Saturday, August 21, 2021

24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 15

Philippe Sinault, boss of Alpine says they are continuing their fight with the Glickenhaus.  Matthieu Vaxiviere moves up to third now after pit stops for Glickenhaus.  Come Ledogar pits the #51 Ferrari and Alessandro Pier Guidi will get into the car.  Job van Uitert is told to be careful of the curbs.  He says the car is really nice to drive.  He is very relaxed in that car right now.  Nick Tandy battles Ross Gunn.  GTE Pro Corvette vs. GTE Am Aston Martin.  The #31 Team WRT LMP2 car still leads in that class.  Ferdinand Habsburg at the wheel of it.  The #84 SRT41 car has spun at Arnage.  Takuma Aoki off the road.  John Hartshorne is now at the wheel of the #95 car for TF Sport.  Alpine and Glickenhaus are on the same lap.  Trouble for Miguel Molina in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.  

Paul Loup Chatin wants to change the balance on the #48 IDEC Sport LMP2 car.  This is the last hour of darkness before the sun rises.  Brendon Hartley told to box this lap and there will be a driver change for the #8 Toyota.  Is the #8 Toyota losing some time?  They could be losing aerodynamics on that car.  We don't know why he is losing the downforce on the car.  Toyota running 3:33 laps with the Alpine running 3:35s.  This is the 17th pit stop for Toyota #8.  Driver change to Kazuki Nakajima in Toyota #8.  The front nose is also being changed as dawn will be coming fairly soon.  New bodywork for the #8 with a paler white nose.  "A Whiter Shade of Pale".  Ah!  Good song!  Anyhow, front brake temperatures are too low in the #7 car!  Oh dear.

Jose Maria Lopez is suffering with low brake temps.  A possible radio issue at Porsche and the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE for AF Corse in the garage now.  Porsche are now up to third and fourth in the overall.  Ben Keating still is in contention with Aston Martin and TF Sport.  The #84 La Filiere Fred Sausset car is back on track.  Game over for Laurens Vanthoor and company in the #79 WeatherTech Porsche 911 RSR-19.  Alexander Sims in the pit lane in the #4 Corvette C8.R.  

Toyota, Toyota, Alpine, Glickenhaus.  Good spots to watch on the track are spots like the Ford Chicane and also in Indianapolis and Arnage.  We have a smoking car out on the road, one of the Porsche's.  Hard to tell which one.  Julien Andlauer has a puncture on the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche.  Glickenhaus #709 is in the pit lane.  Dempsey Proton with the #88 car are still fixing their car.  Alpine and Glickenhaus continue to run behind the Toyota's.  Robin Frijns leads LMP2 over Louis Deletraz.  Both of these cars are running well.  Rumors say that Audi could supply an LMDh car for Team WRT.

Ferrari, Corvette, and Porsche still running together in GTE Pro as Daniel Serra is now back on track and move ahead of the #64 Corvette C8.R of Alexander Sims.  Takuma Aoki and company have run 195 laps in 37th place and two drivers with disabilities are still running very, very well.  The #20 High Class Racing LMP2 car of Marco Sorensen is in the garage.  Pit stop time now too for the Alpine.  Nico Lapierre is into the car after Andre Negrao's stint.

Billy Monger might just be able to get into a sports car.  He won a race in single seaters without use of his legs.  We hope Alex Zanardi pulls through after his paracycling accident as we now see the first glimmers of daylight approaching Le Mans.  Paolo Ruberti is at the wheel of the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari in the lane for a pit stop.  Filipe Albuquerque as well is in the garage.  More repairs necessary on Oreca #22.  Sector times are beginning to be personal bests.  The driver's regain their peripheral vision.  We are seeing some of the best sector times drivers have uncorked for the whole race.  Rahel Frey, Sara Bovy, and Michelle Gatting have moved up very well, picking up the mantle where the #1 Richard Mille Racing team car left off.  Sophia Floresch, Tatiana Calderon, and Beitske Visser will be back.  Nicklas Nielsen is in the lane in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari.

Kevin Magnussen believes the engine is cooked in the #49 High Class LMP2 car.  Is that motor on the way to going ka-blammo?  Pipo Derani is back to third in the #708 Glickenhaus.  He is 40 seconds only, ahead of the Alpine.  Pipo Derani has now pitted the Glickenhaus and he may be done with a stint.  It may still be Derani at the controls screaming back out onto the Mulsanne straight.  NASCAR drivers have run the 24 Hours of Daytona.  Hopefully more will be able to come to Le Mans.  Sean Gelael from Indonesia, from Jakarta, he is third in LMP2 in the #38 Jota Oreca in LMP2.  #49 is still in the garage.  

James Calado leading GTE Pro for Ferrari with just a hair over nine hours to go.  WRT #41 in and out for quick and routine service.  Porsche #91 also in the pit lane for service.  Dawn is getting closer.  This is Happy Hour.  The sun is coming back out and the drivers are perking up.  Nyck de Vries uncorks a 3:33.33.  Again, James Calado leads GTE Pro.  Ferrari leads Corvette and Porsche.  

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