Racing Team Nederland had options as to when they could take their penalty but I believe they would under Full Course Yellow, wisely. Job van Uitert can gain time as Esteban Garcia is now in the lane for service at RealTeam Racing. He has burned up his drive time and will it be Loic Duval in that car or will it be Norman Nato? These LMP2 battles have been amazing as we see Phil Hanson chasing after Stoffel Vandoorne who is no longer reeling in Charles Milesi. Antonio Fuoco in GTE-Am, he is chasing Jaxon Evans in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. So, it is Proton Porsche vs. Cetilar Ferrari. Roberto Lacorte has completed his required drive time. Will Ben Keating finish second in points? The third place GTE-Am car is too far behind, the #54 AF Corse car. They have to win to make their move but they aren't in that position right now.
Sebastien Buemi, suited and booted to take over the #8 Toyota. Giancarlo Fisichella, meanwhile, cuts the fastest lap of the race for the #54 Ferrari. Fuoco is pressurizing Evans at the moment. They are still all over each other like a rash. Side by side stuff here, look, and through goes Antonio Fuoco. He is a fresh driver assumingly with fresh tires. Jaxon Evans might just be on fresher rubber however. Matthieu Vaxiviere, third in Hypercar, six laps behind the leader, up to sixth in the overall running order, 25 seconds out from Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosport Oreca LMP2 racer. Sebastien Buemi is ready to go. Stay calm, Seb. Brendon Hartley is instructed to turn the ignition off, and to change the steering wheel. The wheel has displayu, but there is something wrong with a paddle shifter on the car.
It has nothing to do with the rotary dials and controls right on the wheel. Mike Conway, should he hold on for the title, he will be the first driver to defend a World Endurance Championship, and the first Brit to win two in a row for a factory team since Derek Bell did it in 1985 and '86 with the Rothmans Porsche 956/962. Kevin Estre continues chasing James Calado. All four drivers involved in this battle have won titles. Neel Jani would be the first to win titles in prototypes and GT. Calado defends and here comes Estre! Estre is going to make the move and here comes Calado! He wants it around the outside but no.
An Am car, Satoshi Hoshino, decides discretion is the better part of valor, and Calado tries to slam the door in Estre's face, but the reverse happened and Calado got the rough end of the pineapple there. Estre with four green tires, he has pushed the bye bye button. Kevin Estre, 13 laps into a stint and James Calado, 18 laps in. GTE-Am is very close as well. TF Sport Aston Martin #33 has to retire. They had an outside chance of the title, but the clatter with the #98 Aston, it didn't work out. The recovery run didn't work. Damage to the steering rack. A pass between the #47 Ferrari and the #86 Porsche. Marcos Gomes at the wheel now of the #98 Aston Martin. Matty Vaxiviere for Alpine, pits, and we have had some LMP2 action. Right now, Giorgio Sernagiotto is pulling ahead of Jaxon Evans in the sole remaining Dempsey Proton Porsche. This is for GTE-Am.
Beitske Visser runs ahead of Loic Duval as we hear Brendon Hartley said there were missed upshifts. A new steering wheel will be necessary. Will it be a pretty wheel for Hartley to hold here? It never used to be the case that a driver has to step out of the automobile while a steering wheel is changed. Anders Fjordbach and company lead the Pro-Am section of LMP2 and we see the battle between RealTeam and Richard Mille Racing. So much of this tire clag sticks around, enormous, behemoth chunks of clag. It's like a pencil eraser but 100 times worse. If the rubber clumps onto the tires, you end up with a nasty vibration. Clean the tires and there is a way to achieve that.
Kevin Estre is four seconds to the good over James Calado and Miguel Molina, too. Porsche have been taking the pain on older tires to have more fresh tires to use. Mega lockup for the #44 ARC Bratislava LMP2 car and Ollie Caldwell. He was right outside of where the Toyota was, the #8. Charles Milesi leads LMP2 still. Anthony Davidson runs fourth. Andre Negrao, the Brazilian, runs third in the #36 Alpine. 29 of the 31 cars that started still race. Only two retirements. Charles Milesi is fending off Stoffel Vandoorne and we have Phil Hanson and Anthony Davidson behind. Mike Conway will take over the #7 Toyota. WRT are doing enough to fend off Jota's challenge.
The #8 Toyota cannot be champions unless of course something happens to the #7. Confirmed driver change in #7 with Mike Conway. Brendon Hartley has to get out of the #8 sooner or later and Sebastien Buemi will take over. #8 needs a new wheel, a new steering wheel. #7 in the pit lane now as Kamui Kobayashi has finished his stint. Will the #7 team repeat as World Champion's? We will have to wait and find out. It's not over 'til it's over. Quick pit stop and left side tires only or so it appears. Nope. Four new boots on that car. Brendon Hartley gets out of the #8 Toyota handing over to Sebastien Buemi, and no steering wheel change as they are fueling the automobile.
They can't do the repair during fueling. Nor can they likely do it with four new tires being changed. Is that a safety issue or a repair? Too many men over the wall. That might incur a penalty. But Toyota are clever. So, set the parking brake on that one. 171 laps now on the board, 575 miles. Now, the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 is in the lane. Bruni out, and a new driver into the car, and we have a slightly unseated wheel on that car. That should be Richard Lietz I believe at the wheel. But, germane to this is where the two Porsche's finish in relation to where the Ferrari's finish.
If the Ferrari's lead, they will take everything, but if Porsche leads, they do. Brendon Hartley says he had upshifting issues with a software glitch or something wrong with the upshift paddle, just on the way up and not on downshifting. Hartley and Buemi want to get Kazuki Nakajima's final win before he retires. Kazuki Nakajima has raced for Toyota for 22 years including Toyota funding in Formula 3. Anthony Davidson pits and might be taking a double stint. Together with Sebastien Buemi, he and Kazuki Nakajima are the only ones who have driven every generation of their cars. Check that. Kazuki Nakajima is the only one to drive Toyota WEC cars in each era. Son of a famous father, Satoru Nakajima.
So, Charles Milesi hands the #31 WRT LMP2 car over to Robin Frijns. No driver change at Jota. Windscreen cleaning and fuel only for the #28 as Sam Hignett, team boss at Jota, looks on. #1 in the lane for Richard Mille Racing. Just over two hours to go now. They had a huge accident at Le Mans. Sophia Floresch takes over the car from Beitske Visser. We have also seen Job van Uitert retake the LMP2 Am lead. Kevin Estre is steaming right along in the GTE-Pro lead. He is 11 seconds ahead now of James Calado! Holy mackerel! Cooler weather means the balance in GTE-Pro. Not so much in GTE-Am probably.
Renger van der Zande says the #34 Intereuropol LMP2 car has come alive. Giancarlo Fisichella passes Satoshi Hoshino in GTE-Am. Thomas Flohr is the direct rival of Hoshino, not Giancarl Fisichella. The #33 car is being rebuilt for tomorrow and for the rookie test that will take place. We will have news about that very soon. Porsche are on newer tires than Ferrari are. 13 seconds is the gap between Kevin Estre and James Calado. This race is far from over in GTE-Pro as Antonio Fuoco and Jaxon Evans contnue their GTE-Am battle too. GTE pit stops are imminent. Calado is in. This is the next roll of the dice with Alessandro Pier Guidi taking over.
Pier Guidi will have four fresh tires. Stoffel Vandoorne brought down the gap in LMP2 and Robin Frijns releases the beast and begins to chase. James Calado looks absolutely bushed. How did Estre get out of the pit lane 14 seconds quicker? Maybe Estre is on a double stint? No. He did a short stint during Full Course Yellow on fuel. James Calado says the track is getting better every lap but it is hard to manage the tires on a double stint. Ferrari says they have better tires than Porsche do. Calado was ready for everything but is now knackered after his stint. Alessandro Pier Guidi will do the same. James Calado has a new baby and potentially a second World Championship. Both LMP2 Pro-Am cars have pitted.
Job van Uitert is still in the #29 while Norman Nato takes over the #70, with two hours of this motor race still to run. Pit stop and driver change for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Nicklas Nielsen is back in the car. AF Corse will just need to come home for back-to-back GTE-Am championships while we see the battle between Antonio Fuoco and Jaxon Evans. Aston Martin #33 will run a lap and see if it is OK and then park and retire the car before the rookie test tomorrow. Rear tires only for the #52 AF Corse Ferrari in GTE-Pro. Kevin Estre on pit road now. Alessandro Pier Guidi sets fastest first sector time for the race. Tire change. Clean windscreen. Kevin Estre staying in the car. Two brand new sticker tires on the left hand side of the Porsche.
No comments:
Post a Comment