian GT Championship. Christian Fittipaldi still leads, but, he's had an off, and there's grass in the front of the car. He needs to pit and maybe have someone take over from him. Team owner for RSR, Paul Gentilozzi, has a problem with Bonanomi, and also says it's a mystery as to what happened. Bonanomi didn't clear the prototype.
There was plenty of room to maintain the line. Ten minutes left in hour four. It's hard to know if a car sees you, or doesn't. Bonanomi will have a stop and hold penalty from the IMSA stewards. Gustavo Yacaman tries to pass Richard Westbrook. These guys are not the best of friends. The P2 car is very quick in certain places, whereas the Daytona Prototype is slower in the corners, faster on the straightaways. We're near the end of the fourth hour. Marco Bonanomi has a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, adding insult to injury.
Michael; Valiante stretches his gap to Gustavo Yacaman. The #55 BMW Z4 pits. Bill Auberlen is out of the car. The #56 sister car also pitted. This race hasn't quite gone BMW's way today. There's still time. We're counting backwards from the end of the race for stint length for fuel and tire usage. Both Corvette's are pitting. The #4 is in as Tommy Milner takes over, and Antonio Garcia takes over the #3 from Jan Magnussen. Back time the race. Eliminate pit stops and figure out fuel strategy. GT LM cars go 55 minutes. So, they can't go one more stop, without a yellow.
Kuno Wittmer pits the Viper in GT LM from eighth overall. There will be a driver change. Jonathan Bomarito and Marc Goossens share the #93 car. Goossens is now in the car. Loosen your belts, but don't unbuckle when you come in for a driver change. We watch the #10 car pit. Routine stop. Jordan Taylor takes over from Max Angelelli. The #55 BMW Z4 GT also pits. Jordan Taylor had a mullet for 18 months, and just recently chopped it off for charity. There were tons of photographers around. The #5 Action Express Corvette pits and heads back out on track. Flying Lizard and Krohn Racing also make pit stops. It's been a pretty clean race so far.
We've got the same distance as a sprint race yet to run. Two hours and 45 minutes. Oh wow! Traffic in the way. A slower Porsche was trying to get out of the way, but couldn't quite do it. No harm. But' it's an interception as Fittipaldi got passes by Taylor going up the hill. Shall we dance? The #94 Turner Motorsports BMW pitted. They run first in GT Daytona, with Markus Palttala still at the wheel. John Pew runs seventh in class and in the overall in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Riley Ford EcoBoost as Markus Paltalla is still leading GT Daytona.
The HANS (Head & Neck Support) Device, has slots to guide the seatbelts in. But, sometimes, the belts get hung up if you aren't smooth about it. Jim Downing and his brother-in-law Bob Hubbard, invented it. The #555 car is running well with Townsend Bell at the wheel. This is the Level 5 car in GT Daytona. Action Express, Corvette Racing, RSR Racing, and Turner Motorsports, gained points for the halfway mark in this race. Scuderia Corse pits their #63 Ferrari 458 Italia with Jeff Westphal, Alessandro Balzan, and Brandon Davis, on the driver's strength.
GT Daytona is designed for the Porsche's, because other cars in the class like Ferrari's and Audi's, are designed for the GT3 class in Europe, like the Blancpain Endurance Series or the Blancpain Sprint Series. Rumors persist that Ferrari might come backTr to prototype racing, soon. Tristan Nunez has taken over the #07 Mazda prototype. Nunez's mom was texting and driving, and almost crashed with their family in the car. So Nunez is trying to raise awareness of what is a real serious issue.
Richard Westbrook continues to lead. The technology is so advanced, you can't have a lifelong mechanic work on the car. You have to have engineers and aerodynamicists work on these cars. Technology is incredible. Richard Westbrook returns to pit lane and Michael Valiante will take over. Westbrook just did a double stint. Watkins Glen is a very physical track in a high downforce situation, with fourth gear, fast right handers. Your helmet doubles in weight, and hurts your neck.
The body has tremendous forces exerted on it. The G forces are incredible. Road Atlanta is another very physical track. Jan Magnussen is running in the #3 Corvette. It's very hot in the closed cockpit cars, too. Cool suits help. But, not too much. Gustavo Yacaman is in the #42 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan. Yacaman chases the SkyActive Mazda prototype and passes. Contact in turn one. Ryan Lewis spins his Prototype Challenge car. Lewis gets forced inside by an Audi, with Marco Bonanomi at the wheel. Lewis' left rear tire is flat.
How could Bonanomi not have seen him? Bonanomi is damaged, with a right rear tire that's flat. Whoa! The officials are not going to like this, in the spot where the long and short courses meet. Bonanomi had a huge crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans of course. Ryan Lewis was leading Prototype Challenge. He won't be scored for this particular lap and neither will Bonanomi. He went to the left, straightened out, and plowed into the prototype. That's a bizarre wreck. He pulled right in front of a battle between the BMW and the Ferrari in GT LM.
The #09 car lost a lap but had a quick fix. Bonanomi took a boatload of grass with him. He's got superficial damage. But, if the radiator is blocked off, the engine could overheat. Bonanomi knows the Audi R8 because he races one in the Italian GT Championship. Christian Fittipaldi still leads, but, he's had an off, and there's grass in the front of the car. He needs to pit and maybe have someone take over from him. Team owner for RSR, Paul Gentilozzi, has a problem with Bonanomi, and also says it's a mystery as to what happened. Bonanomi didn't clear the prototype.
There was plenty of room to maintain the line. Ten minutes left in hour four. It's hard to know if a car sees you, or doesn't. Bonanomi will have a stop and hold penalty from the IMSA stewards. Gustavo Yacaman tries to pass Richard Westbrook. These guys are not the best of friends. The P2 car is very quick in certain places, whereas the Daytona Prototype is slower in the corners, faster on the straightaways. We're near the end of the fourth hour. Marco Bonanomi has a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, adding insult to injury.
Michael; Valiante stretches his gap to Gustavo Yacaman. The #55 BMW Z4 pits. Bill Auberlen is out of the car. The #56 sister car also pitted. This race hasn't quite gone BMW's way today. There's still time. We're counting backwards from the end of the race for stint length for fuel and tire usage. Both Corvette's are pitting. The #4 is in as Tommy Milner takes over, and Antonio Garcia takes over the #3 from Jan Magnussen. Back time the race. Eliminate pit stops and figure out fuel strategy. GT LM cars go 55 minutes. So, they can't go one more stop, without a yellow.
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 3
This track is phenomenal. It's one of the best tracks in the world, and is a driver's track. We see the #22 Porsche being towed back, as the #01 is not being urgently worked on. It could be game over for that car. The #57 Krohn Racing Ferrari is in pit lane for a scheduled stop. We go back to green! Oh no! The #2 HPD of Johannes van Overbeek is stopped on course. He tries refiring the car, but the engine won't turn over. Richard Westbrook is now at the wheel of the #90. Joaoa Barbosa and Ho Pin Tung are second and third at this stage. The Patron HPD is a bad lie if this were a golf course. Can the marshal's safely retrieve that car?
The gap[ between Barbosa and Westbrook is 5.2 seconds. Ooh! We've got a spin in turn one with a Porsche and a Ferrari. It's the #30 NGT Porsche and the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari. Brandon Davis is the third driver in this car with Jeff Westphal and Alessandro Balzan. Mario Farnbacher in the #23 AJR Porsche hit Kuba Giermaziak in the #30. The #2 car might be having a throttle issue. There's no mechanical throttle linkage. It's all electronic and sends the signal between the driver's foot, and the engine.
Let's check in with the #27 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America. Joe Foster is at the controls while Patrick Dempsey has had his first stint. Grip goes away haflway through your stint. Race your own race. That's the big deal. The Action Express cars pitted. Prototypes can run 45 minutes on fuel. Now, halfway is coming up in 42 minutes,where points for the North American Endurance Cup will be awarded. The race stewards have assessed a stop and hold penalty to Max Angelelli. He ran the red light at the end of pit lane. Mario Farnbacher will also need to serve a penalty. The rolled up rubber offline, is building.
The BMW safety car heads for pit lane. We've got the battle between Richard Westbrook, and Ho Pin Tung, 1-2. We are green. Katherine Legge is now sixth in the Deltawing. She is right in front of the Corvette. Tim Keene is now the Deltawing team manager. The field slithers through the Bus Stop. It appears similar to the famous one at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Angelelli will have to stop and hold for a minute. Angelelli says, "no one told me to stop." Oh! One of the Mazda's and a Prototype Challenge car, spin.
That's Martin Fuentes in the #7 Starworks PC entry. The #54 car in the same class, is penalized for passing under yellow. Angelelli stopped at the sign but needed to be in the box. Take a number. A lot of penalties being handed out. We don't know where the red light is. It's on the wall on driver's left. Westbrook is checking out over Ho Pin Tung. Angelelli is released and will have to get going again/. Now, Fuentes spun, and the Mazda got off the road as did John Edwards in the BMW.
Corvette runs 1-2 in GT LM. Bryan Sellers is third in GT LM. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is actually back on the road. They did a lot of work. They are eleventh in class, and 44th overall. Tje Deltawing is slow. Katherine Legge has moved offline. The transmission is a concern, and so is the traction control. They are running a true differewntial in the car, too. Now, we've got more action between the BMW team cars of John Edwards and Bill Auberlen. Markus Palttala has taken over the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4. The Finn is running very well.
Palttala is another driver who has done 54 hours of racing at the end of today. 24 hours at Le Mans and the Nurburgring, and six hours, here. Bruno Junquiera is running well in Prototype Challenge. He's an Indycar and sports car star, and almost ran Formula One with Williams, before losing the drive to Jenson Button. The #8 PC car of Mirco Shultis, has spun. Did his brakes lock? There's a dark patch on the pavement that could have had a different grip level. Maybe he downshifted too quick.
Make sure you don't get stuck. Back up. Try to turn it. He's trying to see down the hill with cars coming. Now, he's fine and will get back on his way. He couldn't see down the hill. His crew says, "keep pushing Mirko. Keep pushing." All eyes on the clock. 20 minutes until the halfway mark in the race. Team Falken Tire has done a lot of testing. Michael Christensen in the second factory Porsche GT LM car is doing really well. You have to watch out, because the cars and drivers are all at different levels. They all have the same top speed. But the braking zones are totally different.
Michael Christensen might get by, and he does, using the Flying Lizard Audi as a pick. The Falken guys, racing against the factory cars with the same equipment would be a real coup for them. But, rear grip with these new Porsche's is hard to come by. The front end of the car washes away. If it's imbalanced, the tires will go south in a hurry. We understand some thunderstorms could be coming. It's hot and humid. So, there could be rain before the end of this race.
If rain comes, that'll put the cat among the pigeons. Car #30 is in pit lane. Watch out on a Porsche for the reart exhaust if you get a puncture. Kuba Giermaziak is at the wheel. He's won at Monaco in Porsche Supercup. A big honor. Now, the #90 Spirit of Daytona COrvtte pits. We are just past the top of the hour, coming to the end of hour three as Westbrook completes his stop. Joao Barbosa, Bruno Junquiera, Jan Magnussen, and Markus Palttala, are the class leaders right now.
Now, the #55 BMW of Bill Auberlen will receive a 75 second penalty for booting Mirco Shultis off the road. It'll be a stop and hold penalty, and it will hurt BMW RLL. The #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS has more damage and is pitting again. They've got a right rear wheel off. Brett Sanberg slapped the wall and had a glancing blow against the wall. Sandberg shares with Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canche Jr. who are the appointed drivers to earn points. It's a trailing arm that's busted on the #45 and needs to be replaced.
Put a jack stand under the car, or use a chunk of wood. A sturdy, chunk of wood. We see Dominik Farnbacher and Nick Tandy battle for fourth in GT LM. We're ten minutes away from halfway. Five bonus points for class leaders at the halfway mark. We also see a stop for the Prototype CHallenge leading car of Duncan Ende, Bruno Junquiera, and Ryan Lewis. Junquiera stays in the car. If the car's coming in, the next driver should be ready if there's a panic, or a radio problem. With three drivers, the rotation is easier. Jan Magnussen leads Oliver Gavin in GT LM.
We're seven minutes for halfway. Someone lost a big carbon fiber panel. Now, the #17 Porsche pits with Bryan Sellers changing over to Wolf Henzler. They are single stinting. The race schedule will start heating up. Speaking of heat, even with air conditioning in the production based cars, the cockpit temperatures are 120 degrees or so. In a minute and a half, there will be bonus points awarded for the endurance championship. The bonus points could play into a factor at the end of the year. At the three hour mark, timing and scoring is frozen, and will revert back to the previous lap.
Brian Frisselle in the sister Action Express car is second. Halfway, right now.
The gap[ between Barbosa and Westbrook is 5.2 seconds. Ooh! We've got a spin in turn one with a Porsche and a Ferrari. It's the #30 NGT Porsche and the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari. Brandon Davis is the third driver in this car with Jeff Westphal and Alessandro Balzan. Mario Farnbacher in the #23 AJR Porsche hit Kuba Giermaziak in the #30. The #2 car might be having a throttle issue. There's no mechanical throttle linkage. It's all electronic and sends the signal between the driver's foot, and the engine.
Let's check in with the #27 Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 GT America. Joe Foster is at the controls while Patrick Dempsey has had his first stint. Grip goes away haflway through your stint. Race your own race. That's the big deal. The Action Express cars pitted. Prototypes can run 45 minutes on fuel. Now, halfway is coming up in 42 minutes,where points for the North American Endurance Cup will be awarded. The race stewards have assessed a stop and hold penalty to Max Angelelli. He ran the red light at the end of pit lane. Mario Farnbacher will also need to serve a penalty. The rolled up rubber offline, is building.
The BMW safety car heads for pit lane. We've got the battle between Richard Westbrook, and Ho Pin Tung, 1-2. We are green. Katherine Legge is now sixth in the Deltawing. She is right in front of the Corvette. Tim Keene is now the Deltawing team manager. The field slithers through the Bus Stop. It appears similar to the famous one at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Angelelli will have to stop and hold for a minute. Angelelli says, "no one told me to stop." Oh! One of the Mazda's and a Prototype Challenge car, spin.
That's Martin Fuentes in the #7 Starworks PC entry. The #54 car in the same class, is penalized for passing under yellow. Angelelli stopped at the sign but needed to be in the box. Take a number. A lot of penalties being handed out. We don't know where the red light is. It's on the wall on driver's left. Westbrook is checking out over Ho Pin Tung. Angelelli is released and will have to get going again/. Now, Fuentes spun, and the Mazda got off the road as did John Edwards in the BMW.
Corvette runs 1-2 in GT LM. Bryan Sellers is third in GT LM. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is actually back on the road. They did a lot of work. They are eleventh in class, and 44th overall. Tje Deltawing is slow. Katherine Legge has moved offline. The transmission is a concern, and so is the traction control. They are running a true differewntial in the car, too. Now, we've got more action between the BMW team cars of John Edwards and Bill Auberlen. Markus Palttala has taken over the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4. The Finn is running very well.
Palttala is another driver who has done 54 hours of racing at the end of today. 24 hours at Le Mans and the Nurburgring, and six hours, here. Bruno Junquiera is running well in Prototype Challenge. He's an Indycar and sports car star, and almost ran Formula One with Williams, before losing the drive to Jenson Button. The #8 PC car of Mirco Shultis, has spun. Did his brakes lock? There's a dark patch on the pavement that could have had a different grip level. Maybe he downshifted too quick.
Make sure you don't get stuck. Back up. Try to turn it. He's trying to see down the hill with cars coming. Now, he's fine and will get back on his way. He couldn't see down the hill. His crew says, "keep pushing Mirko. Keep pushing." All eyes on the clock. 20 minutes until the halfway mark in the race. Team Falken Tire has done a lot of testing. Michael Christensen in the second factory Porsche GT LM car is doing really well. You have to watch out, because the cars and drivers are all at different levels. They all have the same top speed. But the braking zones are totally different.
Michael Christensen might get by, and he does, using the Flying Lizard Audi as a pick. The Falken guys, racing against the factory cars with the same equipment would be a real coup for them. But, rear grip with these new Porsche's is hard to come by. The front end of the car washes away. If it's imbalanced, the tires will go south in a hurry. We understand some thunderstorms could be coming. It's hot and humid. So, there could be rain before the end of this race.
If rain comes, that'll put the cat among the pigeons. Car #30 is in pit lane. Watch out on a Porsche for the reart exhaust if you get a puncture. Kuba Giermaziak is at the wheel. He's won at Monaco in Porsche Supercup. A big honor. Now, the #90 Spirit of Daytona COrvtte pits. We are just past the top of the hour, coming to the end of hour three as Westbrook completes his stop. Joao Barbosa, Bruno Junquiera, Jan Magnussen, and Markus Palttala, are the class leaders right now.
Now, the #55 BMW of Bill Auberlen will receive a 75 second penalty for booting Mirco Shultis off the road. It'll be a stop and hold penalty, and it will hurt BMW RLL. The #45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS has more damage and is pitting again. They've got a right rear wheel off. Brett Sanberg slapped the wall and had a glancing blow against the wall. Sandberg shares with Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canche Jr. who are the appointed drivers to earn points. It's a trailing arm that's busted on the #45 and needs to be replaced.
Put a jack stand under the car, or use a chunk of wood. A sturdy, chunk of wood. We see Dominik Farnbacher and Nick Tandy battle for fourth in GT LM. We're ten minutes away from halfway. Five bonus points for class leaders at the halfway mark. We also see a stop for the Prototype CHallenge leading car of Duncan Ende, Bruno Junquiera, and Ryan Lewis. Junquiera stays in the car. If the car's coming in, the next driver should be ready if there's a panic, or a radio problem. With three drivers, the rotation is easier. Jan Magnussen leads Oliver Gavin in GT LM.
We're seven minutes for halfway. Someone lost a big carbon fiber panel. Now, the #17 Porsche pits with Bryan Sellers changing over to Wolf Henzler. They are single stinting. The race schedule will start heating up. Speaking of heat, even with air conditioning in the production based cars, the cockpit temperatures are 120 degrees or so. In a minute and a half, there will be bonus points awarded for the endurance championship. The bonus points could play into a factor at the end of the year. At the three hour mark, timing and scoring is frozen, and will revert back to the previous lap.
Brian Frisselle in the sister Action Express car is second. Halfway, right now.
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 2
Michael Valiante loses the rear drive plane on the #90 car, getting tagged by the #88 Prototype Challenge car. The debris is clearly on the course. Three into two doesn't work into the Bus Stop chicane. Flying through the esses, on the back straight, it's the #01 Ganassi Riley Ford EcoBoost, as Gerber is still in the pits fixing the damage and the tires on the Ferrari for AF Corse. There's a great battle with Burt Frisselle, aloing with Brian Frisselle, and Jon Fogarty. Scott Pruett is hounding the Action Express car. The Ford turbo motors are six or seven miles an hour slower than the Chevrolet Corvette's. Memo Gidley continues his rehabilitation from his big crash at the Rolex 24 that forced the Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing team out of the series for the season.
We see another incident with the Patron car and the Viperexchange.com Viper. John Potter pits the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America. They're haivng radio problems. But, the pit strategy for the Flex Box Porsche is in good shape. Andy Lally and Sebastian Asch are also on the driver's strength. Lally burned his foot in the Continental Tire Challenge race yesterday, and has a blister on his foot. He'll have to be careful. The straightaways are the highest elevation points, while The Boot is the lowest. There's no radio reception down there, so drivfer's and crew's can't hear each other. Andy Lally is playing hurt. He'll take a couple Advil before going out for his stint.
Lally's car in yesterday's race, had a header break. So, the heat came into the foot box of the car, burning his foot. But he wanted to get the points. The battle rages between Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante. Brundle won't let Valiante go. OAK Racing had trouble at Le Mans a few weeks ago and didn't finish. The #62 Ferrari 458 Italia has an alternator issue for Giancarlo Fisichella. They may have to keep changing batteries throughout the race. The alternator creates current to charge the battery. The alternator provides power, for what is a 12 volt battery. How many spare batteries do you have? Can you charge the battery.
Everything is electronically controlled on these cars. We go onboard with the #07 SkyActive Mazda prototype. #70 is retired for cooling issues. The tow link has been reset on the #07, with Tristan Vautier at the wheel. Ben Devlin is driving with Tristan Vautier. Frankie Montecalvo is running in one of the Prototype Challenge cars, actually leading in class, and 11th overall. Gunnar Jeannette is Montecalvo's team mate. Frankie Montecalvo ran at Le Mans too, of course. Tire strategy is a big deal, because each class has a certain number of tires for the race weekend.
PC teams get ten sets of tires. 15 sets for the prototypes, and 12 for GT Daytona. More trouble for the #81 Porsche. Get over to the side of the road. The left rear tire is flat. He fourtunately controlled the car. It's like a chair. If you cut a leg down, it will not stay up. Ben Barker is at the wheel of the car along with Damien Faulkner, and another driver. Christian Fittipaldi is passing Scott Pruett. Action Express Racing is fifth. They want to win this. Darren Law who now is a pit reporter for Fox Sports, used to drive the Action Express car.
Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante continue their hammer and tongs battle. 49 laps complete. 167 miles. BMW's have run very well at Watkins Glen this weekend. They can't quite get the straight line speed. Bill Auberlen races the #55, and John Edwards, the sister #56 car. Edwards chases the factory Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet. Porsche has the first North American factory team in their history, and the Porsche 911 GT America is the first privateer car dedicated to North America. Porsche has a huge investment in the Tudor Championship.
For Cooper MacNeil, it's his first race at Watkins Glen. Now, the #4 car has apeeling number panel. They need to fix it and put a new one on. Mirko Shultis has had a mirror problem on the #8 Prototype Challenge car. The number panel is indeed peeling. But this is a weird issue. It's not a side mirror. They'll probably have to change the door. It's got a pit pin on it, to push in the center, with a spring in it. This is easier than bolting the door hinge to the frame. Pit stop time for prototypes, with Alex Brundle the first to dive in. Ho Pin Tung and Gustavo Yacaman share the car with Brundle. Tung will take over.
The #90 Corvtte is in the pits and will need to have parts replaced. Well, maybe not. But, they will have to be careful. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is in the pits too. Memo Rojas takes over from Scott Pruett. Cooper MacNeil has hit someone in the #22 Porsche. There's left rear damage, and possible chassis damage. He and Jeroen Bleekemolen ran at Le Mans with just two drivers. Now, the #10 Corvette pits. Max Angelelli is now the third driver in the endurance races. We saw earlier, that Prototype Challenge car of Frankie Montecalvo having issues.
The #22 Porsche has something broken on th suspension. The control arm or the upright is broken. Definite suspension damage. GT Daytona is so deep, if you have an issue, it'll bury you in the points. The #17 Porsche is in the pits. Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler are running well. Henzler ran at the Nurburgring. But, Sellers hasn't raced in eight weeks. However, he does testing for Falken tires. So, he's had drive time in the car and is still sharp. John Edwards still runs the #56 BMW. He needs a pit stop, soon. We are seventeen minutes away from the end of th second hour as the #01 car spins!
That's Memo Rojas. He's got damage. The wing end plate is off the car with a broken left rear wheel. The entire rear of the car has been pushed to the right. There's a lot of damage. Has it twisted the gearbox? The #01 team has struggled and it continues. We see Jaap van Lagen in the #73 Porsche 911 GT America driving, getting out of the car. It's our first full course yellow of this race. That's a strange incident. Here. Oh! The #73 car hit the #01.
Oh no! The #46 Fall Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS now has a tire flat. Charles Putman at the controls. Audi factory driver Marco Bonanomi is the third driver in this car. Putman simply spun out with no contact, crunching the wall. Richard Westbrook, Martin Fuentes, Richard Lietz, and Dane Cameron, are the class leaders right now. The #01 Ganassi car is back behind the wall. The #55 BMW had to do emergency service, topping up with fuel. They have to come back in for any more service. We are approaching the end of the second hour of this race.
Drivers are cleaning off their tires before going back to green flag conditions.
We see another incident with the Patron car and the Viperexchange.com Viper. John Potter pits the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America. They're haivng radio problems. But, the pit strategy for the Flex Box Porsche is in good shape. Andy Lally and Sebastian Asch are also on the driver's strength. Lally burned his foot in the Continental Tire Challenge race yesterday, and has a blister on his foot. He'll have to be careful. The straightaways are the highest elevation points, while The Boot is the lowest. There's no radio reception down there, so drivfer's and crew's can't hear each other. Andy Lally is playing hurt. He'll take a couple Advil before going out for his stint.
Lally's car in yesterday's race, had a header break. So, the heat came into the foot box of the car, burning his foot. But he wanted to get the points. The battle rages between Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante. Brundle won't let Valiante go. OAK Racing had trouble at Le Mans a few weeks ago and didn't finish. The #62 Ferrari 458 Italia has an alternator issue for Giancarlo Fisichella. They may have to keep changing batteries throughout the race. The alternator creates current to charge the battery. The alternator provides power, for what is a 12 volt battery. How many spare batteries do you have? Can you charge the battery.
Everything is electronically controlled on these cars. We go onboard with the #07 SkyActive Mazda prototype. #70 is retired for cooling issues. The tow link has been reset on the #07, with Tristan Vautier at the wheel. Ben Devlin is driving with Tristan Vautier. Frankie Montecalvo is running in one of the Prototype Challenge cars, actually leading in class, and 11th overall. Gunnar Jeannette is Montecalvo's team mate. Frankie Montecalvo ran at Le Mans too, of course. Tire strategy is a big deal, because each class has a certain number of tires for the race weekend.
PC teams get ten sets of tires. 15 sets for the prototypes, and 12 for GT Daytona. More trouble for the #81 Porsche. Get over to the side of the road. The left rear tire is flat. He fourtunately controlled the car. It's like a chair. If you cut a leg down, it will not stay up. Ben Barker is at the wheel of the car along with Damien Faulkner, and another driver. Christian Fittipaldi is passing Scott Pruett. Action Express Racing is fifth. They want to win this. Darren Law who now is a pit reporter for Fox Sports, used to drive the Action Express car.
Alex Brundle and Michael Valiante continue their hammer and tongs battle. 49 laps complete. 167 miles. BMW's have run very well at Watkins Glen this weekend. They can't quite get the straight line speed. Bill Auberlen races the #55, and John Edwards, the sister #56 car. Edwards chases the factory Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet. Porsche has the first North American factory team in their history, and the Porsche 911 GT America is the first privateer car dedicated to North America. Porsche has a huge investment in the Tudor Championship.
For Cooper MacNeil, it's his first race at Watkins Glen. Now, the #4 car has apeeling number panel. They need to fix it and put a new one on. Mirko Shultis has had a mirror problem on the #8 Prototype Challenge car. The number panel is indeed peeling. But this is a weird issue. It's not a side mirror. They'll probably have to change the door. It's got a pit pin on it, to push in the center, with a spring in it. This is easier than bolting the door hinge to the frame. Pit stop time for prototypes, with Alex Brundle the first to dive in. Ho Pin Tung and Gustavo Yacaman share the car with Brundle. Tung will take over.
The #90 Corvtte is in the pits and will need to have parts replaced. Well, maybe not. But, they will have to be careful. The #01 Ganassi Riley Ford is in the pits too. Memo Rojas takes over from Scott Pruett. Cooper MacNeil has hit someone in the #22 Porsche. There's left rear damage, and possible chassis damage. He and Jeroen Bleekemolen ran at Le Mans with just two drivers. Now, the #10 Corvette pits. Max Angelelli is now the third driver in the endurance races. We saw earlier, that Prototype Challenge car of Frankie Montecalvo having issues.
The #22 Porsche has something broken on th suspension. The control arm or the upright is broken. Definite suspension damage. GT Daytona is so deep, if you have an issue, it'll bury you in the points. The #17 Porsche is in the pits. Bryan Sellers and Wolf Henzler are running well. Henzler ran at the Nurburgring. But, Sellers hasn't raced in eight weeks. However, he does testing for Falken tires. So, he's had drive time in the car and is still sharp. John Edwards still runs the #56 BMW. He needs a pit stop, soon. We are seventeen minutes away from the end of th second hour as the #01 car spins!
That's Memo Rojas. He's got damage. The wing end plate is off the car with a broken left rear wheel. The entire rear of the car has been pushed to the right. There's a lot of damage. Has it twisted the gearbox? The #01 team has struggled and it continues. We see Jaap van Lagen in the #73 Porsche 911 GT America driving, getting out of the car. It's our first full course yellow of this race. That's a strange incident. Here. Oh! The #73 car hit the #01.
Oh no! The #46 Fall Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS now has a tire flat. Charles Putman at the controls. Audi factory driver Marco Bonanomi is the third driver in this car. Putman simply spun out with no contact, crunching the wall. Richard Westbrook, Martin Fuentes, Richard Lietz, and Dane Cameron, are the class leaders right now. The #01 Ganassi car is back behind the wall. The #55 BMW had to do emergency service, topping up with fuel. They have to come back in for any more service. We are approaching the end of the second hour of this race.
Drivers are cleaning off their tires before going back to green flag conditions.
Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen: Hour 1
The first post-war sports car race ran on the streets of Watkins Glen. Four classes ran then. Today, four classes will run. This is the third of four endurance classic races in the North American Endurance Cup. This race has been around for 60 years, and it will be dramatic. We have some great cars and drivers, some of whom are fresh off their runs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two weeks ago. Let's go racing! This will be the biggest crowd in decades for sports cars at Watkins Glen. June, globally, is the biggest month of sports car racing. Two 24 Hour races. Le Mans, and the Nurburgring. Then, Watkins Glen.
The prototypes have more downforce. It is the biggest field (with 53 cars), since 1984 in this race. Wow. Action Express Racing wants their third straight win at Watkins Glen. This is a true Endurance race. But, watch out for OAK Racing. In their first time racing here, they are on pole. This is the first time an open cockpit prototype in modern specification, has won pole at Watkins Glen. We also have to watch Prototype Challenge. Alex Tagliani spun in qualifying, hitting Chris Miller's car. Both cars were repaired. But, they will start at the back.
Colin Braun has pole for this race in Prototype Challenge. If they win here, and at Petit Le Mans, they can win the grand slam of endurance races as well as the Patron North American Endurance Cup. In GT LM, six teams from four automakers are right on top of each other. At least one driver from the top five finishers at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be in this race. Watch out for the SRT Viper's that have the legendary red and white paint scheme they did in 1999 and 2000. They'll carry that livery for the rest of the year.
But, Andy Priaulx and Bill Auberlen in the Team RLL BMW Z4 GT, is on pole. As we look at GT Daytona, AIM Autosport have the lead in points in the class. Again, four manufacturers are in the top five. Porsche is on pole with Leh Keen and Alex Job Racing. It's the first pole for Porsche in GTD. We're running the long course with 11 turns. It's 3.4 miles. Watch the Inner Loop and the Toe section of the part called The Boot. The esses, are signle file, running flat through that section. One mistake, and you'll create a big wreck or a traffic jam.
The cars are fast. Points at halfway, and at the end. Manage your driver lineups. Here we go. We're racing! Alex Brundle and Joao Barbosa are going for it and so is Michael Valiante. They scramble through the first corners. This is havoc! Ricky Taylor is now third. Watch the chicane. The Deltawing is back. Alex Brundle is doing his best into the toe of The Boot. Watch for the tires, as they're cold. Now, the Grand Am Daytona Prototypes ran here. But, the American Le Mans Series never ran at The Glen. So, some drivers need to know how to race here.
Andy Priaulx defends from his rivals in GT LM. He's under pressure from the Corvette and the Viper. The Viper and the Corvette have the power vs. the V8 BMW. The Mazda SkyActiv diesel prototype is also in this fight. The Corvette's were runner up at Le Mans. The slowest corner on this track is 70 miles per hour. David Cheng in the #88 Prototype Challenge car, is holding up the GT LM battle, as they are quicker. Jan Magnussen starts the Corvette. Now, the #60 Michael Shank Racing Riley Ford has a fuel regulation issue.
They have trouble with the Ford EcoBoost V6 turbo motor. Maybe it was a penalty. Car #18 did likewise, in GT Daytona. Joao Barbosa and Action Express want their third straight win at Watkins Glen in the six hours. Joao Barbosa has speed right now. By the way, Jordan Taylor has gotten rid of his mullet. But, seriously, Alex Brundle is still flying. We watch the gorgeous Martini liveried Starworks Prototype Challenge car. Renger van der Zande is at the wheel. He's run in DTM touring cars before, and in Formula 3. He's fast.
In GT Daytona, it's Dane Cameron driving the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4. Dane Cameron is at the controls. They've had trouble with wheel nuts removing themselves from the wheel. But, those issues, have not been solved yet. We continue to work hour one at the Six Hours of the Glen. Six hours, means six chapters for this race blog entry. So much history at this race. They've hosted Formula One (between 1961 and 1980), Nascar, Indycars, and of course, sports cars.
The GT LM battle is between the newly painted Viper's, and Pierre Kaffer in the Risi Competizione Ferrari, after they were promoted to the podium at Laguna Seca back in May. If drivers finish this race, we'll see Jereon Bleekemolen, Pierre Kaffer, Richard Westbrook, and a couple others who have run Le Mans, the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, and here at Watkins Glen. Use the curbs and pavement as a cushion. The #88 Prototype Challenge car is still holding up the GT LM battle, as the #70 Mazda SkyActiv diesel prototype is pitting for overheated oil.
Patrick Long in the factory Porsche 911 RSR, needs to get by the Prototype Challenge car. Dirk Muller is all over Long. The Viper of Kuno Wittmer, along with Pierre Kaffer, and then, the sister Viper, are all in this pack. Not sure who is in the second Viper right now. Finally, Long and Muller have cleared the PC car. But the Viper's and the Ferrari's are going for it. Now, it's actually Christian Fittipaldi running in the #5 Action Express Chevrolet Corvette Prototype. This is a six hour race. Be patient. There's a long way to go yet.
The Mazda had an oil leak in it's motor. They are still trying to develop the car. They've been working on their cooling and their radiators. They have a major upgrade coming up at the next race. Don't get oil on the turbo, because it will catch fire. Michael Valiante is running well for Spirit of Daytona in the #90 Chevrolet Corvette prototype. Alex Brundle passes the Krohn Racing Ferrari. This is not only the third endurance race. It's the sixth round of the Tudor Championship season. Dane Cameron extends his lead in GT Daytona.
It has a similar feel to the GT LM BMW from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. But, it's not as fast on the straights. It's better in the corners. Cameron is followed by Leh keen's Porsche 911 and Spencer Pumpelly in the Audi R8 LMS. These cars won't be separated too much through the six hours of the race. Spencer Pumpelly will drive both the #35 and #45 car. But, he can only get points in one car. Lots of teams have more than two drivers, because they want to have a reserve driver for this race.
Andy Lally burned his foot in a support race he ran yesterday. The #81 Tully's Porsche spins with Michael Avenatti at the controls. He hasn't run this car since Sebring. The Inner Loop was put in in the mid 1990s, it was slow. But, that's not true anymore. It's faster than it used to be. The Porsche's have had a BoP (Balance of Performance) change. Less tire, more fuel. Nick Tandy was given a penalty. He may need to go to the pit lane. Andy Priaulx is doing well in this car.
He is fully running in the Tudor Championship after running DTM last year (the German Touring Car championship). One o the Ferrari's is pitting. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead. He has a three and a half second lead over Michael Valiante. Burt Frisselle is entered as a third driver in the #5. Fiitipaldi hits the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in GT Daytona, with Jeff Westphal at the controls. Watch for a blistered tire coming from the bead between the tire and the wheel.
Barbosa and Fittipaldi will go the distance in this race as a duo with Burt Frisselle in the sister #9 car. Ooh. Contact with the BMW and the Porsche. Did Tandy listen to his warning? He taps Priaulx. He might have to go to the sin bin in the pits. You can come to Watkins Glen and drive the original course where they ran for five years. There was a tragic crash, which is why the street course was abanadoned. We see Renger van der Zande pitting, and Marco Shultis getting in the car.
They had trouble with the belts. Stefan Pfeiffer is the car chief. He's experienced in road racing. Boris Said pitted the #31 Whelen Corvette for a flat tire. Alex Brundle is trying to mak a move on Michael Valiante. Qualifying was amazing yesterday. We're 42 minutes into this race as the #17 Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR pits. Valiante, Brundle, and Fittipaldi pit. Fittipaldi stays in the car. The #17 Porsche is shared by Brian Sellers and Wolf Henzler.
Valiante stays in the #90 car. Tires and fuel. Double stint the drivers now while it's cooler. Go for single stints later in the day when it gets hot. Do a driver change when you have less fuel so you don't lose time. Many drivers have sticker tires. Brundle is still hounding the Daytona Prototypes. Jordan Taylor pits and stays in the #10 Velocity Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette. Meanwhile, contact into the heel of The Boot, as Brundle tags Valiante. We saw these teams take a swing at each other at Laguna Seca back in May. Gabby Chaves leads with the Deltawing.
Tim Keene is the crew chief on that car. James Gue in the #54 CORE Autosport PC car pits. They've won Daytona and Sebring and are the only cars that can win the endurance cup in class. Now, the #2 Patron HPD car pits, and the sister car has a speeding penalty. Meanwhile, the left rear tire is flat on the #45 Audi R8 LMS. Cut to the short course to come back. The #3 Corvette pits with Antonio Garcia out, and Jan Magnussen in. Lots of rubber develops on the track as the Audi is starting to have the tire flail. The carcass will come off, and tear the bodywork apart.
Slow down to keep that from happeening. The Audi has made it to pit lane. The left rear tire is exploded. But, there's no damage. Spencer Pumpelly stays in nthe car. TOmmy Milner will also double stint in the #4 Corvette C-7-R-. Both Tequila Patron HPD prototypes will have to do a drive through penaltu. #1 has already done so. These speed limiters can go awry. Now, the #5 Corvette makes another pit stop as we see Michael Valiante go into the lead of this motor race with Alex Brundle still second, sliding off the road, on the marbles.
The car won't turn if you are skating on the marbles. Look out! The #55 RLL BMW Z4 makes a stop. Priaulx out. Bill Auberlen, in. Oh! The #007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage has spun under the bridge with David Block at the controls. He pinches the corner and swaps ends with the car, trying to stay out of the way, losing the steering and almost hitting the wall. One of the Ferrari's also spins out. So, action is hot and heavy right now. We are in the Finger Lakes region in the southern tier of New York State.
Valiante and Brundle continue their battle. Brundle is ruthlessly attacking the blue car. Something got messed up with Action Express' driver nomination. All the paperwork and timing and scoring had a different driver. That's a rare incident. Now the #51 Ferrari for AF Corse is still smoking. It could be a tire, or, something more. Leh Keen continues to lead the GT Daytona class. They are second and third in the championship standings right now.
Leh Keen was helping Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil, running two driver at Le Mans. Jack Gerber is at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari with the iffy tire. Look out. What happened to Jack Gerber? He spun and another prototype went off course but didn't hit Gerber. He pits. So does the #1 HPD for Patron Racing, as the car has damage. They are Honda's, and once were designated as Acura's. These cars are very aerodynamically sensitive. We're ready to start the second hour as the #33 GT Daytona SRT Viper pits.
The prototypes have more downforce. It is the biggest field (with 53 cars), since 1984 in this race. Wow. Action Express Racing wants their third straight win at Watkins Glen. This is a true Endurance race. But, watch out for OAK Racing. In their first time racing here, they are on pole. This is the first time an open cockpit prototype in modern specification, has won pole at Watkins Glen. We also have to watch Prototype Challenge. Alex Tagliani spun in qualifying, hitting Chris Miller's car. Both cars were repaired. But, they will start at the back.
Colin Braun has pole for this race in Prototype Challenge. If they win here, and at Petit Le Mans, they can win the grand slam of endurance races as well as the Patron North American Endurance Cup. In GT LM, six teams from four automakers are right on top of each other. At least one driver from the top five finishers at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be in this race. Watch out for the SRT Viper's that have the legendary red and white paint scheme they did in 1999 and 2000. They'll carry that livery for the rest of the year.
But, Andy Priaulx and Bill Auberlen in the Team RLL BMW Z4 GT, is on pole. As we look at GT Daytona, AIM Autosport have the lead in points in the class. Again, four manufacturers are in the top five. Porsche is on pole with Leh Keen and Alex Job Racing. It's the first pole for Porsche in GTD. We're running the long course with 11 turns. It's 3.4 miles. Watch the Inner Loop and the Toe section of the part called The Boot. The esses, are signle file, running flat through that section. One mistake, and you'll create a big wreck or a traffic jam.
The cars are fast. Points at halfway, and at the end. Manage your driver lineups. Here we go. We're racing! Alex Brundle and Joao Barbosa are going for it and so is Michael Valiante. They scramble through the first corners. This is havoc! Ricky Taylor is now third. Watch the chicane. The Deltawing is back. Alex Brundle is doing his best into the toe of The Boot. Watch for the tires, as they're cold. Now, the Grand Am Daytona Prototypes ran here. But, the American Le Mans Series never ran at The Glen. So, some drivers need to know how to race here.
Andy Priaulx defends from his rivals in GT LM. He's under pressure from the Corvette and the Viper. The Viper and the Corvette have the power vs. the V8 BMW. The Mazda SkyActiv diesel prototype is also in this fight. The Corvette's were runner up at Le Mans. The slowest corner on this track is 70 miles per hour. David Cheng in the #88 Prototype Challenge car, is holding up the GT LM battle, as they are quicker. Jan Magnussen starts the Corvette. Now, the #60 Michael Shank Racing Riley Ford has a fuel regulation issue.
They have trouble with the Ford EcoBoost V6 turbo motor. Maybe it was a penalty. Car #18 did likewise, in GT Daytona. Joao Barbosa and Action Express want their third straight win at Watkins Glen in the six hours. Joao Barbosa has speed right now. By the way, Jordan Taylor has gotten rid of his mullet. But, seriously, Alex Brundle is still flying. We watch the gorgeous Martini liveried Starworks Prototype Challenge car. Renger van der Zande is at the wheel. He's run in DTM touring cars before, and in Formula 3. He's fast.
In GT Daytona, it's Dane Cameron driving the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW Z4. Dane Cameron is at the controls. They've had trouble with wheel nuts removing themselves from the wheel. But, those issues, have not been solved yet. We continue to work hour one at the Six Hours of the Glen. Six hours, means six chapters for this race blog entry. So much history at this race. They've hosted Formula One (between 1961 and 1980), Nascar, Indycars, and of course, sports cars.
The GT LM battle is between the newly painted Viper's, and Pierre Kaffer in the Risi Competizione Ferrari, after they were promoted to the podium at Laguna Seca back in May. If drivers finish this race, we'll see Jereon Bleekemolen, Pierre Kaffer, Richard Westbrook, and a couple others who have run Le Mans, the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, and here at Watkins Glen. Use the curbs and pavement as a cushion. The #88 Prototype Challenge car is still holding up the GT LM battle, as the #70 Mazda SkyActiv diesel prototype is pitting for overheated oil.
Patrick Long in the factory Porsche 911 RSR, needs to get by the Prototype Challenge car. Dirk Muller is all over Long. The Viper of Kuno Wittmer, along with Pierre Kaffer, and then, the sister Viper, are all in this pack. Not sure who is in the second Viper right now. Finally, Long and Muller have cleared the PC car. But the Viper's and the Ferrari's are going for it. Now, it's actually Christian Fittipaldi running in the #5 Action Express Chevrolet Corvette Prototype. This is a six hour race. Be patient. There's a long way to go yet.
The Mazda had an oil leak in it's motor. They are still trying to develop the car. They've been working on their cooling and their radiators. They have a major upgrade coming up at the next race. Don't get oil on the turbo, because it will catch fire. Michael Valiante is running well for Spirit of Daytona in the #90 Chevrolet Corvette prototype. Alex Brundle passes the Krohn Racing Ferrari. This is not only the third endurance race. It's the sixth round of the Tudor Championship season. Dane Cameron extends his lead in GT Daytona.
It has a similar feel to the GT LM BMW from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. But, it's not as fast on the straights. It's better in the corners. Cameron is followed by Leh keen's Porsche 911 and Spencer Pumpelly in the Audi R8 LMS. These cars won't be separated too much through the six hours of the race. Spencer Pumpelly will drive both the #35 and #45 car. But, he can only get points in one car. Lots of teams have more than two drivers, because they want to have a reserve driver for this race.
Andy Lally burned his foot in a support race he ran yesterday. The #81 Tully's Porsche spins with Michael Avenatti at the controls. He hasn't run this car since Sebring. The Inner Loop was put in in the mid 1990s, it was slow. But, that's not true anymore. It's faster than it used to be. The Porsche's have had a BoP (Balance of Performance) change. Less tire, more fuel. Nick Tandy was given a penalty. He may need to go to the pit lane. Andy Priaulx is doing well in this car.
He is fully running in the Tudor Championship after running DTM last year (the German Touring Car championship). One o the Ferrari's is pitting. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia. Christian Fittipaldi continues to lead. He has a three and a half second lead over Michael Valiante. Burt Frisselle is entered as a third driver in the #5. Fiitipaldi hits the #63 Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458 Italia in GT Daytona, with Jeff Westphal at the controls. Watch for a blistered tire coming from the bead between the tire and the wheel.
Barbosa and Fittipaldi will go the distance in this race as a duo with Burt Frisselle in the sister #9 car. Ooh. Contact with the BMW and the Porsche. Did Tandy listen to his warning? He taps Priaulx. He might have to go to the sin bin in the pits. You can come to Watkins Glen and drive the original course where they ran for five years. There was a tragic crash, which is why the street course was abanadoned. We see Renger van der Zande pitting, and Marco Shultis getting in the car.
They had trouble with the belts. Stefan Pfeiffer is the car chief. He's experienced in road racing. Boris Said pitted the #31 Whelen Corvette for a flat tire. Alex Brundle is trying to mak a move on Michael Valiante. Qualifying was amazing yesterday. We're 42 minutes into this race as the #17 Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR pits. Valiante, Brundle, and Fittipaldi pit. Fittipaldi stays in the car. The #17 Porsche is shared by Brian Sellers and Wolf Henzler.
Valiante stays in the #90 car. Tires and fuel. Double stint the drivers now while it's cooler. Go for single stints later in the day when it gets hot. Do a driver change when you have less fuel so you don't lose time. Many drivers have sticker tires. Brundle is still hounding the Daytona Prototypes. Jordan Taylor pits and stays in the #10 Velocity Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette. Meanwhile, contact into the heel of The Boot, as Brundle tags Valiante. We saw these teams take a swing at each other at Laguna Seca back in May. Gabby Chaves leads with the Deltawing.
Tim Keene is the crew chief on that car. James Gue in the #54 CORE Autosport PC car pits. They've won Daytona and Sebring and are the only cars that can win the endurance cup in class. Now, the #2 Patron HPD car pits, and the sister car has a speeding penalty. Meanwhile, the left rear tire is flat on the #45 Audi R8 LMS. Cut to the short course to come back. The #3 Corvette pits with Antonio Garcia out, and Jan Magnussen in. Lots of rubber develops on the track as the Audi is starting to have the tire flail. The carcass will come off, and tear the bodywork apart.
Slow down to keep that from happeening. The Audi has made it to pit lane. The left rear tire is exploded. But, there's no damage. Spencer Pumpelly stays in nthe car. TOmmy Milner will also double stint in the #4 Corvette C-7-R-. Both Tequila Patron HPD prototypes will have to do a drive through penaltu. #1 has already done so. These speed limiters can go awry. Now, the #5 Corvette makes another pit stop as we see Michael Valiante go into the lead of this motor race with Alex Brundle still second, sliding off the road, on the marbles.
The car won't turn if you are skating on the marbles. Look out! The #55 RLL BMW Z4 makes a stop. Priaulx out. Bill Auberlen, in. Oh! The #007 TRG Aston Martin Vantage has spun under the bridge with David Block at the controls. He pinches the corner and swaps ends with the car, trying to stay out of the way, losing the steering and almost hitting the wall. One of the Ferrari's also spins out. So, action is hot and heavy right now. We are in the Finger Lakes region in the southern tier of New York State.
Valiante and Brundle continue their battle. Brundle is ruthlessly attacking the blue car. Something got messed up with Action Express' driver nomination. All the paperwork and timing and scoring had a different driver. That's a rare incident. Now the #51 Ferrari for AF Corse is still smoking. It could be a tire, or, something more. Leh Keen continues to lead the GT Daytona class. They are second and third in the championship standings right now.
Leh Keen was helping Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil, running two driver at Le Mans. Jack Gerber is at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari with the iffy tire. Look out. What happened to Jack Gerber? He spun and another prototype went off course but didn't hit Gerber. He pits. So does the #1 HPD for Patron Racing, as the car has damage. They are Honda's, and once were designated as Acura's. These cars are very aerodynamically sensitive. We're ready to start the second hour as the #33 GT Daytona SRT Viper pits.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Simeone Museum to present "The Speed Merchants" with director Michael Keyser
Former racing driver turned film director, Michael Keyser, directed a movie about the 1973 Le Mans 24 Hour race called "The Speed Merchants". Here's the story on the movie, and a scene of tragedy in that race, when driver Jo Bonnier, was killed in a fatal accident.
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/06/26/simeone-museum-to-present-the-speed-merchants-with-director-michael-keyser/
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/06/26/simeone-museum-to-present-the-speed-merchants-with-director-michael-keyser/
Six Hours of The Glen, preview
Looking forward to the Six Hours of The Glen for the Tudor United Sports Car Championship tomorrow. Weather in yours truly's area, might affect some of the satellite TV signal. But, as much of the race as can be covered in the blog, will be. Alex Brundle, and Andy Priaulx, are two of the class polesitters at The Glen.
Brundle Takes OAK Morgan-Nissan to Pole at The Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/brundle-takes-oak-morgan-nissan-to-pole-at-the-glen/
...and
Priaulx, BMW Team RLL Claim GTLM Pole
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/priaulx-bmw-team-rll-take-gtlm-pole-at-the-glen/
Brundle Takes OAK Morgan-Nissan to Pole at The Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/brundle-takes-oak-morgan-nissan-to-pole-at-the-glen/
...and
Priaulx, BMW Team RLL Claim GTLM Pole
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/priaulx-bmw-team-rll-take-gtlm-pole-at-the-glen/
Friday, June 27, 2014
"Two Races In One" Approach For Patron Endurance Cup
Yours truly has been following the Patron Endurance Cup as part of the Tudor United Sports Car Championship all season. Well, heading into the great Six Hours of Watkins Glen, on Sunday, here's what the current Tudor Championship points leaders from Action Express Racing have to say about it.
http://www.imsa.com/articles/two-races-one-approach-patron-endurance-cup
http://www.imsa.com/articles/two-races-one-approach-patron-endurance-cup
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
sports car racing news headed into the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen
Sportscar365 has some important stories as we look ahead to Sunday's third round of the North American Endurance Cup at Watkins Glen International Raceway, including, the dates for the 2015 Rolex 24.
Fassnacht, Long Join Freedom Autosport Lineup at The Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/fassnacht-long-join-freedom-autosport-lineup-at-the-glen/
Plowman, Cheng Complete BAR1 Lineup for Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/plowman-cheng-complete-bar1-lineup-for-watkins-glen/
Cosmo Returns to Marsh Racing For Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/cosmo-returns-to-marsh-racing-for-watkins-glen/
2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Roar Dates Announced
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/2015-rolex-24-at-daytona-roar-dates-set/
Fassnacht, Long Join Freedom Autosport Lineup at The Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/fassnacht-long-join-freedom-autosport-lineup-at-the-glen/
Plowman, Cheng Complete BAR1 Lineup for Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/plowman-cheng-complete-bar1-lineup-for-watkins-glen/
Cosmo Returns to Marsh Racing For Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/cosmo-returns-to-marsh-racing-for-watkins-glen/
2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Roar Dates Announced
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/2015-rolex-24-at-daytona-roar-dates-set/
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
A preview of the Sahlen's Six Hours of Watkins Glen
This weekend, we are headed for another one of the classic sports car races. It's round three of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup for the Tudor United Sports Car Championship at the legendary, and glorious Watkins Glen International Raceway located in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.
http://www.imsa.com/articles/watkins-glen-mecca-racing-history
Watch the video, but also, read the story on IMSA.com about the significance of this race track. We cannot forget the person who designed the original course, either. Attorney, Cameron Argetsinger is that individual, who brought road racing, to the streets of the town of Watkins Glen. In doing so, Argetsinger created a racing spectacle, that is still witnessed today, over six decades later.
http://www.imsa.com/articles/watkins-glen-mecca-racing-history
Watch the video, but also, read the story on IMSA.com about the significance of this race track. We cannot forget the person who designed the original course, either. Attorney, Cameron Argetsinger is that individual, who brought road racing, to the streets of the town of Watkins Glen. In doing so, Argetsinger created a racing spectacle, that is still witnessed today, over six decades later.
stories headed into the Sahlen's six hours of The Glen
Many stories developing in IMSA Tudor United Sports Car Championship competition, as we are headed into round three of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup... the Six Hours of Watkins Glen at Watkins Glen International Raceway in Watkins Glen, New York, this coming weekend.
Patron Endurance Cup GT LM Battle Wide Open
http://www.imsa.com/articles/patron-endurance-cup-gtlm-battle-wide-open
GTD Teams Fighting To Stay In Patron Endurance Cup Competition
http://www.imsa.com/articles/gtd-teams-fighting-stay-patron-endurance-cup-competition
SRT Motorsports Viper's Shed Skin For Classic Look
http://www.imsa.com/articles/srt-motorsports-vipers-shed-skin-classic-look
Dunn Tire Partners With Continental Tire And Michael Shank Racing For Watkins Glen
http://www.imsa.com/articles/dunn-tire-partners-continental-tire-and-michael-shank-racing-watkins-glen
The OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan LM P2 Makes It's Debut On The Watkins Glen Circuit
http://www.imsa.com/articles/oak-racing-morgan-nissan-lm-p2-makes-its-debut-watkins-glen-circuit
John Martin Joins Starworks For Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/john-martin-joins-starworks-for-watkins-glen/
Patron Endurance Cup GT LM Battle Wide Open
http://www.imsa.com/articles/patron-endurance-cup-gtlm-battle-wide-open
GTD Teams Fighting To Stay In Patron Endurance Cup Competition
http://www.imsa.com/articles/gtd-teams-fighting-stay-patron-endurance-cup-competition
SRT Motorsports Viper's Shed Skin For Classic Look
http://www.imsa.com/articles/srt-motorsports-vipers-shed-skin-classic-look
Dunn Tire Partners With Continental Tire And Michael Shank Racing For Watkins Glen
http://www.imsa.com/articles/dunn-tire-partners-continental-tire-and-michael-shank-racing-watkins-glen
The OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan LM P2 Makes It's Debut On The Watkins Glen Circuit
http://www.imsa.com/articles/oak-racing-morgan-nissan-lm-p2-makes-its-debut-watkins-glen-circuit
John Martin Joins Starworks For Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/john-martin-joins-starworks-for-watkins-glen/
Monday, June 23, 2014
2014 Le Mans 24 Hours: A resounding success
The 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans will be one for the ages. Here's why.
http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/2014-le-mans-24-hours-a-resounding-success/
http://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/2014-le-mans-24-hours-a-resounding-success/
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Winner of the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring
Congratulations to Audi and Phoenix Racing, as they've won this years 44th running of the Nurburgring 24 Hours! The winning team, completed a new distance record of 159 laps, or, 2,544 miles at "The Green Hell". Audi wins their second Nurburgring 24 Hours after Mercedes stole their thunder last year. This year's winning driving team for Phoenix Racing was an all German squad featuring Christopher Haase, Christian Mamerow, Rene Rast, and Markus Winkelhock.
Haase wins his second 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, having won with Audi in 2012. The same is true for Markus Winkelhock. Winkelhock and Haase were on the 2012 winning team with Marc Basseng and Frank Stippler as well. The new distance record, mentioned above, is also significant. We will see what happens in the Nurburgring 24 Hours next year, as the ADAC GT Series, returns to it's home at the legendary, mythical, Nurburgring.
Haase wins his second 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, having won with Audi in 2012. The same is true for Markus Winkelhock. Winkelhock and Haase were on the 2012 winning team with Marc Basseng and Frank Stippler as well. The new distance record, mentioned above, is also significant. We will see what happens in the Nurburgring 24 Hours next year, as the ADAC GT Series, returns to it's home at the legendary, mythical, Nurburgring.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
sports car racing news update
A post Le Mans update on the latest sports car racing news from www.planetlemans.com, and Sportscar365.
IMSA Issues GTLM, GTD BoP Adjustments for Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/imsa-issues-gtlm-gtd-bop-adjustments-for-watkins-glen/
Eurasis Planning LMP2, CN Programs
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian-lms/eurasia-planning-lmp2-cn-program/
A Trouble-Free Race For Benoit Morand And His Guys
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/15/a-trouble-free-race-for-benoit-morand-and-his-guys/
A great second place for the Thiriet by TDS Racing Team
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/a-great-second-place-for-the-thiriet-by-tds-racing-team/
Historic Result for Rebellion Racing at Le Mans 24 Hours
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/historic-result-for-rebellion-racing-at-le-mans-24-hours/
Greaves Motorsport in record breaking run at 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/greaves-motorsport-in-record-breaking-run-at-2014-le-mans-24-hours/
Signatech-Alpine on the podium of an epic edition
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/19/signatech-alpine-on-the-podium-of-an-epic-edition/
Pegasus Racing's Morgan Nissan LM P2 in the Top 10 at Le Mans
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/19/pegasus-racings-morgan-nissan-lm-p2-in-the-top-10-at-le-mans/
SRT Motorsports Vipers Shed Skin for Classic Look
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/20/srt-motorsports-vipers-shed-skin-for-classic-look/
Zytek to supply LMP2 Engines to SMP Racing
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/20/zytek-to-supply-lmp2-engines-to-smp-racing/
IMSA Issues GTLM, GTD BoP Adjustments for Watkins Glen
http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/imsa-issues-gtlm-gtd-bop-adjustments-for-watkins-glen/
Eurasis Planning LMP2, CN Programs
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian-lms/eurasia-planning-lmp2-cn-program/
A Trouble-Free Race For Benoit Morand And His Guys
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/15/a-trouble-free-race-for-benoit-morand-and-his-guys/
A great second place for the Thiriet by TDS Racing Team
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/a-great-second-place-for-the-thiriet-by-tds-racing-team/
Historic Result for Rebellion Racing at Le Mans 24 Hours
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/historic-result-for-rebellion-racing-at-le-mans-24-hours/
Greaves Motorsport in record breaking run at 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/17/greaves-motorsport-in-record-breaking-run-at-2014-le-mans-24-hours/
Signatech-Alpine on the podium of an epic edition
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/19/signatech-alpine-on-the-podium-of-an-epic-edition/
Pegasus Racing's Morgan Nissan LM P2 in the Top 10 at Le Mans
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/19/pegasus-racings-morgan-nissan-lm-p2-in-the-top-10-at-le-mans/
SRT Motorsports Vipers Shed Skin for Classic Look
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/20/srt-motorsports-vipers-shed-skin-for-classic-look/
Zytek to supply LMP2 Engines to SMP Racing
http://www.planetlemans.com/2014/06/20/zytek-to-supply-lmp2-engines-to-smp-racing/
Estre, McLaren on Pole for Nurburgring 24
Kevin Estre and his McLaren MP-4/12C team score pole, and a new lap record, for the Nurburgring 24 Hours. News of the race winner, will come, tomorrow.
http://sportscar365.com/gt/n24/estre-mclaren-on-pole-for-nurburgring-24/
http://sportscar365.com/gt/n24/estre-mclaren-on-pole-for-nurburgring-24/
Friday, June 20, 2014
A fast lap of the Nurburgring with Markus Palttala
In contrast, here's what that same lap, looks like in the daytime. Same team (Marc VDS Racing). Same car, (BMW Z4 GT3). Different driver. This is Finland's Markus Palttala in the car.
A lap of the Nordschleife in the dark
Fearless? Crazy? A little bit of both? That's what you have to be, in order to drive The Nurburgring, (otherwise known as The Green Hell) in the dark. Here, Dutchman Nicky Catsburg does just that in his BMW Z4 GT practicing for this weekend's running of the ADAC Nurburgring 24 Hours, a race for which, you will see the results of the winner, right here, on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, after it happens. There is a video stream, too. But, sorry. Unlike Le Mans last weekend, yours truly is NOT going to stay up all night for this one.
Do enjoy the video, though. THIS is how you drive a race car, at night.
Do enjoy the video, though. THIS is how you drive a race car, at night.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
ADESS AG Working on LMP2, LMP3 Concepts
ADESS AG look to join Zytek and Ligier in the LMP2 class ranks. Check this out.
http://sportscar365.com/industry/adess-ag-working-on-lmp2-lmp3-concepts/
http://sportscar365.com/industry/adess-ag-working-on-lmp2-lmp3-concepts/
Tincknell: "I'll Remember This Day for the Rest of My Life"
Jota Sport driver Harry Tincknell, was overjoyed to be a Le Mans winners in class in LMP2.
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/elms/tincknell-ill-remember-this-day-for-the-rest-of-my-life/
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/elms/tincknell-ill-remember-this-day-for-the-rest-of-my-life/
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Seven to broadcast full Bathurst 12 Hour
Fans in Australia, will be able to see their home endurance sports car race, the Bathurst 12 Hours at Mount Panorama, in it's entirety, on TV, beginning next year.
http://www.speedcafe.com/2014/06/17/seven-broadcast-full-bathurst-12-hour/
Those of us who are fans in the U.S. may still have to settle for an online video stream of the event.
http://www.speedcafe.com/2014/06/17/seven-broadcast-full-bathurst-12-hour/
Those of us who are fans in the U.S. may still have to settle for an online video stream of the event.
Monday, June 16, 2014
ICYMI: 24 Hours of Le Mans highlights
In case you missed the TV coverage on Fox Sports, here are some short highlight videos from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, to go along with the five chapters of analysis on the race, written by yours truly, describing the events. Here, you will see, what actually happened, in some of the race's biggest moments.
http://sportscar365.com/features/videos/video-24-hours-of-le-mans-highlights/
http://sportscar365.com/features/videos/video-24-hours-of-le-mans-highlights/
Sunday, June 15, 2014
24 Hours of Le Mans Chapter Five
The GTE Pro factory Porsche pits. The #97 Aston Martin pits. Patrick Dempsey has completed his final stint of the race. There's a Porsche in the gravel. Not sure which one. Jordan Taylor still drives the #73 Corvette C-7-R. Mark Webber will take the Porsche 919 to the finish and Brendon Hartley will not take over the car again. They don't know why the car is off the pace. They need to keep going. Porsche has track position. They run first and fifth, sandwiching the two Audi's, and the sole remaining Toyota. The Aston Martin's have continued to have power steering issues.
We're approaching three hours to go. Could Porsche win for the first time since 1998? Herbert Ampferer was Porsche boss back then. Andre Lotterer almost overshoots the Mulsanne corner as the #8 Toyota tries to dodge traffic. Now, pit stop time for Porsche. Timo Bernhard stays in the car. This is a clean stop. Three more full fuel stops will be needed for Porsche. The same is true for Audi. Will one be a short fill? The unsung heroes are the tires. They can double, triple, and quadruple stint the ,Michelin tires. That's pretty amazing.
The #35 Ligier leads LMP2. Alex Brundle. Jann Mardenborough, and Mark Shulzitsky, could win in class. The #2 Audi pits. Benoit Treluyer was waved off, even though he was suited up. Andre Lotterer continues in the Audi. Less than three hours to go. Fifty laps to go, more or less. Porsche has the #14 machine in the pits. This is going to be quite the finish. The #58 Ferrari is beached at the Ford Chicane. This is the Sofrev car. There's a local yellow flag. Also, the #90 Ferrari for 8Star Motorsport is running well, too, with Frankie Montecalvo at the controls.
If the #95 Danish Aston Martin could win in LM GTE Pro, after Allan Simonsen's death, if his car should win, the fans will go crazy. The Ferrari got tossed onto the curb. Not sure who is driving at this point. Porsche still leads the overall, but Audi is coming. The AF Corse Ferrari still leads LM GTE Pro. Soheil Ayari was able to restart the #58 Ferrari and get back into the race. Something could be wrong with the Krohn Ferrari, and also, with the #97 Aston Martin, as the #1 Audi pits. Could Lucas di Grassi be the first Brazilian to win Le Mans?
This is going to be a fuel only stop, loading the tank with diesel. The #92 factory Porsche 911 RSR of Richard Lietz is in, second in LM GTE Pro. Jordan Taylor in the #73 Corvette C7R runs third in class. Ferrari seems to be the one to beat, as both Porsche and Corvette are pushing hard. Porsche AG bought half of Team Manthey, so they also want a factory GTE program. Jan Magnussen has taken over the #73 Corvette C7R to try and push the Porsche and the Ferrari. Porsche has had a misfire, and hopefully it's electrical as opposed to mechanical.
Jota Sport is running well, with Harry Tincknell driving. Allan McNish has been a mentor to Tincknell. The Ligier's run 1-2 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pretty amazing. The JS, of course, is for Jo Schlesser.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Schlesser
We are coming up on just three hours to go. Will it be Audi, or Porsche, spraying the champagne? We've got 40 laps to go, roughly. The margin is a second a lap. We've got a jolly good race on our hands here, blokes. This is a humdinger. Lotterer is coming. 33 seconds separate Porsche and Audi. Mark Webber leaps out of his chair. There's something wrong with the Porsche. They need a stop. There's a panic at Porsche. Could this affect the outcome of their race?
The mechanics wheeled a stack of hot tires out. If they stop now, they will have to do three more stops, and then, something might go wrong. Maybe the car isn't feeling right. Slow puncture? Vibration? This is going to be tough. This is nine laps of a 15 lap stint. They've been running 15 lap stints. Something could be wrong with the motor, too. Uh oh. Could Porsche be in jeopardy here? Lotterer passes for the lead of this motor race. Engineers are watching the telemetry. Have Porsche thrown this away? They put new tires on. Maybe it was just a slow puncture.
Stretch it to 14 laps instead of 13 laps to save fuel and not need a splash and dash. The #88 Porsche in LM GTE Am (second in class), has been handed a 45 second penalty for speeding in pit lane. This is the #88 machine of Khaled Al-Qubaisi, Klaus Bachler, and Christian Ried. Could the #79 Porsche 911 RSR finish top six in LM GTE Am with just two drivers? That would be quite the story for Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who had to move into the LM GTE Pro class, when their amateur driver Bret Curtis, could not start the race.
The Audi slides a shade but stays on the road. Andre Lotterer continues to drive. He has a 64 second lead. Can Porsche stretch their fuel mileage? Can they make it 14 laps or better? The top four cars in LMP2 are on the same lap. Two Ligier's, a Zytek, and an Alpine. The #61 Ferrari 458 Italia pits in LM GTE Am, with Marco Cioci at the controls. The #14 Porsche goes by the #20. It is losing efficiency through it's turbo. Could this be the kiss of death for Porsche in their return? They might have to wait until next year.
Remember, if you win here, there's double points. Also, the team that wins Le Mans, usually goes on to win the FIA World Endurance Championship. Two hours, seven minutes, remain in this race. Lotterer pits. He will stay in the car. This is a fuel only stop for Audi. No need for tires. Mark Webber cannot reel in the Audi. He's having trouble. We now watch the battle for second in LMP2. Harry Tincknell and Tristan Gommendy are in this game. Tincknell is charging. The #51 Ferrari leads LM GTE Pro. It's an all Italian team.
AF Corse have taken sports cars by storm. Oh no! Webber has a problem! He's running on the hybrid powerplant. The fuel delivery could be an issue. He's a long way from home, and this could be the final straw for Porsche. They might just have to come back next year and try again. Lucas di Grassi will move his Audi to second. Low power. He's running on the battery. Less than two hours to go. The #1 Audi closes on a P2 car, and on Mark Webber as he tries to nurse the Porsche back to the pits. This race can be cruel. He's crawling. The Audi pits. Lucas di Grassi is down three laps to Andre Lotterer.
We'll see. di Grassi might make it to second. Marc Gene is ready. But, no driver change and no tires. Now. The Porsche is into the pits. The car will go into the garage. They know they won't win this race. They wanted a podium. The car is in the garage. I mean, they need a podium. The #14 car might still be in it. Audi runs 1-3, still. Mark Webber is in the garage. There was an oil flag being waved. Now, we might have a pass for the P2 lead. The #46 whistles past the #35. This is a battle for the class lead.
Kristian Poulsen stopped on track. But, he passes Alex Brundle. There could be a misfire on that #35 machine. The #38 car sits second in class. The Porsche is still in the garage. Webber has mental toughness after a rough F1 career. But, he has to be wondering what is going on and why he may lose this race. The #8 Toyota will close up on the #20 Porsche. Porsche has to know Anthony Davidson is going for it. Sergey Zlobin in the #27 car is in the garage. No work is being done on the #20 Porsche, meaning it could very well be game over for them.
It's game over for Porsche. Webber is out of the car. But, the green retirement form, will come out and be signed. One wonders if the #14 car can pick up the pieces. No rush for the #74 Corvette C7R as it pits. We begin to watch Anthony Davidson. He'll catch the Porsche, and assume third place. The #20 Porsche, is out. It's game over. One Porsche may get home. That's the #14 car with Marc Lieb at the controls. Porsche is not out of harm's way yet, though. Something could be wrong with the #14. Corvette will be disappointed, too. They wanted to win. They wanted to beat Porsche and Ferrari.
Ferrari's have been perfect. Tristan Gommendy pitted, and Harry Tincknell led. But, Oliver Turvey will take over the #38 machine. We know that Alex Brundle and his team mates, may have a wounded bird out there, too. Less than an hour and a half to go. Lucas di Grassi is three laps behind the #2 Audi. Porsche, will have to wait. With their situation, it was the V4 motor that let them down. It wasn't a hybrid system.
Now, we have the #2 Audi R18 eTron Quattro, pitting. We are looking to see a third win at Audi for Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler, and Andre Lotterer. Audi doesn't have the fastest car. But they have everything prepared and polished. Andre Lotterer is looking for a third overall win at Le Mans. Audi have executed. Tom Kristensen has won this race nine times. No number ten this year. Maybe next year. But, keep in mind, with the new rules, the floodgates have opened. The #14 Porsche is in the garage. They have another problem that might not be related to what took out car #20.
Back to my earlier point. With these new rules of running hybrid technology, and bringing back cars that are this technologically advanced (just like in the Group C days of the 1980s), we might see more automakers come in and want to fight. Think about this. Nissan will come back next year. Ferrari, says they might want to return to sports car racing and take a piece of this pie. Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Nissan, Toyota. Yikes! Think about that, folks. That's VERY exciting. Yours truly gets excited and gets goosebumps just thinking about that prospect!
Tons of factory cars, on the grid, at the same time. That would be amazing. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR pits. Barely an hour and fifteen minutes remain in this one, folks. The fans come back to the hillsides. The track is given back to the fans at the end of the race, and they storm it. That's a sight to see. Toyota will get to the podium. They want to become only the second Japanese automaker to win Le Mans, along with Mazda who won in 1991. The Aston Martin team has had a flawless run. The #1 Audi continues.
Benoit Treluyer will finish the race in the #2 car. Will Tom Kristensen take the car to the victory? The car is in the lane now. Tom Kristensen will take the car to the checkers in this closing hour of Le Mans. The team is exhausted. But they'll make it. We're coming to the last hour. One hour remains now in the 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. One more hour to enjoy one of the great tracks in the world that is public roads the rest of the year. Just 55 minutes remain in this one, chaps.
The class leading LM GTE Am #95 Aston Martin Vantage has had an electrical issue. Kristian Poulsen gets new tires. It's a throttle position sensor. It's a quick, simple fix. Antonio Garcia is still in the Corvette. The #66 Ferrari 458 Italia for JMW Racing is up to it's axles in the gravel trap. This is Corvette's final pit stop of the race. They'll make it on fuel. Corvette might get a podium out of this one. If the Ferrari has a problem, Corvette could have a chance. They put bear bond over the spot where they had an air jack issue last night. Jota Sport with Oliver Turvey at the controls, is in the lead of LMP2. He was called up on Thursday to come and race.
Could he win in LMP2? If you think you have Le Mans figured out, you might not. But, Oliver Turvey could be a lucky boy today. Rebellion will finish with their new R-One prototype, in only the second race for the car, and the first endurance race. The race is in the hands of the drivers with a shade over 40 minutes to go. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there, with 38 minutes to go at Le Mans. Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer will get their third win as a driving duo at Le Mans. Just over a half hour remains in the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Tom Kristensen made a pit stop for fuel and a cleaning of the windscreen. Audi is good to go for the photo finish. The #95 Aston Martin wiggles in Mulsanne corner. But, the car will get to the finish and very likely win the LM GTE Am class. Rebellion Racing will take a fourth place finish. We're getting to the final laps. You can;t close your eyes in this race, as a fan, because if you do, you'll miss something. Finishers have really achieved something, even if they're not on the podium.
This race is better than what we had last year. More competition. A safer race. This is a new book being written with hybrid technology, and also, like I mentioned, the influx of new car makers who might enter. Ooh. A P2 car goes off the road. The new regulations really work. This is one of the most exciting Le Mans races that yours truly has ever seen. With the prototype cars, the technology will come to road cars. You can't buy an Audi eTron, a Toyota TS040 or a Porsche 919 in the showroom. But, you can buy cars with the technology in those cars.
Oliver Turvey pits once more for half a tank of fuel. Will Porsche send the #14 car to go across the line and be classified in the debut for the 919 Hybrid? They just might do that. Less than ten minutes to go. After two huge crashes, yours truly was very doubtful these guys would make it. Plus, they had turbos and fuel injectors fail. Now, LMP2 is going to come down to the wire. The #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid will get to go to the checkered flag. They will finish, but not under the checkers.
Audi will get victory number 13. Can Audi catch and overtake Porsche? Can Porsche win another one? We'll see. Can you program a dynasty? Well, it's a way of thinking. Can you teach computers to think? An organization behaves, and manages itself in a certain way, that makes them successful. It's easier to teach if you've got loads of money. Oliver Turvey is trying to hang on to an improbable class win. Give them new regulations, and they can work with them. Technology brings the speeds up on these marvelous race cars.
Fassler, Lotterer, and Treluyer, will win their third race. It will be the third win for Lena Gade, too. Porsche returns, and their rivals and sister brand from Audi, cheer. Gianmaria Bruni will get his third class win in GTE Pro. Second for Giancarlo Fisichella, and Toni Vilander. For Aston Martin, they will win in honor of their friend, and fallen team mate, another Dane, Allan Simonsen. Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemier Hanson, and Nicky Thiim.
Audi wins lucky #13! They're only three away from their on-track rivals, Porsche. 379 laps complete. 3,214 miles. Welcome to the new era at Le Mans. Checkered flag, and then, one more lap. This is the 13th Audi win at Le Mans! Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer, and Marcel Fassler, do it! Put weight on the car so we don't fail tech inspection. Poor old Toyota. They're going to have to try again next year. The diesel is heavy. Maybe, Audi will switch back to gasoline power like they had with the Audi R8. Toyota gets on the podium, too.
Le Mans gives the winner a chance to do one more victory lap. Lucas di Grassi seems happy to finish second. Maybe next year will be his year. So, here are the overall and class winners:
Overall/LMP1: #2 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18
eTron Quattro
LMP2: #38 Turvey/Dolan/Tincknell Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
LM GTE Pro: #51 Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia
LM GTE Am: #95 Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hanson/Thiim Aston Martin Racing
Aston Martin Vantage GTE
What a race this has been! Another phenomenal Le Mans event. Every year it gets better. Audi overcame adversity and won this thing, again. Lucky 13! Porsche is going to be pushing, and so is Toyota, and Nissan, next year. Le Mans is so special. You will have goosebumps, a tear in your eye, and a crack in your voice. I can guarantee it. Lena Gade who is engineer, she gets her third win with this team as an engineer. Wow!
You could not predict this race. It was amazing. All the frantic chaos happened early, and you didn't expect it. It was a lot of fun. This is where your mind starts to open up, when you are getting your accolades. Jaguar had their moments, losing the races, and then, winning it. This was a great race. Tom Kristensen will be back to Le Mans. Two German giants with new technology came. So did Toytoa as a darkhorse. It was the first of many surprises, including rain, and cars crashed. Skies cleared, and high speed racing resumed.
The speed differential was 40 miles an hour. The long dusk blended into night, and out of the night, Porsche led, but had to dash to the finish, and they broke. Audi swept into a lead, and won. We leave wanting more. But, that will have to wait until next year, fans. Au revoir, for now, from Le Mans. Yours truly, is wiped out, and needs some sleep!
We're approaching three hours to go. Could Porsche win for the first time since 1998? Herbert Ampferer was Porsche boss back then. Andre Lotterer almost overshoots the Mulsanne corner as the #8 Toyota tries to dodge traffic. Now, pit stop time for Porsche. Timo Bernhard stays in the car. This is a clean stop. Three more full fuel stops will be needed for Porsche. The same is true for Audi. Will one be a short fill? The unsung heroes are the tires. They can double, triple, and quadruple stint the ,Michelin tires. That's pretty amazing.
The #35 Ligier leads LMP2. Alex Brundle. Jann Mardenborough, and Mark Shulzitsky, could win in class. The #2 Audi pits. Benoit Treluyer was waved off, even though he was suited up. Andre Lotterer continues in the Audi. Less than three hours to go. Fifty laps to go, more or less. Porsche has the #14 machine in the pits. This is going to be quite the finish. The #58 Ferrari is beached at the Ford Chicane. This is the Sofrev car. There's a local yellow flag. Also, the #90 Ferrari for 8Star Motorsport is running well, too, with Frankie Montecalvo at the controls.
If the #95 Danish Aston Martin could win in LM GTE Pro, after Allan Simonsen's death, if his car should win, the fans will go crazy. The Ferrari got tossed onto the curb. Not sure who is driving at this point. Porsche still leads the overall, but Audi is coming. The AF Corse Ferrari still leads LM GTE Pro. Soheil Ayari was able to restart the #58 Ferrari and get back into the race. Something could be wrong with the Krohn Ferrari, and also, with the #97 Aston Martin, as the #1 Audi pits. Could Lucas di Grassi be the first Brazilian to win Le Mans?
This is going to be a fuel only stop, loading the tank with diesel. The #92 factory Porsche 911 RSR of Richard Lietz is in, second in LM GTE Pro. Jordan Taylor in the #73 Corvette C7R runs third in class. Ferrari seems to be the one to beat, as both Porsche and Corvette are pushing hard. Porsche AG bought half of Team Manthey, so they also want a factory GTE program. Jan Magnussen has taken over the #73 Corvette C7R to try and push the Porsche and the Ferrari. Porsche has had a misfire, and hopefully it's electrical as opposed to mechanical.
Jota Sport is running well, with Harry Tincknell driving. Allan McNish has been a mentor to Tincknell. The Ligier's run 1-2 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pretty amazing. The JS, of course, is for Jo Schlesser.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Schlesser
We are coming up on just three hours to go. Will it be Audi, or Porsche, spraying the champagne? We've got 40 laps to go, roughly. The margin is a second a lap. We've got a jolly good race on our hands here, blokes. This is a humdinger. Lotterer is coming. 33 seconds separate Porsche and Audi. Mark Webber leaps out of his chair. There's something wrong with the Porsche. They need a stop. There's a panic at Porsche. Could this affect the outcome of their race?
The mechanics wheeled a stack of hot tires out. If they stop now, they will have to do three more stops, and then, something might go wrong. Maybe the car isn't feeling right. Slow puncture? Vibration? This is going to be tough. This is nine laps of a 15 lap stint. They've been running 15 lap stints. Something could be wrong with the motor, too. Uh oh. Could Porsche be in jeopardy here? Lotterer passes for the lead of this motor race. Engineers are watching the telemetry. Have Porsche thrown this away? They put new tires on. Maybe it was just a slow puncture.
Stretch it to 14 laps instead of 13 laps to save fuel and not need a splash and dash. The #88 Porsche in LM GTE Am (second in class), has been handed a 45 second penalty for speeding in pit lane. This is the #88 machine of Khaled Al-Qubaisi, Klaus Bachler, and Christian Ried. Could the #79 Porsche 911 RSR finish top six in LM GTE Am with just two drivers? That would be quite the story for Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who had to move into the LM GTE Pro class, when their amateur driver Bret Curtis, could not start the race.
The Audi slides a shade but stays on the road. Andre Lotterer continues to drive. He has a 64 second lead. Can Porsche stretch their fuel mileage? Can they make it 14 laps or better? The top four cars in LMP2 are on the same lap. Two Ligier's, a Zytek, and an Alpine. The #61 Ferrari 458 Italia pits in LM GTE Am, with Marco Cioci at the controls. The #14 Porsche goes by the #20. It is losing efficiency through it's turbo. Could this be the kiss of death for Porsche in their return? They might have to wait until next year.
Remember, if you win here, there's double points. Also, the team that wins Le Mans, usually goes on to win the FIA World Endurance Championship. Two hours, seven minutes, remain in this race. Lotterer pits. He will stay in the car. This is a fuel only stop for Audi. No need for tires. Mark Webber cannot reel in the Audi. He's having trouble. We now watch the battle for second in LMP2. Harry Tincknell and Tristan Gommendy are in this game. Tincknell is charging. The #51 Ferrari leads LM GTE Pro. It's an all Italian team.
AF Corse have taken sports cars by storm. Oh no! Webber has a problem! He's running on the hybrid powerplant. The fuel delivery could be an issue. He's a long way from home, and this could be the final straw for Porsche. They might just have to come back next year and try again. Lucas di Grassi will move his Audi to second. Low power. He's running on the battery. Less than two hours to go. The #1 Audi closes on a P2 car, and on Mark Webber as he tries to nurse the Porsche back to the pits. This race can be cruel. He's crawling. The Audi pits. Lucas di Grassi is down three laps to Andre Lotterer.
We'll see. di Grassi might make it to second. Marc Gene is ready. But, no driver change and no tires. Now. The Porsche is into the pits. The car will go into the garage. They know they won't win this race. They wanted a podium. The car is in the garage. I mean, they need a podium. The #14 car might still be in it. Audi runs 1-3, still. Mark Webber is in the garage. There was an oil flag being waved. Now, we might have a pass for the P2 lead. The #46 whistles past the #35. This is a battle for the class lead.
Kristian Poulsen stopped on track. But, he passes Alex Brundle. There could be a misfire on that #35 machine. The #38 car sits second in class. The Porsche is still in the garage. Webber has mental toughness after a rough F1 career. But, he has to be wondering what is going on and why he may lose this race. The #8 Toyota will close up on the #20 Porsche. Porsche has to know Anthony Davidson is going for it. Sergey Zlobin in the #27 car is in the garage. No work is being done on the #20 Porsche, meaning it could very well be game over for them.
It's game over for Porsche. Webber is out of the car. But, the green retirement form, will come out and be signed. One wonders if the #14 car can pick up the pieces. No rush for the #74 Corvette C7R as it pits. We begin to watch Anthony Davidson. He'll catch the Porsche, and assume third place. The #20 Porsche, is out. It's game over. One Porsche may get home. That's the #14 car with Marc Lieb at the controls. Porsche is not out of harm's way yet, though. Something could be wrong with the #14. Corvette will be disappointed, too. They wanted to win. They wanted to beat Porsche and Ferrari.
Ferrari's have been perfect. Tristan Gommendy pitted, and Harry Tincknell led. But, Oliver Turvey will take over the #38 machine. We know that Alex Brundle and his team mates, may have a wounded bird out there, too. Less than an hour and a half to go. Lucas di Grassi is three laps behind the #2 Audi. Porsche, will have to wait. With their situation, it was the V4 motor that let them down. It wasn't a hybrid system.
Now, we have the #2 Audi R18 eTron Quattro, pitting. We are looking to see a third win at Audi for Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler, and Andre Lotterer. Audi doesn't have the fastest car. But they have everything prepared and polished. Andre Lotterer is looking for a third overall win at Le Mans. Audi have executed. Tom Kristensen has won this race nine times. No number ten this year. Maybe next year. But, keep in mind, with the new rules, the floodgates have opened. The #14 Porsche is in the garage. They have another problem that might not be related to what took out car #20.
Back to my earlier point. With these new rules of running hybrid technology, and bringing back cars that are this technologically advanced (just like in the Group C days of the 1980s), we might see more automakers come in and want to fight. Think about this. Nissan will come back next year. Ferrari, says they might want to return to sports car racing and take a piece of this pie. Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Nissan, Toyota. Yikes! Think about that, folks. That's VERY exciting. Yours truly gets excited and gets goosebumps just thinking about that prospect!
Tons of factory cars, on the grid, at the same time. That would be amazing. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR pits. Barely an hour and fifteen minutes remain in this one, folks. The fans come back to the hillsides. The track is given back to the fans at the end of the race, and they storm it. That's a sight to see. Toyota will get to the podium. They want to become only the second Japanese automaker to win Le Mans, along with Mazda who won in 1991. The Aston Martin team has had a flawless run. The #1 Audi continues.
Benoit Treluyer will finish the race in the #2 car. Will Tom Kristensen take the car to the victory? The car is in the lane now. Tom Kristensen will take the car to the checkers in this closing hour of Le Mans. The team is exhausted. But they'll make it. We're coming to the last hour. One hour remains now in the 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. One more hour to enjoy one of the great tracks in the world that is public roads the rest of the year. Just 55 minutes remain in this one, chaps.
The class leading LM GTE Am #95 Aston Martin Vantage has had an electrical issue. Kristian Poulsen gets new tires. It's a throttle position sensor. It's a quick, simple fix. Antonio Garcia is still in the Corvette. The #66 Ferrari 458 Italia for JMW Racing is up to it's axles in the gravel trap. This is Corvette's final pit stop of the race. They'll make it on fuel. Corvette might get a podium out of this one. If the Ferrari has a problem, Corvette could have a chance. They put bear bond over the spot where they had an air jack issue last night. Jota Sport with Oliver Turvey at the controls, is in the lead of LMP2. He was called up on Thursday to come and race.
Could he win in LMP2? If you think you have Le Mans figured out, you might not. But, Oliver Turvey could be a lucky boy today. Rebellion will finish with their new R-One prototype, in only the second race for the car, and the first endurance race. The race is in the hands of the drivers with a shade over 40 minutes to go. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there, with 38 minutes to go at Le Mans. Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer will get their third win as a driving duo at Le Mans. Just over a half hour remains in the Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Tom Kristensen made a pit stop for fuel and a cleaning of the windscreen. Audi is good to go for the photo finish. The #95 Aston Martin wiggles in Mulsanne corner. But, the car will get to the finish and very likely win the LM GTE Am class. Rebellion Racing will take a fourth place finish. We're getting to the final laps. You can;t close your eyes in this race, as a fan, because if you do, you'll miss something. Finishers have really achieved something, even if they're not on the podium.
This race is better than what we had last year. More competition. A safer race. This is a new book being written with hybrid technology, and also, like I mentioned, the influx of new car makers who might enter. Ooh. A P2 car goes off the road. The new regulations really work. This is one of the most exciting Le Mans races that yours truly has ever seen. With the prototype cars, the technology will come to road cars. You can't buy an Audi eTron, a Toyota TS040 or a Porsche 919 in the showroom. But, you can buy cars with the technology in those cars.
Oliver Turvey pits once more for half a tank of fuel. Will Porsche send the #14 car to go across the line and be classified in the debut for the 919 Hybrid? They just might do that. Less than ten minutes to go. After two huge crashes, yours truly was very doubtful these guys would make it. Plus, they had turbos and fuel injectors fail. Now, LMP2 is going to come down to the wire. The #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid will get to go to the checkered flag. They will finish, but not under the checkers.
Audi will get victory number 13. Can Audi catch and overtake Porsche? Can Porsche win another one? We'll see. Can you program a dynasty? Well, it's a way of thinking. Can you teach computers to think? An organization behaves, and manages itself in a certain way, that makes them successful. It's easier to teach if you've got loads of money. Oliver Turvey is trying to hang on to an improbable class win. Give them new regulations, and they can work with them. Technology brings the speeds up on these marvelous race cars.
Fassler, Lotterer, and Treluyer, will win their third race. It will be the third win for Lena Gade, too. Porsche returns, and their rivals and sister brand from Audi, cheer. Gianmaria Bruni will get his third class win in GTE Pro. Second for Giancarlo Fisichella, and Toni Vilander. For Aston Martin, they will win in honor of their friend, and fallen team mate, another Dane, Allan Simonsen. Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemier Hanson, and Nicky Thiim.
Audi wins lucky #13! They're only three away from their on-track rivals, Porsche. 379 laps complete. 3,214 miles. Welcome to the new era at Le Mans. Checkered flag, and then, one more lap. This is the 13th Audi win at Le Mans! Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer, and Marcel Fassler, do it! Put weight on the car so we don't fail tech inspection. Poor old Toyota. They're going to have to try again next year. The diesel is heavy. Maybe, Audi will switch back to gasoline power like they had with the Audi R8. Toyota gets on the podium, too.
Le Mans gives the winner a chance to do one more victory lap. Lucas di Grassi seems happy to finish second. Maybe next year will be his year. So, here are the overall and class winners:
Overall/LMP1: #2 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18
eTron Quattro
LMP2: #38 Turvey/Dolan/Tincknell Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan
LM GTE Pro: #51 Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia
LM GTE Am: #95 Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hanson/Thiim Aston Martin Racing
Aston Martin Vantage GTE
What a race this has been! Another phenomenal Le Mans event. Every year it gets better. Audi overcame adversity and won this thing, again. Lucky 13! Porsche is going to be pushing, and so is Toyota, and Nissan, next year. Le Mans is so special. You will have goosebumps, a tear in your eye, and a crack in your voice. I can guarantee it. Lena Gade who is engineer, she gets her third win with this team as an engineer. Wow!
You could not predict this race. It was amazing. All the frantic chaos happened early, and you didn't expect it. It was a lot of fun. This is where your mind starts to open up, when you are getting your accolades. Jaguar had their moments, losing the races, and then, winning it. This was a great race. Tom Kristensen will be back to Le Mans. Two German giants with new technology came. So did Toytoa as a darkhorse. It was the first of many surprises, including rain, and cars crashed. Skies cleared, and high speed racing resumed.
The speed differential was 40 miles an hour. The long dusk blended into night, and out of the night, Porsche led, but had to dash to the finish, and they broke. Audi swept into a lead, and won. We leave wanting more. But, that will have to wait until next year, fans. Au revoir, for now, from Le Mans. Yours truly, is wiped out, and needs some sleep!
24 Hours of Le Mans: Chapter Four
We have a Ligier and an Alpine in sixth and seventh place respectively. It's 8:00 A.M. French time. We remember the late, great Bob Wollek, who almost won Le Mans, but never really could. He won in the GT class in 2000, but the winning car he was driving, was disqualified. Then, unfortunately, he was killed, after practice at Sebring International Raceway, riding his bicycle home from the track, getting hit by a car. Rest In Peace, Bob Wollek. The #1 Audi makes it's way through Arnage.
Porsche and Mark Webber remain a lap down. Stefan Mucke is catching Giancarlo Fisichella for the LM GTE Pro lead. The #75 Porsche loses a wheel, and a door. This is the Prospeed Competition machine in the hands of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, and Markus Palttala. Palttala is familiar to Tudor United Sports Car Racing fans. Audi is still ahead of Porsche by a lap. Marcel Fassler just came out of the pits, and the French commentators called him Marcel "Fast" Fassler. The #75 Porsche lost a wheel and also, there was a pit stop for a Ferrari. That's the #81 8Star machine in LM GTE Am. Pardon, that's the #90 car in LM GTE Am. Paolo Ruberti is driving.
Frankie Montecalvo and Gianluca Roda share the car. The #38 Zytek Nissan of Oliver Turvey also pits. The chemistry has to work if you want to put a team together for Le Mans or for any endurance race. Throw the ego away. Respect and compromise with your fellow drivers. The gravel at Le Mans are actually huge, sharp rocks, that can puncture tires. The slow motion camera shots are amazing. Marc Gene is opening a three minute gap over Mark Webber. Gene runs in the 3:27 range. He's running in the 3:26 range too.
Mark Webber is coming close, too. The track is beginning to warm up so you find grip. A Porsche hits a bollard. By the end of the race, the green bollards will be scattered everywhere. It's amazing, the speed that can be carried through the Porsche curves. The tires are smaller. The body is narrower. But, the cars go quicker and quicker. They are pushing 1,000 horsepower. But, these cars are only 210 miles an hour. In the old Group C days, the cars could go 240-250 miles an hour with 700 horsepower in the old Group C days as the #58 Ferrari gets cockeyed in the chicane.
The #70 Team Taisan Ferrari is in the pits. Marc Gene pits and will stay behind the wheel. This is a routine, fuel only stop. Team manager Brad Kettler might make this his final Le Mans race, because he has the R8 GT program to work with back in the United States. Kettler is also a great friend to the Fox Sports broadcast crew. He's had lots of success with Audi at Le Mans. Kettler might be back. This race is so special. It's the crown jewel of sports car racing, and you are immersed in it.
You have to be passionate to run in this sport. It's hard on you personally, physically, and mentally. Webber is dropping back, just a shade. The #97 Aston Martin Vantage is in the pits and it looks like Bruno Senna will replace Stefan Mucke in the car. We still have six hours or so left in this one, which is the length of a standard FIA World Endurance Championship event. Gianmaria Bruni is flying. He's catching the Aston Martin hand over fist. Giancarlo Fisichella was on the wrong tire compound. Gianmaria Bruni, is on the right tires, and faster.
The #14 Porsche pits. But, how the 8Star Ferrari of Paolo Ruberti and the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Bruni, it looked like a short track stock car race! Yikes! You know the amateur driver is slower. But there's something in your gut that says, "this isn't working". Plan on giving the gentleman driver, room. Going through the Porsche curves, it's cringe worthy if thre's a slower car there. The gap is closing. Bruni will catch the lapped Team Taisan Ferrari through Tetre Rouge. Patrick Long is also holding on by the skin of his teeth. The GT class cars are on edge through the corners.
They don't have the downforce that the prototypes do. Ricky Taylor climbs into the #50 Larbre Competition LMP2 car sharing with Pierre Ragues and Keiko Ihara. He'll understand a P2 car, when he's battling them in his Daytona Prototype spec car back home in the Tudor Championship. The race is red hot in LM GTE Pro. Bruni is trying to get by Senna. This is the shot down to Mulsanne corner. Senna wants to move over, but Bruni won't be denied.
Bruni was on three wheels on the curbs. We love watching. But, the crewmen say, "get off the curbs!" The shock setups are set for the curbs. But the curbs are high and sharp, and this race still has six hours to go. Audi #2 is in the pits. Mark Webber in the Porsche has gone a lap down. Marc Gene is cranking off the lap times, and then, the #2 car is gaining on Webber. The #36 Alpine Nissan goes to the garage, with rookie Paul-Loup Chatin at the wheel, along with Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb. Spencer Pumpelly is getting into the #66 JMW Ferrari 458 Italia.
Thomas Blam and Eric Ingraham from Flying Lizard are here, helping out their drivers at JMW in the Ferrari. Gianmaria Bruni runs fast lap in LM GTE Pro at 3:55 flat (3:55.090). Senna is bringing the fight back to Gianmaria Bruni. Senna looks to the inside but can't quite make it. Just under six hours to go, and these guys are running the fastest laps possible at this moment. Bruno Senna is not letting Gianmaria Bruni out of his sites. The #97 car goes to a different fuel map. Oh! Marcel Fassler sweeps past the huge curb, straight lining the chicane.
The #53 RAM Racing Ferrari of Johnny Mowlem spins. The #1 Audi is in pit lane. Marc Gene stays in the car, and gets fuel and a clean windshild. Bruno Senna retakes the lead in LM GTE Pro. Tracy Krohn pits the #57 Ferrari 458 Italia. Tom Kristensen will do a stint after Marc Gene does one more tire stint. He's going for ten wins at Le Mans. Tom Kristensen is going for a potential tenth win. But, he realizes that five and a half hours to go in the race. Watch out, because the Audi's might be burning off the inside shoulder of their tires. There's lots of camber, producing wear.
The #73 Corvette pits and so does the #20 Porsche. Timo Bernhard will take over from Mark Webber. The #97 Aston Martin has a problem. There's steam out of the hood of the dcar. Bruno Senna and Aston Martin's hopes of winning GTE Pro at Le Mans could be dashed. They have a power steering issue. The wires become disconnected. Use zip ties to fix it. Aston Martin had another car go out with power steering failure. Hashtag, gutted. Trouble in paradise for Aston Martin. The #35 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 pits.
The red curbs inside the yellow and blue, is new, and has a point on it. Some people are bouncing off that curb. If you hit too much curb, it slows the car as you have to blip the throttle. The shockwave rattles the chassis. Le Mans is now a sprint race, and you have to push every lap. We watch the #14 Porsche in the pits, as Neel Jani gets in the car. The Aston Martin is in the garage right now. Pit stop time for Audi. Andre Lotterer is in the #2 car now. The #8 Toyota is pitting now. There's a problem for the #35 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 with the Nissan motor.
The #97 Aston Martin Vantage is almost ready to go after replacing the power steering pump. Problems continue for the #35 car that could change the order in LMP2. Less than five hours left. There's a car smoking on track. No changes up front at this point. We've got two sprint races from the Tudor United Sports Car Championship, yet to run. We see the Ferris wheel, which is a fixture here at Le Mans. The #35 Ligier JS P2 Nissan, is back on track. To change brake pads, use a big tool that works the opposite of pliers to get the pads out. Don't hit the brakes, because without a rotor, the pistons will pop out of the calipers.
That's why the driver has to keep his foot off the brake pedal. There's still a long way to go. Press your bets, and take more chances. The #2 Audi is flying. The sister car pits. They are doing quadruple stints, or they were, until now. The stints might be shortened. Gene did a quadruple stint. Shorten up the stints towards the end of the race. Timo Bernhard can't run the same laps as Andre Lotterer. The #2 Audi might get past the #20 Porsche. The #14 Porsche is quicker than the #20. It seems to have dropped in pace. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR pits with Richard Lietz at the wheel.
The driver's manual to explain the new Porsche, is 40 pages long. That's how complicated these new hybrid race cars are. Each driver has a setting they prefer for setting the electronics. Plug in a driver's setting. Set the parameters for each individual driver. The #20 Porsche heads back on track. The #97 Aston Martin is back on track. But they are fourth in class, five laps down. Gianmaria Bruni leads LM GTE Pro in the Ferrari. In LMP2, it's the #46 Ligier JS P2 of Thiriet by TDS Racing. Richard Lietz is two laps behind, and he could be in the running in these next four and a half hours. Run hard, but stay off the curbs. Be a bit more conservative on traffic.
The LM GTE cars have more space. All the cars have more space at Le Mans, because there aren't as many cars as at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, or Road Atlanta. Audi may threaten to pass the second place Porsche. Toni Vilander will take over te car from Gianmaria Bruni. The #73 Corvette is pitting, and completes the stop. Jordan Taylor remains at the wheel, third in LM GTE Pro. Tom Kristensen leads in the #1 Audi. Could Audi take another win? Could they have a 1-2 finish?
Jordan Taylor is still in the #73 Corvette. He is holding onto a podium place in LM GTE Pro. The #2 Audi is pitting. The leading P2 car pits. This is the Ligier for Thiriet by TDS Racing, cleaning the radiators. They've got some damage, too. The #20 Porsche splits the two Audi's. But it is unclear how long that will last. Spare a thought for Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen, being the only two driver team. This race is tough enough with three drivers. With two, it's a nightmare. Anything can and will happen in the last four hours of this race.
The #77 Dempsey Racing Porsche has been in the garage for a while. They thought they'd have as podium spot. Maybe not. Same story was written last year. The team does a rotor change. The #97 Aston Martin Vantage pits. Tom Kristensen is closing in on (and, yours truly hates to jinx this), a tenth win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 17 years. The #1 Audi with Tom Kristensen aboard, makes another pit stop. No tires. Fuel only. The LMP2 leading Ligier is smoking. It looks like a rubbing or flat tire. Reports are a puncture. P2 still seems to be a class that nobody wants to win.
That's a trend. Tristan Gommendy is at the wheel of the #46. Now, the smoke stopped. Is it a suspension problem? It is. No puncture here. This was a suspension failure, as they put the car on the skateboards. Let's watch the #38 Jota Sport car that qualified second in LMP2. Simon Dolan is at the controls of the #38 Zytek Nissan. The Ligier's seem to have these problems. As for Simon Dolan, he's a financier. With Zytek, they have a new LMP2 coupe that will debut next year. Dolan shares the car with fellow Brits Oliver Turvey and Harry Tincknell. The Audi is stopped on course! What happened? It's now underway.
This is a reset. Control, Alt, Delete, just like a computer or a cell phone. Before, there was a fuel injector issue. He did a power cycle. Now, could this leave the door open for the sister Audi or for Porsche? This race is never over. Andre Lotterer is now on the same lap as Timo Bernhard. We've got about 56 laps left in this race. That's a little less than 500 miles. Stay out of the pits. Run your laps. Avoid issues. The #20 Porsche pits for fuel only. There's a new urgency at Porsche as Bernhard is going to stay in the car. The #42 Zytewk is slow out of Mulsanne corner. Chris Dyson is at the controls. He's cycling the electronics.
He doesn't want to stop, because then, he'll be out of the race. Dyson is definitely off the pace. Tom Kristensen pitted. The crew did not do anything more than standard service. They waved off the skateboards. They plan to bring the car into the garage. Kristensen is in the pits with a lap lead over the Porsche and their team car. This has to be quick. The dolly goes under the car. The Jota Sport car pits to change Harry Tincknell into the car. All hands on deck. It's an issue at the back of the car. Is it fuel injection again?
Is it exhaust? Is it the turbo? In mere moments, Andre Lotterer will take the lead. Lotterer turned the fastest lap of the race. Timo Bernhard is trying to hold on in the #20 Porsche. Audi came with three bullets, and they might be down to one. This is going to be a race for the overall lead! Lucas di Grassi changes into the #1 car. Porsche will need to find more pace if they want to keep up with the Audi. The sister #14 Porsche is even running quicker. One more lap before #2 takes over the lead.
The #2 car is pitting for fuel and tires. Go after the tires. The fix for the #1 is a new item. Timo Bernhard is pushing, and I don't have to tell you... hard! The #1 car is being repaired. Consider the hardware and the heat. Timo Bernhard is now leading for Porsche, a minute and 40 seconds ahead of Andre Lotterer. Bernhard is more aggressive. We've got three and a half hours of this race to go. Toyota is knocking on the door with their one remaining bullet. Push components to the limit, to maximize energy efficiency. This is pushing these rocket ships to the breaking point.
This race is incredible. The #1 Audi leaves the pits after changing the turbo. The crew cleaned the underside of the #1 car's rear bodywork. Mark Webber will be the next man in the Porsche, and Brendon Hartley will take it to the flag, should they be able to win. Sebastien Buemi is also pshing in the #8 Toyota. The sister car was having the race they wanted, before stopping on track, and falling out. Sixteen cars, including the lead Toyota, are out of this race. The car was tucked into a safe zone, and couldn't be towed to pit lane. So, it was without doubt, game over.
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Sport team boss says, yes, the turbocharger is a big deal. He claims there's a surprise incident going on. It's strange to lose a turbo. It could happen. But it isn't something you look at going bad. It's Audi vs. Porsche, definitely. Andre Lotterer will have to keep gaining on Timo Bernhard. How much fuel are you burning? Don't cross the threshold. The clock is either your friend, or your enemy, at this point in the race.
Porsche and Mark Webber remain a lap down. Stefan Mucke is catching Giancarlo Fisichella for the LM GTE Pro lead. The #75 Porsche loses a wheel, and a door. This is the Prospeed Competition machine in the hands of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, and Markus Palttala. Palttala is familiar to Tudor United Sports Car Racing fans. Audi is still ahead of Porsche by a lap. Marcel Fassler just came out of the pits, and the French commentators called him Marcel "Fast" Fassler. The #75 Porsche lost a wheel and also, there was a pit stop for a Ferrari. That's the #81 8Star machine in LM GTE Am. Pardon, that's the #90 car in LM GTE Am. Paolo Ruberti is driving.
Frankie Montecalvo and Gianluca Roda share the car. The #38 Zytek Nissan of Oliver Turvey also pits. The chemistry has to work if you want to put a team together for Le Mans or for any endurance race. Throw the ego away. Respect and compromise with your fellow drivers. The gravel at Le Mans are actually huge, sharp rocks, that can puncture tires. The slow motion camera shots are amazing. Marc Gene is opening a three minute gap over Mark Webber. Gene runs in the 3:27 range. He's running in the 3:26 range too.
Mark Webber is coming close, too. The track is beginning to warm up so you find grip. A Porsche hits a bollard. By the end of the race, the green bollards will be scattered everywhere. It's amazing, the speed that can be carried through the Porsche curves. The tires are smaller. The body is narrower. But, the cars go quicker and quicker. They are pushing 1,000 horsepower. But, these cars are only 210 miles an hour. In the old Group C days, the cars could go 240-250 miles an hour with 700 horsepower in the old Group C days as the #58 Ferrari gets cockeyed in the chicane.
The #70 Team Taisan Ferrari is in the pits. Marc Gene pits and will stay behind the wheel. This is a routine, fuel only stop. Team manager Brad Kettler might make this his final Le Mans race, because he has the R8 GT program to work with back in the United States. Kettler is also a great friend to the Fox Sports broadcast crew. He's had lots of success with Audi at Le Mans. Kettler might be back. This race is so special. It's the crown jewel of sports car racing, and you are immersed in it.
You have to be passionate to run in this sport. It's hard on you personally, physically, and mentally. Webber is dropping back, just a shade. The #97 Aston Martin Vantage is in the pits and it looks like Bruno Senna will replace Stefan Mucke in the car. We still have six hours or so left in this one, which is the length of a standard FIA World Endurance Championship event. Gianmaria Bruni is flying. He's catching the Aston Martin hand over fist. Giancarlo Fisichella was on the wrong tire compound. Gianmaria Bruni, is on the right tires, and faster.
The #14 Porsche pits. But, how the 8Star Ferrari of Paolo Ruberti and the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Bruni, it looked like a short track stock car race! Yikes! You know the amateur driver is slower. But there's something in your gut that says, "this isn't working". Plan on giving the gentleman driver, room. Going through the Porsche curves, it's cringe worthy if thre's a slower car there. The gap is closing. Bruni will catch the lapped Team Taisan Ferrari through Tetre Rouge. Patrick Long is also holding on by the skin of his teeth. The GT class cars are on edge through the corners.
They don't have the downforce that the prototypes do. Ricky Taylor climbs into the #50 Larbre Competition LMP2 car sharing with Pierre Ragues and Keiko Ihara. He'll understand a P2 car, when he's battling them in his Daytona Prototype spec car back home in the Tudor Championship. The race is red hot in LM GTE Pro. Bruni is trying to get by Senna. This is the shot down to Mulsanne corner. Senna wants to move over, but Bruni won't be denied.
Bruni was on three wheels on the curbs. We love watching. But, the crewmen say, "get off the curbs!" The shock setups are set for the curbs. But the curbs are high and sharp, and this race still has six hours to go. Audi #2 is in the pits. Mark Webber in the Porsche has gone a lap down. Marc Gene is cranking off the lap times, and then, the #2 car is gaining on Webber. The #36 Alpine Nissan goes to the garage, with rookie Paul-Loup Chatin at the wheel, along with Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb. Spencer Pumpelly is getting into the #66 JMW Ferrari 458 Italia.
Thomas Blam and Eric Ingraham from Flying Lizard are here, helping out their drivers at JMW in the Ferrari. Gianmaria Bruni runs fast lap in LM GTE Pro at 3:55 flat (3:55.090). Senna is bringing the fight back to Gianmaria Bruni. Senna looks to the inside but can't quite make it. Just under six hours to go, and these guys are running the fastest laps possible at this moment. Bruno Senna is not letting Gianmaria Bruni out of his sites. The #97 car goes to a different fuel map. Oh! Marcel Fassler sweeps past the huge curb, straight lining the chicane.
The #53 RAM Racing Ferrari of Johnny Mowlem spins. The #1 Audi is in pit lane. Marc Gene stays in the car, and gets fuel and a clean windshild. Bruno Senna retakes the lead in LM GTE Pro. Tracy Krohn pits the #57 Ferrari 458 Italia. Tom Kristensen will do a stint after Marc Gene does one more tire stint. He's going for ten wins at Le Mans. Tom Kristensen is going for a potential tenth win. But, he realizes that five and a half hours to go in the race. Watch out, because the Audi's might be burning off the inside shoulder of their tires. There's lots of camber, producing wear.
The #73 Corvette pits and so does the #20 Porsche. Timo Bernhard will take over from Mark Webber. The #97 Aston Martin has a problem. There's steam out of the hood of the dcar. Bruno Senna and Aston Martin's hopes of winning GTE Pro at Le Mans could be dashed. They have a power steering issue. The wires become disconnected. Use zip ties to fix it. Aston Martin had another car go out with power steering failure. Hashtag, gutted. Trouble in paradise for Aston Martin. The #35 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 pits.
The red curbs inside the yellow and blue, is new, and has a point on it. Some people are bouncing off that curb. If you hit too much curb, it slows the car as you have to blip the throttle. The shockwave rattles the chassis. Le Mans is now a sprint race, and you have to push every lap. We watch the #14 Porsche in the pits, as Neel Jani gets in the car. The Aston Martin is in the garage right now. Pit stop time for Audi. Andre Lotterer is in the #2 car now. The #8 Toyota is pitting now. There's a problem for the #35 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2 with the Nissan motor.
The #97 Aston Martin Vantage is almost ready to go after replacing the power steering pump. Problems continue for the #35 car that could change the order in LMP2. Less than five hours left. There's a car smoking on track. No changes up front at this point. We've got two sprint races from the Tudor United Sports Car Championship, yet to run. We see the Ferris wheel, which is a fixture here at Le Mans. The #35 Ligier JS P2 Nissan, is back on track. To change brake pads, use a big tool that works the opposite of pliers to get the pads out. Don't hit the brakes, because without a rotor, the pistons will pop out of the calipers.
That's why the driver has to keep his foot off the brake pedal. There's still a long way to go. Press your bets, and take more chances. The #2 Audi is flying. The sister car pits. They are doing quadruple stints, or they were, until now. The stints might be shortened. Gene did a quadruple stint. Shorten up the stints towards the end of the race. Timo Bernhard can't run the same laps as Andre Lotterer. The #2 Audi might get past the #20 Porsche. The #14 Porsche is quicker than the #20. It seems to have dropped in pace. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR pits with Richard Lietz at the wheel.
The driver's manual to explain the new Porsche, is 40 pages long. That's how complicated these new hybrid race cars are. Each driver has a setting they prefer for setting the electronics. Plug in a driver's setting. Set the parameters for each individual driver. The #20 Porsche heads back on track. The #97 Aston Martin is back on track. But they are fourth in class, five laps down. Gianmaria Bruni leads LM GTE Pro in the Ferrari. In LMP2, it's the #46 Ligier JS P2 of Thiriet by TDS Racing. Richard Lietz is two laps behind, and he could be in the running in these next four and a half hours. Run hard, but stay off the curbs. Be a bit more conservative on traffic.
The LM GTE cars have more space. All the cars have more space at Le Mans, because there aren't as many cars as at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen, or Road Atlanta. Audi may threaten to pass the second place Porsche. Toni Vilander will take over te car from Gianmaria Bruni. The #73 Corvette is pitting, and completes the stop. Jordan Taylor remains at the wheel, third in LM GTE Pro. Tom Kristensen leads in the #1 Audi. Could Audi take another win? Could they have a 1-2 finish?
Jordan Taylor is still in the #73 Corvette. He is holding onto a podium place in LM GTE Pro. The #2 Audi is pitting. The leading P2 car pits. This is the Ligier for Thiriet by TDS Racing, cleaning the radiators. They've got some damage, too. The #20 Porsche splits the two Audi's. But it is unclear how long that will last. Spare a thought for Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen, being the only two driver team. This race is tough enough with three drivers. With two, it's a nightmare. Anything can and will happen in the last four hours of this race.
The #77 Dempsey Racing Porsche has been in the garage for a while. They thought they'd have as podium spot. Maybe not. Same story was written last year. The team does a rotor change. The #97 Aston Martin Vantage pits. Tom Kristensen is closing in on (and, yours truly hates to jinx this), a tenth win in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 17 years. The #1 Audi with Tom Kristensen aboard, makes another pit stop. No tires. Fuel only. The LMP2 leading Ligier is smoking. It looks like a rubbing or flat tire. Reports are a puncture. P2 still seems to be a class that nobody wants to win.
That's a trend. Tristan Gommendy is at the wheel of the #46. Now, the smoke stopped. Is it a suspension problem? It is. No puncture here. This was a suspension failure, as they put the car on the skateboards. Let's watch the #38 Jota Sport car that qualified second in LMP2. Simon Dolan is at the controls of the #38 Zytek Nissan. The Ligier's seem to have these problems. As for Simon Dolan, he's a financier. With Zytek, they have a new LMP2 coupe that will debut next year. Dolan shares the car with fellow Brits Oliver Turvey and Harry Tincknell. The Audi is stopped on course! What happened? It's now underway.
This is a reset. Control, Alt, Delete, just like a computer or a cell phone. Before, there was a fuel injector issue. He did a power cycle. Now, could this leave the door open for the sister Audi or for Porsche? This race is never over. Andre Lotterer is now on the same lap as Timo Bernhard. We've got about 56 laps left in this race. That's a little less than 500 miles. Stay out of the pits. Run your laps. Avoid issues. The #20 Porsche pits for fuel only. There's a new urgency at Porsche as Bernhard is going to stay in the car. The #42 Zytewk is slow out of Mulsanne corner. Chris Dyson is at the controls. He's cycling the electronics.
He doesn't want to stop, because then, he'll be out of the race. Dyson is definitely off the pace. Tom Kristensen pitted. The crew did not do anything more than standard service. They waved off the skateboards. They plan to bring the car into the garage. Kristensen is in the pits with a lap lead over the Porsche and their team car. This has to be quick. The dolly goes under the car. The Jota Sport car pits to change Harry Tincknell into the car. All hands on deck. It's an issue at the back of the car. Is it fuel injection again?
Is it exhaust? Is it the turbo? In mere moments, Andre Lotterer will take the lead. Lotterer turned the fastest lap of the race. Timo Bernhard is trying to hold on in the #20 Porsche. Audi came with three bullets, and they might be down to one. This is going to be a race for the overall lead! Lucas di Grassi changes into the #1 car. Porsche will need to find more pace if they want to keep up with the Audi. The sister #14 Porsche is even running quicker. One more lap before #2 takes over the lead.
The #2 car is pitting for fuel and tires. Go after the tires. The fix for the #1 is a new item. Timo Bernhard is pushing, and I don't have to tell you... hard! The #1 car is being repaired. Consider the hardware and the heat. Timo Bernhard is now leading for Porsche, a minute and 40 seconds ahead of Andre Lotterer. Bernhard is more aggressive. We've got three and a half hours of this race to go. Toyota is knocking on the door with their one remaining bullet. Push components to the limit, to maximize energy efficiency. This is pushing these rocket ships to the breaking point.
This race is incredible. The #1 Audi leaves the pits after changing the turbo. The crew cleaned the underside of the #1 car's rear bodywork. Mark Webber will be the next man in the Porsche, and Brendon Hartley will take it to the flag, should they be able to win. Sebastien Buemi is also pshing in the #8 Toyota. The sister car was having the race they wanted, before stopping on track, and falling out. Sixteen cars, including the lead Toyota, are out of this race. The car was tucked into a safe zone, and couldn't be towed to pit lane. So, it was without doubt, game over.
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Sport team boss says, yes, the turbocharger is a big deal. He claims there's a surprise incident going on. It's strange to lose a turbo. It could happen. But it isn't something you look at going bad. It's Audi vs. Porsche, definitely. Andre Lotterer will have to keep gaining on Timo Bernhard. How much fuel are you burning? Don't cross the threshold. The clock is either your friend, or your enemy, at this point in the race.
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