Bienvenue a la plus grande course de voitures de sport d'endurance au monde, la 89e reprise des 24 Heures du Mans ici sur le Circuit de la Sarthe au Mans, en France. The lion's share of cars in the race this year are actually in the Pro-Am divisions for LMP2 and GTE-Am while the factory cars for Le Mans Hypercar and GTE-Pro, are there, but they are in far fewer numbers. Will LMP2 and GTE-Am be the battles to watch throughout this motor race? That's a question on the mind of yours truly.
It is raining here at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Wow. Just like 20 years ago in 2001. Grand Marshal this year is Derek Bell, a five-time race winner. It is the greatest race inthe entire world and has been running now for nearly a century. The weather conditions are going to change rapidly. Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota is focused on a clean first couple of corners. The rain will throw a bit of a spanner in the works it seems. Being fast and making no mistakes, that is key. Jose Maria Lopez, he wants to be the first Argentinian driver to win this race since 1954 when Jose Froilan Gonzalez won for Scuderia Ferrari alongside Frenchman Maurice Trintignant.
Jim Glickenhaus is here, with his two-car team. It is very emotional for him to be here as an independent constructor just like legends such as Jim Hall and Carroll Shelby. With the rain, Glickenhaus says that being careful, staying out of trouble, and having good pit stops. Stay safe and run your own race. Anything can happen. If the Hypercars run into trouble, we could see an LMP2 car win the overall. Robert Kubica for Team WRT in the #41 Oreca, he is ready for a challenge but has to be patient just like everybody else. Robert Kubica raced at the Daytona International Speedway in the Rolex 24 in IMSA earlier this year, but he says Le Mans is a totally different circuit and a totally different circuit. Yes, it is. Daytona and Le Mans are two of the best races on the planet, but the circuits are completely different.
Toyota is bringing the trophy back, and they have a classic Group C car to bring the trophy back. This is a car from 1993 or '94 or so. Great to see a classic race car out here at the 24 Hours. We wonder, when will the national anthem be? Soon. The singing of La Marseilles is coming up as the beautiful Toyota Group C clears the grid. I think it will go out and do a demo lap. Great to see that car here! Absolutely wonderful! Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the starting drivers. This downpour we have, is totally unexpected. Don't risk it at the beginning of the motor race.
Juan Pablo Montoya says he is glad he is not the starting driver. You can only get it wrong. The forecast is only for rain at the start and it will be dry for the remainder of the event. So we won't see buckets of rain like 2001. The Marseillaise plays, the French National Anthem. Wonderful. An instrumental version. Corvette are back in GTE Pro. Former Porsche driver Nick Tandy is driving with them, with their new C8.R. Le Mans is a home for Corvette. They've won here before and the car has been running very well. They are using a different Michelin wet tire than what they use in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
This is going to be a long race. There will be a lot of night time running this year just like we saw in 2020. We also are introduced to Jan and Kevin Magnussen, the Danish father and son duo. Jan says Kevin knows what he is doing and he is learning loads from his son. This is the second High Class Racing Oreca LMP2, car #49. Jan and Kevin Magnussen sharing with Anders Fjordbach. Their sister #20 car has Danish pilots Dennis Anderson and Marco Sorenson along with American Ricky Taylor. Both cars are Oreca Gibson's. Two all-female driving teams are ready to go. Richard Mille Racing are back with their Oreca in LMP2 with Beitske Visser, Tatiana Calderon, and Sophia Floresch from Holland, Venezuela, and Germany.
There's massive pressure on the starting drivers right now. We have not seen rain at Le Mans in several years and the rookies are being thrown in at the deep end here. The teams are going to release the cars very soon as we get a quick greeting again from Derek Bell, our Grand Marshal. Always expect the unexpected. Don't blink or you will miss something for sure. The grid is being cleared as we see the new hydrogen powereed exhibition prototype car making it's way on the track. This car is the future of Le Mans with alternative fuels. It is hydroelectric powered and sounds very much like a jet engine. We will see a car like this run in the full fledged Le Mans race in years to come.
Hub Auto Racing are top of the shop in LM GTE Pro, and they were an amazing surprise during qualifying. This is the #72 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Dries Vanthoor from Belgium, Maxime Martin from Belgium, and Portugal's Alvaro Parente. Ferrari President John Elkland will start. A wet race. Mark Cole, and David Brabham in the booth. No Tom Gaymore this year as he is dealing with appendicitis. Get well soon, Tom. John Elkann, from Ferrari, gives the command to start engines. So many new faces on the grid. The adrenaline is pumping. We're getting ready to go.
Green flag, The cars roll off on the warmup lap. Visibility is going to be a major factor. Behind the leaders, there will be spray all over the place. This is the first race for the Hypercars at Le Mans. They are not as quick as their LMP1 predecessors but the Jota #38 Oreca was flying on Thursday. The perfromances are astonishing. The #20 car has been left up on the jack! What on earth? The car is spinning it's wheels and not going anyplace! That's ridiculous! Come on, folks. Please attend to your motorcar. The air jacks are not working. The car is not moving. Good grief. Everyone at the back will have to catch up.
Mike Conway and Sebastien Buemi start for Toyota and Nico Lapierre third alongside Olivier Pla in the first Glickenhaus followed by Richard Westbrook in the sister car. Maxime Martin is the starting driver for the GTE Pro HubAuto polesitter. Julien Andlauer also in a Porsche is starting on the pole in GTE-Am. That is the Proton Competition machine #88. Andlauer just won the Road To Le Mans race. He is sharing with Lance David Arnold from Germany and American Dominique Bastien. WRT had a bit of a scare in warmup this morning and then the sister car broke down. Expect big things. We should have had 62 cars. The IDEC Oreca crashed twice by Dwight Merriman which he also did last year. IDEC are scratched. 61 cars on the grid.
Indianapolis is one of the danger zones this year. Watch out in that corner. If you go too quick, you can easily outbrake yourself and go straight on or crunch the wall. The air jack trouble for Dennis Anderson was due to a stall for High Class Racing. He is going to start from the back of the grid. It was not a mistake. The car stalled. We have an extra formation lap and the clock has started. There will be an extra formation lap. Edoardo Freitas has announced that on the radio. We have Jean Todt from the FIA and Pierre Fillon from the ACO. We are going to see convergence between the ACO and IMSA in the next few years and we'll speak of that as the race continues.
We will start this race next time by. The French Tricouleur waves. In 1992, Toyota was hit on the first lap with Geoff Lees and David Brabham driving and David Brabham is part of the commentary team for Eurosport for this race. Because of the pandemic, only 50,000 people have been allowed to see the race in person going through La Chapelle and onto the Mulsanne Straight. The GTE field has dropped back behind the prototypes it appears. The rain has stopped. We are going to see some wet spaces on the road and let the GTE field catch up. Sebastien Buemi is told slight rain is still expected but it will stop soon.
You have to have some temperature in the tires. Generate heat through the brakes to warm the tires, the core of the tire. This will be a slippery first lap or two. The spray on the road i still there and you can't see a darn thing, look. We head down through the Porsche Curves and the Ford chicane and we will have another formation lap. The clock is running. The lights are not on, on the safety car. How strange. The leading car must increase speed. The gap between the safety car and the leader is too long. The hill through the Dunlop esses is wet and through La Chapelle and into Tertre Rouge. A few people walloped the barrier coming through that turn. Esteban Ocon, Alpine's Formula 1 driver is here.
We could very well see an LMP2 car win this race. The Alpine is an uncomplicated car while the Toyota's and the Glickenhaus', they are far more complex and fragile. We are ten minutes into the race now as the drivers round Mulsanne corner for the third formation lap. We might need more. You can't just throw everyone out there. Shades of races here at Le Mans in 1980 and '87 which also started in the rain. Rondeau won in 1980 and Porsche in 1987. 15-20 years ago we would have been racing flat out, full tilt boogie in the rain, but now, we know the cars have to be in a safe position before we go racing.
Fernando Alonso is here as a fan, with Alpine. He won this race two years in a row with Toyota in 2018 and 2019 and could race with Alpine in the future. He is on their Formula 1 team. Clsoe the gaps according to Rsce Director Edoardo Freitas. Two by two, please. That's the call. Time to go racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Here we go. New faces, new teams. It is all on the line. Here we go. 13 minutes on the board and we are reayd to race, now. Out of the Ford chicane they come, and the race is on, now! Mike Conway and Sebastien Buemi are going for it and the Glickenhaus is charging and Toyota #8, Buemi, spins! Good grief! Buemi was tipped into a spin in the esses!
Nicolas Lapierre could take the lead and there's the HubAuto Porsche of Maxime Martin and Patrick Pilet has spun as well! One of the Glickenhaus cars has damage to the right front corner and the sister car has spun as they head onto the Mulsanne straight and Buemi has stopped briefly. That was Control, Alt, Delete. The Corvette C8.R has moved up in GTE-Pro. Toyota are concerned they've got a problem, some damage somewhere. More spinners as the TF Sport Aston Martin spins and the #48 IDEC Sport entry has also spun off the road.
Patrick Pilet has gone off the road, twice! Pilet is on an all-French team at IDEC Sport in Oreca #48. Brilliant motor racing in GTE-Pro. The Corvette C8.R's are running 1-2 in GTE Pro! They've always been great in the wet. They made the most of that pig's breakfast we saw and the Toyota is off the road in Arnage in the #8. Sebastien Buemi cannot believe what is happening to him! Could Buemi and company win? Now, one of the Glickenhaus cars is also off the road, the #709 of Richard Westbrook. Olivier Pla has moved the second #708 Glickenhaus ahead and the Glickenhaus locked up and drove right into the Toyota. Good grief! Buemi will be fuming!
The Glickenhaus cars have already been through the ringer. Antonio Garcia is second in LM GTE-Pro. Corvette leads the GT class with the Ferrari third. The #48 IDEC Sport Oreca is now recovering. Mike Conway has clocked the fastest lap so far at 4:10 and change as Kevin Estre has spun and we are in a slow zone so that will bunch the field up. Calm down. Take it easy. It's Wacky Races here at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We need to call up the Arkansas Chug-a-Bug, the Creepy Coupe, and the Compact Pussycat. Big damage for the right front corner of the Glickenhaus. He has right front damage and no right front headlamp!
Alpine has spun as well in the #36! Nicolas Lapierre is up to second with Nico Lapierre, Andre Negrao, and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Nico Lapierre gets loose at Indianapolis on cold tires. We see more LMP2 cars off the road. The #20 High Class car and the #24 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports car from the United States. Patrick Kelly from the United States sharing with Simon Trummer from Switzerland and Gabriel Aubry of France. Mike Conway is whistling off into the distance here at Le Mans and we have Tommy Milner and Antonio Garcia leading GTE-Pro ahead of Ferrari and Porsche. Oliver Webb is pushing the #44 ARC Bratislava Oreca sharing with Miro and Matej Konopka as Dennis Andersen spins the #20 car.
This has been a madly chaotic opening stanza here at Le Mans! Jeepers creepers! Michelin and Goodyear are the two tire brands here. Michelin for most of the classes and Goodyear for LMP2. tHE #72 HubAuto Porsche was tipped into a spin by an LMP2. Sebastien Buemi is in red mist mode, pushing, pushing, pushing, still down in 41st place. He is right behind the battle between Kevin Estre in Porsche #92 chasing Giancarlo Fisichella in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. The rubber is being washed off the road making the track really greasy with all the oil on the road. Alpine Formula 1 driver Esteban Ocon is here watching. He is supporting his team at Alpine. Milner and Garcia are chasing each other.
Esteban Ocon is fully focused on F1 and becoming World Champion, but he may want to race at Le Mans. Alpine won here in 1978, 43 years ago with two late greats, Jean Pierre Jassaud who passed away recently, and Didier Pironi. Tatiana Calderonis running very well in LMP2 right now as the battle is surely on. In 2001, there was rain the whole way and a massive crash three or so laps into the race. The Ferrari has split the Corvette's. Miguel Molina is in the sandwich between Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner in the two Corvette C8.R's. Easy, lads. Don't do anything silly. No meatball flag for the #708 Glickenhaus. That car is a padiddle, with one working headlight. They will have a ten second penalty in their future.
An off and on for the #79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19! That's being shared by American Cooper MacNeil along with Earl Bamber from New Zealand and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium. Robert Kubica is being monstered by Nyck de Vries and the track is starting to dry out and regain grip but only in some spots. Jim Glickenhaus is stunned that as a privateer things are going well. They are able to stay out even with damage and he sees this as a racing incident. Glickenhaus have not been able to run in the wet in a race, other than testing at Vallelunga in Italy. This is a long race. Jim Glickenhaus is really happy and thankful for the fans.
Glickenhaus has an American made car with a French engine and Italian mechanics. Now, Nyck de Vries is still pressing Robert Kubica. Time your pulling out of the slipstream just right. Drivers are still looking for grip. Here comes de Vries into the first chicane aon the Mulsanne straight and de Vries makes the move, the Formula E World Champion. Robert Kubica, he hopes to get a factory driver in Hypercar or LMDh. We have a huge scrum of GTE cars on the Mulsanne right now with LMP2 cars also trying their hardest to get through this mess. Into Mulsanne corner they go as we ride with the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage. This car being shared by Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga, and Dylan Pereira.
A battle too, look as the WeatherTech #79 Porsche passes the #63 Chevrolet Corvette. We watch the #708 Glickenhaus of Olivier Pla chasing the #38 Jota Sport LMP2 car of Antonio Felix Da Costa. Pit stop time now for one of the cars in LMP2. Cannot see which one it is. The rain has stopped while we still have Mark Cole, Jake Samson, and David Brabham on commentary in the booth for Eurosport. The Jota #38 LMP2 car is second overall as we watch the two AF Corse Ferrari's pushing hard as they lead GTE Pro. Antonio Fuoco leading GTE Am is next on the road in the #47 Cetilar Ferrari. Maxime Martin pits and so do the factory Porsche's.
Tommy Milner in the #64 Corvette C8.R is in the lane and so is the #91 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni. Maxime Martin has made contact with the #74 Tom Cloet driven LMP2 Ligier for Racing Team India Europe. Glickenhaus #709 in the lane, Richard Westbrook at the wheel of it. Variables are definitely being thrown around. Is this Toyota's race? Not on your life. No damage to the #8 Toyota, but there was a collision at Arnage with an LMP2 car according to one of the PR folks at Toyota. Christian Ried goes straight on through the chicane on the Mulsanne straight in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche he shares with Jaxon Evans and Matty Campbell.
Giedo van der Garde in a battle in LMP2 with Alex Lynn, Sean Gelael, and Roberto Merhi. Nyck de Vries loses fastest lap to Nico Lapierre as finally, the #708 Glickenhaus is in the lane. They are taking their penalty and the #709 sister car is still running. Now, we have the new nose for the Glickenhaus with their spare nose for the nighttime. In replay, through the esses out of Dunlop curve, Kevin Estre is off the road and so is the #777 D'station Aston Martin with Andrew Watson at the wheel of it. Everyone is swapping over to slick tires. There are certain places that are bone dry and others that are absolutely soaked!
Goodyear has only one dry compound. The Michelin runners have a choice of tire compounds. Nicolas Lapierre uncorks the fastest lap of the motor race at 3:49.192. The Alpine are banking on their downforce setup that can beat Toyota. Toyota are definitely vulnerable. The Alpine has had an 8% reduction in power. Mike Conway hits the pit lane. 55 minutes now on the board. For the first time in four some odd years, Toyota realize that they have their hands full and that winning Le Mans is not a cakewalk. Alpine in the lead of the motor race ought to make the French fans happy. Their home team is ahead. But there is a long, long way to go, as whoa! We see an off in replay for the Glickenhaus and another sideways moment as he wriggles through Mulsanne corner.,
GTE Pro, meantime, has a serious battle. AF Corse factory Ferrari vs. factory Porsche vs. WeatherTech Porsche. Toyota #7 passes Glickenhaus #709 onto the Mulsanne straight. Nicolas Lapierre remains on the wet tires. Gianmaria Bruni is at the keyboard of the factory Porsche. The #79 WeatherTech Porsche should have Laurens Vanthoor at the wheel of it. Make the most of traction and time as the track is drying. Nicolas Lapierre is in the lane and is in for service. Mike Conway continues to lead the kotor race. Good stop for the #36 Alpine. Their sponsors are Elf fuel and Matmut, a local French insurance agency.
Sebastien Buemi is steaming along trying to make his move on Nyck de Vries. He's second in Le Mans Hypercar. Roberto Merhi has spun off the road. Glickenhaus #709 is pushing. Nicolas Lapierre is now fifth. Lots of action here at Le Mans. Sebastien Buemi uncorks the fastest lap of the race so far at 3:35 and change. Wow! What a first hour! Yikes! This motor race is absolutely lit, as they say. Yikes! We have a slow zone coming up at Marshal Post 3, at La Chapelle which is very greasy. If you go off line, you are toast. You are in deep sleet. Keep on the dry line, mate. Slow zones are indeed active now. 80 kilometers an hour the required speed which is 50 miles an hour. Roberto Merhi is being recovered by the crane, 47th overall.
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