A slow stop for Pierre Thiriet. A splash and dash for the LMP2 leaders. More Full Course Yellows than Slow Zones. It depends on what kinds of wrecks and problems are out there. Full Course Yellows, they work more efficiently than Slow Zones do. Vanthoor and Serra are scrapping again, and Serra can't get the better of the Belgian. We are now at 8PM, French time. We have a safety car on track as the #43 RLR M Sport/Tower Events entry is off the road. That's the Oreca Gibson for John Farano from Canada, Norman Nato of France, an open wheel standout, and from India, Arjun Maini, a Formula 2 driver. We have a safety car on track right now. The #8 Toyota, during the safety car, gets stymied again! They've lost even more time. So, it isn't looking good for Fernando Alonso going back to back at Le Mans.
We are back to green flag racing after the safety car, 15 minutes into the sixth hour. Mikhail Aleshin has gotten himself back on the lead lap, at the wheel of the #11 SMP BR01. The GTE Pro scrap hasn't simmered down one bit. They are still flying. The #85 Keating Motorsports Ford GT has gotten itself ahead of the rest of the GTE Am cars. Pretty amazing for the team of the American team owner Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga from Brazil, and Jeroen Bleekemolen from the Netherlands. The three of them raced at the Rolex 24 and Keating and Bleekemolen of course, share a Mercedes AMG GT3 in GT Daytona in IMSA. The GTE Pro scrap continues. This has been THE story line of the motor race. Unreal. Both Toyota's have lost 1/3rd of a lap after getting stuck behind thwe safety car.
Fernando Alonso says the car is feeling OK, but he is not finding the speed. He does believe anything can happen, but overall, he just wants to stay consistent. It's still a true battle between both Toyota's in LMP1. Alonso would rather be World Champion. He does not mind winning Le Mans again, but he wants the championship. Ferrari #71 pits. Miguel Molina brought it in, but it is either Sam Bird or Davide Rigon getting into the car. One of the factory works Aston Martin's has a problem. This is the #95 car with Darren Turner at the wheel of it. He's lost power on that 4.0 liter twin turbo V8. Trouble in paradise for Aston Martin, as Turner shares with Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen.
Blocking is OK as long as you aren't weaving around, and the Race Director has discretion on what happens. Pit stop time for Billy Johnson in the #66 Ford GT as the ARC Bratislava car chops across one of the Ferrari's. No damage, thankfully. Sergey Sirotkin has the #17 SMP Racing BR01 in the lane. Romain Rusinov and Andre Negrao continue to battle. They've been duking it out for the lead in class as the Algarve Pro LMP2 car gets crossed up in the Ford Chicane. Mikhail Aleshin in the lane inn the #11 SMP Racing BR01. Rain is expected soon according to the Race Director. Does Toyota want Alonso to win Le Mans, or, the World Championship? The TF Sport Aston Martin gets it wrong into the second Mulsanne straight chicane.
Romain Rusinov is being monstered by Andre Negrao, sharing with Nicolas Lapierre and Pierre Thiriet. Porsche on Porsche in GTE Pro. It's the German team vs. the American team. Earl Bamber in the Brumos liveried car and also, I am not sure who is in the #91, the European entry. Meantime, the Rusinov/Negrao scrap is still on. We are seeing rain. Now, this could put a spanner in the works, putting the cat among the pigeons. Rebellion #3 in the lane. Drops of rain reported on track. Experience coming into play here. The rain has arrived here at LeMans. This drizzle will last for five minutes. Drizzle will not be enough to swap slicks for rain tires. Keep up the operating temperatures. Windscreen wipers are on. The conditions will vary from one end of the track to the other.
Keep in mind, this track is an eight and a half mile loop. Negrao is pressing for the lead in LMP2 and he nabs Rusinov! What a pass! The Signatech Alpine boys are loving this! His margin is increasing. Anyone on a slightly softer tire and with more downforce, they will feel a benefit indeed. Rusinov is loose through the Dunlop curves. The #69 Ford is getting swamped by the Corvettes right now. Ryan Briscoe is not happy about being swamped by Mike Rockenfeller. Toyota's run 1-2 over SMP and the Toyota's are both on a lap of their own. Daniel Serra leads GTE Pro, but Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor are both reeling him in. Thomas Preining is parked on the hard shoulder, in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche as Ho Pin Tung has pitted the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car.
Thomas Preining of Austria, is running alongside the British duo of Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright. Jota Sport will run their own LMP2 car, next year, aside from Jackie Chan DC Racing, and Jackie Chan DC Racing nearly won this race overall, a few years ago. Meanwhile, a massive shunt for the #64 Corvette! That's brutal! Big crash! Marcel Fassler wanted to pass the Dempsey Proton GTE Am Porsche, and he was not so lucky. At a shallow entry to that corner, Fassler was overly exuberant, and slammed the wall, hard. The Dempsey Proton Porsche blindsided the Corvette! There is one line through the Porsche curves, and that's it. The Dempsey Proton car is relatively OK, but the Corvette has big, big damage.
There's carbon fiber scattered all over the shop, look. The car hit the wall hard, into the concrete wall, not the SAFER barrier. It might just be game over for the Corvette #64. It's over. It's done. There's no SAFER barrier. That's the steel and foam energy reducing barrier. But, the chassis is buckled, and that car is toasted. Marcel Fassler has to be just gutted. The Porsche had nowhere to go other than turning in. It was a case where he didn't have a choice. We are nearing the 1/4 distance mark. Three safety cars at Le Mans, splitting into thirds. They create a single file crocodile of cars on their way, slowly around the course.
This latest incident, is a huge reminder of how quickly Le Mans can bite you. Game over. Corvette is down to one bullet left in the gun. At some point, you have to turn into a corner. Easing off too far, would have destabilized the Porsche. The blame games begin. Keep your language clean when discussing this incident though. Foul language is unnecessary. We are professionals here. Fassler was the second car through. Spatial awareness is key. Don't be looking at the rear view camera.
We are back to green flag conditions getting closer to 9PM and then, the purple light will signal night. That's something from the old days when headlights were not required until darkness fell, but they are always required these days. At night, the artificial lights are going to play boatloads of tricks on the drivers' eyes. We have another yellow flag on the circuit, someplace. We're 1/4 of the way done already. Pretthy amazing. This has been a fun race to cover so far. Pit stop time, look in GTE Pro. Ferrari and Porsche in. We have slow zones, and rain coming, as light is fading. The tire warmers warm the tires to 75/80 degrees Celsius. A lightly toasted tire. Slow zones, look, are really frustrating.
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