Half the length of the straight is all there is between the Ferrari and the Porsche. Job van Uitert and Norman Nato both cut their fastest laps. The gap is 17.5 seconds. Persistance is the key for Jaxon Evans following Antonio Fuoco. Mikkel Jensen moves ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, two Ferrari's in GTE-Am. Three Ferrari's make that, as Jaxon Evans is doing his level best to pass Antonio Fuoco. Did they touch? Evans does not have a head of steam. Here comes Evans, and he does it. Fuoco loses the spot, or does he? The Toyota whistles by. Wow. Wheel to wheel stuff here, look. Nato will split these two chaps up. Now, this is exciting. Fuoco keeps the hammer down and runs wide. Then there is a wee scrape there, look.
Pick the bones out of this one, ladies and gentlemen. Job van Uitert makes good his escape. Tom Gamble and Job van Uitert both set fastest laps. #33 did it's lap and retires from the motor race. They spent an hour and a half in the garage. Cetilar Ferrari in the lane. Robin Frijns still leads in LMP2. He is told he is quicker than Alex Brundle and Anthony Davidson. His pace has been absolutely incredible. He's gapped Stoffel Vandoorne by 15 seconds. Alpine have made it back up to fourth overall closing up on Robin Frijns as Matteo Cairoli gets a track limits warning. Pit stop time for someone. Could not tell who. Ah. Never mind. This is a pit stop for the #92, but it is a replay. OK. OK. I'm stumped. But the Porsche GT Team has been amazing today.
No politicking or griping in GTE-Pro. It's been wicked racing. Anders Fjordbach being monstered by Job van Uitert for LMP2 Pro-Am. van Uitert is pressing hard as Jaxon Evans is in the lane for tires. Nicklas Nielsen goes to the lead in GTE-Am. This is going to be a squeaker! The Ferrari has a head of steam. There's not much in it. Matt Campbell is now at the controls of the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche and side y side stuff between Job van Uitert and Anders Fjordbach and Fjordbach tried slamming the door in van Uitert's face! That was not a good move.
Anthony Davidson will make his final racing pit stop. WRT continues leading LMP2 one lap ahead of the Alpine, Brazilian Andre Negrao at the wheel of it. Anders Fjordbach's gap over Norman Nato has ballooned to 20 seconds. Estre leads Pier Guidi in GTE-Pro by 12.7 seconds, meanwhile. 190 laps done, 639 miles. Anthony Davidson has done a lot in his career but he never had a world championship. However, the deal is, he wants to be with his family. Who wouldn't? Aston Martin #98 is back in the race after a short repair with Augusto Farfus at the controls. Sebastien Buemi leads Mike Conway by 32 seconds. #7 can still win the championship. Deja vu between #47 and #77 in GTE-Am.
Now it is Matt Campbell vs. Antonio Fuoco for third in GTE-Am. Nicklas Nielsen leads the GTE-Am class over Matteo Cairoli. TF Sport are now 65 laps down. They won't be classified as finishers. It is an open goal for the #83 Ferrari as Matty Campbell is very racy going after Senore Fuoco. Someone ran really wide off the road, and that's the #70 RealTeam entry and now, Matt Campbell is all on with Fuoco and up the inside he has him. Fuoco though, he's going to make his move back. This is brewing up nicely ladies and gentlemen, for some great finishes in the GT classes.
It is too close to call right now. Another pit stop for Alpine and Nico Lapierre is into the car. A team member does the driver changes, compared to the driver coming out of the car. Use all tools available and if a team member does it, that's a benefit compared to a driver. With the #8 Toyota changing the steering wheel, they affected repairs while doing tire changing. Presumably, affecting a repair, is against the rules. Although, there may be a pre-written agreement. In the past, steering wheels have been changed with drivers in the car. No biggie.
Alpine drops to seventh place. Anthony Davidson is fourth in class in LMP2. One of his co-drivers is suited and booted and ready to rumble. Matt Campbell is catching Matteo Cairoli and pulling ahead of Antonio Fuoco while we see Nicklas Nielsen leading in GTE-Am. Ferrari wants to win but they don't have to. They just need to finish. We might just catalog this race for Egidio Perfetti because this could be his last one. We'll see. Repairs that can be carried out by the drivers, during the race, repairs must be completed by drivers if they are on track with tools aboard the car. Three people can work on the car for safety in the lane. But they did it on a tire stop. There is no breach of the rules though. None.
Ferrari says they have better tires than Porsche. Box, box, box, box. Driver change for Anthony Davidson. The end of an era. Gabriele Tarquini is a retiring driver for touring cars. Tarquini is 59 years old and has been around for a long, long, long time. Good onya Anthony Davidson! His team mates got a special helmet commissioned for him. Bell and the helmet painter are at the circuit. Great story! Thank you Anthony "Ant" Davidson. Sports car fans, love you. You should be proud of his career. He is going to continue in broadcasting in Formula 1.
#34 in the pit lane as Jakub Smiechowski completes his drive time. Alex Brundle takes over. We welcome Jamie Campbell-Walter to the broadcast booth as at Jota, it's pit stop time. Stoffel Vandoorne is finished with his stint. Box, box, box, and Tom Blomqvist is back in the car. Another free dinner for Jamie Campbell-Walter. Not really. Campbell-Walter is managing Ferdinand Habsburg as well as many in the European Le Mans Series. There's still an hour and a half left in the race. The best place to be is driving the car according to Mr. Campbell-Walter.
Campbell-Walter is a legend for the Lister team in GT racing. He says that you are more of a fly on the wall. Campbell-Walter and Vincent Vosse were team mates at Le Mans and competitors in FIA GT and in World Endurance. WRT won Le Mans in LMP2 with a couple of rookie drivers and damn nearly got a 1-2. That was a weird one. Toyota #8 in the pit lane. Kazuki Nakajima is driving his final stint in the World Endurance Championship. Like Anthony Davidson, we have enjoyed having you Kazuki Nakajima in this championship and in motor racing. Maybe you will be racing in other places Kazuki. Hope so.
Toyota #8 has run 202 laps, 679 miles. The emotion of this sport, endurance sports car racing, is amazing. The emotions as a driver, manager, team boss, or engineer, it's unbelievable. When you jhang up your helmet it is emotion, but life goes on. Andrew Watson is chasing Francesco Castellaci in GTE-Am right now. #29 and #70 pit simultaneously. Giedo van der Garde will take the #29 to the end of the race. Rallying drivers like Colin McRae, Sebastien Loeb, and maybe, Sebastien Ogier, have been successful in sports cars. Will Ogier get a drive? We'll find out after tomorow's test. It was a longer stop for RealTeam Racing which means they've dropped behind the High Class Racing entry. Nope. Never mind. High Class is behind them.
Wait a minute. They have dropped behind High Class Racing. The Hypercar gap is 30 seconds. A minute in LMP2. Nine seconds in GTE Pro and another gap in GTE Am. Porsche #91 into the pits. Gianmaria Brun at the wheel, as Robin Frijns, he is absolutely destroying the competition right now. Robin Frijns will finish out the race for WRT, lapping within two seconds of Nico Lapierre in the Alpine Hypercar. Estre leads Pier Guidi in GTE Pro. We have a Full Course Yellow. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow.
What is the reason? RealTeam Racing had a broken or cross threaded wheel nut. We might have debris on the road. We are a couple laps away from final pit stops. Do you give up track position? No. No pitting, well, unless you are Filipe Albuquerque for United Autosport. Kevin Estre in the lane now after a 23 lap stint. Nicklas Nielsen in the lane too. Estre hands the car to Michael Christensen and here too is the #51 Ferrari. Turn 13 is where the issue is. Alessandro Pier Guidi is staying in the #51 Ferrari. Two tires for Porsche, two scrubbed tires. Ferrari has better tires still. #52 AF Corse Ferrari is in. Full set of four tires, scrubbed, for the #31 WRT LMP2 car with Robin Frijns.
Daniel Serra is in for Miguel Molina. This is a short yellow. Under 40 seconds to remove Full Course Yellow. 25 seconds now. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. WRT might just have the LMP2 race handed to them on a platter here. #38 goes to second. A change between the two Jota machines. The GTE Pro gap is shrinking. #38 runs wide, the second place LMP2 car of Antonio Felix Da Costa. We are looking forward to the new era of sports car racing with Hypercar and with LMDh. Pier Guidi is beginning to catch Christensen in GTE Pro hand over fist.
Gianmaria Bruni cannot help the team Porsche. #92 has the advantage as we are nearly 200 laps into this event. Nicklas Nielsen is only behind Serra and Estre. Wow! So Nicklas Nielsen is cranking out stonking laps! A few teams have saved their freshest tires for the run to the flag in the cooler temperatures of the nighttime. Pier Guidi is closing. We have an hour or so to go yet. Will the tires last? Or, are they in their honeymoon phase? Tom Blomqvist is coming in a hurry and so is Filipe Albuquerque in LMP2. Michael Christensen is the third driver. Kevin Estre and Neel Jani will be the ones taking the title. Christensen has a GTE Pro title with Porsche won years ago.
Porsche could still sweep up but Ferrari are in this. Christensen is losing time to the D'station Aston Martin as that car holds him up and he is losing time to the Ferrari more precisely and in all fairness. Don't take too many risks but if you take it easy, the Ferrari will be right on your six if you are the Porsche driver. Christensen has a better balanced set of tires, but the Ferrari will have better traction and more forward brake balance/bias off the corner. The gap has decreased to 3.2 seconds as we head to the final hour of the race.
No comments:
Post a Comment