The intro to this race report, can be credited to Brian Kreisky and Videovision Broadcast International, as used on their 1983 and ‘84 coverage of the World Sports Car Championship running of the Monza 1,000 Kilometers, emphasis added for modern times. The competitors must drive a hectic lap of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, for six hours. Each lap is three and a half miles long. The Monza Autodrome is beautiful and haunting in it’s parkland setting. Monza’s rich history has lasted for a century. Monza, the very name evokes thoughts of motor racing folklore. Built in 1922, it started out as a high banked oval in the tradition of the Brooklands circuit in England, or, for American fans, what is seen at Daytona International Speedway.
The banking at Monza has not been used for the better part
of half a century, since one of the legendary 1,000-kilometer races in
1969. Still, Monza is seen as one of
Europe’s fastest and most historic tracks.
Mention Monza and most racing fans think of the great names. Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, and Lancia. Varzi and Taruffi, Ascari and Nuvolari. They think of some of the most famous
corners. The Curva Grande, Lesmo, and
The Parabolica. World Formula 1 and
motorcycle champion John Surtees used to call it “Diabolica”. There is something diabolical about Monza
over the last century. Many motor racing
ghosts walk here. Their presence is felt
by everyone who comes, including the drivers of the FIA World Endurance
Championship, who race at Monza, for the first time as a championship, and for
the first time in a 1,000 kilometer or six-hour race, in the better part of
over a decade.”
Welcome to Sunday worship at the Temple of Speed. Monza.
If those words don’t send a shiver up your spine, please seek medical
attention. You need to stay tuned for
the next six hours of endurance motor racing to cure anything ailing you. Don’t touch that dial. This race is going to be mega. We are so happy to see fans at an FIA World
Endurance Championship race for the first time in a year and a half. This is the third race of our season before
we go to the next one, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Historically, before racing the fabled Vingt Quatre Heures du Mans, we
would go to Silverstone in the English midlands for that 6-hour classic.
But we now have a renewal of another of the classic sports
car races upon us here in Italy. If you
win at Monza, it is a feather in your hat as a driver. Le Mans is the jewel in the crown. But this race is going to be a major
precursor to what we will see at le Mans.
This place is fast, with three equal sectors all with fast straightaways
and sweeping corners. Those sweepers,
there are just half a dozen here as you come into Premio Variante as the first
turn, followed by the legendary Curva Grande, which takes you down to Secundo
Variante, followed by the Lesmo’s, premio Curva Lesmo and Secundo Curva
Lesmo. Down the hill you fly into
Variante Ascari, named for Formula 1 world champ and legendary driver Alberto
Ascari, then, sweep through the long, winding Curva Parabolica at the end of
the lap.
Ascari is a triple apex corner. Curva Parabolica is a long, long right hand
turn. You need to have car balance and
setup, down. Everyone is using low downforce aero kits for the 24 Hours of Le
Mans. The pavement here is very
pale. The cars are out on their sighting
laps right now as we watch the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. This car has been forced to start at the rear
of the grid, for the trio of Nicklas Nielsen of Denmark, Francois Perrodo of
France, and Alessio Rovera, in his home race in Italy. Increase minimum tire pressure because of the
centrifugal force on the tires.
You lose aero grip and mechanical grip. Watch for the second stint on tires for both
LMP2 and GTE Pro. The weather is
hot! It’s a scorcher today! This is going to be a fuel mileage race,
too. The amount of full throttle is
going to majorly affect fuel mileage and we likely won’t have a full-on green
flag motor race today either. Fuel
economy will be big. Juan Pablo Montoya
for Dragonspeed, knows about saving fuel, from his experience of racing in
America in IndyCar, NASCAR, and IMSA, and he also has experience on this very
track, from his days at Williams and McLaren in Formula 1.
We have not been to Monza with the current iteration of the
FIA World Endurance Championship. So,
there are several drivers with zero experience on this circuit. This place used to host the old school World
Endurance Championship with the thundering Group C sports cars back in the ‘80s
and early ‘90s, with the likes of Porsche, Mercedes, Lancia, Toyota,
Nissan. But those days are now in the
annals of motor racing history as we return to Monza for the first time in
nearly 30 years. The last race here was
in 1992, a 500-kilometer event. Toyota,
won that day, in the legendary V10 powered TS010 Group C car, when the Group C
machines, many, were racing with the V10 Formula 1 spec 3.5 liter engines. Geoff Lees of England and Hitoshi Ogawa of
Japan were Toyota’s winning drivers that day, April 26th, 1992.
The World Endurance Championship has not raced here in it’s
nine-year history. Thankfully, we are
here at Monza this year. We see more
cloud cover than expected. The clouds
could help the temperature. With high
ambient temperatures, the clouds will help, but the dribver’s are still going
to be hot. We look at the GTE Am cars,
being driven by most of the gentlemen drivers.
Cetilar Racing leads the points in LM GTE Am with their Ferrari, car
#47. We will get to the classes and cars
in a minute. That #47 of course is
shared by Antonio Fuoco, Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Roberto Lacorte, three more
drivers in their home race here at Monza.
An all-Italian effort. Ben
Keating, though, and Aston Martin are your pole winners in GTE-Am.
This is the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage, that the American
driver, and Texas car dealer, is sharing with Felipe Fraga of Brazil and Dylan
Pereira from Luxembourg. Pereira is an
ace driver in Porsche Mobil 1 Super Cup.
Alessio Rovera will start the #83 AF Corse Ferrari as we look at the
full team for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, who now have two cars and their
full team here at Monza. This is the
first time we will be able to see two of the Glickenhaus 007 hypercars on the
grid. #708 to be driven by Pipo Derani
of Brazil, American Gustavo Menezes, and Olivier Pla of France.
The sister #709 Glickenhaus has two Frenchmen and a Brit on
board. Romain Dumas and Franck Mailleux
sharing with Richard Westbrook. Westbrook,
is an accomplished former GT factory driver for Porsche, the Ford GT program,
and Corvette Racing. He is now in a prototype
for the first time in a number of years having also raced prototypes in the
early iteration of what is now the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car
Championship. It is time soon, for the
playing of the Italian national anthem.
Alessandro Pier Guidi, in a Ferrari, in his home race, going after the
Porsche’s. He wants to win for Ferrari
in their home race.
The Tifosi will be going nuts, cheering their team on. There are ten Ferrari’s here at the 6 Hours
of Monza. Ferrari wants to get back into
sports car racing. Ferrari wants to race
in Europe and in North America with IMSA.
They want convergence in the Hypercar rules. We have seen the Peugeot. Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Honda, General
Motors, Lamborghini… many brands want to be in sports car racing in the next
number of years. We have established and
young drivers who want factory and factory supported teams.
James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi are already WEC
champions and hope to get the nod for a Ferrari factory effort that will be run
by their current employer, AF Corse. So,
the idea will be, to ask, “hey boss, based on our performance in the GT car,
how about that Hypercar drive?” The
convergence has been fully announced.
The cars we see in the FIA WEC and in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship,
they can race, in both championships!
This is going to be a new era, a new, incredible era in sports car
racing, and yours truly, cannot wait!
Factory and privately funded teams can all come to the table. It’s like the Group C era all over again,
almost.
Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, Europe, Asia, Australia…
everywhere. New for this 2021 season as
well is the Pro-Am category in LMP2 and RealTeam Racing, with their #70 car are
the points leaders. That class, known as
Cup, has these boys at the top of the tree in points, so far. Frenchmen Norman Nato and Loic Duval are
sharing with Swiss driver Esteban Garcia at Monza today. Am drivers are a huge part of this
championship in LMP2 and they are being recognized. We also look at the #38 Jota Sport Oreca with
it’s familiar driver trio. Roberto
Gonzalez of Mexico, sharing with Antonio Felix Da Costa of Portugal, and
Englishman, Anthony Davidson, a former factory LMP1 driver for the likes of
both Peugeot and Toyota.
Davidson is also an ex-Formula 1 driver. Gentleman drivers are pivotal to success in
LMP2 and GTE Am both. Jota had trouble
in yesterday’s qualifying. We have
another new team here, from Italy, using the six hours at Monza as a test for
the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Englishmen Ryan Cullen and Oliver Jarvis sharing
with Felipe Nasr of Brazil. Usually,
Nasr and Jarvis are rivals on the IMSA circuit.
Nasr driving for Action Express and the Cadillac team, the factory GM
squad, and Jarvis, a factory driver for Mazda Motorsports. But today, they team up in LMP2.
Part of the American team for Risi Competizione here. Racing Team Nederland has a slightly altered
driver team today. Nyck de Vries is
back. He missed the 8 Hours of Portimao
because of a clash with the Formula E championship. But Paul Loup Chatin, the rapid Frenchman has
joined the team alongside de Vries and Frits van Eerd. Giedo van der Garde is not here. He tested positive for the virus before
coming to Italy, so he is recovering and not able to be here today. Stay well.
Henrik Hedman is the lead driver for the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca alongside
England’s Ben Hanley, and the aforementioned Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya is starting the car today.
In seventh place in LMP2 is the venerable United Autosports
team and their Oreca #22. Phil Hanson
from England sharing with Switzerland’s Fabio Scherer, and Portugal’s Filipe
Albuquerque. They dominated at the 6
Hours of Spa, and were at the back of the pack at Portimao but came back to win
the 8 hours. Team WRT on pole in LMP2,
they want a win. They have been winning
in LMP2 in European Le Mans Series racing.
Time for the national anthem, played by the Italian Army band.
The Italian anthem is described as the national anthem of
motor racing. There are two state
religions in Italy. Catholicism, and
Ferrari. Convergence is coming, for IMSA
in the United States so their cars and these Le Mans Hypercars, can race
together. The Glickenhaus pit crew is
hurriedly mounting tires on the #709 machine, the Dumas/Mailleux/Westbrook
entry. Here is the second car as well,
the #708 Derani/Menezes/Pla car. It is
no accident that the Glickenhaus looks like a Ferrari P4 from 1967 because Jim
Glickenhaus, the team owner, from New York, admires that Ferrari, and it is
what influenced this car’s design.
Gustavo Menezes loves the World Endurance Championship and
the goal for Glickenhaus is to stay clean.
Menezes will also race for Peugeot, next year, with their revolutionary
Hypercar, that will come out next year, the 9X8. So, we will see Gustavo Menezes as a
Glickenhaus pilot this year, and then, see him in the Peugeot, for the 2022
season. The rules for Hypercar are so
incredibly open. You want a street going
supercar? Go for it. How about building a pure race car? Yes, you can.
Do you want a hybrid power unit?
You can use it. Do you prefer
traditional internal combustion horsepower?
No worries, mate. You can build
it. The possibilities in Le Mans
Hypercar, are limitless.
To wit, we have the two Glickenhaus cars, the two Toyota’s,
and the Alpine. Five cars in the
class. The Alpine can surely match the
pace of the Toyota’s, but their fuel tank is smaller. That will be a squeeze for them today. There might be a four-lap difference on the fuel
stints. Podium Engineering and Joest
Racing are the ones who built the Glickenhaus.
With the new class structure, you must be perfect. Traffic is key. 37 cars will start. We had 38, but the Inception Racing Ferrari
won’t start. Yours truly cannot even
remember who was to drive that car. But
it is a moot point. They are not present.
Perfection demanded on track and in the pit lane. Traffic will be a big deal. We are going to keep a close eye on that, all
day. But the traffic will be easier to
get around. The overtakes are going to
be on the straight or in the braking zones.
This is indeed shades of the glory days of Group C when they raced here,
but the GT cars they ran against back then, some of the Porsche 930’s and 911’s
were considerably slower, whereas now, the speed differentials are minute. Drivers must be precise. One minute to the engines firing for a start
and a roll off behind the safety car.
We’ve seen small mistakes and they can produce major
consequences. Monza is an old school
circuit with grass, gravel, and little runoff space. The Alpine boys are going to be pushing the
two Toyota’s and we will see where the Glickenhaus cars are going to be in all
of this. But the gap is going to be
closed up with the Alpine and the Toyota’s.
We have five cars in Le Mans Hypercar now. Let me tell you something, ladie’s and
gentlemen, it is going to get much better than that in the next two to three
years. We are continuing to see a
renaissance, a boom, in the world of endurance sports car racing.
36 cars will start here at the Autodromo Nazionale di
Monza. Ferrari #83 lost their qualifying
times, and they must start the fastest man in practice, Alessio Rovera. Here they come. Red lights, on. Red lights, out! The Tri Colore flies, and away we go! The race is on! The Toyota’s led followed by the sole Alpine
and the two Glickenhaus cars. Side by
side into the Primo Variante for the first time. No one gives an inch as we see the GT battle
heating up already as the Am cars go ahead of the factory battle in GTE Pro
between Ferrari and Porsche. Phil Hanson
has muscled his way into the LMP2 lead as we can se a fierce scrap beginning at
the sharp end in the Hypercar ranks, look.
The Toyota GR010’s are slow and so the Alpine A480 must take advantage
ASAP.
They exit the Lesmo’s for the first time and head under the
bridge. Above that bridge is the old
banking that we talked about in the opening of the blog entry, how famous and
infamous it was. Toyota #7 won based on
fuel economy and fuel strategy last time out at the 8 Hours of Portimao. How will GTE Pro work out? We have a battle between two Porsche’s and
two Ferrari’s. It is Stuttgart vs.
Maranello, and you know who the fans here at Monza will be rooting for. The red cars of course, the two AF Corse
Ferrari’s. Deary me! Three-wide in GTE Am, look, as the #83 AF
Corse Ferrari slices ‘round another Ferrari and one of the Aston Martin’s in
the Parabolica. That’s the D’station
Aston, car #777, being shared by Japanese drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Satoshi
Hoshino, alongside Briton Andrew Watson.
One of the other red Ferrari’s in Am is also making a
move. That should be the first of the Am
class AF Corse cars for Thomas Flohr of Switzerland, and Italian’s Giancarlo
Fisichella and Francesco Castellaci.
Fisichella raced here at Monza many times as a Formula 1 driver. The two Glickenhaus’ are fighting each other
ready as #709 leads #708. Richard
Westbrook ahead of Pipo Derani. They
have swapped places as Richard Westbrook is chasing the Alpine. Also, Pipo Derani has his hands full with
Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosport Oreca, followed by the Team WRT machine
with Robin Frijns at the wheel, and behind him, Racing Team Nederland and their
#29 entry, their Oreca in the hands of Nyck de Vries.
Juan Pablo Montoya won his first ever Formula 1 career
victory here at Monza for Williams and had the fastest ever recorded lap in a
Formula 1 car of that era in the early 2000s when the cars still used the
screaming 3-liter V10 engines. Last
weekend, we had European Le Mans Series racing at Monza as well of course. So, this place has seen a lot of sports car
racing action in the last couple of weekends.
Side by side stuff between two Ferrari’s in GTE Am. Francesco Castellaci and Roberto Lacorte
going at it hammer and tongs here early on.
Cetilar had a huge crash in the second Lesmo in Free
Practice earlier this weekend, a braking issue caused that. The LMP2 cars nose to tail, liner stern. Oliver Jarvis is taking the reins of the #82
Risi Competizione Oreca. Their sponsor
is 1st Phorm, a fitness app.
But the car is not #1. #1 is also
in LMP2, but it is the Richard Mille Racing Oreca of the all-female duo of
Tatiana Calderon from Venezuela and Sophia Florsch from Germany. Mike Conway in Toyota #7 has uncorked fastest
lap of the race so far at 1:37.296. Pipo
Derani in Glickenhaus #708 was two and a half seconds down on the sister car
and has recovered a chunk of that but not a whole lot. He has recovered ¼ of the pie but does not
have the whole pie yet.
So ironic to mention Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr being in
the same race but in different cars, as they are teammates in North America,
for Action Express in IMSA. Pipo Derani
and the lead Glickenhaus could have an issue, as in GTE Am, Francesco
Castellaci is whistling off into the distance.
Roberto Lacorte has his hands full with one of the other AF Corse
Ferrari’s and with the Project 1 Porsche.
Egidio Perfetti wisely lets Alessio Rovera through as we are hearing the
#708 Glickenhaus will be in the lane soon to address issues, as Pipo Derani is
presently at the controls. Francois Perodo
qualified the #83 Ferrari and into the Ascari chicane, Roberto Lacorte says,
“no way, sunshine”, and does not slam the door in his face, but at least closes
it little by little.
The #777 D’Station Aston Martin tries making a move on the
Iron Lynx Iron Dames Ferrari, the #85.
Newcomer Sarah Bovy of Belgium is in the car, sharing with Rahel Frey
from Switzerland, and Michelle Gatting from Denmark. Bovy has been passed by Andrew Watson in the
D’Station Aston and now has her hands full with Canadian privateer WEC veteran
Paul Dalla Lana in the #98 Aston Martin Racing factory Vantage he shares with
two Brazilian’s in Augusto Farfus and Marcos Gomes. Dalla Lana overshoots one of the chicanes as
we also have reports of woe for the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari which had issues as
well in either Free Practice or qualifying.
That is the all-Italian driver’s strength of Claudio
Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, and Andrea Piccini.
Rovera moves ahead through the second Lesmo. Paul Dalla Lana is holding up the Iron Dames
Ferrari although he has let the D’Station Aston Martin pass. Trouble for one of the Ferrari’s in the
garage. That is the car we just
mentioned, with a busted radiator! Oh
dear! That is the Schiavoni/Cressoni/Piccini
car! Commentator’s curse strikes! They have had a fraught weekend, did not get
out at all in qualifying and started this race stone last, caboose on the
field.
We see the battles heating up in both GTE Am and LMP2. Paul Dalla Lana is told to give the place back to the Iron Dames car. Dalla Lana took a little too much speed into Variante Della Roggia and went out on the curbs. Meanwhile, the battle is on in LMP2 as Phil Hanson took the lead, right from the start over Robin Frijns. Nyck de Vries is also in the fight, as the top three are moving away from Juan Pablo Montoya and Oliver Jarvis. Alex Brundle and Stoffel Vandoorne are next. Vandoorne crashed in qualifying in Lesmo number two and caused a red flag.
Vandoorne’s tires were knackered, and he has a limited
number of them. Flatspotted tires on
this high speed circuit here at Monza, will cause the most insane vibration
you’ve ever felt in a race car. Tomonobu
Fujii passes Egidio Perfetti in GTE Am in fifth in class. This will be the final race for a Ligier LMP2
chassis in World Endurance for the foreseeable future as ARC Bratislava and
team boss Miro Konopka will swap to an Oreca chassis for the 24 Hours of Le
Mans and the rest of the 2021 season. Talking
about GTE Pro, Kevin Estre has been in a different zip code for qualifying all
season so far. He has had pole. Does Porsche have enough tires?
Now, at Toyota, #8 is going for fuel strategy. There is a drive through penalty slated for
the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari. But they have
a bigger issue of course as the engine is overheating and it could very well be
game over. #60 actually caused a
multicar carambolage right at the checkered flag in Free Practice 3. They won’t take it. Meanwhile, we can see the differentiation
between the classes in traffic as the Toyota Hypercar’s are slicing and dicing
through the GTE Am machine. In slow
motion, we can see the #8 Toyota absolutely bounding over the curbs! How on earth does that motorcar stay
together?
Juan Pablo Montoya leads Oliver Jarvis in a battle for LMP2
between DragonSpeed and Risi Competizione, two teams based in the United
States. DragonSpeed and Risi battle for
fourth in class while we have United Autosport, WRT, and Racing Team Nederland
at the front of LMP2 currently. Realteam
and Intereuropol are next. Nyck de Vries
and Racing Team Nederland leads DragonSpeed in LMP2 Pro Am. Glickenhaus says that there is trouble with
#708 and they think it is an electrical problem, but they are weighing how
things are.
Right now, the sister #709 Glickenhaus is monstering the #36
Alpine. This battle in Hypercar is
between Andre Negrao in the Alpine and Richard Westbrook in the
Glickenhaus. Jim Glickenhaus is watching
from the lane, willing his car on.
Richard Westbrook, you know he will be pushing like crazy to try and
dispense of the blue French Alpine up ahead and give the American fans of the
World Endurance Championship something to cheer about. Fuel strategy will come in and we will see
that come in soon. Andre Negrao is not
happy and over the radio he calls to the team, “I’m losing power! I need more power!”
Negrao seems to be falling into Westbrook’s clutches. The Hypercars are lapping in the 1:38-1:39
range right now to give you an idea of what the times are. Christoph Ulrich under pressure from Paul
Dalla Lana in GTE Am right now, look. Pipo
Derani in Glickenhaus #708 is carving his way through the GTE Am traffic having
moved ‘round Sarah Bovy and is now monstering the rest of the GTE Am field and
he does so. He is carving through the
field like a hot knife through butter.
We have seen Pipo do this very same thing driving the Cadillac for
Action Express in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship. He takes no prisoners and goes for it right
away. He is not one to lay back and wait
it out. He has the welly down right from
the green light.
Richard Westbrook too, he appears to be taking that same
attitude. He wants by Andre Negrao ASAP
in the sister Glickenhaus, a car that in it’s design is reminiscent of the
classic Ferrari P3’s and P4’s that inspired Jim Glickenhaus during his
childhood. The Glickenhaus does have a
very retro design to it if you look at the profile of the car and study it. Negrao is also going to have the #33 Aston
Martin of Ben Keating, as the cork in the bottle. Keating too, he has his hands full in GTE Am
with Francesco Castellaci lurking, probing back there.
Alessio Rovera in turn is also pushing hard. The #83 car had good tires but lost their
grid spot due to a ride height issue.
Westbrook is closing but it appears the Alpine has more top end speed
than does the Glickenhaus. If you can’t
close up into the braking zones here at Monza, you are a shot duck. The Glickenahus was extremely quick in free
practice but had lots of trouble building up the speed out of the Parabolica at
the end of the lap. Westbrook closes up,
right on Negrao’s six, look. Westbrook
seems to be clawing time back between Curva Grande, Variante della Roggia, and
the Lesmo’s. So, the speed could be
returning to the Glickenhaus. There’s a
long, long way to go. Let the race come
back to you if you seem to be buried at this point.
Westbrook’s issue here is that he is in the dirty air, the
wake, coming off the Alpine. Aerodynamic
wake is no different from the wake of water churned up by a boat. If Negrao makes on slip up… bish, bash, bosh,
Westbrook can be all over him like bees on a flower. Westbrook has dropped back and what we will
need to see is how the left front tires are holding together for the Hypercar
teams because of the nature of Monza and having right hand corners for the most
part. The teams are trying to simulate
the aerodynamic setups we will see at the next race at the 24 Hours of Le
Mans. The rear wing is as flat as a
pancake to create as little aerodynamic drag as possible.
Juan Montoya and Oliver Jarvis are both scrambling their way
through the GTE cars. Tomonobu Fujii in
the D’Station Aston Martin is making inroads on the #47 blue Cetilar Ferrari
488 GTE, Roberto Lacorte at the wheel of it.
More scraps in LMP2 as Loic Duval is under pressure from Alex
Brundle. Brundle at the wheel of the #34
Inter Europol Oreca. Brundle sharing
with Renger van der Zande and Jakub Smiechowski. The RealTeam #70 Oreca also has Norman Nato
of France and Switzerland’s Esteban Garcia on the driver’s strength.
Brundle is pressing Duval to the nth degree. Fujii moves ‘round Lacorte in LMP2 traffic
between Curva Grande and Curva Biassone.
Multi-class racing creates drama and that’s what makes sports car racing
so exciting, and we have five and a half hours of awesomeness coming your
way. Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial. If you do, you might miss something. Grab a cup of coffee or espresso and breakfast
to munch on and stay with us. When you
spin, you shave rubber off the tire. You
begin struggling because you use the flatter part of the tire under braking and
that makes the situation worse.
The wheel is spinning so fast, it causes major vibration. In replay, we see the stack up at the start at the Variante del Retafilio. The Toyota passes the Alpine via hybrid boost. But, there is nowhere near the amount of boost with these Hypercars as we saw in the old days with LMP1. Porsche holding their own on fresh tires against Ferrari in GTE Pro right now. Egidio Perfetti in GTE Am in the Project 1 Porsche has sunk like a stone from second in class to sixth in class. Ben Keating for Aston Martin leads the two Ferrari’s of Francesco Castellaci and Alessio Rovera.
Whoops! Loic Duval has looped it through the Curva Grande. Poor old Loic Duval was tipped into a spin there. It is an easy thing to do at that point on the road. But the stewards could have a Captain Cook at that little fracas before too long. Keating, Castellaci, and Rovera, in GTE Am, continue their battle. It is hot and heavy, and this has been a battle royale since lights out. Castellaci tries the outside but no dice and here comes Rovera! Yikes! Alex Brundle has also gone off and on. Rovera is mashing the throttle, pushing hard.
Brundle splits the difference between the two Ferrari’s
slamming the door on Rovera. Brundle
inside Castellaci too. Oh dear! Andrew Haryanto spins the #88 Dempsey Proton
Porsche 911 RSR-19. Haryanto from
Indonesia is sharing the car this weekend with Alessio Picariello, the Belgian
with Italian heritage, and with Germany’s Marco Seefried. He’s beached on the gravel. That will be a slow zone and the snatch tractor
will come soon. Race Director Edoardo
Freitas cues the radio, telling the teams and drivers “prepare for Full Course
Yellow at 12:28:00.” We have not reached
a fuel window just yet. 25-27 laps will
be the fuel window for LMP2 as the Full Course Yellow is out.
Passing is forbidden on Full Course Yellow. This is a short yellow. Jim Glickenhaus and the team waiting for
their car and WRT pits as well and so does one of the factory Porsche’s and the
Risi and Intereuropol LMP2 cars also into the lane. In replay, we see how Alex Brundle braked too
late and made contact with the RealTeam Racing Oreca, of Loic Duval. Too late to brake there before,
calamity. That will be a penalty for
sure. Porsche are splitting
strategy. The #708 Glickenhaus is going
to the garage. They will lose less time
coming inunder Full Course Yellow. All
the LMP2 cars have pitted save for Roberto Gonzalez in the #38 Jota Sport Oreca
he is sharing with Anthony Davidson and Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Driver change for RealTeam.
Phil Hanson did not pit in the United Autosport #22 Oreca. Stoffel Vandoorne was also in the lane in the
#28, the sister Jota Oreca the Belgian shares with England’s Tom Blomqvist and
another Indonesian driver on the entry, Sean Gelael. Loic Duval has vacated the #70 RealTeam
Racing LMP2 car as well. Put your
gentleman driver into the car now. Jota
don’t get the car around in the Full Curse Yellow period. Both Toyota’s in the lane from the race lead,
#7 and #8. Fueling the car for Alpine
ain’t gonna work. They have to do more
and do something with their strategy that Toyota are not doing.
Speed was the asset for Alpine at Portimao. But Toyota has the advantage right now. Francois Perrodo is now at the wheel of the
#83 and Thomas Flohr is now in the #54.
#777 has also had a driver change.
Check that. Fujii San is still at
the controls of #777 sharing with Satoshi Hoshino and Andrew Watson. Glickenhaus #708 is back in the pit lane and
the team has had electrical problems both at Portimao and here at Monza. This Full Course Yellow is being extended
longer than anticipated. Everyone will
be able to short fuel and we see the factory Porsche’s and factory Ferrari’s in
the lane.
Ben Keating continues to drive the #33 TF Sport Aston
Martin. We have yet to see Luxembourg’s
Dylan Pereira or the rapid Brazilian Felipe Fraga, take over that
automobile. Egidio Perfetti, Christoph
Ullrich, and Sarah Bovy, all of them have stayed on track. Pit stop cycles are now totally caught up. Hypercar, LMP2, and GTE Pro, all cars in
these classes have been in the pit lane for scheduled, routine service. Toyota #7 leads the motor race as we are
close to ending Full Course Yellow. One
minute to end it. Glickenhaus #708 has
plummeted down the order. At least they
are back on track. The Derani/Menezes/Pla
team will continue in the race.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed, and we are back to
green and Henrink Hedman gets jumped in LMP2 by Oliver Jarvis! He did not disengage the pit lane speed
limiter! Glickenhaus are reporting a
wiring loom issue, some part of the car not communicating with another. Porsche #91 is now behind Miguel Molina. The order in GTE Pro is Ferrari’s as the meat
in a Porsche sandwich. Kevin Estre
leading Alessandro Pier Guidi, Miguel Molina, and Gianmaria Bruni. The Porsche pit stop was three seconds slower
than the AF Corse Ferrari.
Pit stop times in Hypercar break down as 50 seconds in the
lane for each of the Toyota’s, 52 second’s for the Glickenhaus #709, and 53
seconds for the #36 Alpine. Drive
through penalty issued to Alex Brundle for the contretemps with Loic
Duval. Good that the pit lane is
short. United Autosports picks up four
seconds on WRT. Ditto for Racing Team
Nederland. DragonSpeed did a driver
change on their pit stop for Henrik Hedman.
Now, in Glickenhaus land, the #708 is back up and running on the
circuit, but they lost seven minutes in the pit lane for repairs. The team is still learning how their new car
behaves and what it takes to race at the top level of sports car racing
worldwide here in the World Endurance Championship, against the might of
Toyota.
Esteban Garcia took over the #70 RealTeam LMP2 car and they
have damage. Sebastien Buemi meanwhile,
is under investigation by the stewards, for not respecting track limits in the
turn one chicane, at Curva Grande. So,
this is going to allow both Andre Negrao and Richard Westbrook to close
up. The running order will be
shuffled. If you make a mistake, zigzag
through the polystyrene blocks. This is
only a warning for track limits for Buemi.
Risi Competizione are moving up in LMP2 now. It is so hard to say their team name and not
say, Ferrari, at the end of it, because they have been stalwart Ferrari
campaigners in worldwide sports car racing for the better part of two decades.
We see a battle in LMP2 now between the #1 Richard Mille
Racing Team Oreca and the #44 ARC Bratislava Ligier. They had a slower pit stop. Tatiana Calderon is now at the wheel having
taken over from Sophia Florsch. Tatiana
Calderon defends her position into Variante della Roggia. OK.
The battle for the LMP2 class lead is beginning to boil, as Robin Frijns
has now caught Phil Hanson and will be glued to the back of the United
Autosports machine. This will be
fascinating to watch.
Hanson has been in control in LMP2. This is the second stint on the tires for
LMP2. We got short fills for LMP2. The circuit is under green and we are in the
hottest part of the day with the weather on this sunny Sunday in Monza. Now then, speaking of simmering battles, GTE
Pro. Third spot goes back to Gianmaria
Bruni over Miguel Molina. Porsche vs.
Ferrari. Loic Duval explains that at
RealTeam, the #70 car just had a slower pit stop and no mechanical car issues.
A clean pass between Porsche and Ferrari. Porsche are able to hold position. They are more evenly matched here at
Monza. Recall last time out at Portimao,
the Ferrari’s were eking out an advantage on the Porsche’s all the time. But here at Monza, that is not the case. The Tifosi will be hopping up and down,
urging their boys on and trying to get the red cars past the chaps from
Stuttgart in GTE Pro. Portimao is a more
abrasively surfaced circuit and so you get the cheese grater tire
degradation. Here at Monza, the track is
rough, but it is not one that is going to chew the tires to shreds.
Compared to Portimao, track temperatures here at Monza are much cooler as well. Phil Hanson continues defending the attack from Robin Frijns as these two blokes fight for LMP2 honors. Whoa! Frijns is flying and nearly chops a GTE car, a GTE Am car, forcing him off the circuit! Yikes! Nyck de Vries, the third-place runner in LMP2, is lurking. He could be a danger man to challenge Frijns and Hanson as the race goes on. Oliver Jarvis is the next LMP2 car in the #82 entry. Oliver Jarvis sharing with Ryan Cullen and Felipe Nasr. Former Formula 1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne, he scythes his way past Henrik Hedman and shows he is taking no prisoners! Wow!
We watch the battle now for third in GTE Am. Thomas Flohr is now at the wheel of the #54
AF Corse Ferrari, taking over from Francesco Castellaci. But, right on his back door is the #56
Porsche for Project 1 and Egidio Perfetti, the candy magnate who makes the
Mentos mint candies and other sweets. Two
other GTE Am runners are under investigation by the marshals for Full Course
Yellow speed. Roberto Lacorte in the #47
Cetilar Racing Ferrari and Tomonobu Fujii (Fujii san), in the #777 D’station
Aston Martin Vantage. Satoshi Hoshino is
now at the controls of #777. He shall
likely answer for the penalty.
Perfetti is now on the move trying to apply the blowtorch to
Thomas Flohr. Stoffel Vandoorne, after
starting caboose on the field in LMP2, is now fifth in class. In GTE Pro, as we are updated by WEC pit
reporter Louise Beckett, One of the teams took left side tires. There’s a slow, limited number of left hand
corners here at Monza and your right hand tires will be absolutely pasted. A limited number of tires will stay fresh
longer.
Nyck de Vries is closing on Robin Frijns who is handling a
skittish race car. Wow! Check out this traffic jam! Hypercar, LMP2, and GTE Pro, all in the same
place! Glickenhaus, Oreca, Porsche, Toyota,
Ferrari. Everyone wants a piece of this
pie! The Toyota’s are closing as this
scrap looks like highway traffic on the Autostrada del Sol. The battle pack we see in LMP2 has Henrik
Hedman, Anders Fjordbach, Roberto Gonzalez, and Tatiana Calderon. We can see Pipo Derani in the #708
Glickenhaus, flashing the lights to say to Anders Fjordbach, “move it,
Mister! I’m coming through!”
We thought from the pictures that there was a battle heating
up between Porsche and Ferrari in GTE Pro.
Nope. This is a Porsche being
lapped through the Parabolica, a white Porsche.
But it is not a factory entry.
This is the #46 GTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Norwegian
drivers Anders Buchardt and Dennis Olsen, sharing this weekend with American
endurance and GT racing standout, Max Root.
Pipo Derani has the Glickenhaus back up to speed, the #708. So their earlier troubles are no longer
something to be of concern. Derani
lapping in the 1:46 bracket.
Meanwhile in LMP2 it is ARC Bratislava vs. Richard Mille
Racing. Oliver Webb has his hands full
with Tatiana Calderon. All this traffic
has split the scrap in GTE Pro. Major
battle here, look, in LMP2. Henrik
Hedman has Oliver Webb all over him and Tatiana Calderon, you know she wants a
piece of this as well. Calderon is going
to try her best to chase Hedman and Webb.
Hedman has to lose as little speed as possible. Don’t fight.
Focus on your lap times. ARC
Bratislava changes to Oreca at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next time out.
The Ligier, will be retired. SPS Racing used an LMP2 Oreca for a track day! Wow! How fun is that?! To have an LMP2 car, a full on LMP2 machine for a track day! Sign me up, please! Phil Hanson does not have much traffic ahead. Nyck de Vries is bang on the money and is very quick. He has his foot planted in the accelerator. The third-place battle also continues in GTE Am between Thomas Flohr in the Ferrari and Egidio Perfetti in the Porsche. It really is likely game over for Iron Lynx and Ferrari #60. The car is in the pit lane or the garage, but the chances of it reappearing in the motor race today are between zero and minus one. Iron Lynx tried to repair the car, but the water came out of that radiator like a geyser. The bodywork is back together but Matteo Cressoni won’t get to drive. He, Claudio Schiavoni, and Andrea Piccini, are done for the day.
Mike Conway has a six second gap over Sebastien Buemi. The affect is in traffic. If you catch traffic in corners, you lose
time. Pipo Derani has been running 1:39
dead, and being closed down by the #8 Toyota as we see the #20 LMP2 car bypassing
the chicane. This is the all Danish team
for Anders Fjordbach, Dennis Andersen, and the legend himself, Jan
Magnussen. Fjordbach locks it up on the
downshift, smokes the tires and does the shimmy shimmy shake through the escape
road with the polystyrene barriers. That
is the best option to avoid time loss, but he also collected the Alpine
hypercar!
Gosh. It’s squeaky,
squeaky time there, and that could have been uglier than it was! We watch in replay as Gianmaria Bruni hops
his way over the sausage curbs. Any fool
can take off, the skill is in the landing.
You need good damping. Kevin
Estre is pulling away from Alessandro Pier Guidi by at least four seconds as we
are about to have one hour of the race in the bag. Bruni leading Molina who also raced here at
Monza last weekend in the European Le Mans Series. We send our condolences to Irish Ferrari
racer Matt Griffin, who competes in European Le Mans Series on the untimely
death of his father. Thinking of you,
and your family, Matt. God Bless.
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