Gustavo Menezes is beginning to force his way forward on Kamui Kobayashi. Alex Lynn is being passed by LMP2 cars. GT cars, when well driven, are very hard to get by, because speed differentials are totally nonexistent. That's not like how sports car racing used to be. Next year, it will be a very interesting to see the speed similarities between the LMP2 cars and the new LMP1 hyper cars. High Class has older tires than Jota. It is not as dark here as it is at Le Mans for instance. But we will have a tough time, maybe identifying the queues of cars. Pit stop time for Aston Martin #97. That's the Pro class car and also, the #51 Ferrari is in the lane and so is #71. Alessandro Pier Guidi replaces James Calado and Miguel Molina replaces Davide Rigon. No strategy split for Maranello. Left side tires only on the Aston Martin. We still have six hours to go.
You have to give up a tad now, and have more in the locker for later on. Matteo Cairoli says the #56 car is retired. The exhaust system has a hole in it. That's a shame. Cairoli and his team mates may get back out but they are out of contention. The Italian shares with Egidio Perfetti, the Norwegian based Italian and David Heinemeier Hanson. Toyota leads overall. Aston Martin leads GTE Pro. Team Project 1, and the #57 Porsche with Ben Keating, leads GTE Am. In LMP2, it is United Autosport leading. Ferrari #51 is off the road and back on again. Pit stop time, look, for the #1 Rebellion. After two hours and ten minutes, the top five cars are all LMP1 cars for the first time.
Fuel only for Rebellion. Rebellion will team up with Peugeot Sport in Hypercar, shooting for a debut in 2022 or so. In 2023, it is the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and so Peugeot really wants that even though they have won Le Mans, three times, in 1992, '93, and 2009. Toyota now run 1-2, #7 ahead of #8. Nothing stays constant in the race and the track is essentially a living creature. Cool Racing, car #42 is in the pit lane. This is another short run for them it seems. No. Actually, it is a full fuel run. Tires are ready. This is the Borga/Coigny/Lapierre car as the #47 is also in the lane. Pierre Ragues stays in the Signatech Alpine. Nicolas Lapierre is in the Cool Racing car as well.
In GTE Pro, it is a battle for the class lead. Driver change for Cetilar in LMP2. Michael Christensen is chasing down Nicki Thiim. Miguel Molina has set a new GTE Pro lap record, sixth in class. Michael Christensen slides, leaving black marks on the road. Christensen wants to give it more welly to pass the Aston Martin. The Porsche has better tire life, and is quick, but he cannot easily overtake the Aston Martin right now. Salih Yoluc is ahead of Adrian de Leener in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. Adrian de Leener does pass Salih Yoluc. Toyota will be into the pit lane, next time by.
All Aston Martin drivers are on the pit wall right now, watching. There is this great battle between Porsche and Aston Martin. Kamui Kobayashi is on schedule for his fourth stop of the race. A real hip check there, in the GTE Am class between the #98 Aston Martin and the #70 MR Racing Ferrari. Paul Dalla Lana, the Canadian, and Kei Cozzolino. Ben Keating will do a third consecutive stint. He is doing the iron man stint. Again, Toyota #8 has made a pit stop. The GTE Pro lead battle continues. It is still Aston Martin vs. Porsche.
Aston is playing the long game and they are first and fourth in class as Alessandro Pier Guidi is back in the #51 Ferrari. Switching drivers every stint, is not logical to some people, but, it is logical to other teams. Red River Sport gets passed by Jean Eric Vergne and G-Drive. Gearbox trouble for the #1 Rebellion. It will need to be serviced in the garage. Something happened to the car in that lap one collision. The #5 Ginetta is still having issues as well. Rebellion is having issues with the shifting actuator or with the gears in the transmission. Andrew Watson is second in GTE Am, running behind Paul Dalla Lana in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR that he shares with Ben Barker and Mike Wainwright.
Michael Christensen wants to get by Nicki Thiim, and here comes the Ferrari as well, look. The GTE-Pro scrap is split, look, by the #8 Toyota. Porsche wanted to be in clear air, to keep the tire right onn the money. Gustavo Menezes is still in the garage with the gear selectionn trouble, running 11th in the overall right now. The #56 Porsche is still in the garage, and the #1 Rebellion is now back into the race, two or three laps behind. They are three laps down. Four of six LM GTE Pro cars are running together in a pack right now. Alessandro Pier Guidi, he will make a move, and not wait for it. Alex Lynn is crawling all over him. Ferrari wants a win. They are appealing their ride height infraction that cost them a win in Shanghai last time out. They might get it back. We'll see.
Cetillar Racing pits. But, Andrea Belicchi has been dinged by the stewards for a tech infraction on the pit stop. In again, Racing Team Nederland. Frits van Eerd is back into the car, replacing Nyck de Vries. Nicki Thiim is leading GTE Pro, and we see damage on the corner of Pier Guidi's Ferrari. Alex Lynn is pushing, pushing, pushing, while Kamui Kobayashi continues to lead overall. Romain Rusinov is now in to the #26 G-Drive Aurus. Rusinov takes over from Jean Eric Vergne. Richard Lietz is coming, fast. Thiim continues to lead GTE Pro, buit it looks like Pier Guidi has taken over, and he has. Thiim has been really pressing hard on older tires.
Chris Dyson has completed a double stint, and the #6 Ginetta will have a new driver. Jordan King has come back up through the LMP2 field in the #5 sister car. Guy Smith is now at the controls of the Ginetta. They have new tires on the car as well. New tires on the left side and scrubbed tires on the right. Oooh! Alex Lynn tags the Racing Team Nederland car of Frits van Eerd! That was close. van Eerd spins and continues. Lynn will get pinged for that one. He hits the brakes but nudges van Eerd out of the way. He wanted to avoid running into the LMP2 car, but no.
Jota Sport was also caught up, almost, in the GTE Pro battle. Aston is applying the blowtorch to Porsche, look. We have had one safety car right at the beginning of the motor race. Francois Perrodo is back into the #83 Ferrari. Andrew Watson has now taken the lead in GTE Am in the #86 Porsche. Mike Wainwright has done one stint. But, he needs a double stint. Ben Keating, however, does not need to do any more driving once he gets out of the #57 car. After a triple stint, he could pit as the class leader. Interesting. He is the iron man at the moment. Paul Dalla Lana, Darren Turner, and Ross Gunn, in the #98 Aston Martin are in the clear because another car has not cannoned into them on lap one.
Meanwhile, the Rebellion passes the Toyota. Gustavo Menezes is trying to get laps back. Dalla Lana and Thiim are only a tenth or so apart as Thiim's tires are busted. Cool Racing are in the lane for scheduled service as the LMP2 cars are into their fourth sets of pit stops. Five more hours left in this motor race. We have a long, long way to go yet. Toyota run 1-2 in LMP1. United Autosports lead LMP2. AF Corse, Porsche, and Aston Martin are 1-2-3 in GTE Pro. Pit stop time for LMP2 cars. Trying to sort out driver rotations. Can't figure out who is where, really, although Andrew Watson, he is flying in GTE Am as Ben Keating is storming back, in second place in GTE Am at the moment. Andrew Watson, again, is flying right now.
Nicki Thiim is in the pits and hands the #95 "Dane Train" Aston Martin Vantage, to Marco Sorenson. Alex Lynn is fending off the challenge from Miguel Molina and Richard Lietz, in a Ferrari and a Porsche. Molina still wants it. Lietz will not give it to him. Molina is the quicker of the two right now. He has tires though that will be trashed because of the clag, the rubber and dust, on the outside of the circuit. Miguel Molina is drifting like crazy. He is puttinng himself at risk for unnecessary argy bargy and a spin. Plus, his rooted tires will be worse off. Aston Martin #98 is back on track, Paul Dalla Lana has changed over to another driver.
Kamui Kobayashi, and Brendon Hartley run 1-2. Jordan King and Guy Smith run third and fourth on the road. Ferrari has the traction out of turn tenn, and might pass the Aston Martin fairly soon. They have old tires on one side of the car and fresh on the other side. They need new boots on all four corners. Ben Keating has finally pitted and handed the car to Larry ten Voorde, the Dutchman. Meanwhile, the battle continues between the Porsche and the Aston.
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