We are going back to green. That was a longer Full Course Yellow than necessary. Green flag. That was a very much longer Full Course Yellow for the sake of housekeeping and we knew there were pit stops and kept the yellow out until the pit stops were completed. Both factory Porsche's in GTE Pro took the opportunity to pit and were back on the road before we went back to green. That solves everything. Ferrari would be upset about Full Course Yellows. They take away more than they give, but the short yellows can be a good sign, sometimes. Jose Maria Lopez is told to not save energy but to try and see about the brakes. No energy saving. Use the brakes. Qualifying set of tires on the left side of the car, so they have a couple more laps on them.
The GTE Am leader has lost time as Paul Dalla Lana was later into the pit lane. There was a 12-15 second gap. We see an Aston Martin 1-2-3 in GTE Am with #98, #33, and #777. The #56 Project 1 Mentos Porsche is next in line. Egidio Perfetii has done all his driving that he has to and Ricardo Pera is now at the controls. Thomas Flohr holds down fifth as the best Ferrari ahead of Alessio Rovera, in the Am division. That gap is seven seconds and falling. Rovera has to hustle because he has Jaxon Evans, the New Zealander, nearly right on his six. He's about a second down the road from Alessio Rovera and coming in a hurry.
In GTE Pro Porsche runs ahead of Ferrari by 30 seconds. We have crossed the halfway mark of this race and 11 hours remain in the season. Three hours here and now and eight hours next weekend. Up inside #777 goes Dennis Andersen in the #20 High Class Racing Oreca. Oliver Webb is now at the wheel of the #44 ARC Bratislava LMP2 entry. This is ninth and tenth overall in LMP2 and third and fourth in the Pro-Am subcategory. After the hub change, now DragonSpeed are back on track. Well, in the pit lane. They will be back into the race momentarily.
The left rear tire takes a hammering around this track which will force heat into the hub assembly and whatnot. But that's unlikely that just one car would have that issue as we have many Oreca LMP2 cars in this field. Kazuki Nakajima says he had a good stint and was happy with the car and how it performed. It looks promising for the rest of the race, but the tire degradation is a big deal for everyone. They stopped during the Full Course Yellow and had to change something on the car earlier. It is logical for everyone to pack into the lane during Full Course Yellow.
This accounts for the discrepancy in time on the #8 Toyota pit stop. So, Jose Maria Lopez has been struggling with braking and has run wide, losing ground to Toyota #8. Mike Conway was not dealing with brake issues during his stint. Ah. #8 took left side tires and a driver change and lost 15 seconds in the process. The #36 Alpine might be able to gain, but extending the Full Course Yellow, they lost 30 seconds. There's over a minute, between Toyota #8 and Alpine #36. It remains to be seen if Alpine will be able to gain that ground back and it will be a difficult thing to do.
The two silver liveried AF Corse Ferrari's run liner stern. Thomas Flohr in #54 ahead of GTE Am points leader, Alessio Rovera. The trio of Perrodo, Rovera, and Nielsen lead the Am championship by 36 points over Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira, and Felipe Fraga. Next in line is the all-Italian trio in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Antonio Fuoco, and Roberto Lacorte. They are 48 points down. But one point behind them is the #54 AF Corse entry. Eight teams have mathematical chances for driver and team titles in GTE Am. Wow. We can see Toyota #8 is struggling through the GTE/LMP2 traffic.
This battle is for fifth in class between Alessio Rovera and Thomas Flohr. Rovera tries to lunge but thinks better of it. Rovera is having the blowtorch applied by Jaxon Evans at the wheel of the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. This is fifth, sixth, and seventh in the class as Matthieu Vaxiviere goes through the traffic. We need a positional graphic for points but we will worry about that stuff later on. We might just get to the end of this race without another Full Course Yellow. We will have to wait and see. We're just three hours in with three hours to go. Double waved yellows with double yellow cars as the #98 Aston Martin crunches into the back of the #44 ARC Bratislava LMP2 car. There's some argy bargy there, a tiny touch.
That little scrum was Paul Dalla Lana vs. Oliver Webb. In LMP2 Pro-Am, the race is on between Dennis Andersen and Oliver Webb. We now watch the battle between Alessio Rovera in Ferrari #88 and Jaxon Evans in Porsche #77. Ricardo Pera has split the three Aston Martin's. #98, #33, and then #56. The #1 Richard Mille Racing Team car is seventh in LMP2, the #70 RealTeam Racing Oreca in LMP2, and the #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin in GTE Am, their Full Course Yellow speeds weren just reported to the stewards for review. The RealTeam Racing car is also under investigation for improper procedure in the pit lane. A violation due to people being in the working lane or an unsafe release into the fast lane on pit lane.
Not good. Jaxon Evans still wants around Alessio Rovera. He tries to put down the power but slides a wee bit in the process. He has the better ru out of the corner. Side by side and trying the undercut, Evans cannot get by. Rovera holds him at bay. But the entire GTE Am field has been nip and tuck for a good portion of this race so far. AF Corse can lock up the Am championship. But, they could also gift other racers into having a chance in the 8 hour race next weekend. Now, 25 points on offer for a win today, but in the 8 hour event here in Bahrain next weekend, points for a win increase to 38. The Porsche makes the slingshot around the outside and yes, he does.
Francois Perrodo will keep pushing. He and his co-drivers want a title before they step up next year, in 2022, to LMP2 in both the FIA WEC and the European Le Mans Series. Norman Nato looks on and will get in for another stint in car #70. Let's hope he isn't in too much pain because he accidentally stepped on some glass in training and got the glass lodged into his foot! Ouch! That has to hurt! Ferrari #54 has some damage on the right front corner of the automobile. There's some wrapping on the right front dive plane. Is that a piece of trash that came up on the track, or is it part of the wrap used for the graphics package on a lot of these cars?
There is a big, gaping hole in the right front fender of the car with Switzerland's Thomas Flohr currently at the wheel of it. This is not ideal for the cooling or the downforce. Ugh. We can see another big chunk of something fall off the car. Flohr started in International Le Mans Cup. #54 had the hole get to the car after running over the rear decklid that flew off the #777 Aston Martin. We do have that debris flagged at turn 13. We also have debris at the entrance of the pit lane. The marshals will clean that debris if we see another Full Course Yellow. Just under ten seconds between Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Buemi in the two leading Toyota's.
Alpine are still on the back foot as we will go to Full Course Yellow in 15 seconds for these two scenarios that have already been mentioned. So, we are under the Full Course Yellow as we have debris and chunks of rubber on the road. WRT in the lane, and Charles Milesi will stay in the car and continue his stint. A quick fuel fill, but he stalls it for a wee while. Now, drivers will be pitting even with debris on the side of the pit lane. So, the marshals will pick that up and they've sliced the pie in a certain way so that will be possible while avoiding a stack up situation in the lane. Now, the #34 Intereuropol Oreca is in for service. Kuba Smiechowski has not done his full drive time yet.
Nonetheless, Renger van der Zande is set to take over that car. An hour and 15 minutes is the minimum drive time in LMP2. Maybe the team will put him in for a shorter stint later on. That too is a possibility. Both factory Porsche's pit now too. Smiechowski's drive time is completed now. So, Renger van der Zande and Alex Brundle will take the car home. Everyone has to bear right in turn 13 as we are sending marshals from driver's left to pick up debris. Toyota #7 in the lead has run 103 laps, 346 miles. If you are on a new tire it will be a benefit compared to a used tire. The #70 RealTeam LMP2 car has some damage.
We also have a pit stop for Alpine #36. Sebastien Buemi says the traffic fowled him up and if you want the car to turn better, lock the rear tires. That's odd. 34 degrees Celsius air temperature and 43 degrees Celsius track temperature. This is our third Full Course Yellow. This is going to be a sticky two and a half hours of the race remaining. Now, we go back to green in under 30 seconds. 20 seconds to remove Full Course Yellow. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Trigger fingers ready. Back to green. Full Course Yellow removed. Rovera scampers away and Satoshi Hoshino just wants to get Rovera out of the way. Toyota #8 second in the overall and the second placed LMP2 car, they are together on the road.
The LMP2 cars are weaving to get heat into the tires. WRT lead LMP2 with Charles Milesi at the wheel. For Satoshi Hoshino, his stint was interrupted by the Full Course Yellow. He is enjoying his time in an Aston Martin far more than other cars. Hoshino has been able to race an Aston Martin in Japan and so he is becoming more familiar with it than other cars he has driven in the recent past. Seat time is what it is all about. The gentleman drivers are running businesses and so they don't always have time to race. Dylan Pereira continues chasing Paul Dalla Lana. TF Sport run #33 and #777 while Aston Martin Racing run the #98 car from Prodrive in Banbury, England. Renger van der Zande has put in the fastest lap of the motor race for the #34 Intereuropol LMP2 car and he is catching the #1 Richard Mille Racing car in the hands of Frenchman Gabriel Aubry.
Gabriel Aubry is subbing in this race for Tatiana Calderon. Renger van der Zande is being told his gaps to the other competitors in LMP2. He is being told push, push, push, right to the end. Renger van der Zande will surely push Gabriel Aubry indeed. It will be driver performance and tire selection. Paul Dalla Lana, meanwhile, is not making life easy for Dylan Pereira, but with Porsche Super Cup experience, Dylan Pereira knows how to race hard. Pereira tries the inside. Dalla Lana still in the fight. Pereira looked like he might not have the run up the hill, but now he is home and hosed past Dalla Lana.
So, the TF Sport Aston Martin goes to the lead of GTE Am. Paul Dalla Lana will finish his stint soon and Ricardo Pera is third in the #56 Project 1 Porsche. In replay, we see that Dalla Lana got squeezed by the Pro class Ferrari, one of the AF Corse machines. Is this gaining an advantage by going off track? Yes. Dalla Lana seems to have gained an advantage, but just leave it alone. Renger van der Zande is catching Gabriel Aubry. This scrap is for sixth in LMP2, ten seconds behind Frits van Eerd. This will soon be a scrum for fifth between three cars. Eight seconds is the gap. Fabio Scherer now has the #22 United Autosport car second in LMP2, 14 seconds behind the #31 WRT entry.
Fabio Scherer has continually improved aboard an LMP2 race car. Stoffel Vandoorne in the #28 Jota Sport LMP2 car in fourth place. Anthony Davidson in the sister #38 Jota car is also much quicker. So Scherer is stuck in the middle, 14 seconds behind the leader, and barely ten seconds ahead of #28 as Gabriel Aubry fends off Renger van der Zande's challenge. Aubry has been a super sub these last few years. He replaces Tatiana Calderon just for this weekend as Calderon is in Japan racing Super Formula. Jackie Chan DC Racing won the LMP2 class here last year, in November of 2020. Gabriel Aubry, Will Stevens, and Ho-Pin Tung were on the driving team that day.
Fabio Scherer is catching up to these two to put a lap on them. Renger van der Zande is having to do more work than he'd want to. Aubry locks the brakes and allows van der Zande to close in. Aubry is on older tires and the grip will go away. Renger van der Zande is on fresh tires. United Autosport want to put a lap on these two I believe. They are indeed already a lap down to the race leader. Scherer has to deal with these two to keep in touch with Charls Milesi. Frits van Eerd running fifth in LMP2 for Racing Team Nederland is a lap down, meaning only four cars remain on the lead lap in LMP2. van Eerd continues to lead in the Pro-Am portion of LMP2.
LMP2 is still being led by the #31 WRT car as we watch this battle between Frits van Eerd and Jakub Smiechowski I believe. But then, pan back, and we can see the battle between Smiechowski and the #1 car. #44 and #29 are ahead. Oliver Webb costs Frits van Eerd some time. We nearly have all the yellow cars in one frame here. The Richard Mille entry has been going in the opposite direction. Gabriel Aubry has to catch Frits van Eerd and Renger van der Zande is closing in on that #1 car. van der Zande will get a tow down the straight or so I would think. Beitske Visser, looking on, and there, look, we find Gabriel Aubry moving his way past Renger van der Zande who now needs to push to stay ahead of Frits van Eerd as well.
Aubry on the inside, van der Zande on the outside line with more grip. Renger van der Zande makes the pass stick. Gabriel Aubry gifted van der Zande the opportunity to make the move. Very well taken spot by van der Zande. Aubry's tires are knackered as they are a stint older. Renger van der Zande now has to put daylight between himself and the Richard Mille car of Aubry. The cars bounce vertically under braking into the decreasing radius turn ten. Meanwhile, in GTE Pro, #92 Porsche leads the sister car #91. The Porsche's still lead the Ferrari's. But the second Porsche is only 12 seconds ahead of the first factory Ferrari.
Both Pro Porsche's are coming up to lap the #57 Car Guy Racing Ferrari, the other yellow car in this race we spoke of. 104 laps completed by the leaders in GTE Pro while in LMP2 I believe at last count it was 106 laps. 105 laps now for the Porsche's. Fuel only on the most recent pit stops for the Porsche's. Ferrari may have done a driver change. Drive through penalty for the #777 D'station Aston Martin for not slowing down enough under Full Course Yellow.
Jose Maria Lopez still leads Sebastien Buemi at Toyota, in the overall and in Hypercar, by 11 seconds. In LMP2, WRT continues to lead. #777, drive through penalty for Full Course Yellow procedure violation, as the tape rewinds, and Edoardo Freitas is transported to a different dimension. Wow. Racing Team Nederland pits the #29 entry and Job van Uitert gets back behind the wheel. Frits van Eerd has finished his driving for the day. DragonSpeed says that they had a bad pit stop and they might have a broken drive pin but they really don't know.
Richard Lietz is told to stay where he is in Porsche #91. Save tires and fuel. Full driver change coming up. Lietz might just be quicker than Neel Jani. He will have to hold up the Ferrari's. That is his task right now. The driver only sees one part of the picture and cannot see the Ferrari because the Ferrari is too far behind at this moment. They are being caught by the Ferrari's who are nine or ten seconds behind. Don't panic. Save fuel and save tires. Make it impossible for the Ferrari to go by. This is no time to roll over and have your tummy tickled. Just prepare for the fight later on if there is one. Ferrari though, to get close enough to take a stab at it, they have to use more fresh tires than Porsche. Porsche could have more fresh tires left in the locker, when it is down to the nitty gritty and we get to the point of squeaky, squeaky time.
The Balance of Performance politics again are rearing their ugly head. You can't see to catching them too quickly, otherwise, the jig is up. Richard Lietz stopped too early on his last stint, so, he has a stint and a half which is more than extended time on one set as we watch Dylan Pereira of Luxembourg continue on in the lead in GTE Am aboard the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin. There is an off circuit play for performance potential via the BoP for next weekend's season closing race. Pereira leads his fellow Aston Martin driver Paul Dalla Lana in GTE Am by a whopping 14 and a half seconds.
Ferrari and Aston Martin will be back in 2022 in GTE Pro and in 2023, we will see Ferrari and Aston Martin in Hypercar. 2023 will be stacked! So, what is the scoop at Jota and the #38 car with Anthony Davidson at the controls? He says over a static filled radio, "I feel my brake pedal going a bit long." Rear left brake is getting hot. Switch the brake bias to the front brakes. Everything is flexing and the brake fluid is getting hot. Let's hope it does not boil or that could cook the brakes completely. The left rear caliper is getting very hot.
You can only do a minimal amount with turning up brake bias to the fronts. You run the risk of braking into the corner, and locking up on the front brakes completely which pitches you off the road. We also see the second place LMP2 car, the #22 United Autosport entry in the hands of Swiss driver Fabio Scherer. There's still a long way to go in this motor race. Jota think they can manage this brake issue as Charles Milesi leads in LMP2. Toyota can use their hybrid system to manage the braking but with LMP2 it is more analog and you rely on the clutch.
Stoffel Vandoorne runs third in LMP2, but the gap between Milesi and Scherer now is 21.8 seconds. Stoffel Vandoorne is 16 seconds behind. Everyone in the WRT garage is pretty relaxed and the same is true for the #28 team at Jota. So, anyone in the top six could very well win in LMP2. This is going to be a major battle when the last hour comes upon us. The #29 team is eighth and they may not be able to reach the LMP2 podium, but, this race is not over yet. There's a bit of a wriggle through the corner by the #38. Pro-Am in LMP2 has RealTeam leading Racing Team Nederland by eight seconds or so. We still have two hours left. Richard Lietz is told he has a minimum of 11 laps left in his stint and he can push harder and use up his tires.
Due to the safety car, the Porsche's have split their stints. They are beginning to back time to the end of the race. The gap to Ferrari is not decreasing and the Ferrari's on newer tires, are still not catching the Porsche's. Is the long game for the manufacturer's championship or the race win? What's the deal? Thanks to the marshals and to the cameramen who are bringing us pictures. There's never a nice day to be a cameraman but they deliver some amazing images of these sports cars. Gianmaria Bruni is geared up to take over the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 from Richard Lietz. Stay behind. That is the deal at Porsche for the #91. They were waiting to see what a fully up to speed Neel Jani in the sister car would do and he is staying out of the way for the time being.
Now then, the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 is in the pit lane. Fuel and tires, as Frenchman Julien Andlauer stays in the car. This is the first stint for Andlauer in the car, sharing with Khaled Al Qubaisi from here in the UAE, and Adrien De Leener of Belgium. Back in the lane is the #21 DragonSpeed car, as Juan Pablo Montoya will stay at the wheel and get a fresh drink bottle. As the #33 GTE Am leading Aston Martin crosses over 110 laps, we look to the overall race lead and actually the car that chases the leader. So, Toyota #8 still leads #7, and has now completed 118 laps, 397 miles. Sebastien Buemi back at the wheel.
Jose Maria Lopez is up the road. All 31 cars that started this race remain on track and we have had no retirements so far. Juan Pablo Montoya is preparing to get back on the track. The 2019 8 Hours of Bahrain saw four retirements. That was as many retirements as 2014, '15, '16, '17, and '20, combined. This race is run in sweltering heat, but is fairly easy on mechanical issues. In happier global times, this is the end of the season and the cars have absolutely been ragged through this portion of the year. The factory cars can fly home and get attention. But, the LMP2 cars and GTE Am cars sit for months between the tracks in shipping containers.
The reliability of sports cars has gone up incredibly in the last decade, decade and a half. Aston Martin #98 is in the lane now for service. Paul Dalla Lana brings the car in, and now we see the #22 United Autosport car of Fabio Scherer running really wide into turn one. Paul Dalla Lana has completed his stint and he turns the car over once again, to Marcos Gomes of Brazil. Felipe Fraga will take over the wheel of the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin as well. We also see pit stops for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari and the #86 GR Racing Porsche, where Mike Wainwright, surely, has completed his drive time for this race. So, he will hand the car either to Tom Gamble or Ben Barker. My money is on Ben Barker being the chap to take over.
Fabio Scherer is beginning to recover from his spin. Now, Francesco Castellaci is at the wheel of the #54 AF Corse Ferrari once again. The tires on Fabio Scherer's car have to be knackered by now as we look at the #31 WRT LMP2 leader of Charles Milesi. The margin between the two leading Toyota's is substantial at this moment. Jose Maria Lopez's gap over Sebastien Buemi has ballooned to 16.2 seconds. Job van Uitert is closing on Norman Nato for the lead in LMP2 Pro Am. Nato is struggling and is a couple seconds off the pace due to right foot braking and the fact that he is racing in pain with his other foot being broken. Race car drivers are incredible athletes and what Nato is going through should be able to tell and demonstrate that to anyone, even the layperson maybe watching sports car racing or any kind of racing, for the first time.
Sebastien Buemi is telling his team he needs to pit. They have to hang it out as long as they can. Sebastien Buemi has run 30 of 31 laps for this stint as Norman Nato is way off the road. He injured his left foot which is normally his braking foot. It is very hard to brake with just one foot that is also working the gas pedal. You just can't make it work especially in a race car, and so Nato is losing a few seconds a lap at the very least.
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