GTE Am pit stops underway. Toyota leads with potential questions about knocking around pit equipment on entry. WRT team boss Vincent Vosse says that drive through penalties were due to a disengaged pit lane speed limiter, and there was another penalty for something yours truly did not get. It is still a long race. In GTE Am, Antonio Fuoco is scrapping with Matteo Cairoli. A couple factory drivers as Paul Dalla Lana spins at the top of the hill. One of many hilltops on this track. Will Paul Dalla Lana pit? Probably not. The fuel used by Aston Martin this year is causing it to use more oil than expected.
Scott Andrews is running well in the #57 Kessel Racing
Ferrari. Kessel Racing has run with
Ferrari for almost three decades, dating back to the days of the F355
model. Paul Dalla Lana in the lane. Oh no.
The ARC Bratislava LMP2 is spun into the gravel. Miroslav Konopka at the wheel of it. The rear diffuser on the Dalla Lana Aston is
broken which will cause a loss of stability at tehr ear. We are likely to go Full Course Yellow where
he is at turn eight. Pit entry closed,
and we are under Safety Car.
The Alpine gains a minute.
Wow. That’s actually a lap gained
over the Toyota? I think so. There will be a boatload of cars between the
Toyota and the Alpine. Ferrari #57 is a
lap away from their pit window. This
Full Course Yellow is manna from heaven for that team! Antonio Fuoco will get a stop, but for
emergency service. He can only take a
splash of fuel. So, manna from
heaven? Not yet. Full Course Yellow. Put it out!
Jota can short stop now and be on strategy to finish this
race. Miro Konopka says “pull me out of
here!” Signals will get crossed between
Portuguese and Slovak. No damage to the
car. They are beached, but they don’t
want to be on a flatbed truck to get the car back. They just need the snatch rope. Thanks to the wave by, there are not many
cars in front of the Toyota’s. This will
not be a brief safety car. Edoardo
Freitas, Race Director, must do wave by’s unless it is within the last 30
minutes of the race. But we are not
there yet.
The beached LMP2 car must be rotated. We have another whole lap before a green flag
and get the safety vehicles moved. Will
Miro Konopka join the back of the queue?
Yes. A lap ‘round Portimao is
reasonably short. Pietro Couciero, the
Safety Car driver, will allow the drivers to get heat in them. But they do not need any more heat. It is either too hot or too cold for
drivers. They are like farmers. They can’t be satisfied, can they? Toyota lead Signatech Alpine, still, as the
marshals clear the debris, and the pit lane is open.
This will be a restart this time by. OK. No
passing before the control line.
Toyota’s lead. 204 laps now
completed. The Alpine has moved past the
GTE Am cars. Wayne Boyd and Charles
Milesi in LMP2 are scrapping with each other.
Five seconds cover the top four. Beitske
Visser for Richard Mille Racing Team in car #1 pits. Alex Brundle has moved past Jan
Magnussen! Wow. Beitske Visser to the lane either for ending
drive time or for fuel as the Toyota’s scrap with each other. Np word on a penalty for #7. Beitske Visser has driven for two hours and
21 minutes. Sofia Floresch and Tatiana
Calderon will continue. No mechanical trouble
for Toyota on their pit stop. Driver error,
and a locked brake.
Toyota #8 has two laps more than the sister car, and with
the safety car, they are going to be close.
The gap from first to third is just under two seconds. Wayne Boyd is not losing out to Paul di Resta. Lapierre is hoping for the Toyota to wash out
over the bump in the middle of the final turn.
GTE Am has a good battle going on with Antonio Fuoco and Matteo
Cairoli. Here comes the Alpine! He tries the outside and Nico Lapierre gts
the door slammed in his face. The ARC
Bratislava cars has been off the road.
The gap between Nakajima and Kobayashi is 2.8 seconds. Nico Lapierre is going to try giving it
another chance. A slingshot on the
Toyota, and he makes the move for a fractjonal advantage onto the
straightaway. The carbon brakes and
brake loads are being annihilated. But
maybe, just maybe, that could be a good thing.
Toyota #8 has to achieve two laps of fuel mileage maximum, but seven
tu=rung prime time.
Lapierre is absolutely flying and he makes a pass on
Toyota. We are coming to the final part of
the hour. Antonio Fuoco leads Matteo
Cairloli. Castellaci and Dalla Lana are
third and fourth behind the Porsche. The
Toyota is not handling the dsame way as the Alpine. Lapierre can pounce and take his opportunity
through traffic. Lapierre is still
monstering Kobayashi. This race is
simmering along nicely, folks. Work your
way through the traffic, position yourself, release the brake, nip down the
inside. Kamui Kobayashi has left Nico
Lapierre and he’s smoking the tires as the Alpine pits just shy of taking the
lead. Nico Lapierre simply sends it down
the inside of the Toyta.
Lapierre has to be perfect nailing these laps where no one
is around him. Antonio Fuoco and Cetilar
and Matteo Cairoli in the Project 1 Porsche, are scrapping hard for GTE
Am. This is racing for sheep stations
and a factory drive in GT. Three cars
are out of the race. The Glickenhaus,
the Proton Porsche, and the D’station Aston Martin. Glickenhaus shown in the pit lane, but it
must be in the garage and not moving.
Jota Sport in LMP2 pits the #28 ahead of the #22 United Autosports
car. Anthony Davidson pits. Glickenhaus has gear selection trouble.
Anthony Davidson pits and will stay in the car. Doors open to cool the driver down as the
crew removes tire debris from the front of the car. These cars are not air conditioned. New boots for Ant Davidson as well as Stoffel
Vandoorne leads now in LMP2, in between the two Toyota’s. Vamdoorne is up by six seconds on Phil Hanson
followed by Charles Milesi and more. The
Glickenhaus is back on track. Anthony
Davidson is told to push, push, push for third in LMP2. Phil Hanson is getting his pace back in
second. Kamui Kobayashi continues to
lead by two seconds over Kazuki Nakajima, saving two laps of fuel to avoid a
splash and a dash.
Kobayashi has one lap or so more before he must pit
again. No looming penalties for Toyota
that we’ve heard yet. No
investigation. If it is a speeding
penalty, it’s no trouble. It is a
penalty, or it is not. The Toyota is not
as compliant over the big bump on the front straight compared to the
Alpine. Ferrari leads over Porsche in
GTE Pro. We are coming up to the end of
hour six with two more to race. Nakajima
is just barely behind Kobayashi. The
Toyota’s will have to pit and used scrubbed tires and not new ones.
Anthony Davidson is still tussling with Charles Milesi. Davidson mvoes past Milesi, or he wants
to. We could still have another safety
car, which would mess up the LMP2 order.
Stoffel Vandoorne leads Phil Hanson and Charles Milesi. Toyota #7 will get new tires. He is in the lane now. Marcos Gomes took over the #98 Aston Martin
from Paul Dalla Lana. Three of the four
GTE Pro cars have set their fastest lap at the same time. Jose Maria Lopez will take over Toyota #7 and
#8 to be driven again by Sebastien Buemi.
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