At the end of this upcoming hour, it will be the halfway mark in this motor race. Sophia Florsch is running well in the #1 Richard Mille Racing LMP2 car, ninth in LMP2 but behind Gustavo Menezes in the Glickenhaus. Toyota #7 must understand if they have a risk. If they are forced to stop, they will have to go as quickly as possible. A good battle also brewing in LMP2. Frits van Eerd for Jumbo vs. Jan Magnussen for High Class and Ryan Cullen for Risi Competizione. All of this is for position in LMP2 Pro Am. He is fifth in the overall LMP2 class and here comes Renger van der Zande! Two wheels over the white line going for a pass. Magnussen says “I have the inside line. Stay out of my way.”
Renger van der Zande does muscle his way through. Renger van der Zande seems to be more
comfortable in an LMP2 car because the cockpit is cooler than it is in the
Cadillac DPi he races in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship which feels like a
sauna. Again, the Pro Am LMP2 battle is
between Frits van Eerd and Jan Magnussen.
Now, in class, the leading WRT entry, car #31 has run 68 laps, 245
miles, to this point. Ben Hanley took
over the DragonSpeed Oreca, car #21 from Henrik Hedman when they last
pitted. Miro Konopka has also taken over
from Oliver Webb at ARC Bratislava, and Norman Nato is now driving the #70
RealTeam car.
Big trouble on the circuit!
Our GTE Am leader, Ben Keating, aboard the #33 Aston Martin has blown a
left front Michelin tire and is destroying the left front corner of that
car! The fender and the left front
headlight are completely gone! That is a
puncture, and the inner edge of the tire has lost the belt. He has flatspotted that tire. Glickenhaus #708 is slowing, running now in
the 1:47 range, and has lost a lap to it’s sister car, the #709. Egidio Perfetti has hit the pit lane in the
#56 Project 1 Mentos Porsche. Meanwhile,
we see in replay, Keating’s exploding tire.
Boom! Bang! It’s gone!
We said it earlier. The left
front tire takes a pounding around the track here at Monza. The centrifugal force pulls it off and the
bonding gets torn apart.
There’s carbon fiber debris everywhere at one of the high-speed
points after Keating’s tire explosion. What
a mess! The brake lines, the suspension
pieces, and the electronics, are all going to be in tatters. We have a Safety Car for debris on the road
as the leading LMP2 car from WRT pits as well.
Frantic action here at Monza. WRT
has done their pit stop. Now, in replay,
we see that there was some argy bargy on course. A major off for the #38 Jota Sport
Oreca! That’s full rallycross spec
there, mate. Phew! Poor old Antonio Felix Da Costa had to keep
his foot planted as he skittered over the gravel trap.
#38 hits the lane.
This is going to be a problem, and we have yet another Safety Car/Full
Course Yellow situation, ladies and gentlemen.
WRT are back on track, but we can see the debris field coming down the
straight before the uphill into the Lesmo’s I think. Porsche #91 has the top end to pass one of
the AF Corse Ferrari’s for third in GTE Pro.
That must be the #52 car. Yes! He made the corner into the Curva Grande! Yeeaaaahhhh!
The colossal tire failure for the #33 Aston Martin caused this and that
car is heavily damaged, and the mechanics are frantically thrashing to get it
back in the race.
The Safety Car is dispatched. Pit stop time as well. The old school curbs and gravel traps mean
that running wide cuts the tire, but flat spots and vibration could also cause damage. Neel Jani had to have a huge scare with an
exploding tire causing flying debris at full chat. The tires grow in circumference at these high
speeds here at Monza. The carcass and
the tread must be joined together. Poor
old TF Sport, and poor old Toyota, because their lap lead s going to evaporate. So, the Alpine and the first Glickenhaus are
sure to close in, and fast.
Ben Keating admits he pushed the tire too far and should
have pitted a lap or so earlier.
According to the rules, they’d have to race with the inner liner, the
inner tube, inside the tire and the inner liner was taken out in the explosion. The damage is done and it is likely game
over. Ben Keating will be at Le Mans for
the 24 Hours next month. His seventh
visit to Le Mans with his seventh different automobile he has driven
there. Ben Keating has driven a wide
variety of sports cars throughout his career.
ARC Bratislava, Jota, and Iron Lynx are in the lane. Toyota #7 is leading after two hours with 73
laps completed, 263 miles.
Alpine and Glickenhaus follow. Leading LMP2 is the #22 United Autosports
Oreca. Racing Team Nederland are still
ahead in the Pro Am LMP2 division. It
just so happens that the sister Glickenhaus is tenth overall. In GTE Pro, the order remains as it was. Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari. #92 leads #51, #91, and #52. In GTE Am, since Ben Keating’s Aston Martin
is in the pit lane, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Francois Perrodo has taken over
at the top of the shop. The sister AF
Corse Ferrari #54 is next, followed by the rest of the field which is peppered
throughout with other Aston’s, Porsche’s, and Ferrari’s. AF Corse, AMR, GR Racing, D’tation, Project
1, Iron Lynx, Dempsey-Proton, and Rinaldi.
Pit lane is open for teams to take service.
The last car running is the #8 Toyota as they have three and
¾ hours to try and dig their way back as a tractor is coming the opposite
direction down the track, off the racing line with a jet blower on the back of
it to get rid of the debris, another similar technique to that used in the
United States. Ben Keating has run seven
Le Mans races with seven different cars.
2015: GTE Am: SRT Dodge Viper with his own team, Keating
Motorsport
2016: LMP2: Murphy Prototypes Nissan
2017: LMP2: Riley MK. 30 Gibson
2018: GTE Pro: Ferrari 488 GTE with his own team, Keating
Motorsport
2019: GTE Am: Privateer Ford GT (recall it was the #85
Wynn’s liveried car, that had won in class before being disqualified).
2020: Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19
2021: (if things go to plan) TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage
Seven different cars run by seven different teams. He is always looking for another adventure as
a racing driver who runs 13-14 different auto dealers in Texas when he is not
racing, and he is quick in GT and prototype cars, both. Yours truly saw him racing at the Rolex 24 in
person a couple of years ago, in 2020. Keating
is one of if not the best non-professional drivers in the business in sports
car racing. He is also a great
cyclist. As the team continues fixing
the Aston Martin, it could be that Brazilian Felipe Fraga will get into the car
for another stint, once the repairs are complete.
Toyota #7 leads now with 74 laps complete as the safety car leads the field. Three hours and 45 minutes still on the board. We have a long way to go yet. Toyota leads Alpine and Glickenhaus and each of those cars has a French driver in the seat. Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine vs. Franck Mailleux in the Glickenhaus. Jose Maria Lopez is at the controls of the leading #7 Toyota now. Filipe Albuquerque leads LMP2 in the #22 United Autosports USA Oreca he is sharing with Phil Hanson from Great Britain and Fabio Scherer of Switzerland. Antonio Felix Da Costa is driving the #38 Jota Sport Oreca while Frits van Eerd is at the wheel of the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca. Fourth is the #34 Intereuropol Oreca of Renger van der Zande. The #31 WRT Oreca is fifth in LMP2. The #708 Glickenhaus despite their woes, remains on track, circulating, putting in the miles. Sean Gelael in the #28 Jota Sport LMP2 car is next on the list. He is tenth overall.
Jan Magnussen is 11th in the #20 High Class car. Now, we move to check the GTE Pro running order. Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari. That has not changed. Neel Jani ahead of James Calado, Richard Lietz, and Daniel Serra. Francois Perrodo in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari leads in GTE Am ahead of the second AF Corse Am Ferrari of Francesco Castellaci. That is the #54. Paul Dalla Lana runs third in the #98 AMR Aston Martin Vantage in GTE Am, followed by Ben Barker in the #86 GR Racing Gulf Porsche 911 RSR-19. Satoshi Hoshino is next up in the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage. Not to be confused, but that D’station entry is also run and cared for by TF Sport.
It seems that we’ll go back to green flag, full metal racing
next time by. That is what we are
hearing from Race Control at this point.
At Racing Team Nederland, they are third in LMP2 in class with Frits van
Eerd at the controls. Nyck de Vries says
it was good to get replacement drivers, but their strategy is being flummoxed
by the safety car. Never thought of this
one. But this will be the first time Ben
Keating has driven at the 24 Hours of Le Mans without his good pal, Jeroen
Bleekemolen. Jeroen is in this motor
race today. He is driving a different
GTE Am car at Le Mans next month.
Green flag back in the air.
Toyota #7 leads this motor race. 78
laps on the board and now the #777 D’Station Aston Martin hits the lane,
look. Meanwhile, Frank Mailleux in the
second Glickenhaus (car #709), is making his move. There’s a cork in the bottle here somewhere. Into the first Lesmo and whoa! Whoa!
Horses, mate. Rein them in. That’s a dang close shave between the Porsche
and the Ferrari in GTE Pro! Daniel Serra
tried to pass Richard Lietz but man oh man, he didn’t have a prayer! With Alpine in the pit lane with the #36,
this promotes Monsieur Mailleux and the #709 Glickenhaus to second on the
road.
Pauvre Monsieur Mailleux is going to be backed up into
traffic as we see wholesale pit stops in LMP2 and GTE Am. We’ve got United, Jota Sport, Racing Team
Nederland, and InterEuropol, the top four in LMP2, in the lane! They had to top up with gas to survive the
safety car or just after the safety car when we went back to green. We see that the Jota #38 may have had an
unsafe release as he rumbled right up next to the Aston Martin, the #98 in the
fast lane towards pit exit. Our old
buddy, triple seven, he went ‘round the #98 Aston Martin in GTE Am leaving the
lane.
Andrew Watson at the wheel of the #777 while Brazilian
Marcos Gomes is at the controls in #98. We
are also hearing that Christian Ried in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche has made
his way to the top five in GTE Am. So,
he is on the other end of the list. Ried,
from Germany, is sharing with season long co-driver’s, Aussie Matty Campbell and
New Zealander Jaxon Evans. The GTE Pro
battle is hot! Hot! So hot, it’s sizzling! Here comes Daniel Serra, trying to motor his
way past Richard Lietz! Serra wants the
outside through the Parabolica. He was
caught in traffic.
He’s way wide ‘round the outside! No dice.
Neel Jani will slam the door in his face. I have the race track. I will run wide. Sort yourself out there, sunbeam. Poor old sunbeam in this case, is World
Champion in GTE Pro in 2020, Mr. James Calado, the talented Englishman who is a
Ferrari factory driver. Ah yes. The battle of the factories. There’s some LMP2 cars in the way headed for
Prima Variante and now Calado may want to play dodge ‘em cars with someone
else. Calado is taking no prisoners and
rassles the Porsche right off into the dust.
That’s one of the Project 1 cars. Hard to tell which one. It looks like the Mentos car, the #56
Perfetti/Cairoli/Pera car. The sister
car is nowhere in this shot. They are
down the order, the #46 Buchardt/Olsen/Root car. Richard Lietz moves past his teammate and in
defending, Neel Jani loses two spots. Risi
Competizione is under investigation for pit stop procedure. Daniel Serra continues to be a part of this
fight. James Calado does the over/under
into Prima Variante, and the Tifosi go nuts!
It was no surprise that Jani did half a rallycross on two wheels and had
to give it up. One of the Glickenhaus’
went straight on somewhere but is back on course.
72 laps complete, 259 miles, for GTE Pro. This is your GTE Pro scrum with an Am driver
begging for mercy. Please, please. Go by me now if you don’t mind. Leave me out of this! Ugh! Poor
old Gustavo Menezes has had to take another long lap after going off the
road. This is a tough one for
Glickenhaus and especially their second car.
Menezes, Pipo Derani, and Olivier Pla, have had a long day. Gus Menezes is in the pit lane which speaks
volumes as he isn’t happy about the car’s handling right now. Glickenhaus are still doing what they can to
work the bugs out of a new race car.
Success does not come overnight.
You learn zero if you must park the car. So, keep plugging away, banging the laps off,
and just run the thing for as long as you can.
Get as many kilometers out there as you can before we go to the 24 Hours
of Le Mans next time. Meanwhile, James
Calado continues to lead in GTE Pro while the factory Porsche’s are making
inroads on the Ferrari. We also have the
Rinaldi Racing Ferrari, another red one, that is a newcomer to FIA WEC. Christian Hook is driving, and they are in
the top ten in GTE Am. They are prepping
for Le Mans.
Also, Dennis Olsen, the Norwegian Porsche driver is in the
#46 Project 1 car. This is his first
driving stint in WEC in 2021. He is
setting great laps as well. Now, the
battle is turning on in LMP2 for third spot as well, look. Renger van der Zande has the last podium step
in class, and Antonio Felix Da Costa, wants it.
InterEuropol was penalized earlier for tagging the Loic Duval driven car
into a spin, the #70 RealTeam Oreca. Third
driver #34, Jakub Smiechowski, his father is the owner of InterEuropol. Licking the stamp, it’s a long send, and Renger
van der Zande smashes Antonio Felix Da Costa’s mailbox and says, “hey dude, eat
gravel!”
Yup. He sends him
right off the road. Frank Mailleux has
brought the #709 Glickenhaus to the pit lane.
They take a tear off from the windscreen and are fueling the car. The car has it’s Goodwood Festival of Speed
sticker still on it after running up the hill past the flint wall at Lord
March’s estate in England last weekend. We
see the Toyota’s running together on the road, but far apart in the running
order itself. They have the field
surrounded, right where they want them.
But #7 leads the motor race while #8 languishes in fifth overall. They are bookending the top five in Hypercar
and the overall. It is Toyota, Alpine,
Glickenhaus, Glickenhaus, Toyota.
Toyota are going for the Hypercar hat trick. Three and a half hours to go. The #8 car had a settings issue, and their
second issue was that the wheel machined itself to shreds. What we can see is that the Hypercars,
despite their name, have issues with exiting the corners with enough
speed. Back in the day, the LMP1 hybrid
cars like the Peugeot, the Audi, the Porsche, the Toyota… they would have
whistled right off the corner and hit the afterburners. With the Hypercars, that really isn’t the
case. United Autosport are leading by a
fair margin in LMP2 with 79 laps to their credit… 284 miles. The incident with van der Zande and Da Costa,
has been determined to be a quote unquote racing deal. OK.
Set that one aside and we shall continue.
Speaking of close racing deals, the Porsche boys are having
at it. Gianmaria Bruni acknowledges
Porsche run P2 and P3 in GTE Pro and that this legendary, titanic battle
between two of sports car racing’s great names isn’t letting up at all. Ferrari vs. Porsche. Bruni says that with over half the race still
to go, they will have to wait and see what happens. Bruni says it is special to race in Italy, in
his homeland. He says “not all the
Tifosi like it that I am with Porsche.
But I like it, so I am happy to be here.” That’s true.
Bruni was once a Ferrari factory driver, and then, switched camps to
Porsche where he is currently. An
Italian, driving a Porsche?
Blasphemy! Absolute blasphemy,
according to the Tifosi, probably.
Tire wear for Porsche is always a question mark and can
change hour by hour. You have to react
to changes in temperature. Bruni says
the tires are fine. There was contact
between the Porsche and the Cetilar Ferrari with the amateur driver in it,
blocking Bruni’s path. Toyota was just
in and out of the lane from the lead. Aston
Martin #33 is back on track but heavily delayed. We saw a lot of damage to the car when Ben
Keating was driving. Thankfully the car
is back on the road. Renger van der
Zande continues to be monstered by Antonio Felix Da Costa.
What is Race Control going to think of the incident between
these two that we saw earlier? Da Costa
is back up to speed, running for third in LMP2.
Paul Loup Chatin in the #29 Racing Team Nederland entry is second in
class and leading the Pro-Am section of LMP2.
He was a late replacement for Giedo van der Garde who tested positive
for Coronavirus. Chatin is French, on a
Dutch team. Chatin drives for IDEC Sport
in the European Le Mans Series. Filipe
Albuquerque for United Autosport runs eight seconds ahead of Racing Team
Nederland.
Da Costa sends it down the inside and leaves Renger van der
Zande behind. He has run out of drink in
his drink bottle. The crew chief says,
“don’t drink so much.” In terms of
cockpit temperature, it is not so bad here in Italy. There’s less humidity here at Monza. Alpine #36 blows through the second chicane
in the Lesmo’s. Meanwhile, in GTE Am,
Simon Mann closes in on Egidio Perfetti.
Ferrari vs. Porsche. GTE Am class
leader, the #54 AF Corse Ferrari has run 78 laps, 281 miles. Oh dear!
Toyota #8 is slow once again! He
is on throttle, but the car is not working.
He was in third gear, and stuck there.
Are the brakes gone? He lifted,
coming down towards Ascari.
We have a report that there is dropping fuel pressure in the
#8 Toyota. They have pitted five times
through this race already while everyone else in Hypercar has done three
stops. That includes the sister Toyota,
#7, the Alpine, and both Glickenhaus’. Racing
Team Nederland years ago ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with former F1 driver,
Rubens Barrichello. Toyota #8 has
electrical trouble. It can’t be a
fueling or fuel pressure issue. Roberto
Lacorte has been in and out of the pit lane in the #47 Cetilar Ferrari and the
DragonSpeed LMP2 car of Ben Hanley has also pitted. This is the Cup level LMP2 car Hanley is
sharing with co-driver’s Henrik Hedman and Juan Pablo Montoya. The Brit, the Swede, and the Colombian.
Neel Jani scrapping with Richard Lietz, and then, Richard Lietz slams the door in his teammate’s face neatly going into Variante della Roggia. Neel Jani sent that envelope a wee bit too late. The leading GTE Pro Ferrari, car #51, has now run 83 laps, 299 miles. Richard Lietz, in the meantime, is presented with a warning flag from the course marshals. Abuse of track limits. But didn’t Neel Jani just jump the curbs? One of the Toyota’s has just pitted again. #8 returns. Endurance racing pit stops mean smaller pit crews for safety and for cost containment. Renger van der Zande has dropped back from Antonio Felix Da Costa, but now, he has his hands full with Ferdinand Habsburg at the wheel of the #31 WRT entry.
WRT were leading and pitted before the safety car. They could very well be off sequence. The cars ahead of them went for emergency
service. Renger van der Zande has run
half a stint so far while Ferdinand Habsburg is closer to the end of his
stint. No further action on the fracas
between van der Zande and Da Costa.
That’s the end of that. Now then,
Norman Nato is in the lane as well in the beleaguered #70 RealTeam Oreca. Fuel only for Norman Nato. Richard Lietz is in the lane and so is the
GTE Am class leading Ferrari, the #54, in the hands of Francesco Castellaci.
Lietz stays in the car.
Fuel only so far or so it appears.
The #86 GR Porsche of Tom Gamble has uncorked it’s fastest lap of the
whole race at 1:48.1. As we check the
status of the leaders, Jose Maria Lopez leads Matthieu Vaxiviere in the overall
and Le Mans Hypercar battle to the tune of nearly 19 seconds. Frank Mailleux in the Glickenhaus runs
third. 91 laps completed by the overall
leader, 328 miles. Mailleux in the
Glickenhaus is three seconds behind while the sister Glickenhaus, car #708, is
three laps down. Frank Mailleux is
coming in a hurry. This is the maiden
race for the second Glickenhaus.
It has been the more reliable of the two cars. One of the Ferrari’s has just pitted. Wow.
The #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari gets passed by the Glickenhaus but then dives
right for the lane, look. The problem
child was being ignored but now it is back on track. It is 58 laps down, but no longer in the
garage. They want position but will they
get it? Andrea Piccini, Iron Lynx team
boss, is in the car right now. Ben
Hanley makes a move on Norman Nato for ninth in LMP2 and third in the Pro Am
division. Now then, it looks like they
are going for four tires for Porsche and also for Ferrari. This is a race out f the lane and the Porsche
may beat the Ferrari out!
They were slow on dropping the car off the air jacks! Oh dear!
They were caught napping! This is
without doubt a lead change in pit lane as Porsche #92 has now run 87 laps, 313
miles. The #708 Glickenhaus is slow
again. This is the car that has had
teething troubles. Gustavo Menezes at
the wheel of it now, sharing with Pipo Derani and Olivier Pla. This team has had troubles all day long. Gustavo Menezes is crawling, trying to stay
out of the way even of the GTE cars.
Aston Martin #33 is back on track after a shredded tire destroyed the
bodywork.
Four seconds was the delta on the pit stops between Neel
Jani for Porsche and James Calado for Ferrari in the GTE Pro battle. Porsche have gained four seconds over
Ferrari. In replay, we can see the #708
Glickenhaus going off the road into one of the escape zones on the side of the
track. Both Glickenhaus’ were at the
same point on the road. Frank Mailleux
in the sister car was right behind poor old Gustavo Menezes as he stepped on
the brakes. Mailleux has caught up to
the Alpine, though. The GTE Pro order is
Neel Jani, James Calado, Richard Lietz, and Daniels Serra.
You are limited to 13 crew members to work on the car in Le
Mans Hypercar. Driver change in LMP2 at
Richard Mlle Racing. Sophia Florsch out,
and Tatiana Calderon back in as we are six minutes away from halfway in the
first 6 Hours of Monza in FIA WEC history, but not the first appearance of this
race. It was run in several different
guises for years including the FIA World Sports Car Championship and other
leagues for sports cars for several years.
But it is the first time for the FIA WEC to race at Monza since the
championship was founded in 2012. In
LMP2, the #22 United Autpsport car is leading in class with 95 laps completed, 342
miles.
The gap has opened between Franck Mailleux in the second
Glickenhaus back to the LMP2 leader. There
is a privet hedge separating the track from the paddock here at Monza. On the most recent lap, Matthieu Vaxiviere
was the fastest car on track. The safety
car realigns everything yet again. One
slip up and now, the Toyota’s are in the clutches of the Alpine and the
Glickenhaus, both. Mailleux has come to
the edge of the tire life for the Glickenhaus.
Jan Magnussen and High Class have had a long pit stop and that car is
still in the pit lane.
Traffic giveth.
Traffic taketh away. That thought
is so, so important to remember in endurance sports car racing. Some stuff you can control and other things,
you can’t. Racing Team Nederland have
been reported to the stewards for speeding in the lane. Porsche #92 continues to lead in GTE
Pro. They are ahead of the #51 Ferrari
by 1.4 seconds and have completed 91 laps, 328 miles. Nyck de Vries will be the driver having to
serve that penalty for Racing Team Nederland.
High Class Racing were in pit lane for one minute and 38 seconds,
replacing Jan Magnussen in the car as Dennis Andersen has now gone back out.
Meanwhile, Andrew Watson, third in GTE Am, has been setting
down some really quick laps, and quicker laps than we’ve seen all race for the
#777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage. GTE
Am top five is Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Aston Martin, Porsche. WRT in the lane for service after Ferdinand
Habsburg ran a 28-lap stint. This is two
laps longer than everyone else who have eked out 26 laps. The yellow flag period probably won’t count
in the period. The trouble with all this
for the LMP2 teams is that their lap time loss for the drivers was larger than
any strategy gain. Racing Team Nederland
are making up lost time as Nyck de Vries wriggles his way through one of the
Lesmo’s it looks like.
Filipe Albuquerque is the only other LMP2 driver to get
better fuel mileage as we watch Mailleux continuing to apply the blowtorch to
Vaxiviere in the Le Mans Hypercar battle.
100 laps, that threshold has now been crossed by the leading #7
Toyota. 360 miles. #7 has a 24 second gap back to the
Alpine. Charles Milesi, meanwhile, has
taken over the driving seat in the #31 WRT LMP2 car. So, the 6 Hours of Monza, is officially half
over, and we start the second half, right now.
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