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.
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