274 laps run, 3/4 of the race run already. This year's distance will be fairly shorter compared to the 2020 race. Back in the 1950s, all the trees on this course were saplings. 275 laps now done and dusted as Toyota #7 leads the sister car. Both GTE classes are being led by Ferrari, so, they could replicate the feat of sweeping the GT classes as Aston Martin did last year in 2020. Toyota still lead while Andre Negrao stays third and Franck Mailleux has fourth spot in the #708 Glickenhaus. The #709 Glickenhaus is catching up. Porsche #92 is in the lane for service. Corvette #64 has had a fraught race but Tommy Milner and company they will continue to keep going because it is all they can do. Come Ledogar, the Frenchman is now in the leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari in GTE Pro.
Ben Barnicoat has brought the much delayed #71 Inception Racing Ferrari to the pit lane. Juan Pablo Montoya in the #21 DragonSpeed car has Antonio Felix Da Costa in the #38 Jota Sport entry chasing him down. Kazuki Nakajima says he has gear selection woes on the #8 Toyota. The car also has fuel issues and might have to make extra pit stops. This could open the door for the sister Toyota, for Alpine, or for Glickenhaus. Glickenhaus might not have the pace but they could perhaps finish well. Nicky Catsburg and Antonio Garcia on the team for the #63 Corvette C8.R, they are keeping the blowtorch on the Ferrari #51. There's a long way to go, but speed is imperative.
Tom Kristensen's 1997 win here at Le Mans with a TWR Porsche Spyder, that car was on Goodyear tires, and that was the last time a non-Michelin tire company won this race. Wow! Who ever thought of that statistic? Egad! Yikes! A close shave there for Fred Makowiecki! Those tire walls at least didn't hurt the car. Sam Bird remains in the garage. After four hours into a stint, Jordan Taylor will have to vacate the #63 Corvette C8.R and hand over to either Nicky Catsburg or Antonio Garcia. Kobayashi in from the race lead and Jose Maria Lopez is the next driver into Toyota #7. How many times have we been here at Le Mans with Mike Conway trying to win? It has all faded away. This is his biggest chance to try and win this fabled motor race.
Charles Milesi leads LMP2 in the #31 WRT Oreca. What's for breakfast? Nutella and croissants. Yum. Jan Magnussen is still pounding around aboard the beleaguered #49 High Class Racing Oreca in LMP2 as it is pit stop time from third spot for Andre Negrao in the Alpine A480 Hypercar. This is really a grandfathered LMP1 car but it seems to work out wall, sponsored once again by Matmut insurance. Toyota sending messages about the #8 Toyota. Sebastien Buemi has stabilized whatever issues have been going on. The #7 is managing another situation as well. It sounds like you need an engineering degree to work these cars. We thought that the LMP1 cars were spaceships and that the Hypercars would be simpler. Not even close.
Dylan Periera brings the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin into the lane from second in GTE Am and here's Toyota #8. Time for a pit stop for Sebastien Buemi and this is a scheduled stop, and now he is equal with the #7 car. Actually, Jose Maria Lopez has one more stop and Franck Mailleux, they have had only 21 pit stops for Glickenhaus. Toyota goes at full burn, while downforce is king with the Alpine but the fuel burn on the Glickenhaus means that a podium on debut is not out of the question for the boys at Glickenhaus. WRT #41 in the lane and Jan Magnussen nearly bins it at Arnage corner. That car for Kevin and Jan Magnussen and Anders Fjordbach, has been off the road again.
Charles Milesi still leads LMP2. We were told earlier that the #8 Toyota has had vibration and fuel woes. Maybe this is true for the leading #7 entry. Patrick Pilet, makes a porridge out of one of the corners. Sam Bird is back on the button and now, Come Ledogar has the lead aboard the #51 AF Corse Ferrari. The two AF Corse machines are 17 laps apart. Jordan Taylor runs over a minute behind Come Ledogar. Corvette also run ahead of the Porsche's. We've had Porsche vs. Ferrari all over town in GTE Pro for the last 18 months, and now, Corvette is upsetting the apple cart, putting the cat among the pigeons.
Iron Lynx just pitted the #80 Ferrari 488 GTE. Flat on the throttle down to Indianapolis, riding the crest of the curbs and the crest of the apexes. Come Ledogar is now in the lane from the lead in GTE Pro watching what Corvette and Porsche are up to. Fuel only at AF Corse? What is going on? Oh dear. The car is on the dollies headed into the garage! Wowzers! Corvette #63 pitting as well, look. Driver change, presumably to Antonio Garcia. Ferrari #51 is now back on track. What happened there? Lance David Arnold in GTE Am gets the rough end of the pineapple with a puncture on the left rear, headed for Mulsanne corner. Scratch that. It's still the rough end of the pineapple, but it is a left front tire down on that automobile.
Nicky Catsburg now back behind the wheel in the #63 Corvette just behind Come Ledogar. Ledogar in the Ferrari, Nicky Catsburg in the Corvette. Off the road, the #44 ARC Bratislava Oreca. Neel Jani continues to run third in LM GTE Pro in factory Porsche #92. We have three factory cars in the top three. That #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche is still in limp home mode. Discussion at WRT with team boss Vincent Vosse. The weather here at Le Mans is so deceptive. You just never know what it will do and Fred Makowiecki runs a wee bit wide out of the Ford chicane. Jani and Makowiecki are still fighting. We have slightly less than a full typical six hour FIA WEC race left.
Mercifully, Lance David Arnold does not have a flailing tire and they can change this flat left front quickly. There may have some splitter damage from dragging on the floor. Lance David Arnold has been on the podium at the Nurburgring 24 Hours and so he is used to having a puncture and nursing the car around a long track because the Nurburgring is double the length of Le Mans and a totally different circuit. Ferrari could have the win in the bag in both GTE classes but you cannot think that way or it can slip through your fingers. You can't rest on your laurels one bit.
Dylan Pereira is still second in GTE Am. Corvette #63 is gaining ground on the #51 Ferrari of Come Ledogar. Nicky Catsburg has uncorked a new record lap in GTE Pro! Holy smokes! Fred Makowiecki is also a man on a mission running his personal best lap in sector two. Romain Rusinov chases Rene Binder in LMP2, in a similar battle to what they had in the Asian Le Mans Series and we watch in replay as the #388 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari swerves and spins his way into the gravel. He has beached it into Tertre Rouge. Christian Hook at the wheel of it, the German. We have just seen a pit stop for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari and for one of the LMP2 cars, the #41 WRT car.
We have a slow zone because of the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari spinning through the gravel trap. There was no contact but Christian Hook bailed out of the corner and skittered it's way into the gravel trap, beaching itself. The gravel here at Le Mans is not small. It's a myriad of large stones. These drivers are starting to get extremely tired. Sebastien Buemi pits from second in Toyota #8. Andre Negrao pits the Alpine for fuel and now for tires. Philippe Sinault has a well oiled team at Signatech Alpine. Wondering if maybe they borrowed some of the pit crew from Alpine's Formula 1 team. The Pierre Ehret owned Ferrari is back on track now.
Frank Mailleux in the Glickenhaus is 12 seconds behind for third place. Now then, Fred Makowiecki is catching Kevin Estre, the two French Porsche drivers. Traffuc ahead and the United Autosport car splits the two Porsche's and goes in as an automatic pit. Pipo Derani says that Glickenhaus is showing they might just be able to finish a 24 hour race. They are fighting with a reliable and proven car that is the Alpine which is the Rebellion LMP1 car from last year. Le Mans is not an easy track to get a hold of. At the moment, it is tight between Glickenhaus and Alpine, but they still feel confident about getting on the podium. The situation with Toyota is out of the hands of Glickenhaus. They will see what happens.
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