An off course excursion into the dust for Kamui Kobayashi in Toyota #7. Oliver Gavin has stepped out of a Corvette for the final time in his career. So much emotion for him, thinking about what has happened in the 20 years he has had with Corvette Racing. A great race, and a great track. Oliver Gavin has been amazed by his experience and he's loved racing at Le Mans 18 times with Corvette and win five of those races. His career in racing is not over. He is setting up the driving school, the Oliver Gavin Driving Academy, and he will use Chevrolet Corvette C8's for the driving school. Allan McNish congratulates Oliver Gavin. Oh dear! Toyota #7 is off the road from the lead, way too quick, into the gravel heading for a lockup into La Source? Yikes.
Alpine lead the motor race. Just before we saw all this happen, there was an off course excursion, and he needs to be pulled out of there. He's stuck in the gravel trap. Wait for a tow truck, and finish this race. Full Course Yellow. We also saw the #26 G-Drive car off the road. Toyota #7 is off the road. Toyota #8 has a penalty at their next pit stop. The front brakes lock up and the rear wheels are still moving. What could have caused that? He was downshifting the gearbox as well and maybe losing aerodynamics under an LMP2 car. Back time to the end of this race and we have less than two hours to go. Two and a half stints for Alpine, and two stints and three laps for Toyota, on a short fill.
Matthieu Vaxiviere leads the motor race now. The adrenaline high is natural, but stay focused. The engineering staff's heart rates go up and no doubt, so does the driver's. Kobayashi is going to have to pit and so the United Autosport car will move to third, the LMP2 leader. Porsche #91 pits. The battle for the final podium place will be between Fabio Scherer, the Swiss driver, and Kamui Kobayashi. Scherer must pit to avoid square tires as we have Franco Colapinto and Anthony Davidson pitting in LMP2. Porsche and Ferrari still lead GTE Pro. Porsche GT Team and the two AF Corse Ferrari's.
Kobayashi had two wheels on the curb when he ran off the road and into the gravel. 30 seconds before we go back to green. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. Green, green, green. We have had two Full Course Yellow's in short order due to the #7 Toyota, after not having a yellow for four hours. Toyota clearly has braking issues with the new Hypercar. Fabio Scherer, the Swiss driver, is chasing Kamui Kobayashi. He needs to stay out for a couple more laps to equalize the stints. A great battle in LMP2 as Franco Colapinto is being monstered by 2014 LMP2 world champ, Anthony Davidson.
Matthieu Vaxiviere is being told that the G-Drive car is losing oil. Toyota are trying to fight their way back onto the lead lap and there could be handling issues for the Alpine. Vaxiviere vs. Kobayashi. Vaxiviere is being told he is not fighting the Toyota, but he has to clean up his tires and get the clag off of them. Kobayashi is a lap down. The gap to second is 22 seconds to the sister #8 Toyota GR010 Hypercar. Andre Negrao says it is going to be very close at the end of the race if Alpine is going to win. Kazuki Nakajima is not being caught by the Alpine. Fabio Scherer runs a 2:10 in LMP2, but a 2:06.8 for Tom Blomqvist for Jota Sport, on a new set of boots. New tires for the Jota entry.
Job van Uitert leads Renger van der Zande. G-Drive just hasn't had a straight up race today. Kevin Estre is being told to save everything, 20 seconds ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi in the AF Corse Ferrari. They've had three right rear tire punctures at Porsche in LM GTE Pro. Porsche and Ferrari will continue in GTE Pro next year in 2022. More teams will come to Hypercar in 2022 and 2023 as well. This shows well so far, as a transitional year for the FIA WEC. Franco Colapinto is only 17 years old. So he is definitely a star of the future.
Antonio Garcia, "the King of Spain" is running well in the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R right now. Balance of Performance is a complex system, but it is variety, like fruit. Apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes, for instance. The Le Mans Hypercars will be getting bigger, with manufacturers producing cars and people racing them, just like Group C back in the 1980s with Porsche, Lancia, Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan, and others.
A drive through penalty will be issued to the #7 Toyota and Kamui Kobayashi, after Jose Maria Lopez hit the Porsche earlier in the motor race. It is going to come down to Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine and the sister Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima. There is a drive through penalty also for the #20 High Class Racing car after making contact with the #25 G-Drive car. It will perhaps be difficult for the #7 Toyota to make the podium, even though there's an hour and a half to go in the race. Katherine Legge has been warned for track limits. Four laps to go for Matthieu Vaxiviere in his stint. Give it everything you have, sunshine. Nakajima and Kobayashi could still be in this. But Vaxiviere is being told to push, as Andre Negrao is going to get into the Alpine.
Singatech is taking the fight to a big automaker like Toyota. Signatech build all of the single make Alpine Cup and Alpine GT4 cars, the sporting brand for Renault, is Alpine of course. Toyota #7 is serving the drive through penalty. United Autosports, car #22, takes third and so we have an LMP2 car on the overall podium with Phil Hanson, Fabio Scherer, and Filipe Albuquerque. Pit stop time for Racing Team Nederland as well. Equal stint lengths for both Toyota's and the Alpine to the end of the race. Job van Uitert is in the Jumbo sponsored car. #29 leads LMP2 in the Pro Am challenge. Tatiana Calderon I believe is now in the #1 Richard Mille Racing LMP2 car.
Felipe Fraga is now second in Aston Martin #33 chasing Alessio Rovera in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Filipe Albuquerque as well, he is going to replace Fabio Scherer for the final stint at United Autosport in LMP2. Franco Colapinto is still losing oil and wriggling through the Bus Stop. Meantime, we will see Matthieu Vaxiviere pit now. Watch the pit entry wall. Fuel, tires, and a driver change. Andre Negrao will finish the Alpine in this motor race after starting it, as Kazuki Nakajima goes to the lead, but he too has a pit stop in his future.
New boots and fuel for the Alpine. WRT's clutch issue was a release bearing. They are refitting the air box and the floor and they will get back into the race. That's good. You only learn by racing, not by having to constantly fix the car. Franco Colapinto is losing time to Filipe Albuquerque. Tatiana Calderon for Richard Mille Racing says that her stint wwas a tough one. She says the team is learning and they want to go for the top ten. Calderon is driving in the FIA WEC for the first time. Calderon wants to inspire the next generation of women racing drivers.
Michelle Mouton also raced at Le Mans in 1975, and she is an ambassador for women in motorsports and she of course was a member of the famous Group B Audi team in the 1980s. Franco Colapinto is now in the garage and of course, he was losing oil from the car. Kamui Kobayashi has pitted the Toyota for regular service. Jota takes over a couple places in LMP2 as Toyota #7 and Kobayashi are back on track. Rui Andrade wanted to stick his nose in someplace where it couldn't go. The LMP2 cars have been reeled in compared to the new Hypercars, and of course the new generation LMP2 cars were introduced in 2017. They are 20 kilograms heavier, 65 horsepower down, and they have less downforce and a lot of drag.
All LMP2 cars have been altered in the way I just explained. It could be game over for the #26 G-Drive car. We shall see. Kamui Kobayashi has set fastest sector time of anyone in sector one during the whole race. Mild weather here at Spa. The issue with G-Drive Racing, is that they have a couple issues. But, they are not a full season entry in FIA WEC. They have a race for European Le Mans Series in two weeks at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. Filipe Albuquerque runs a 2:06.978 while the Toyota goes 2:06.934, the #8 Toyota. Franco Colapinto says the team worked very well, but they've run into irreparable issues, so they are out of the race now. But, they will be back at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and again, in the European Le Mans Series.
We continue to watch LMP2 and the Pro Am subcategory especially for Racing Team Nederland and PR1/Mathiasen. Ah. WRT is about to come back into the race, while we are seeing multiple drive through penalties for at least half a dozen cars, including the #22 United Autosport LMP2 car for violating something under Full Course Yellow procedure. Cars #98, #47, #20, #52, #60, #22, for Full Course Yellow violations. This is for the first FCY we saw in the race earlier on. #24 is in the garage and the WRT car is back on track with Charles Milesi driving. There will be ten penalties out of 32 remaining cars on track.
#22 is taking their medicine and have gotten the penalty out of the way. Four more cars, #38, #29, #70, and #52, have also been penalized a second time. #38 is taking their medicine now as well. #28 and #29 pass #38 while #29 has served a penalty. RealTeam are in the lane as well, Loic Duval in the #70. Tom Blomqvist is being told to box this lap. You are second, but hit the lane. #98 Paul Dalla Lana, in the Aston Martin, is penalized, with Marcos Gomes driving. The #47 Cetilar Ferrari, with Antonio Fuoco at the controls, pits to serve a penalty as well, and so does the #52 Miguel Molina Ferrari, which will now put the #63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R on the podium for Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia. Now, that is a big maybe. It has not happened yet.
Gianmaria Bruni has been passed by the #83 AF Corse Ferrari in GTE Am passes. Pit stop time for the Corvette, for the final time. Antonio Garcia will finish. Garcia raced the Spa 24 Hours in the GT1 days and he also raced in the World Touring Car Championship for BMW as Kevin Estre leads GTE Pro over Alessandro Pier Guidi by 20+ seconds. Kazuki Nakajima will be into pit lane in a couple more laps. He may need a splash and a dash at the very end. Colapinto has a broken oil line on the G-Drive car. Game over.
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