14 sets of tires allocated in LMP2 for the 24 hours. Will Stevens has made a pit stop having briefly gone to the lead of LMP2. James Allen is back at the top of the tree. It will be so difficult at night, because there are no fans here, from the carnival or the concessions, and no smell of the barbecues. Some corners on this track have floodlighting. But, the campfires, the bonfires help to soften the light. It's a gentler, more helpful tool for the drivers to guide them on their journey. Steffen Gurig is so happy to have the opportunity to race at Le Mans for the first time. The German is sharing an AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE in LM GTE Am with Sweden's Alexander West and Switzerland's Cristoph Ullrich.
We have had a car off and on at the Dunlop bridge and saw local yellows at that point on the course. Sebastien Buemi is in the lane for service, but he is out of sequence. He is catching Mike Conway in the sister car, #7. The brakes are smoking as the brake stress is starting to show just a little. Mike Conway still leads overall. He's been onboard the car since the start. The weather is beautiful right now. It's warm just as it would be in June. It's September. It's Indian Summer. But tonight, there's going to be some storms coming in over the Atlantic Ocean. LMP2 vs. GTE insofar as lap times, with Toyota deploying their hybrid at 1,000 horsepower, would enable them to leapfrog the other cars in their class in LMP1. But, they are so evenly matched. Normally aspired V8 vs. hurbird turbo V6.
Aston Martin and Ferrari are still pressing really hard. Maxime Martin vs. Miguel Molina. No dice for the Ferrari to have a chance to come back down the Mulsanne straight. Aston Martin and Ferrari are flying. The 40 kilograms of weight for the Porsche's has been really crushing them. Maxime's dad Jean Michel Martin, has won the 24 Hours of Spa, and he has also won at Spa in the 6 Hours. So, he wants a Le Mans victory to add to his CV. If it's wet, watch out for ByKolles, the #4 car. They were fast at Spa Francorchamps in the rain. Look out for their driving trio of Englishman Oliver Webb, Canadian Bruno Spengler, and Frenchman Tom Dillman.
They ran 13 hours in 2019 before the transmission packed up. Tom Dillman has been driving since the start. No driver changes in LMP1 yet since the start. Memo Rojas will pit the DragonSpeed entry soon. "We will box this lap" he is told over the radio. Tom Dillman had a huge shunt in practice, but it's good that he's back in the hunt even though ByKolles is last in class. But, this means they don't need to take any risks. They are in good shape at the moment. If we have the rain, the mechanical issues will be much less. In 1995, McLaren was having transmission woes, but in the rain, the McLaren won, in the hands of J.J. Lehto, Yannick Dalmas, and Masanori Sekiya. Antonio Felix Da Costa is being harangued by Job van Uitert.
In sports car racing, you can't push at 110%. Look after the car for your team mates. That's the key. Report to the engineer, how is the car handling? What's the performance like? Thomas Laurent pits for fuel in the #36 Signatech Alpine. The team has just not had the performance they've wanted. They've had water pressure issues and they were going for the hat trick but it won't happen this year. Memo Rojkas was refueling in the pit lane as Maxime Martin is still being hounded by Miguel Molina. The LM GTE Am cars are the same spec as the LM GTE Pro machines. Larry ten Voorde in the second Team Project 1 Porsche is flying now. ten Voorde sharing the #56 car with Egidio Perfetti and Matteo Cairoli.
Amato Ferrari who runs AF Corse, he won the Spirit of Le Mans award. He is not related to the Ferrari family who builds the cars, Enzo, Dino, and Piero Ferrari, but, he is the team owner of AF Corse. Have spatial awareness in the turns. That's very important. There's not much difference in speed through the lower speed portions. But look out for the Porsche Curves. That area is quick. LMP drivers will want the GTE cars to stay predictable with their driving brhavior to avoid any contact and any wrecking. The Toyota has to be one of the easiest cars to drive because of the extra power and grip from the hybrid system.
The run down to the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight is extremely fast after the re-profiled Tertre Rouge corner. Such a variety of engine notes. Engines won't sound the same with electric power even though it is cleaner. There's great variety between the GTE cars and their engine notes. We are missing the new C8.R Corvette's with their V8's with a flat plane crankshaft. They will be back. Pit stop and a driver change for LMP2 #39 SO24 HAS Racing by Graff Oreca Gibson. Vincent Capillaire and Charles Milesi, are the co-drivers, both from France. Vincent Capillaire takes over. Four hours in any six hour stretch is the maximum driver stint length, and that will be challenged by the drivers wanting to push the performance of the tires, all the way.
Pit stop time for Rebellion. Richard Lietz blows the first part of the Ford Chicane aboard the #91 Porsche he is sharing with Fred Makowiecki and Gianmaria Bruni. Rebellion #1 in the lane and Bruno Senna hands the car over to Gustavo Menezes for his first stint. Toyota #7 pits and there's a driver change. Will it be Jose Maria Lopez, or Kamui Kobayashi? Kobayashi is in. SO24 is being run by a former Group C2 driver.
Sebastien Buemi is 49 seconds behind Kamui Kobayashi right now. Gustavo Menezes is in the #1 Rebellion and Romain Dumas is in the sister car still. Oliver Webb is in the ByKolles still, as well. Ferrari in the lane with the #71 AF Corse machine. Sam Bird, Davide Rigon, and Miguel Molina. Porsche #91 in the lane, too. Four mechanics, and two rattle guns to change the tires. You cannot roll the tires. You must carry them and lay them flat. If you get it wrong, Race Director Edoardo Freitas will ding you with a penalty. #51, Alessandro Pier Guidi, gets dinged for infringing track limits.
Mike Conway had 17 sreconds in the lead, but the two Toyota's are now both off strategy a little ways. But, with Mike Conway, we do hope he does well. Again, he wants a win at Le Mans. He really does. AF Corse Ferrari #51 pits for a scheduled stop and so does the #95 Aston Martin. Nikki Thiim sharing with Marco Sorensen and Richard Eestbrook as the #8 Toyota pits, with Brendon Hartley taking over from Sebastien Buemi. Thunderstorms reported 130 kilometers away from Le Mans, expecting rain and wind gusts. It's going to turn this motor race totally on it's ear.
The weather has been very interchangeable over the last few days here in France. LMP2 cars, on fuel, are restricted. They are doing a maximum of a dozen laps. They still fuel save. They are a lap shy of where the boys in LMP1 are. Antonio Felix Da Costa and Job van Uitert battle for the LMP2 lead. Again, Racing Team Nederland are down the order after a litany of woes earlier on. The slipstream is not too effective in LMP2 as Phil Hanson is closing up on Vincent Capillaire. The #39 car is running extremely well. There's also a tire war in LMP2 between Goodyear for Jota Sport and Michelin for United and Job Van Uitert. Da Costa feeds in the oppposite lock, and Da Costa has to go defensive through the Porsche Curves, look.
Poor old Van Uitert gets stymied by a GT car. Antonio Felix Da Costa takes the advantage through Karting Curve. Da Costa has been in the #38 Jota car since the start. Phil Hanson is catching Vincent Capillaire and one of the Dempsey Porton cars has a spot of bother. The #88 car may have rejoined but they had that huge shunt earlier. Their #77 sister car has not been seen in a wee while. That's Christian Ried, Ricardo Pera, and Matt Campbell. Or, it's the #99 machine, Vutthikorn Inthravuphasak from Thailand, sharing with Julien Andlauer of France and Swiss driver, Lucas Legeret. It's the amateur drivers who drive as a hobby they take totally seriously, who are very capable to close their pace defiict to their professional team mates, but they are where the motor race is won and lost.
Antonio Felix Da Costa brings the #38 car to the lane and now, Roberto Gonzalez gets behind the wheel. He has the #32 United Autosport car in the lane as well. We shall see Job Van Uitert, changing tires, taking the lead in LMP2 in the pit rotation. The Goodyear's have pace but not longevity compared to the Michelin's.
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