We have a slow zone. The most recent slow zone was caused by Juan Pablo Montoya in the United Autosport car as we said earlier, at Indianapolis corner. It is a banked corner, at Indianapolis, hence the name. In LMP2, Jean Eric Vergne leads for G-Drive. The track is now green. In LM GTE Pro, the racing is hot. The #92 Porsche has a big lead in LM GTE Pro. It is now getting dark. Dusk has vanished, and we're now at about 9PM in the evening, in France. Toyota's remain 1-2. Half a second splits Kamui Kobayashi from Kazuki Nakajima. G-Drive, Porsche, and Dempsey Proton lead. There's been just one retirement from this motor race, amazingly. Kazuki Nakajima is in the pit lane. We have not seen Toyota with any mechanical trouble so far. #8 has changed two rear wings, rear bodywork sections, actually.
Toyota has come so, so close to winning Le Mans. Can they do it? Stephane Sarrazin has been doing well in the #17 SMP Racing BR01. Stephane Sarrazin has been on pole at Le Mans, but has not won the race yet. Dirk Mueller is being chased by Antonio Garcia. It's Ford vs. Corvette. Kamui Kobayashi has made another pit stop, and of course, the car goes away from the lane on electric power. It is so, so quick! The acceleratoin on the hybrids is amazing, and they get to the pit lane speed limit of 60 kilometers an hour (37 miles an hour), with the sanp of a finger. The rest of the LMP1's are the naturally aspirated cars.
Andre Lotterer made contact with the Toyota at the very beginning of this motor race, and the sister #3 car is moving up. American Gustavo Menezes is at the wheel right now. We have a double yellow flag at marshal post six near Tetre Rouge. That's the #22 Ligier, the Hanson/Di Resta/Montoya car. The light is fading, at 10:22 P.M., French time. Dirk Mueller is still hotly pursuing Antonio Garcia. Alex Brundle flies by in one of the Gineetta cars. The Ginetta's might actually begin to improve. Toni Vilander in one of the Ferrari's is not having a race that he wants, at this juncture of the race.
Because of the sun going down, the visibility is much better right now. Sunset is always the worst in an endurance sports car race, but, the sunrise in the morning, when we get there, is going to be tough. There are so many distractions from the race overnight for the fans. Concerts, food, beer, and more. Remember, a good chunk of this palace of speed, is made up of public roads, as we see the famous Ferris wheel. Now, Giedo vanh der Garde is going to be getting a ticket from the gendarmes here for abusing track limits.
Game over for the ByKolles car. That's the first retirement and we just saw Paul Dalla Lana crash, and so the Am Aston Martin, of Dalla Lana anhd company is headed for an early bath. Jenson Button had earlier issues, and he is 49 laps down. Really, these boys are testing, but Jenson Button is still glad to be here. He can't be happy about the race result, but it will give him the experience and lets hope he comes back to race again, manybe next year at the end of the "super season". Hugo de Sadeleer is in the #23 United Autosport Ligier. You can't afford to have mechanical trouble. Through Indianapolis and Arnage we go. Button is being very cautious to stay on the road, as the darkness is coming through the lovely twilight here at Le Mans. Right, left, right, left... the Porsche curves is an amazing part of the track.
Jenson Button is learning the speed differences between Prototypes and GT cars. That variation in speed isn't as large as it used to be, 30, 40, 50 years ago. Incidentally, at some point, yours truly does want to share the sports car racing of the 1980s. Stay tuned for that, after a lot of the races, because after Le Mans, there will be more races for IMSA and other sports car championships, just like always. We watch the Ford vs. Corvette battle in LM GTE Pro. Meanwhile, we see a problem for one of the LMP2 machines, the #33 Nick Boulle driven Jackie Chan DC Racing car, with David Cheng and Pierre Nicollet.
Porsche, BMW, and Corvette are leading in LM GTE Pro. Be aware. Be predictable, as the night falls, at Le Mans. The faster cars have to be careful compared to the slower cars. Laurens Vanthoor is now replacing Michael Christensen, in "The Pink Pig". That car was driven by German's Reinhold Joest and Willi Khausen. The #81 BMW M8 GTE is in the lane. So is one of the Ford GT's. BMW is here again, for the first time in a while, and they won, in 1999 with the gorgeous V12 LMR LMP1 open top roadster, in the hands of Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini, and Yannick Dalmas.
Ford is getting set for another pit stop. Dirk Mueller has the best of the Ford GT's in one of the U.S. cars. Toyota's plunge into the darkness. Will they last through the night? Or, will there be a concern for them? We see a car with a punctured tire. It's a right rear tire puncture. Out of Mulsanne, Harrison Newey spins the #35 SMP Racing Dallara Gibson he shares with Viktor Shaytar of Russia, and Frenchman Norman Nato. Newey and company will sink like a stone. Toyota #8 pits, and Harrison Newey limps towards pit lane.
Jeroen Bleekemolen is driving the #85 WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GTE and Euan Hankey pits the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin V8 Vantage. TF Sport has had success not just in WEC, but also in Blancpain GT Endurance, and British GT. #35 is still in the pit lane, changing the rear deck and rear wing section. The new bodywork has new livery. The conneections for the lights are already plugged in. We are nearly eight hours into this race, 1/3rd distance. We have another car off the road, at marshal post 32. It's the Matevos Isaakyan driven #17 machine, off the road, and Isaakyan spins off! It had to be a mechanical failure.
Isaakyan is trying to get it started again. He stalled the motor. He's losing time. Euan Hankey loops the TF Sport Aston Martin at the Ford chicane. Isaakyan is being held by the marshals for some reason. He's damaged a corner on the car. He's out of the car. Could this be gamke over for the #11 car?
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