Porsche #91 got around the Ferrari's, and the Ferrari's pitted but did not do a driver change. Car #21 will have a ten second stop and go penalty for causing a collision. That is Juan Pablo Montoya in the DragonSpeed car. Montoya is back behind Keating. Juan, don't touch the blue Aston, whatever you do! Porsche #92 in the lane. Left side tires for the car. Anything you can do, I can do better. The left side tires get a huge pasting through turns like Pouhon and Stavelot as well as into the Bus Stop. What a fundamnentally different motor race we've seen thus far. Yikes. The Hypercars are actually sttuggling to get by the GTE cars as the #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has leapfrogged the Porsche's, that's the Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin car. Bruni moves past Garcia. In the middle sector, the Hypercars are in the way of the GT cars. The Hypercars don't have the corner speed compared to the GT's, but the Hypercars are supposed to be road cars. They are supposed to be a whole lot like a street going, street relevant sports car.
Phil Hanson leads LMP2 but has Giedo van der Garde and Robin Frijns just behind. Frijns moves by Roman Rusinov. Rusinov and Vandoorne, both of those blokes were shot ducks. Stoffel Vandoorne has now moved into fourth past Rusinov. Mike Conway is reeling in Sebastien Buemi right now, following in his wheel tracks. So, it is back to our regularly scheduled program here on the Sarcasm Channel. Well, maybe. Dempsey Proton leads LM GTE Am ahead of D'station. Alessio Rovera has taken over the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Andrew Haryanto and Roberto Lacorte are next ahead of Marcos Gomes, the Brazilian driver who has taken over from Paul Dalla Lana, the Canadian veteran.
Kevin Estre continues in the #92 Porsche he is sharing with Neel Jani. Ferdinand Habsburg is about to take over from Robin Frijns at WRT in LMP2. This new Toyota GR010 is a new car indeed. It is very different from the previous generation cars like the TS050. They will be in for a penalty, however, for short fueling. A gorgeous start to this race for the weather. 2019 we had snow. 2020 we had rain and buckets of it. This year, bright sunshine. G-Drive car #26 is being investigated for an unsafe pit release. A battle in LMP2 between Beitske Visser and Patrick Kelly. Loic Duval is in the TDS Racing automobile.
Phil Hanson still leads over Giedo van der Garde. Andre Negrao, 2:06.6, Sebastien Buemi, 2:06.7, Mike Conway, 2:06.9. So, the lap times in Hypercar are close. Phil Hanson once again, still leads Giedo van der Garde. These two teams were very impressive in LMP2 last year. Giedo van der Garde scrapping with Loic Duval along the Kemmel straightaway. Fresh tires and full tanks for Duval as we see Ben Keating passing Satoshi Hoshino, two TF Sport operated entries. ARC Bratislava have accepted the inevitable. Their leaking fuel cell is giving them trouble and they are out of the race. So, we will see them back at the next race at the 8 Hours of Portimao in Portugal.
Meanwhile, Conway is keeping a watching brief as Sebastien Buemi still leads this motor race. Pit stop time for John Falb and they have damage on the driver's side of the car. There is a driver change. Is it Rui Andrade? Or is it Roberto Merhi? Has the car run out of water? Aerodynamically, the car is not meant to have a hole in the bodywork. Esteban Garcia has handed the #70 car to Loic Duval for RealTeam Racing. A Swiss team with a Swiss driver. The Garcia/Duval/Nato car is going to have to come back through the field.
The team were forced to come in due to a punctured tire. Juan Pablo Montoya is scrapping again with G-Drive. That's Roman Rusinov. There's a vendetta building between these two. Is that Roberto Merhi in #25? Hard to tell. It's Merhi, the Spaniard. Juan Montoya wouldn't have known who on earth it was. Some random racing driver. Montoya also had Roberto Gonzalez in the #38 Jota Sport car as well. Sebastien Buemi is coming up behind these two. Buemi wants to get in there, and Merhi chops him, while Mike Conway is chasing. No one said this was going to be easy. Toyota team boss Pascal Vasselon has to be scratching his head here.
Andre Negrao remains third. Mike Conway was told the Alpine is catching him, Andre Negrao at the wheel of it. The Hypercar class is covered by a blanket. Traffic is playing a much larger role than it used to be in this championship. #21 in the lane now, Montoya. Driver change at DragonSpeed. Is it Henrik Hedman or Ben Hanley in the car now? Not sure. United Autosport in the lane in #22 and Filipe Albuquerque takes over from Phil Hanson. WRT is in and so is Racing Team Nederland. Will they put Frits van Eerd in the car. Ferdinand Habsburg is now in the #31 WRT car. Racing Team Nederland temporarily takes the LMP2 lead.
Giedo van der Garde has made up time and TDS have been faster on pit stops than United. The endurance pit lane is downhill although I think the WEC cars are using the main pit lane here. Frits van Eerd is the proprietor of Jumbo Supermarkets in Holland. But he is also an extremely quick racing driver. WRT were slower than United as well. Racing Team Nederland have had the fastest pit stop. Pit stop time as well for Richard Mille Racing. Job van Uitert will be the next driver in the Racing Team Holland car. Sophia Floresch is into the Ricard Mille car. G-Drive, Jota, InterEuropol, and more, in the lane in LMP2.
G-Drive are in the lane now with the #26 car and the #38 Jota Sport is in. #28 has Sean Gelael in the car now. He is responsible for the KFC, Taco Bell, and Coca Cola sponsorship on that car. So, Yum Brands, and Coca Cola. Andre Negrao remains third in the Alpine, stopping just shy of where the Toyota's stopped. The gap has dropped from three to 1.8 seconds as Negrao is closing up on Mike Conway. The Alpine is in the lane. Everything is OK for Team WRT according to Robin Frijns as he drove to third spot in LMP2. Filipe Albuquerque leads the class by nine seconds over Fritz van Eerd. Nicolas Lapierre takes over the Alpine.
There was another driver change somewhere. Not sure who it was and in which car. Alex Brundle has pitted for Intereuropol and Jakub Smiechowski is into that car as the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Christian Ried who almost crashes his car. Alessio Rovera is in the #83 AF Corse class leading automobile. Mike Conway is told he has five laps left in his stint before a driver change. Big lockup there, look, from Conway and the Toyota. Yikes! That's a fascinating incident. The tires are knackered now for sure. His aerodynamics maybe are going away just a wee bit and the energy recuperation on this car is totally different compared to the old LMP1 car.
Giedo van der Garde says that it is true the team is saving time on their pit stops at Racing Team Nederland and the car is getting better as the runs continue. Frits van Eerd of course, is now into the automobile. Andrew Haryanto, the Indonesian driver, battles with Francesco Castellaci in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, scrapping for sixth in LM GTE Am. Alessio Rovera leads the class over Christian Ried, Ben Keating, Satoshi Hoshino, and Marcos Gomes. So, the Aston Martin's are still in the fight. Fastest lap of the motor race for the #36 Alpine, the Elf, Matmut sponsored Hypercar racer. Elf being French fuel, and Matmut, being a French insurance company. Nicolas Lapierre will get into that car, on full tanks, and he will definitely push it, hard.
Gianmaria Bruni is in the lane for the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 and they are changing their strategy as the #25 car is being penalized for causing a collision with car #60. That penalty was nearly an hour and 20 minutes ago. You have to review the videotape, the data, and negotiate with the teams. That's why the penalties take so long to be carried out. Are you penalizing for carelessness and malice of forethought? That's what you need to penalize for. There was right rear tire trouble on the #91 Porsche. Hard to tell if there was a puncture.
The Toyota's seem to be slower than the Alpine. With this performance delta, by dint of their pit stops, Alpine and Nico Lapierre, will take the lead of the motor race. A battle ensues between Antonio Felix Da Costa, the reigning Formula E champion, and Jakub Smiechowski, the Polish driver. Sebastien Buemi continues to be shadwoed by Mike Conway. Jose Maria Lopez will take over Toyota #7 from Mike Conway. So, we will see "Pechito" for the first time in the new race car. There is a box of parts out and the team appears to be topping up oil on the car.
Toyota was 25 seconds slower on the pit stop than the previous one. Ooh. Deary me. That's not good. Fundamentally, the Alpine Hypercar is the old Rebellion LMP1 from a couple season's in 2018-'19 and 2019-'20. Toyota #8 in the lane and Brendon Hartley replaces Sebastien Buemi. Driver change and checking tire and brake temps and cleaning the windscreen. We're almost 1/3rd distance in this motor race. Or 1/3rd duration. Alpine are running shorter stints and will need an extra pit stop it appears. Tires going on the #8 Toyota as Alpine are leading. Fans will be singing the Marseillais, the French national anthem.
Porsche in the lane and they have more tire trouble. Driver change in car #92. Neel Jani is into the car for the first time. Jani spent such a long time racing front running prototypes, and now, he has to check his rearview mirrors. The prototype blokes are freaking out by what the GT drivers do. But at the same time, the GT drivers are trying to keep their cars on the road. Porsche will be coming into Hypercar/LMDh in 2023. Audi, Porsche, and Ferrari are coming, and so is Peugeot. Peugeot will be in the game beginning next year. There's plenty more to come. Do you want to build a road car? Do it. Do you want a full prototype race car? Go for it. Do you want to use hybrid power? Use it. Would you rather use a combustion motor? Use that. It's going to be a mishmash of a lot of different ideas in this new era of sports car racing.
Phil Hanson says he and United Autosport need to find out why they are losing time in pit stops. So, Oliver Gavin is now in the #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R as Antonio Garcia has finished his stint. So, Oliver Gavin is starting his last race as a professional driver. He has established his own driving school and has also begun commentating on races. It would be great if we had fans here because Oliver Gavin is such a well known driver. Nyck de Vries moves 'round Sean Gelael in LMP2. Frits van Eerd gets passed by both Sean Gelael and Nyck de Vries, moving into the dirty section of the Fangnes corner. Fangnes, Piff Paff, take your pick on the name.
The two Toyota's are turning it on and beginning to motor right now. Car #26, Nyck de Vries will get a penalty for the pass on Sean Gelael. A five second penalty added to their pit astop before they can work on it. Christian Ried is being monstered, still, by Ben Keating, the LM GTE Am polesitter. Alessio Rovera is leading GTE Am. He ran well in Italian GT Endurance last year. Alessio Rovera, an Italian, and Alessio Picariello, a Belgian driver, who will race for Absolute Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in August. More pit stops are underway. Frits van Eerd is leading in LMP2 Pro Am. So, we will have to mention the Pro Am winners at the end of this race.
Marcos Gomes goes wide and gets back on track as we watch the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari in the lane. Drift it into the pit lane. Time for a cup of tea in the broadcast booth it is. Miguel Molina in the lane as well as a 1-2 is current for Ferrari and AF Corse. Neel Jani runs third for Porsche in #92. All three Hypercars have also led this motor race. United Autosports has led LMP2. Porsche and Ferrari have led GTE Pro and Porsche, Aston Martin, and Ferrari have led GTE Am.
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