Jota Sport leads from pole in LMP2. Although, they have had their troubles and have had to fight and claw and gouge their way back. 264 laps in the books. Cetilar n the pits and so is the #8 Toyota from the race lead. Ferrari #54 slams the door in Mathias Beche’s face. The #70 is a carbon fiber magnet. Final stop for Sebastien Buemi. Buemi has a clean pit stop. Jose Maria Lopez has to do a splash and a dash. Andre Negrao and Alpine are pushing to maybe split the two Toyota’s. Brendon Hartley says it looks good for his team after saving fuel.
If there is a safety car, things can change according to
Hartley and the #8 crew. Fuel saving, he
believes, will earn them the victory. Ricardo
Pera has a ten second penalty and so does Francesco Castellaci who takes over
from Giancarlo Fisichella. This race is
not over yet, folks. #22 in the lane for
the next to last stop. They will need a
splash. We have had no Full Course
Yellows. Check that. United Autosport has made their final
stop. Short fill the tank. They are going longer on time for fuel tanks
in LMP2. Juan Pablo Montoya has pitted
the DragonSpeed car for the final time.
Montoya almost replicated his spin from earlier on. Porsche and Ferrari have made six pit
stops. #91 had an out of sequence pit
stop for a tire. Both Porsche’s need a
final stop. 271 laps complete. Robin Frijns and Paul di Resta are next
up. Many cars making what could be their
final pit stops. At least in LMP2. Anders Fjordbach will finish the race at High
Class, but they need to replace a battery or so it appears. United Autosport seems to have pitted. High Class are in the lane. They are back on trackn now.
Andre Negrao is battling Toyota #7. Alpine #36 is right in the picture for the
podium perhaps, but not the win. Maybe
there was a fuel spillage? Or was it the
car cranking up and chucking fuel out the overflow? 40 minutes to go and the top three are split
by 13 some odd seconds. Lopez, Buemi,
Negrao, all the cars running in the 1:33 range.
A loose electronic device in the cockpit, not secured. Porsche #91 still has to pit. So does #92 if yours truly is right. Ah.
#91 in the lane now for the final time.
Ferrari’s at the start of the race rocketed away, and left them for
dead.
Andre Negrao in the lane for Alpine. It is their final stop. Two left side tires for Porsche. Ferrari was able to take four. Ryan Briscoe will take the Glickenhaus to the
end of the race. Jose Maria Lopez leads
and still has to stop while #8 and #36 already have. James Calado says blistering on the tires is
being managed but it is a hard thing to do.
The sister #52 AF Corse Ferrari needs to stop promoting Kevin Estre in
the Porsche back to second spot in GTE Pro.
Antonio Fuoco is now driving the leading Cetilar Ferrari in GTE Am. Jota in the lane, car #28. Poor old Anders Fjordbach is dropping
back. Jota has both the #28 and #38 in
the lane.
Anders Fjordbach has stopped on course! Oh dear!
Sounds like the electronics have gone kaput. Will it be a safety car or a Full Course
Yellow with half an hour to go?
Wow. Unreal. RealTeam have passed and here comes
Dragonspeed as well. Local yellow
flags. High Class Racing not in a good
spot. 281 laps complete. Fjordbach is on the right, on an island and
he needs to be rescued by the tractors.
DragonSpeed up to second in the Pro-Am section of LMP2. ARC Bratislava have rejoined the race. Racing Team Nederland could nip High
Class. 30, 20, 10, 5, 0. Full Course Yellow, now.
All the gaps remain frozen.
Sophia Floresch is in the pit lane.
The lane is still open. This
could be a bonus, manna from heaven, for United Autosport. Toyota #7 in the lane and one of the AF Corse
Ferrari’s, the #83 car of Nicklas Nielsen.
Toyota #8 discussing strategy between the pit crew and Sebastien
Buemi. Nail the flag to the mast. #7 cannot close onto the #8. Alpine #36 at turn five and they will not be
winners today. Toyota can still fight
between themselves. Paul di Resta has
stopped for fuel. Miguel Molina needs a
splash of gas and two tires on the left side.
30 seconds to remove Full Course Yellow. 15 seconds.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Full Course Yellow removed. 25
minutes left to race. Toyota 1-2. No fuel needed. Go full speed. Toyota can fly. Have at it.
No energy save needed either.
Give it full beans to the end of the motor race. Get on with it, sunbeam. Antonio Felix Da Costa is reeling in Tom
Blomqvist. These again, are the Jota
team mates. Jota Sport are looking to
win again under their own name for the first time since 2019.
22 minutes left. Miguel
Molina dials in his fastest lap of the race in the 1:38 bracket. Estre in the Porsche in the 1:39 range. Antonio Fuoco leads Ricardo Pera by 14
seconds in GTE Am. Under investigation
for Full Course Yellow procedure is Ryan Briscoe in the Glickenhaus, and
Francesco Castellaci in GTE Am in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari. Blomqvist spun with his team-mate and almost
went to the tail end of the field. Jose
Maria “Pechito” Lopez is closing on team-mate Sebastien Buemi. Antonio Fuoco is holding up Sebastien
Buemi.
Lopez is right there now.
King size points on offer for Toyota’s 100th sports car
race. The pressure is on. Whoever finishes in front will be the points
leader. The two Toyota’s will catch more
GT traffic. At what stage do Toyota just
say, “it is our 100th race and we want a photo finish”. Buemi is told to let Lopez go. No way will he do that. He wants to fight to the bitter end. Whoever finishes in front will have the lead
of the motor race. 16 minutes left. Why is Toyota switching stuff around? Hold position. No more racing.
Francesco Castellaci will have a penalty. Marcos Gomes has been quicker, the
Brazilian. Antonio Fuoco still leads GTE
Am for Cetilar. High Class Racing are
back on track and could still be on an LMP2 Pro Am podium. Alessandro Pier Guidi is fuel saving like
crazy. Could James Calado win on his
birthday? Second place, the sister car,
Miguel Molina, and Daniel Serra. Kevin
Estre runs in third spot. Jose Maria
Lopez leads over Sebastien Buemi for the Toyota factory. They’ve swapped and Buemi is back in the lead
of the motor race.
Team orders. Why did
you take one car out of the lead and then put him back in? All you’ve done is confuse the fans. That is strange. Hoping they can race directly to the end with
ten minutes to go. Does Lopez have a
problem? The Jota cars run nose to tail. Bewildering idea at Toyota and for sure they
won’t say a word about it to the media. Antonio
Felix Da Costa is reeling in Tom Blomqvist.
Blomqvist just gets balked by a Porsche.
Intereuropol in fifth followed by Richard Mille Racing in LMP2. Da Costa passes Mike Wainwright and Tom
Gamble. Jose Maria Lopez has nearly
wrecked the sister car of Buemi and now, Antonio Felix Da Costa divebombs Tom
Blomqvist with five minutes to go!
Yikes!
This is not done yet.
It’s over now though. Blomqvist
has clag on his tires. Give this one to
Antonio Felix Da Costa. Now, has Jose
Maria Lopez been told to back off from the #8?
It is done. “Pechito” will have
to finish second. Toyota are saying they
are not allowed to risk the win. Cetilar
leads LM GTE Am. If they win, and if AF
Corse wins, the Tifosi, the Ferrari faithful will go bonkers! Cetilar lead from Team Project 1 and AF Corse
in LM GTE Am. Mikkel Jensen is closing
on Marcus Gomes. But he will run out of
time. Two minutes to go. This is the final lap of the 8 Hours of
Portimao. Toyota laps the Glickenhaus,
and they will be back. Ryan Briscoe lets
the Toyota’s through. Final lap. Toyota will finish 1-2 in their 100th
World Championship sports car race, completing 300 laps. Down the hill into the final corner and
Toyota win the 8 Hours of Portimao!
Toyota 1-2. Cetilar win LM GTE
Am. Jota Sport win LMP2 with Antonio
Felix Da Costa, winning at home! Da
Costa sharing with Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez.
Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, the birthday boy, win in Portugal! Ferrari cleans up in both GTE Pro and GTE Am, as the all-Italian trio for Cetilar Racing wins the Am division. Congratulations to Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte, and Giorgio Sernagiotto. Sebastien Buemi wins his 19th overall WEC race. Your winners in Portimao are:
Overall/Le Mans Hypercar: #8 Buemi/Hartley/Nakajima Toyota GR010 Hybrid
LMP2: #38 Davidson/Da Costa/Gonzales Oreca 07 Gibson
LM GTE Pro: #51 Calado/Pier Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE
LM GTE Am: #47 Fuoco/Lacorte/Sernagiotto Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE
No comments:
Post a Comment