We are coming to the end of the red flag. Wave by underway. So, we are going back to green here shortly after Jose Maria Lopez's accident. We have the #8 as the sole remaining Toyota in the field. Alpine #36 will have a clear track ahead and the #8 entry will be behind. The #88 Porsche was damaged in that accident with Jose Maria Lopez. That was the car that had a puncture moments earlier. Andlauer's car was on the dollies in the pit lane and has now gone behind the wall. The field resumes behind the safety car. The race has been resumed behind the safety car. Julien Andlauer says the #88 Porsche has had damage to the right front axle. Toyota #7 will be packed up and sent back to the factory in Cologne, Germany, to be rebuult before the next FIA WEC race.
The wave by will be done at turn 16. The Glickenhaus and several LMP2 cars will be pointed by I believe. What a relief to see Jose Maria Lopez is OK. The pass around is underway. Illegible cars must bear to the right. We could see some rain before the end of the race, but we'll have to find out. Sebring is a total skating rink when the rain falls. It is like driving on ice. Sebastien Ogier will be able to drive in the wet and so will a number of the other drivers. The wave by is complete. Corvette #64 leads the two Porsche's and one of the Ferrari's in GTE Pro. #51 ahead of #52. Toyota #8 leads Alpine and Glickenhaus in Hypercar. Northwest AMR leads GTE Am for Paul Dalla Lana over Ben Keating and Christian Ried and in LMP2, it is the #31 WRT entry I believe who is leading.
Jose Maria Lopez is speaking to his teammates about how his accident happened. Yellow flag remains out as we have not cuahgt the tail end of the field up to the rest yet after the wave by. The #8 Toyota will be very close on fuel. It will be squeaky, squeaky time on fuel for sure. Restart at the end of this lap. Jose Maria Lopez says he is OK after going to the medical center. Lopez says the front nose went down and he had no control or steering. Toyota #8 into the pit lane. The Glickenhaus is now a lap down.
We are racing now. Glickenhaus does not plan t come straight in. They have only run six laps for their most recent fuel fill. The Corvette and Porsche scrap is on in GTE Pro. Prema and United scrap for the lead in LMP2. Paul di Resta cannot get to terms with Louis Deletraz, while Tommy Milner has Kevin Estre right on his six once more. Trouble for the #71 Inception Racing Ferrari at turns six and seven, Gabriel Aubry at the controls right now. Will Owen is having issues with the GT cars. Side by side between Porsche and Corvette into Sunset Bend and Estre holds fast in the middle of the turn.
Paul di Resta wants by Louis Deletraz but there are double yellow flags. Now the #8 Toyota has been in twice and Ryo Hirakawa is now at the controls, and it was emergency service for low fuel. That is disaster for Toyota. Alpine will catch up and perhaps Glickenhaus will too. The #71 Inception Ferrari is dead in the water and Gabriel Aubry is in trouble. Nope, nope, nope. He has restarted the car and is back on his way. The red flag maybe has torpedoed Toyota's strategy. But there is a long way to go with three and a half hours left on the board.
The #91 Porsche is coming fast and we see issues for Glickenhaus, passing before coming to the start/finish line. Meanwhile, some contact between an LMP2 and the Corvette I think. The #83 AF Corse LMP2 car is in. Francois Perrodo will hand the car to Alessio Rovera. Prema continues to lead in LMP2. Louis Deletraz is leading Paul di Resta. Bronze rated drivers have to run two hours. The #71 car is stopped at pit entry. Not good news for Gabriel Aubry. This is the car he shares with Frank Dezotoux and Pierre Ragues. Patrick Lindsey is now at the wheel of the repaired #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Aston Martin #33 may or may not ahve been to the pit lane. Nope. Never mind. Florian Latorre at the controls. Paul di Resta is chasing down Louis Deletraz in LMP2. Good battle here between Tommy Milner and the sister #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in the hands of Gianmaria Bruni. Prema into the lane and the #71 Spirit of Race Ferrari was low on petrol but we do not know why. Oliver Rasmussen is now in the lane in the #28 Jota entry. Good battle for fourth place between Rene Rast and Antonio Felix Da Costa. Another yellow flag? Now this may be just a local yellow. Hard to tell.
The debris all over the road earlier, was cleaned up during the red flag. Both United Autosports as well as Jota are in the pit lane. Jota #38 in the lane for fuel and Rene Rast continues to lead in LMP2. The local yellow is still out for the #71 Ferrari which could very well be completely dry on fuel. Crank it on the starter motor to get it to the pit lane for crying out loud. Stick it in gear and use the starter motor. You would just kill either the starter or the battery, but the Engine Control Unit would not be able to start the engine. Interesting. Try first gear and just crank it.
We have come darn close to halfway through the race at 500 miles. Sebring is the place where the World Endurance Championship had it's grounding a decade ago. If you saw the video I posted from that race, you will know. Julien Andlauer says he had the line to brake and Jose Maria Lopez was probably not aware he was there, and he says that their Porsche is back on track. They did fix the car. There was damage to the front left part of the axle. We are going to have another Full Course Yellow for the car recovery and some contact and now the #71 is still limping around, but the Full Course Yellow has now been aborted.
Somehow or other, Aubry gets the damn thing to move. Come on, car. Come on, car. One of the LMP2 cars had to wriggle it's way past in the pit lane! Yikes! The Vector LMP2 car, Mike Rockenfeller, found his way through. It looks like the marshals are recovering the stricken Ferrari. Andre Negrao, the Brazilian, leads the motor race for Alpine followed by the Glickenhaus a lap down, and the sole remaining Toyota, the #8 entry. Under emergency service in a closed pit lane you can do a splash and dash on fuel, a five second fuel fill. Kevin Estre leads Tommy Milner and Gianmaria Bruni in GTE Pro.
Estre went full send 'round the Corvette and is now leading but it will be tougher for Bruni to pass the Corvette even on old tires. Porsche have an advantage because they started on fresh tires. Glickenhaus is being penalized for overtaking under the safety car. Why did the Glickenhaus not get waved by as a lapped car? It was indeed a lap down, pitting four laps before going to the red flag for Jose Maria Lopez's crash. Bruni is bearing down on Milner. Bruni has better tires than both Milner and Estre. Estre could very well have better tires than Bruni.
The Glickenhaus overtook the Corvette before the start/finish line, Ryan Briscoe at the controls. Briscoe has run here at Sebring in IMSA, but the two sanctioning bodies between IMSA and WEC are different. IMSA goes green wherever a green flag is called but not here in World Endurance. On the green flag, you do not overtake until crossing the start/finish line. Andre Negrao now leads the motor race in his first stint behind the wheel just ahead of the sole remaining Toyota and the #23 United Autosport entry has passed the #9 Prema entry. Will Owen is at the controls of the sister #22 United Autosport entry. Paul di Resta passed the Prema car, but the Prema team has the speed. Into the lane, the leading #36 Alpine, with 128 laps done, 479 miles.
Trouble as Sara Bovy goes off the road and back on in the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari, indulging in a wee bit of rallycross. United Autosport #22 in the pit lane and Phil Hanson is back in. Someone else has been off the road in Sunset Bend. If deemed appropriate, a pass around will be allowed for the class leader being behind them. But the Glickenhaus was not ahead of the Hypercar leader, the #8 Toyota. Nicki Thiim leads GTE Am in the #98 Aston Martin, and they have been in the lead since the opening hour of the race. Wow. Now, to the Glickenhaus pit and team boss Jim Glickenhaus.
On the restart, Ryan Briscoe saw the green and assumed he could go but did not see the red light at the start/finish light. Glickenhaus are going for their first podium in their first Sebring race. It is a whole learning curve for the team around this legendary circuit. Florian Latorre s catching Christian Ried in GTE Am. We have about ten minutes to go in the fifth hour. So, in spite of the red flag, this motor race has been flying by. Florian Latorre does indeed pass Christian Ried and we have the #56 Project 1 Porsche of Ollie Milroy closing in. Inception Racing took the Asian Le Mans GT3 title. They ran well in the Rolex 24 and will race tomorrow in thr 12 Hours of Sebring in their GT3 McLaren as Christian Ried spins through the chicane.
Full service stop for the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and a driver change putting Nick Tandy back in. Kuba Smiechowski is in the #44 ARC Btatislava LMP2 car. Jakub "Kuba" Smiechowski. Richard Lietz now in the #91 Porsche after a pit stop that is taking place as we speak and Kevin Estre should be into the lane in a lap or so and Milner tries to outbrake and overtake the Ferrari and does so! He really snookered James Calado, precision driving right 'round the outside! That was a wild deal. This will be Nick Tandy's first full-season WEC campaign. He was not a regular during his Porsche days as they cut their way through LMP2 traffic. Textbook move by Tandy on the Ferrari of Calado.
Porsche #92 now in the lane as well, look. Kevin Estre has also been really, really going for it. Dane Cameron is now in the pit lane in the #5 Penske Racing Oreca. In LMP2, the cars are all of the same spec but have room for tuning in the suspension area. Damage to the Vector Sport #10 car of Mike Rockenfeller. He will need to fix the car. Porpoising and bouncing around has been a major deal in sports car racing for years and now the Formula 1 teams are talking about it as well with their new generation car debuting this weekend.
The splitter has been half ripped off that Vector Sport entry. No dive planes on the LMP2 cars in 2022. The light cover on the #10 has also been busted up. Driver change, tire change, and a change of the nose as Ryan Cullen, the Irishman, is getting into the car, and he was not ready. In replay, the car was sent into a half spin. Into the lane is the Glickenhaus, early, from second place after a mistake. Why are they in early? Not good.
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