Kazuki Nakajima continues to lead over Andre Negrao. Sebastien Buemi will take over Toyota #8 as they are on their final pit stop, in the lane right now. They've been relatively reliable for a new car in their first race. #36 has the lead, and the Jota car nearly chops the Alpine! That was so close through Eau Rouge! That was a heart in the throat moment! Egad! Was that Tom Blomqvist or Anthony Davidson? Bang! There was contact! Jeepers creepers! Now, the Toyota is back on track, 37 seconds behind Negrao who needs a stop, but not a full fuel tank.
Niklas Nielsen is now driving as the Gold rated driver in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Felipe Fraga in the Aston Martin is 2.8 seconds ahead, in the #33. Alessio Picariello is next up in the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19. Kamui Kobayashi moves up to third place. Now, #7 goes off the road, again, under braking, downhill through Pouhon, Stavelot, Fangnes, and those particular turns. Maybe it was the Brussels hairpin, Bruxelles. The hybrid braking recuperation of energy on that Toyota needs improvement and they will work on it. Pit stop time for the Iron Dames Ferrari as well as the Dempsey Proton Porsche and the Cetilar Ferrari. Fastest lap for Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota, 2:03.930, much quicker than Andre Negrao, who maybe has been caught up in traffic.
Buemi has to make up 30 seconds in the span of 48 minutes. Buemi is told he is allowed to use the traction control as much as possible. The leading Alpine of Andre Negrao still needs a pit stop. Final stop for the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche. That's the Haryanto/Piccariello/Seefried car. Porsche in the lane with #92. Four tires and fuel. Survive five hours and see where you are with a top driver and a brand spanking new set of boots. Kevin Estre is going to finish out the race for the Porsche factory. #91, the sister car, will have an uphill battle in the next five or so races in 2021. The Porsche's have a rear exiting exhaust instead of side exiting exhaust, making the cars slightly quieter.
Jota and Jota battle, the team cars. Tom Blomqvist vs. Anthony Davidson. Blomqvist, a former BMW factory driver, now in the WEC after also racing in the four race Asian Le Mans Series back in February. If you're going to go, go now. Racing Team Nederland, RealTeam, and InterEuropol, along with DragonSpeed are all in the lane for LMP2. Richard Mille Racing is back up to eighth with Sophia Floresch. We have a number of other LMP2 cars in the fight toward the back half of the top ten in class.
Neel Jani has enjoyed his first GTE race for Porsche, sharing with Kevin Estre of course. A tire puncture for the leading #36 Alpine. They are in the window, and they can do a tire change, add fuel, and go to the end with just 38 minutes on the board. Kamui Kobayashi is two minutes back. These guys complete their pit stop and they've only done a two tire stop for right sides, to save time. Now they are behind the #8 Toyota. The unladen right front tire is doing a lot of heavy lifting on the Alpine. Buemi in the Toyota is good to the end on fuel for the #8.
They are in the pound seats to save petrol before this race is done and dusted. There's loads of daylight between #8 and #36 as the Alpine heads up the hill from Stavelot, now called Courbe Paul Frere named after the motor racing journalist. Kamui Kobayashi knows he does not need another outbraking moment. Phil Hanson started the race for United Autosport car #22, and they've topped the timesheets in LMP2. With 35 minutes left, Hanson says, "endurance racing has it's rituals and I don't want to say too much yet." He knows Filipe Albuquerque is giving it a good drive on the road.
Fabio Scherer, the new driver for the team, has run very well, too. We also watch in LMP2, the scrap between Tom Blomqvist and Anthony Davidson. Tom Blomqvist has moved up. Davidson passes the #98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus at the controls. Ben Hanley is reeling in Alex Brundle in LMP2 and they are in it for the Pro Am Challenge. Anthony Davidson needs to pass the orsche before Eau Rouge, and no dice. He pokes his nose out trying to find clean air. Blomqvist has the space. There's daylight between those cars.
46.6 seconds the gap bettwen Andre Negrao and Kamui Kobayashi I believe. Sebastien Buemi is actually still leading. Nyck Nielsen leads GTE Am and is nine seconds behind the Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni which is caboose on the field in GTE Pro. There's still drama to come, perhaps. We shall see. Ah. Trouble for Jaxon Evans in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche, stopping at Brussels hairpin. That's at Les Combes actually, and there's electrical drama on that Porsche. Power issues. He is doing a Control, Alt, Delete. This is on the side of the circuit that begins going downhill. Sascha Maassen, former Porsche driver, he is now a manager for the Porsche Junior drivers.
Nicklas Nielsen leads GTE Am. Gianmaria Bruni will still need one more pit stop. Points for Bruni and Lietz will be for sixth I believe in the driver's championship. Ooh dear! Anthony Davidson scrapes the tire barrier! Wow! Nicklas Nielsen has just passed one of his competitors. Francois Perrodo has had good luck winning the first race of the season in WEC over the years. Full Course Yellow coming up for recovering the GTE car. Kamui Kobayashi dives for the lane for service. 25 laps done on his stint. He was bang on the limit of his fuel window.
Buemi in the sister Toyota is in good shape right now. Full Course Yellow for marshals intervening to rescue car #88. This is a quick yellow. Brendon Hartley says he has been surprised by being in LMP2 battles changing the traffic dynamics entirely from the TS050 LMP1 car. Toyota have kept the cars on the road and Hartley is happy about leading with 20+ minutes left to run. Hartley is confident his co-driver can bring it home. Kamui Kobayashi, though, has stopped at the top of the hill at Les Combes. This #7 car has been the problem child all weekend. Kobayashi is trying to recycle the car.
He power cycles the car. Are United Autosport in the catbird seat for an overall podium? We'll see. #8 has now completed 152 laps, 656 miles. Kobayashi is moving again. 20 seconds to the end of Full Course Yellow as the two Jota cars pit for fuel before we go green. Sebastien Buemi and Toyota, they have really pulled stuff together as the first Hypercar to roll a wheel. We could see the new Glickenhaus either next time out at Portimao in Portugal, or, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We have 15 minutes left. Two fundamentally different cars are running 1-2, less than a second apart.
RealTeam are seventh behind DragonSpeed, and Sophia Floresch will likely finish eighth for Richard Mille Racing. Floresch has Anders Fjordbach on her tail as well. No more energy target for Sebastien Buemi. Stroke it through to the end. Anthony Davidson is booking it right now, 20 seconds behind Tom Blomqvist, carving four seconds out of that gap. What does he have left in the locker? Kevin Estre and Neel Jani are bang on the money in GTE Pro. Drive through penalty, though, for the #38 car for dangerous driving. Itwas #28 though, Tom Blomqvist. That will need to be reviewed.
Mr. Freitas, is your information correct? The plot thickens. They've penalized the wrong automobile. Anthony Davidson is still taking time out of Tom Blomqvist. Sebastien Buemi leading the motor race into the last ten minutes. Until you are past the checkered flag, you are far from being home and hosed. The United Autosports car overshoots the Bus Stop, on the bumps, taking a certain line. He locks the front tires. Race Control have revised the penalty and that's now applied to Tom Blomqvist in the #28 Jota Sport car. Anthony Davidson is in the clear. A drive through penalty should see Blomqvist and company on the podium, behind is the #29 Racing Team Nederland automobile.
Full Course Yellow again? Wait a minute. We have some penalties, under investigation cars anyway, for DragonSpeed #21, Corvette Racing #63, and yours truly can't remember the third one. 7:30 P.M., half past seven Central European Summer Time, as this race draws to a close. DragonSpeed in and out. #28 in and out. Drive through for #28 and also for #21 I believe. Frits van Eerd has done really well, along with Job van Uitert and Giedo van der Garde. #88 will be penalized and will have to be taken or have it assesssed. Cetilar will be on the podium, and AF Corse #54 will also be in the penaltyu box as the #63 Corvette takes their medicine.
Was there a puncture for the DragonSpeed #21 car. This is a quick dash for DragonSpeed. Toyota have had to push, but now, they seem to be in the clear, and they will finish first and third in their Le Mans Hypercar debut. Alpine, again, can't take as much fuel compared to Toyota of course. Phil Hanson and United Autosport are in the pound seats for LMP2. InterEuropol and RealTeam are going to be satisfied. Final lap. We are coming to the end of the race as the Alpine passes the AF Corse Ferrari. #777, Tomonobu Fujii has also run really well today after being on the final row of the grid.
Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima, and Sebastien Buemi will win for Toyota in Le Mans Hypercar! They have had a stunning debut of the category and will reap the rewards with a pole and a win!
Overall/Le Mans Hypercar: #8 Buemi/Nakajima/Hartley Toyota GR010 Hybrid
LMP2: #22 Hanson/Albuquerque/Scherer Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #92 Estre/Jani Porsche 911 RSR-19
LM GTE Am: #83 Nielsen/Perrodo/Rovera Ferrari 488 GTE
The next race for the FIA WEC, the second round of the championship is the 8 Hours of Portimao in Portimao, Portugal. That race is slated to take place in mid June at the Algarve circuit. See you then.
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