We will be at 1/4 distance at the end of this hour. 40 kilograms of extra weight for Porsche. Ferrari's are also very heavy compared to Aston Martin. Duquiene passes Jota Sport. Roberto Gonzalez is getting impatient. He wants to go forward. He has the pace, but is in a bit of rut right now. Gonzalez was eaten up by Juan Pablo Montoya! Yikes! The Polish LMP2 entry with Jakub Smiechowski, is sponsored by a Polish bakery. Rene Binder and Matevos Isaakyan are his co-drivers. Augusto Farfus chases Jonny Adam in LM GTE Am. Farfus was dropped from BMW after they pulled out of Le Mans and he has been picked up now by Aston Martin. Farfus got crossed up and has fallen into the clutches of Jonny Adam. Paul Dalla Lana has run at Le Mans seven times, and the Canadian and his team still want a win here. Is this their year?
He has improved greatly as a driver. Toyota #7 in the pit lane for a full service stop and Jose Maria Lopez gets into the car, taking over from Kamui Kobayashi, so they will have cycled through their whole driving team before resuming the cycle again later on. You want to get all of your drivers in the car during the daylight hours before the night comes as Andre Negrao is being monstered by Jakub Smiechowski, and Ducan Cameron has spun in the Dunlop Curve and spun without hitting anything, except for the fact that the mirror has fallen off the Ferrari.
Alpine have won this race two years in a row, but they are not going to win this year. Alpine will be back next year in LMP1 and of course Alpine will be the new name for Renault in Formula 1 in 2021 as well. The magic, gorgeous sunset at Le Mans, is beautiful. We look at a full field rundown. We see the circuit, and we see the stadium and the technology park as well. Great shot of the Bugatti track as well. Edoardo Freitas is administering a drive through penalty to the #56 Porsche for overtaking in a slow zone. That's the Project 1 Mentos Porsche of Perfetti, Ten Voorde, and Cairoli.
Egidio Perfetti is the driver, the bloke who will have to take that penalty. He is the boss of the Mentos candies company, the mint makers. In a minute, we will remove the third slow zone. Ho-Pin Tung says that there was time lost for him and his team at Jackie Chan in car #37 having to park the car in the pit box sideways. Ho-Pin Tung is a Dutchman of Chinese descent. 1923, 1956, 1968, and 2020 are the four runnings of Le Mans that have been run outside of June. In 1986, they ran on May 31st and June 1st. We do have a slow zone.
The marshals picking up debris at Tertre Rouge. We continue to follow the battle between the TF Sport and factory Aston Martin's and the #92 Porsche will be back on track soon, but this has been a dreadful race for that particular squad of Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor. Kevin Estre actually brought the car back into the pit lane. Will it continue? Or will it retire? #32 in the lane, the United Autosport car of Will Owen. Power steering failure for the #92 Porsche, which probably likely means game over. You cannot drive a car without power steering. You'd have to have major muscles before your arms fall off.
We have a car that has gone off the road in the Porsche Curves and Dominique Bastien, at age 74, driving the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche, has run off the road. Mark Patterson has lost his title. Dom Bastien, 77, 78 years old from West Palm Beach, Florida. AF Corse is extremely busy, with 13 cars of the 59 starters. AF Corse are also helping the American WeatherTech team. Toyota #8 is stuck behind another Ferrari iun the Porsche Curves. Brendon Hartley comes to pit lane for service as Kazuki Nakajima will take over the car. Only four mechanics can work on the car. No refueling at the same time of changing tires. With a new driver comes new tires.
A new drinks bottle for Kazuki Nakajima as well. He is focused, ready to drive. They are having front brake disc issues. Something is wrong with the right front. This is the first chink in the armor at Toyota. But that is a major delay, losing time against the sister car for an unscheduled adjustment. What will team boss Rob Leupen have to say? Sunset is official, and it's a beauty, as we close in on 8PM French time. The gap is now 90 seconds inbetween the #8 and #7. The long, long night is upon us as Augusto Farfus has gone around Jonny Adam. Duncan Cameron is back in the lane having the flar tire changed. The car was shredding it's left rear tire. He's done more damage to the car and its in the lane now.
There is a driver change. The spin has caused the tire to deflate on that emerald green Ferrari. Onje of his co-driver's is being strapped into the car. Go to the garage. Will Owen has a lurid slide into the gravel and bang on schedule, 8PM, sunset into the Atlantic. Michelle Gatting is driving the Iron Lynx car #85 sharing with Rahel Frey and Manuela Gostner. Tatania Calderon is driving the #50 Richard Mille Racing Team LMP2 car, the other all female team in the race. Calderon sharing with Sophia Florsch and Beitske Visser.
Pit stop time for Porsche #91, and we now know the #8 Toyota is having issues with cooling the brakes. They are getting tire buildup in the brake discs. Tire debris, dirt, and leaves, getting caught into the brake system. Porsche's Pascal Zurlinden mentions that they've had power steering trouble with at least one of their cars, the #92 entry. Kevin Estre and company are now 12 laps down, and they just won't be able to make up that kind of time as the race goes on. AF Corse are also in the pit lane for routine service.
Aston Martin also pits. Andrea Belicchi will step back behind the wheel of the #47 Cetilar Racing entry. Yours truly took a lunch break, but has been following and we have a safety car after a heavy incident with one of the Ferrari's. It is an Am class Ferrari, but I cannot tell which one. There may be a scenario where the driver needs to be attended to by the medical crews. The LMP2 cars have kade their pit stops but they need to wait behind the rtraffic light in the pit lane. Dont sit for too long to get in behind the crocodile as the safety car remains out, and the medical car is on the circuit as well. It was Alexander West, the Swede, at the controls of the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.
Here at Le Mans, the field is held to 80 kilometers an hour instread of 60 kilometers an hour. Three safety cars on track and it is hard to know which is the first one. All zones will go green at the same time. Alexander West, let's hope he is OK. Maybe it is s afety car light, but it is likely a medical light, a G force sensor. So, we are at quarter distance here at Le Mans. There is no margin for error up onto a curb before th concrete wall inthe Porsche Curves. The SAFER Barrier, was introduced four years back, the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction system.
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