It is the witching hour at Le Mans with Toyota #7 and Kamui Kobayashi leading. Toyota are quicker than the LMP2's especially at Mulsanne corner. Use all the power, the 1,000 brake horsepower. 500 horses from the V6 turbo gas engine, and 125 apiece per wheel on electric motors. Sam Bird is still in the Ferrari. They've changed brakes, taken rubber out of the front splitter, and changed the broken shock. But, they are losing time moment by moment. Thanks for the update, Mr. Toby Moody at Eurosport. It's midnight, but it's 70 degrees outside. Toyota #7 gets balked by traffic, completely. The GT car did not pull to the right and they are very reluctant to hit the hard shoulder because of the clag on the outside of the circuit, the tire shrapnel all over the shop. This is a setback for teams that have had mechanical woes. You write up a strategy, and then tear the paper up and toss it in the trash, or out the window, take your pick.
Poor old Laurens Vanthoor is last in LM GTE Pro after they had their issues with the power steering pump and the whole power steering system. Davide Rigon in the sister AF Corse Ferrari is back on track, sixth in class after Sam Bird's stint. Still half this race on the board. Why wouldn't a garage put a full brake with calipers on the car? Your road car doesn't run a dry brake system, your road car needs pads instead of discs, and it is very expensive. Porsche #92 in the lane, these chaps are fighting an uphill battle. He might have been taking apnealty there, being held by the crew. He's despondent thinking, "why on earth do I even bother?" Well, Laurens, this is Le Mans. You have to keep going, sunshine. Keep your chin up, mate. There's a long, long way to go yet.
The #95 Aston Martin has been promoted to third in LM GTE Pro, with Richard Westbrook at the controls. In the last four Le Mans races, four GTE Pro makes have won. Ford, Porsche, Aston Martin, and Ferrari. Toyota #8 in the lane. United Autosport are in the pit lane for another stop. This time it looks like tires and fuel but no driver change for the blue and red LMP2 car. It's a routine stop. Bish bash bosh, and they'll be on their way. #38, Jota Sport is doing likewise. So, some of the GTE cars are running equal lap times. You never really have the perfect car, even with the best setup you can find. There are so many variables.
IDEC Sport has made their pit stop, and the #24 LMP2 car stalled after it's pit stop. He went to hit the headlights and killed the engine. This is Nielsen Racing, the #24 of Garrett Grist, Alex Kapadia, and Anthony Wells, all three drivers are British. Next year we will have a single season, and we've gone back to the old way of doing pit stops fueling first and then changing tires. Toyota #7 is in the lane for their pit stop, and actually they have just completed it. Now, a replay for the #70 Ferrari which has a collapsed suspension. These blokes have had a litany of woe. It's bottoming out, scraping on the deck. Kei Cozzolino, Takeshi Kimura, and Vincent Abril. Two Japanese drivers, and a Frenchman.
This is the third Ferrari failure. They've gotten a bad batch of shocks, or the way they are fitted into the cars is flawed. One of the Rebellion's has pitted. Someone ijn a prototype has locked their brakes, big style. The headlights are really flaring the cameras. Right. A broken shock for the Ferrari, #70, and this is the first one on the left corner of one of those automobiles. Is it bad shocks or is it something else. It's a shock, and it's a shocker! Whoa! Now that was REALLY bad, and it's only 7PM! Egad! Egidio Perfetti, the world's third biggest candy maker, making among other things, Mentos mints.
They are changing both ends of the left side of the car at the Ferrari camp for the #70 at CarGuy. The factory Ferrari team at AF Corse are down there investigating what the heck is going on because of Sam Bird's woes earlier. If it were designed to be changed quickly it'd be out by now. Those right hand kinks in Indianapolis, are hard to commit to. A Fwerrari goes straight on at the Mulsanne chicanes on the straight, not Mulsanne corner. Jules Gounon is fourth in LM GTE Pro in a class of eight cars, as we watch another LMP2 car stall at Mulsanne, just after Mulsanne.
At any rate, the car is back going again. Ooh. Grab a hamburgette if you're hungry. It's a hamburger on a baguette. Chris Parsons is back in the house with Mark Cole. We'll see Damien in the A.M. We are on the midnight shift, the 1AM shift here in France. We will carry on the tradition of the late, great Neville Hay, and a lot of talk about nothing, unless it's motorsport history. The pit garages are standard size. They are not too small. Has car #37 been disqualified? We don't know yet. Hang on here. We will find out. 26 minutes to halfway at Le Mans. M,eantime, Augusto Farfus is pressing on but being harried by Charlie Eastwood.
In the garage, #33. That's the High Class Racing Oreca. #75 is off the road, again, stopping ar marshal post 32 in the Porsche Curves. That's an odd spot to go off, but he's buried in the gravel trap. W edo not have full camera covrage during the wee small night hours. He lost the rear in the Porsche curves, riught in front of where thr Ferris wheel would be. No Ferris wheel this year. Rino Mastronardi has been spinning like a top. He looped it across the road and the marshaling has gone over very, very well.
Years ago, Mastronardi would have hit something solid, but thankfully, it's not that risky anymore. We are operating under Slow Zones now. Pit stop time for one of the LMP2 cars and a driver change. That's the #31 Panis Racing car with Goodyear and McDonald's sponsorship. Meantime, Kamui Kobayashi is still leading the race. He has to be made aware of lots of gravel in the Porsche Curves. Nico Jamin, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Julien Canal are driving the Panis LMP2 machine. #54 for AF Corse is in the lane, and out again. Giancarlo Fisichella, former Formula 1 driver, is back on track. We can see in replay, the mishap for the #75 Ferrari.
Toby Moody is giving us a tour of a Le Mans garage. This is at Aston Martin. The pit garags are fairly large. They just look smaller. Gabriel Aubry stopped earlier and maybe he had outside assistance! He did! One of the mechanics passed the driver a part, and the driver fitted it. The car was disqualified. That is the the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car, Ho Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry, and Will Stevens, game over. Costas Los, our Greek pal from Group C, his Cosmik March Porsche stopped at Mulsanne with a dead battery. He went for a walk into the woods, finding a battery, fitting into the car, and rejoining the race. But the ACO and Alain Bertheau didn't approve and Costas Los was disqualified. He refers to it as going "mushroom picking".
Until not that recently, cars had to carry a spare tire. Lola T70s, Ferrari's and more. In the old days, you had to run cars with the tops up, and then they'd have to take the top down. Riding mechanics used to ride with the driver. He has a tool kit. The troyuble now is how everything is digital and electric, and its Control, Alt, Delete, just like a computer. The days of working on a car yourself are a distant memory. After all their woes in practice, IDEC Sport are 14th and 19th in LMP2. Paul Loup Chatin is in #28 and Kyle Tilley is in the #17. Anthony Davidson will take the Jota Sport #38 car back on track. Ant Davidson takes over from Roberto Gonzalez and so is Antonio Felix Da Costa, blitzing the Formula E championship. David Clark and Sam Hignett at Jota trust him.
Paul di Resta gets out of shape and fortunately gets back on the road. Will Owen ahead in the sister car. United Autosport is 1-2 in LMP2. Hyper Pole was a great success. Very miuch loike final F1 qualifying. Now, the #42 car is in the pit lane. The mechanics are feeling the pressure of the compressed schedule here at Le Mans. Paul Loup Chatin is still running well, and flying past the famous poplar trees. In 1914, the Wright Brothers made the first flight in Europe at Le Mans, on a gold course alongside the Mulsanne straight, and there's a hippodrome there for equestrian activities. The #62 Red River Sport Ferrari is in the lane, the car that Bon Grimes crashed in practice. Bonamy Grimes, Johnny Mowlem, and Charles Hollings on the driver's strength.
Anthony Davidson is also back there, behind Paul Di Resta, and those two work together on Formula 1 broadcasts. We're two minutes away from half distance. Wow. Where's the time gone? Where's the time gone? Richard Bradley has been flying, absolutely flying, and he's in the top ten with the #28 IDEC Sport car. Richard Bradley drove a 1935 Aston Martin Ulster, a classic Le Mans racer, in the Classic 24 Hours. Will Owen and Paul Di Resta are monstering each other for position onto the Mulsanne straight.
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