Full Course Yellow now removed. Once more we see Alessandro Pier Guidi leading in the #51 AF Corse car. Pooe old Fred Makowiecki has come to the lane. Time to box the car to see about fixing it. The undertray and the bumper is gone. Corvette #64 also in pit lane for presumably what is their final stop/ It is all hands on deck at Porsche. Corvette C8.R #63 is some 56 seconds behind the AF Corse Ferrari leading GTE Pro. What will become of Porsche #91? They are changing the tires and have fixed as much of the car as they possibly can or so it appears. Whoa! What a wild ride! Makowiecki is back on track and the car is fixed. He may have made a mistake or said that he had a brake issue. Once again, refer to the racer's book of excuses.
Kazuki Nakajima is in the pit lane in the #8 Toyota. Corvette #63 in the lane for the final time. Antonio Garcia will finish the race. #91 Porsche did have a brake issue and had the front brakes changed. Has Alessandro Pier Guidi exceeded his drive time? It is so difficult for these programs to go to Le Mans especially with a combination crew from both the U.S.A. and Europe. Glickenhaus will have respect for sure. Job van Uitert goes way wide at Mulsanne into the gravel trap. The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin is second in GTE Am with Felipe Fraga onboard. Porsche #92 runs third with Kevin Estre. The #22 United Autosport car of Phil Hanson is making it's final stop. They had so many mechanical woes and everything got away from them even thought they won LMP2 last year.
Refueling for the #51 Ferrari and and there is a tire change as well. So glad to see fans back at Le Mans this year. It was not the same withought you guys. Takuma Aoki, Nigel Bailly, and Matthieu Lahaye are going to finish this race. Aoki is going to finish the race. He crashed in 1998 and became paralyzed. But he has done rallying and circuit racing, both. Olivier Pla has the #708 Glickenhaus still in fourth place. Alpine will not win today but, they will have a solid result. Next year, the Hypercars will surely improve and look ahead to the future. Just 34 minutes left in the race. Toyota come in for a final stop for Kamui Kobayashi, being a lap up on their team mates.
WRT pits the #41 car. Tom Blomqvist will take the #38 Jota Sport car to the end of this race. Ferrari has GTE Pro and GTE Am leads. Perrodo should have a gap and the same is true for his two co-drivers. They are over a minute ahead and Nicklas Nielsen will take it home. WRT #41 are in for their final pit stop of the race. Less than half an hour to go. Francois Perrodo is a man of commerce and industry and has reprogrammed himself to become a sportsman, a race car driver. You as a person, are exposed for everyone to see, from the board room, getting successful, and then getting into racing, especially sports cars.
Lindsay Owen-Jones was Presdient of L'Oreal cosmetics, and he was able to race in a McLaren F1 GTR. Final stop for the #8 Toyota. Pier Guidi is still leading in GTE Pro as we are in the final 23 minutes or is it 24 minutes? No one fighting for position in the podium places. Ferrari will do what Aston Martin did last year, winning GTE Pro and GTE Am. Ferrari will be back racing for overall wins in 2023. The future for sports car racing is bright. Hopefully it all works out. Matteo Cressoni might end up on the podium in GTE Am. He is sharing the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari sharing with Callum Illott and Rino Mastronardi.
17 minutes to go. Will Stevens and Panis Racing are pitting. 30 years ago, the Mazda 787B won in 1991. Beautiful car. Johnny Herbert fainted. Bertrand Gachot was arrested in an incident involving mace an a taxi driver. Volker Weidler lost his hearing because of the maniac shriek of the Mazda 4 rotor rotary motor. The final tire change for the #84 SRT41 car with Takuma Aoki and Nigel Bailly! They are going to finish. 12 minutes to go now and the #8 Toyota is in the lane. Is this a splash and a dash? Yes. Leader #7 Toyota in the lane too. Now, it looks like they will wait for a photo finish.
One year, the Corvette was almost ready to win and they were so far ahead that they washed the car, and the fans booed! Fans want a winner to be dirty and authentic. Five Hypercars start and five will finish first through fifth. Hats off to Toyota as they could still win this race with two laps to go. The lap times of the Hypercars are slowe than LMP1 because of the difference in how the cars work. This is the penultimate lap. Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway, and Kamui Kobayashi, are about to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Mike Conway just turned 38 years old. He will win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the final lap of the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Tears in eyes at Toyota. Oh my gosh! What has happened to WRT? Oh my gosh! No, no, no, no, no! WRT is stopped on the road! The sister car will win, but that's horrendous! Ouch! From the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat for WRT's #41! Panis Racing will get an LMP2 victory. Talk about mixed emotions at WRT! Charles Milesi, Robin Frijns and Ferdinand Habsburg! They will win! Toyota are going to get their moment. The three men who have done everything at Toyota in the last three years. Half a lap left. Through Porsche Curves. Final lap. The clock is at zero.
For Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Jose Maria Lopez, are going to break the duck! They are going to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
Your winners:
Overall/Le Mans Hypercar: #7 Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez Toyota GR010 Hypercar
LMP2: #31 Frijns/Milesi/Habsburg Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro Am: #21 Hedman/Hanley/Montoya Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #51 Calado/Pier Guidi/Ledogar Ferrari 488 GTE
LM GTE Am: #83 Perrodo/Nielsen/Rovera Ferrari 488 GTE
Juan Pablo Montoya and his team mates will have to come back to see if they can win overall.
Wow! #7 breaks the duck! They finally taste the sweet champagne of victory! Congratulations to the other winners in the individual classes. If there was going to be a Toyota victory today, it had to be #7! Holy smokes! What a race here at the 24 Hours of Le Mans once again. So glad to have joined you again for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, having seen this race now 21 times. Mike Conway, World Champ in 2020, and now, a winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! Jose Maria Lopez is the first Argentinian to win Le Mans since Jose Froilan Gonzalez winning for Ferrari with Maurice Trintignant in 1954.
We have seen royalty, an Archduke of Austria, win Le Mans. Toyota win their fourth race at Le Mans joining Ford and Alfa Romeo as manufacturers who have won four Le Mans races in a row. Mixed feelings for WRT. One of their cars wins and one must come in second at Le Mans. Robin Frijns had his own issues but is a winner. Mike Conway is extremely happy to win after all these years. It's a bit of everything working so hard for this win.
We look forward to a bright future at Le Mans and in sports car racing now that Hypercar is here and we will welcome LMDh coming in a few years from now. The winners make their way to the podium for the ceremonies. Le Mans always brings up a special race, and we, along with the 12 winners will always remember. The future looks bright for GT cars. Podiums for Ferrari, Porsche, and Corvette. Sports car racing purists will love it! Aston Martin also on the podium. That makes it better. Another Le Mans win will be great marketing for Toyota. But, Alpine and Glickenhaus, they will be back. Trust me.
Celebrate, everybody! The champagne is sprayed. The winner takes it all. Another great 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2021, and we'll see you next June, for another one. Can't wait until then. For now, au revoir from Le Mans in France. So long, everybody. Take care.
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