The mechanics try to get some shuteye, but they are on full alert as the night wears on. Earl Bamber and Joey Hand are just 2.3 seconds apart. We still have 60 cars racing. A few years ago, after ten hours, we'd have a quarter of the field gone. But reliability is amazing. All these cars are so, so durable today. Richard Westbrook is into the pit lane. It's a scheduled stop for the #69 Gulf liveried Ford GT. Scott Dixon is now at the wheel of the car. Ferrari #51 is in the lane. There's a driver change as well as tires and fuel, and all of this is done at once. It used to be, no work could be done on the car until fuel was in the tank, but that isn't the case anymore. Sebastien Buemi and Mike Conway have run 3:23 and 3:26 while Egor Orudzhev in the SMP non hybrid has run a 3:21. The BR01 cars are extremely fast, running much faster even, than the factory Porsche 919 Hybrid's from a few years back, and the Toyota's of today.
Jonathan Bomarito pits from fourth in class in the #67 Ford GT. That Porsche 911 RSR sounds absolutely amazing. The GT class cars no longer have yellow headlights. It's probably taking the glare off of it as the a tinted light will have a glare to it. Today's LED lights are amazing. The lights are aimed so that in a 45 degree corner, you still. have light. Corvette #63 is in the pit lane. The Toyota runs a 3:22.9, the #7 of Mike Conway, putting daylight between himself and Sebastien Buemi. #7 has been knocking on the door year after year here at Le Mans, having been beaten by their sister car last year when Le Mans was the second round of the "Super Season". We still have 13 and 3/4 hours left. We have seen some ten second stop/go speeding penalties in the lane. Everything before the apex is slowing down, and after the apex, acclerate and open your hands on the wheel.
Felipe Fraga has just taken over the #85 Wynn's Ford GT. Keating may have gotten behind the wheel of his car. Michael Christensen is flying through Indianapolis, right up to the edge of the curb on the exit of the corner, look. Christensen hits the pit lane in the Porsche. He does so from the GTE Pro class lead. Time for a tire change and a driver change. The crewman jumps onto the hood to clean the windscreen and pull of a tear off. I think there are ten or twelve of those on the screen. Laurens Vanthoor has taken over the #92 car. The Arc Bratislava LMP2 car taps the wall at Arnage over the rumble strips on the corner exit. Don't wash the windscreen. Take off the dirty tear off. Egor Orudzhev has clouted the barrier in the Porsche Curves! What the heck happened there?!
That's a mega sized crash! What a horrendous turn of events for SMP! The safety car is on track. Hass anyone else been involved? Egor Orudzhev is OK. He's lost it on his own, and, boom! He smashed the tire wall. Wow. Gustavo Menezes has inherited third spot. The tub is damaged, and the #95 Aston Martin has also been officially retired. The #97 car, the sister car, is still in the race. It is back in the race, circulating in the hands of Jonny Adam. There is an energy absorbing belt that is bolted to the tire wall, and the tires are bundled and bolted together. They aren't very forgiving. They are much better than an Armco. Terry Rymer used to race motorcycles, and there are airbags in front of the tire walls which dissipate the energy for bike riders.
A lot of the GT drivers are grousing about safety cars, because they are getting slip apart. Gaps in the traffic are needed, for the emergency vehicles like ambulances out there. The #3 Rebellion just made a scheduled pit stop, and it's stopped at the red light right now anticipating another safety car. The advantages of a safety car are such that the gap between the leading Toyota's, has closed up to only 3.6 seconds. Both cars have done 15 pit stops. Sebastien Buemi was being instructed to not race th sister car until they cleared the traffic. The heat dissipatring from the brake discs when the brakes are applied, help heat the tires.
If you can squeeze out an extra lap on a fuel run, you are in good shape. We are still awaiting the end of this safety car period after Egor Orudzhev's accident. The lights are off on the safety car, and we're green again! Cold tires through Arnage corner. All the tire and brake temperature bleeds away during cold, hard lapping behind the safety car. Laurens Vanthoor leads Daniel Serra by 1.5 seconds in GTE Pro and the Toyota battle is heating up for the overall, while LMP2 and LM GTE Am, stay as they have been. Gravel and debris is strewn all over the road. Sebastien Buemi has fewer cars to overtake towards the front of the safety car queue. The Ford's are definitely going on the offensive. Sebastien Buemi leads Mike Conway by 2.8 seconds. Vanthoor leads Serra by 4.4 seconds. Earl Bamber is third in class in LM GTE Pro in the Brumos liveried Porsche 911 RSR as Fred Makowiecki in the sister car is flying, while he has his hands full with the Ford GT's of Scott Dixon and Joey Hand, the cars in the liveries of the 1966 and '67 winning Ford GT40s. One, painted like the Chris Amon/Bruce McLaren car, and the other, painted like the Dan Gurney/A.J. Foyt car.
Smoke again puking out of o0ne of the cars? Or is it a locking wheel? A locking brake? The #85 Ford GT has lost time in GTE Am. Earl Bamber snatches some opposite lock out of the Porsche Curves. Mike Conway is at the wheel of the #7 Toyota. The evening is very warm in Le Mans. Ambient temps have been 15-20 degrees Celsius, while the track temperature has been between 14-22 Celsius. In cooler night temperatures, the softer compound is more usable. Mike Conway has reeled in and caught Sebastien Buemi. Toyota wants to do the double, here at Le Mans. There's fluid leaking from the #8 Toyota. The fluid is streaking the sister car's windscreen.
Both Toyota's at different times, have been spewing fluid of some sort that has not really affected their performance. There are limits as to how often you can top up things like oil. Conway races through 320 kilometers an hour on the Mulsanne straight, in sixth gear, headed to Mulsanne corner. Sebastien Buemi is the overall race leader. More smoke on the entry to the Porsche curves. Maybe there's coolant or something that is for the battery system or something. Conway is not coming to the pit lane. Toyota isn't overly concerned about whatever this leakage of fluid may be.
Mike Conway is still chasing Sebastien Buemi. #8 is still chucking fluid out, on the overrun. Mike Conway's windscreen is getting pelted with this liquid all the time.
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