One of the G-Drive cars has gone off the road. Which one is that? Nyck de Vries has binned the #26! Or, he did some rallycross racing at the very least. Mike Conway says that Toyota called their swap of the two cars to see what their pace was like. They are working on tire management. Working on tire management but pushing the car and the tires to the very limit. Conway says "Alpine is keeping us honest the whole way." Conway says learning and getting mileage is what this exercise is all about. But they are fighting for the lead of the motor race. Jose Maria Lopez is second, 24 seconds down on Nico Lapierre in the race leading Alpine right now. The whole driving style on these cars, has changed, as Lopez runs wide locking the brakes.
Racing is so different from testing. Incident under investigation between #26 and #777. G-Drive and D'station. Don't hit anything and stay out of the pits. Those are the cardinal rules in endurance racing. But the #26 has hit a lot of things today. The #8 Toyota did serve a 30 second hold for minimum refueling time violations. This is a new regulation that they had to get their heads around at Toyota Gazoo Racing, while Nico Lapierre is still the leader of this motor race as Oliver Gavin is moving around the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche and the #98 AMR Aston Martin. Paul Dalla Lana and Christian Ried, both of them, are team owners. Gerold Ried, Christian's father, is here at the race, and Christian Ried's son is also here and wanting to drive.
Christian Ried's son might get into open wheeled cars, in Formula 4. Francesco Castellaci will pit soon and Dylan Pereira is now at the wheel of the #33 Aston Martin. That's the TF Sport car. Black and white flag for contact as Nyck de Vries made contact with the #777 D'station Aston Martin. Paul Dalla Lana is back in the #98 car and Thomas Flohr is now driving the #54 AF Corse car. Same drivers and same livery year on year, and the same car as well. Toyota has a new car, but with the same drivers and the same livery. Their hybrid system is new, and is akin to a road car, and the aerodynamics are totally different. The Hypercar is not the same as the LMP1 machines of yesteryear.
A good number of LMP2 cars are still on the lead lap as we are ten minutes into the third hour. The Jota cars have been running well and the #22 United Autosport car is in the lane with Filipe Albuquerque at the controls. Fabio Scherer is the third driver. Ferdinand Habsburg, the Austrian Prince, is now leading for Team WRT in LMP2. Team WRT are moving in and shadowing the United Autosport car. Habsburg did the full Asian Le Mans Series and he has been racing in the European Le Mans Series as well. WRT has had a lot of work to do, but they are allowing a natural buildup in speed for the car.
Ben Keating says that his spin was crazy. He says "I feel lucky I was able to gather myself up to keep the lead. I should know Juan Pablo Montoya racing in IMSA." Pit stop time for the DragonSpeed car, speaking of Montoya. Keating says the Aston Martin is a spare car, a backup car, and he knew how close he was to the wall. "As I am sliding back, I am downshifting to first gear, and trying to find the starter and get going." Keating was racing earlier as well Matt Campbell and he also knows how fast Alessio Rovera is.
Ferdinand Habsburg dives for the lane, very late. Nico Lapierre continues to lead the race. High Class Racing are moving in in LMP2. Nicolas Lapierre continues to lead as we have the pit lane stacked with LMP2's. Sean Gelael, Nyck de Vries, Ferdinand Habsuburg, Dennis Andersen, Jakub Smiechowski, and more. So, Filipe Albuquerque cycles back to the top of the tree. Contact between the two Am class Ferrari's for Cetilar and Iron Lynx. Rahel Frey in the #85 Iron Dames entry was rotated. The #24 PR1/Mathiasen car is in the pit lane. Gabriel Aubry into the car. Brendon Hartley is third in Hyupercar. Brendon Hartley is upset. Antonio Felix Da Costa tried to leave room but slammed the door in Hartley's face.
"Who is driving that car?!" Hartley yells on the radio. That was scary! Three hours and 40 minutes still remaining on the board. Hartley tried to put in the move while Antonio Felix Da Costa was trapped behind a Ferrari. Nicolas Lapierre is in the lane from the race lead. Matthieu Vaxiviere, another superstar driver in endurance and in open wheel racing is the Frenchman. The Alpine is back on track. The finish will be wild in the next few hours as this race continues. We watch the #20 High Class Racing car, with Dennis Andersen at the controls. Andersen gets loose between the two G-Drive cars and almost spins out!
He was rallycrossing that car. Calm down. Forget it. Focus forward. High Class Racing will have Anders Fjordbach with Kevin and Jan Magnussen, a father and son team, driving their second car, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans coming up in August. Now, Neel Jani leads for Porsche in GTE Pro. We are used to seeing him in an LMP1 Porsche of course. Daniel Serra and Oliver Gavin are a couple notable names in GTE Pro as we watch another scrap, and you guessed it, it's DragonSpeed vs. G-Drive. Marco Seefried runs ahead of Thomas Flohr. Giorgio Sernagiotto is now in the #47 Cetilar Ferrari. Rahel Frey has moved past Thomas Flohr and so does Sernagiotto.
Rahel Frey will now try to catch Marco Seefried. No further action on the incident between #47 and #60. Jose Maria Lopez leads Le Mans Hypercar while United Autosport leads LMP2 with Filipe Albuquerque at the controls. After two and a half hours, the LMP2 leader has fallen off the lead lap. Filipe Albuquerque leads Nyck de Vries by over a minute while Sean Gelael is third. Ferdinand Habsburg next for WRT and then comes Antonio Felix Da Costa for Jota Sport and Frits van Eerd in the Jumbo Supermarkets Racing Team Nederland car.
The Toyota GR010 had not turned a wheel until last Monday with the prologue. It's hard for car makers to get a hold of semiconductors right now. Everyone is buying electronics while we've had lockdown for the virus for a year. That's why. Dylan Pereira, Rahel Frey, and Marco Seefried, are leading in LM GTE Am. Nico Lapierre and Alpine are looking down the barrel of the possibility of a real result. This was indeed a last minute effort for the Hypercar class, but this is attracting the attention of Alpine and Renault to build a new car in the future. Renault of course, won Le Mans way back in 1978. Renault, Alpine, and Nissan, are all in the same place. Luca DiMeo is the new head of the Renault/Nissan group.
A battle here between Rahel Frey for Iron Lynx closing up on the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 for Marco Seefried. Manuela Gostner and Katherine Legge are the other drivers in that Ferrari. The #80 car. Rui Andrade will be the next driver into the #25 car. The Angolan driver is ready to race. Rahel Frey is closing up on Marco Seefried and then Satoshi Hoshino. He is running out of tire grip. He is in his second stint. Ferdinand Habsburg is chasing Sean Gelael in LMP2. Habsburg's last lap, 2:09.77. Brendon Hartley's last lap, a 2:10.6. The Hypercar and the LMP2 car are not world's apart. Rahel Frey has moved past Marco Seefried. Paul Dalla Lana will be the next car in the Aston Martin, on her shopping list.
Sean Gelael is being reeled in for position by Ferdinand Habsburg. Antonio Felix Da Costa is next up in the sister Jota car. Anthony Davidson is suited and booted, ready to take over the #38 car. It's sunny here in Spa, but in the shade, it's freezing cold. Sean Gelael is dealing with a twitchy rear end through the chicane. The left rear tire is taking a pasting around this place. Habsburg has a run, but he does not have the momentum yet. The Toyota pace is strong compared to Nico Lapierre in the Alpine. Lapierre slides his way off the road as he tries to get in front of a Porsche. Gelael is fending off Habsburg and Habsburg decides discretion is the better part of valor.
Jose Maria Lopez leads the motor race and is in the lane for service. We saw a very slow pit stop for this car, checking the tail section for rubber pickup, and no pressurized oil added to the automobile. Jose Maria Lopez is back on track behind Nicolas Lapierre. Brendon Hartley leads the motor race and he will head for pit lane shortly. Toyota #7, Jose Maria Lopez off the road on his out lap. Brendon Hartley in the sister car now in the lane as well. Toyota in testing, must have had loads of trouble with tire pick up. There's probably vibrations the drivers are feeling, especially at the Bus Stop. Toyota down and away and back in the race as Norman Nato is now at the wheel of the Real Time Racing LMP2 car.
Jota under prssure from WRT as Ferdinand Habsburg moves around Sean Gelael. Gelael defends well. Antonio Felix Da Costa in the second Jota Sport car is pushing but Giedo van der Garde is steaming along right behind him. Porsche #91 in the lane, with Richard Lietz at the controls, fourth in LM GTE Pro. The Porsche's have had tires that have been dropping pressure. Their third stint is dandy however. Neel Jani is running his first GTE race. He is adapting to the production car. Lap times in GTE Pro are in the 2:15 bracket. Yikes! Paul Dalla Lana needs to give the spot back to the Porsche and so is the Cetilar Ferrari. Brendon Hartley is in a rush to get through this. Marco Seefried and Giorgio Sernagiotto have passed Paul Dalla Lana in LM GTE Am.
The most recent pit stop for the #8 Toyota has been deemed an unsafe release by the stewards. Brendon Hartley wouldn't have known, trusting the lollipop man who is supposed to release the car at the end of the pit stop. The #28 Jota Sport car is going to head for the pit lane? Ah. One more lap for Sean Gelael, sharing with Tom Blomqvist and Stoffel Vandoorne. Nico Lapierre continues to lead over Jose Maria Lopez and Brendon Hartley.
Mistakes in the pit lane have dropped Toyota #8, 30 seconds behind the sister car, as Antonio Fleix Da Costa has caught Ferdinand Habsburg. Habsburg slams the door in Da Costa's face. Giedo van der Garde and Sean Gelael, smell blood in the water. They want in on this. Ferdinand Habsburg wriggles his way through the Bus Stop, passing the Iron Lynx #80 Ferrari with Matteo Cressoni driving. Sophia Florsch in the #1 Richard Mille Racing Oreca is also going to be passed by Habsburg in his attempt to get out of the clutches of Sean Gelael. Don't leave the door open too wide.
Vincent Voose, team boss at WRT, has led the team to many GT glories and they've also raced World Touring Car Championship, DTM, and now LMP2. Antonio Felix Da Costa tries to go past Ferdinand Habsburg, some argy bargy between those two, and Giedo van der Garde can go for it. Side by side between Gelael and Da Costa. Sophia Floresch is there. Use the GT cars as a pick. Wow! This is some massively brave racing! Habsburg got chopped by the GT machines. Habsburg was on the dirty side of the road.
Filipe Albuquerque leads Nyck de Vries while Antonio Felix Da Costa is third followed by Giedo van der Garde I believe. We have had no yellows and no safety cars yet. But, you never can tell. Neel Jani pits from the GTE Pro lead. Pit stop time for Porsche and Neel Jani in the #92 Porsche for left side tires only. Nico Lapierre leads as Jose Maria Lopez is closing in, but the gap is four seconds. Lopez is closing on Lapierre. I was right. Big brake lockup for Toyota #7! Yikes! It's getting colder outdoors. So, the braking performance and the tire performance are fading, which makes the brakes easier to lock up.
Alpine now leads by barely three seconds. Lopez is not losing ground. Paul Dalla Lana is mightily struggling with abusing track limits and he has had two drive through penalties already. Jeepers creepers! Filipe Albuquerque in the lane for United Autosports. Fabio Scherer, their new driver, a Silver rated driver from Switzerland is into the car, making his first start with the team in the FIA WEC. The temperature, ambient, has dropped four degrees from 14 degrees Celsius to ten degrees Celsius as the skies have clouded up compared to earlier on. Franco Colapinto, the Argentinian driver takes over the #26 G-Drive car, and a close call between Fabio Scherer and Henrik Hedman coming out of the pit lane.
Ferdinand Habsburg is catching back up to Antonio Felix Da Costa and others. Nyck de Vries is the momentary leader in LMP2. Ben Hanley has taken the DtagonSpeed car over from Henrik Hedman. The gap is under two seconds halfway through the motor race in Le Mans Hypercar. Three hours done. Three to go.
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