Aston Martin is still struggling. Signatech Alpine has just taken a pit stop again. There was a problem with the starter motor on one of the cars. Will there be rain in these final 3+ hours? There are clouds rolling in over the carnival it seems. Sebastien Buemi is searching for team mate Kamui Kobayashi, as Fernando Alonso is ready to take over. The #8 car has the finish at least seventh to clinch the title, but he wants to win. This is a family feud at Toyota. We shall have to see what happens in this last three hours and 50 minutes. Jean Eric Vergne has been overheating. Fernando Alonso has not been too happy throughout this race. The #8 car has just not had the pace of the #7 machine, honestly. The Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima car won Spa, and hasn't been changed one iota since then. There was something about floor damage, but has that come up for some parts of this race? If it has, it doesn't seem to be so. Yet, they have not had the pace.
The #69 Ford GT has been dinged by the stewards for being too fast through a slow zone. Gianmaria Bruni, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Garcia are the three protagonists in LM GTE Pro. This is the last time we will see the C-7-R- Corvette here at Le Mans. The quality of the drivers in LM GTE Pro is incredible. Absolutely superb. Pit stop time for the #92 Porsche 911 RSR. That's the Christensen/Vanthoor/Estre car. CORE Autosport with Nick Tandy might inherit the spot over the Porsche GT Team. Kamui Kobayashi pits the #7 Toyota and Andre Lotterer has a rsgged pit entry in the #1 Rebellion car. Bruni and Ryan Briscoe both get ten second penalties they'll have to take at their next pit stops. Nick Tandy joins behind Richard Lietz.
BMW MTEK is tenth with Antonio Felix Da Costa in the sole surviving BMW M8 GTE. Da Costa sharing with Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn, the Portuguese, the Brazilian, and the Finn. There's a yellow flag and the Jumbo Supermarkets car of Nyck de Vries slides through the gravel at Indianapolis, and he crashes it! It had to be a mechanical failure. Nyck de Vries, leader in the Formula 2 championship, he is a good driver. This is our fourth safety car of the race, as we've mostly had Full Course Yellow's or Slow Zones. The material holding the tires is conveyor belt material from the candy making industry.
The Dempsey Proton Porsche #88 has driven into the pit lane. We have three safety cars here at Le Mans because of the length of the track, and two safety cars are used at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, even though Spa is half the distance, half the length, of Le Mans. Corvette are taking the risk of pitting. Corvette fills the car to the brim with petrol. AF Corse and James Calado take the lead in LM GTE Pro. Frits van Eerd, the owner of Jumbo Supermarkets, the biggest supermarket chain in Holland, is making the most of his sponsorship investment, he'll have to, to try and repair the car. He's fine. The Corvette has lost the lead in GTE Pro, having to be held in the crocodile in the pit lane.
They are now a lap down to the Ferrari in LM GTE Pro. AF Corse still owes us a stop. The Jumbo car is destroying itself. Knives and forks in the tumble dryer, and carbon fiber scraping the pavement 3-4 miles away from home. That front wheel is pointing at Paris, not at Le Mans. #7 is leading the #8 Toyota at the moment. Jan Magnussen is losing time to James Calado, but is still on the lead lap. Calado is now at the head of GTE Pro, and he wants a Le Mans win on his CV. That Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217 Gibson is compromised. The car is not steering at all. The damage is too great. We've got two full length Formula 1 races left to run.
The windscreen will have to be completely re-bonded. That's going to be tough. Job van Uitert is 20 years old, and ended up leading his first Le Mans. Just like Nyck de Vries and Renger van der Zande. Some real up and coming Dutch drivers. Ford GT #67 is in the pit lane. The FIA and the ACO tried to not use the safety car, and tried to use the Full Course Yellow's, but the safety car periods were used. The safety car travels faster than the cars do in slow zones. Nathaniel Berthon brings the #3 Rebellion into the lane. Rebellion will have to get back out into the safety car crocodile.
But, the safety car lights are off, so, we will be going back to green. Nick Tandy has a ten second penalty, for speeding out of the pit lane. We are back to green, the field, stacked. GTE Pro war is on! Hang on to your hollyhocks here, boys. Porsche Weissach vs. Porsche North America. Andrea Pizzitola escapes from the Porsche GTE Pro battle.; This is an angry battle between the Porsche's. Toyota #8 tries to pass another LMP1 car and this frightens Felipe Fraga into going off the road and Jan Magnussen also goes off the track. Things are going from bad to worse for Corvette. No chance for Magnussen to warm up the tires and he hits the wall, look. Check the safety of the steering. Ferrari are in the pound seats now.
Nick Tandy tries to beat the light out of the lane and crosses the blend line. So, he will be dinged for that. Richard Lietz might lose second spot if he has trouble with track limits. The #86 Gulf Porsche overshoots the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Porsche is getting eaten up now by Ferrari and Corvette are in panic mode to get their sole remaining car, fixed. James Calado is back into the pit lane. Ferrari are in the driver's seat in GTE Pro it appears. Stay calm. Corvette #63 comes back out of the pit lane. Here comes Ferrari, too. Jan Magnussen rejoins but he is almost two laps behind.
Yoiu can pick up tons of debris at a track like Le Mans. Jan Magnussen will be kicking himself, losing his 21st Le Mans. Andre Negrao has run extremely well and if they win the race, they will almost certainly win the championship. James Calado and Daniel Serra are running really well. What a shame for BMW. They have not had good luck at Le Mans at all even though they won last time out at Spa Francorchamps. This is their final race. BMW is headed to Formula E, but it is a loss to endurance racing.
The racing has been incredible. There's a battle for ninth and tenth in LM GTE Pro. BMW is fending off Porsche for bragging rights and more. Matthieu Jaminet makes the pass on the BMW into the chicane on the Mulsanne.
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