Christian Klien hits the pit lane as well and so does Tomaso Mosca. Some teams will do driver changes and others will go for a double stint. Tomaso Mosca stays in the car, maybe some fresh air in the cockpit or a change of the drink bottle. Staying on track, Al-Faisal Al Zubair takes over the class lead in Silver aboard the #777 Mercedes for Al Manar Racing by HRT out of Oman. Al-Zubair, the Omani driver is sharing with Axcil Jeffries from Zimbabwe, and German Fabian Schiller. Close shave in the lane between the Emil Frey Lamborghini and one of the Audi's. Bortolotti leads while Marciello remains the cork in the bottle behind Christopher Mies, or rather, Mies is the cork in the bottle, truthfully and must be giving Marciello fits inside that car, in the Mercedes. Akkodis ASP want a blue flag shown to Mies, but he isn't doing anything wrong. He can't just push a disappear button, a vanish button like on a high-tech spy car in a James Bond movie.
Valentino Rossi is in the lane in Audi #46 and he is about to hand the car either to Frederic Vervisch or to Nico Muller. It is I reckon, a single stint for him. Wait a second. One of the engineers is fixing something on the car. 15 second time penalty for car #11 at the next pit stop for track limits. Five seconds time penalty for #38 for speeding in the lane. Ollie Wilkinson is what now, eight laps down? That is just going to compound their woes today. The leader is in the lane. Bortolotti followed by Marciello and Bachler. Hugo Valente was at the controls of the beleaguered #11 entry that just got pinged by the stewards.
Who will stay in for a double stint? Marciello and Bortolotti might double stint. Daniel Serra, Charles Weerts, Nicklas Nielsen, Nicky Catsburg, everybody is diving for the pit lane. Driver change for #63. Cars coming in and going out of the lane. Audi #32 in the lane with a left rear tire puncture. We have now seen five left rear tire deflation incidents. Most are coming at the end of the Mistral straight into Signes corner. Valentino Rossi stayed at the wheel of the #46 WRT Audi. The Ferrari drivers are also doing double stints. Rossi was expected to race at night to prepare for the 24 Hours of Spa later this summer.
But I don't know if that will happen. So, in driver shuffling, Serra and Nielsen stay in as does Marciello. But, we have seen now, Jack Aitken, the Brit, takes over the Lamborghini for Emil Frey Racing, car #63. He will have his hands full with Raffaele Marciello for sure. Marciello takes the lead away and Jack Aitken will have to chase him down which is no simple task. Akkodis ASP had a quicker pit stop than Emil Frey Racing. Aitken has to feel the car out. Klaus Bachler has dropped down the order a bit. Nicklas Nielsen into Double Droite de Beauseille. Aitken is no longer the leader and that is the anomaly of how timing and scoring works.
Marciello now leads Aitken by 7/10ths of a second. Bachler, Serra, and Nielsen complete the top five. Charles Weerts has been passed by Nicki Thiim. Lots of drivers taking double stints. Thiim is in the top six, 16 seconds down from the leader. Oh dear! Klaus Bachler's Porsche flips it's lid! The bonnet goes up after Bachler tripped over the Sky Tempesta Mercedes. Big damage to the front of the Porsche and now the bonnet falls back down. But with the damage it could be game over for the lead car for Dinamic Motorsports. That car has front end damage and hopefully Bachler has a roll of that 200 mile an hour sticky tape in his pocket because this motorcar is thoroughly secondhand and it is no longer a clean, one owner vehicle I am afraid.
Bachler is moving again but trundling 'round slowly. Don't forget that the Porsche has the radiators in the front of the automobile, so he could be pouring water onto the road and not even know it. Big damage. Game over. Bachler retires from third place after a coming together with the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Mercedes of Jonathan Hui and that car also looks to be done for the day. He is off the road as well, look, coming out of turn two. Most likely Bachler got wrongfooted on the exit of turn two and rear ended the Mercedes entirely by mistake.
Poor Klaus Bachler was only on the second lap of his stint. Jonathan Hui cannot get the Mercedes started. Local yellow flags at that turn. Raffaele Marciello's advantage over Jack Aitken has ballooned now to 1.1 seconds. Marciello looking racy right now flashing the lights at an errant lapped Porsche up ahead. The Porsche stretches it's legs over the Mercedes down the Mistral straight! That's got to be frustrating. Raffaele Marciello has to bide his time here. Marciello flashing the headlights saying "move it, Mister! I am about to lap you!" Marciello is going to get his elbows out and wrestle this Porsche to make the pass.
The Porsche driver wisely lets him go. That is the #24, a second Herberth Motorsports Porsche. That one has a fairly long team name, under the Swiss flag, so, CH. Hop Suisse. Porsche Zentrum Oberer Zurichsee by Herberth. Ivan Jacoma, Nicky Leutwiler, and Alessio Picariello, the Italian Belgian are driving that car. Leutwiler was the bloke at the wheel of it who Raffaele Marciello was becoming miffed with. Heavy damage to the #93 Sky Tempesta Mercedes as the tire has come off the rim. So, it is game over for both Klaus Bachler and his co-drivers, and likewise, Jonathan Hui and his co-drivers. Those teams will erase Paul Ricard from their memory bank and move onto the next race which we'll tell you about when this one is over.
Marciello leads the motor race followed by Aitken, Serra, Nielsen, Thiim, and Weerts, the top six. Jack Aitken is running five seconds ahead of Daniel Serra, 4.7 seconds precisely. Completing the top ten are Nicky Catsburg for BMW, Tomaso Mosca in the #87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes, Juuso Puhakka, the Finn, in the first of the Attempto Racing Audi's, #66, and in tenth spot is Valentino Rossi. Puhakka, sharing the #66 Attempto Racing Audi R8 with German's Dennis Marschall and Markus Winkelhock. Mosca leads the Silver division. The second Silver Cup entry is Faisal Al Zubair in 13th place in Mercedes #777, and third, is Marius Zug in the sister #99 Attempto Racing Audi he shares with countryman Alex Aka (both from Germany), and Austrian Nicolas Scholl.
Tuomas Tuujula is now fourth in Silver in the Lamborghini for Emil Frey Racing. Tommaso Mosca has a long way to go to catch Nicky Catsburg as we work the 36th lap of the race, so that equals 131 miles. Aitken is bringing the gap down as Mosca 8/10ths of a second in-arrears. Thomas Drouet of France and Casper Stevenson from England. Stevenson did very well running in the Gulf 12 Hours earlier this year back in January. The incident between Jonathan Hui and Klaus Bachler is deemed a racing incident. It was a "racing deal". Aitken has eaten a tenth of a second out of the gap between he and Marciello. We ought to check out this incident again where Klaus Bachler and Jack Aitken came together.
The only angle on this that we have is from the rear view of Raffaele Marciello's Mercedes. Hui got sideways ahead of Klaus Bachler and poor old Bachler had no place to go. Hard to see anything from that angle off the onboard camera. A loose wheel very well could have caused Hui to lose control. Christian Klien in 11th place is chasing Valentino Rossi who is in the second half of his double stint. Valentino Rossi is very new to GT racing. He has the tools for the job. Rossi has jumped into the deep end of the pool and is swimming for it. He has to learn to swim, first. Right now he has Christian Klien and Neil Verhagen right up his tailpipes.
Christopher Mies has gained a lap back through the pit stops and is now 13th. Rossi runs a bit wide onto the Mistral straight and maybe Christian Klien will have a bite of the cherry before too long. Klien wants to make a move. Rossi says, "no you don't , sunbeam." Losing a place is the lapped Singha beer sponsored Porsche. That is car #39 from Thailand. Singha Racing Team TP 12. Thai drivers Piti Bhirombhakdi and Tanart Sathienthirakul, sharing with Australian, Matt Payne. Bhirombhakdi has run Sprint Cup in a Ferrari before. Rossi and Klien both pass him. Jonathan Hui is out. He did not even get a lap in. How disheartening!
We have had five or six retirements and we had two cars withdraw before the race. Lamborghini #563 from Vincenzo Sospiri Racing and Bentley #107 for Bentley Team CMR from France, with an all-Belgian lineup including Nigel Bailly, a driver with a disability, sharing the car with Stephane Lemeret and Matthieu de Robiano. Maybe we will see them race later in the year, such as at Spa next time out for the 24 Hours. Benjamin Goethe, meanwhile, we saw his Audi clattering around after the tire let go, as we watch Gold Cup leader Jens Liebhauser aboard the Winward Racing Mercedes #57. Liebhauser, the German, with clear track ahead.
Back to my original point, effectively, the #30 Audi is last, caboose on the field after the tires went flat and the team had to repair the car. Benji Goethe is 46th in the overall now. So, Raffaele Marciello leads Jack Aitken by merely 7/10ths of a second. Daniel Serra remains in third place. Aitken is closing on the leader who just happens to be stymied in traffic right now. It ought to be noted that Jack Aitken is splitting his time between this series in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe as well as the German GT Championship. Mirko Bortolotti drove the first stint for Emil Frey Racing and he says he drove one of his best recent stints in the first stint. He is confident. It is still a long motor race.
Aitken wants by Marciello, and he can't quite make it. Aitken a very brave driver indeed and so is Marciello. Racing drivers are not chicken. They are 4/10ths of a second apart as we have completed 40 laps, 145 miles. Daniel Serra in third is lapping quicker while in traffic but is in-arrears of the top two by seven seconds. Handling wise, the Lamborghini is planted more, more stuck to the road while the Mercedes is wriggling around. Great battle farther down the order. Rossi, Klien, Verhagen, Mies, are the protagonists here. Verhagen is turning it on, and he wants to get past Klien ASAP.
Klien has his hands full for sure, look. Mies is the quickest of the four here. This is the scrap for tenth place. Mies is going to go for it. He is right on Verhagen's six. Down the inside, late on the brakes, but no dice. Discretion the better part of valor there. Into the chicane, the battle continues on in earnest. Jens Liebhauser and the Winward Mercedes still lead Gold Cup. Now, Mies is going to make his move on Verhagen. Bish, bash, bosh. He stands his ground, commits to the corner, and makes the pass on Neil Verhagen. Experience, experience, and more experience. That is the key. Verhagen is going to come back at the veteran Audi man here, look.
Verhagen trying for a tow down the Mistral straight. Through Signes and Beauseilles they go. Mies is aiming for Klien and wants 11th place. Mies is synced on stops but further into a stint after taking over from Lucas Legeret. Mies lap times are better than those being cut by Legeret earlier in the game. Klien and Mies lap past the #97 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 now in the hands of Andrew Howard. That is the Beechdean ice cream car. Howard owns the team. He was a champion in British GT. Mies is precise and knows the Audi. The McLaren though, has the advantage down the straight. 43 laps in the books as they scream towards Signes gain. We've been racing for nearly an hour and a half.
Hubert Haupt in the #5 HRT Mercedes, that car retired at the end of the first lap and barely even started the event. Wouldn't you know it? The marshals have put a retired race car under investigation for a penalty! That is flat out ridiculous. The car had accident damage and is under investigation for causing a collision. Haupt, Arjun Maini, and Florian Scholze are no longer in the race, and yet the incident between Hubert Haupt, Maro Engel, and Ethan Simioni, is still being investigated by the stewards. Here's your top ten. Raffaele Marciello leads followed by Jack Aitken, Daniel Serra, Nicklas Nielsen, Nikki Thiim, Charles Weerts, Nicky Catsburg, Tomasso Mosca, Juuso Puhakka, and Valentino Rossi.
The fastest Audi is only sixth. Mercedes, Lamborghini, Ferari, Aston Martin. McLaren and Porsche are both down the order. Marciello and Aitken lap past the Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan. Spaniard Isaac Tutumlu is at the wheel of it sharing with American Tyler Cooke and New Zealander Brendon Leitch. 44 laps now on the board and here comes Jack Aitken! Folks, he is going to go for it! Never mind. Marciello shuts the door. More backmarkers ahead. Aitken is not giving this up. Aitken has to know he is racing a wise, canny driver like Raffaele Marciello.
Don't do anything rash. It seems greasy onto the Mistral straight down there. Marciello flashing the lights warning the lapped cars ahead. One of those cars is another of the Mercedes' or two. Marciello comes up to the #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes with Swiss driver Alain Valente at the controls. Valente sharing with Jordan Love from Australia and Jannes Fittje of Germany. Marciello threads the needle through the traffic and Aitken is waiting for Marciello to open the door. Valente in the meantime has his hands full with another Mercedes in the hands of Seb Baud of France in the #3 GetSpeed Performance car. Baud sharing with Jeff Kingsley and Valdemar Eriksen. Aitken looking for better traction and a straigher exit off the turn.
Marciello and Aitken clear the traffic. I'd have thought Marciello was looking for a blue flag from a marshal but they don't necessarily know except by what they see with their own eyes because I don't think they have a timing screen handy at a corner station. We have a hot and heavy Audi vs. BMW battle as Charles Weerts is being monstered by Nicky Catsburg. Oh jeez! Nicky Catsburg runs straight off course onto the painted stripes! It looks like he had a brake failure, a long pedal. The tire didn't delaminate but the brake pedal probably went right to the floor. Now the car does not want to turn. Catsburg is stopped on track. This could trigger a safety car.
Left front tire puncture for Nicky Catsburg. He has to slow down because that tire will flail around and destroy the fender and the front bodywork. Marciello threading the eye of the needle through traffic down into Virage du Pont, the final turn. He moves by Karrim Ojjeh, the Saudi Arabian driver, and Sebastien Baud, the Frenchman in the GetSpeed Mercedes does likewise. Aitken continuing to slice and dice through traffic. Marciello leading the motor race. Refueling times being examined for the #57 Winward Mercedes, the #83 Iron Lynx/Iron Dames Ferrari, and another is the #163 Lamborghini also for Emil Frey Racing.
The Iron Dames Ferrari is the #83 for Michelle Gatting of Denmark, Sara Bovy of Belgium, and Rahel Frey from Switzerland. We are used to seeing them race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and/or the European Le Mans Series. #163 is the sole remaining Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini which has Luis Michael Dorrbecker of Mexico sharing with Belgian Baptiste Moulin, and Marcus Paverud from Norway. Raffaele Marciello continues to lead and Jack Aitken remains second. You've really missed nothing at the sharp end except for Aitken dropping back going through the ebb and flow of traffic.
Christopher Mies has passed Christian Klien and so has Giacomo Altoe. Mies and Altoe in the meantime have both passed Valentino Rossi, and so, Rossi has dropped two spots in the last few minutes. Mies ninth, Altoe tenth, and getting back into the picture as we watch Daniel Serra through Signes corner. Rossi now runs 11th overall. The first coiple hours of this race have gone by pretty quickly. Nicki Thiim, meanwhile, is closing up on Nicklas Nielsen. Another episode of the Nicholas and Nicholas show playing out, perhaps. Throw Nicky Catsburg in there and you'd have The Three Nicholases, like the Three Stooges, but not as funny. Nielsen is stymied by the Allied Racing Porsche and trying to pass through the final turn he's having a tough old time of it.
That Allied Racing Porsche carries #22. Dominik Fischli of Switzerland at the wheel of it, sharing with Danish driver Patrick Matthiesen and German Joel Sturm. Thiim will have the momentum to pass the Ferrari after he was balked by the Porsche. Fischli should be a gentleman and let them go. You have tow much faster cars in a battle of their own and you are holding them up, sir. Fortunately, both Nielsen and Thiim make their way by. Nielsen fourth, Thiim in fifth. Thiim is just 17.5 seconds behind the leader, Raffaele Marciello in the Mercedes. Thiim makes a pass throigh Signes, and it's a cinch. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Thiim does not have an extra 100 horsepower but he sure looks like he did there.
Piece of cake. So, Thiim is now pursuing Daniel Serra in the yellow, sister Iron Lynx Ferrari. Thiim in the Aston Martin dancing on a knife edge there, look, through the final corner. He very easily could have spun out. Nikki Thiim was a Porsche Carrera Cup Germany racer but now has a home at Aston Martin indeed. A four-way battle is up next between Christian Klien, Neil Verhagen, Valentino Rossi, and Marius Zug. 50 laps complete, 181 and a half miles. Neil Verhagen running in 12th place. Rossi has dropped to 13th spot.
Christopher Mies and Giacomo Altoe have both made passes and they are ahead of this battle we are now looking at. These four cars fly past the Porsche of Piti Bhirambakti. Raffaele Marciello is a lucky chap as he has benefitted from all this traffic and has cleared away from Jack Aitken to the tune of three seconds. Marciello leads by 2.9 seconds. A spin for Karim Ojjeh in Audi #10 and he drops down to 40th spot. Eight laps from now we will see more pit stops and new drivers will step into the cars. Those who are double stinting will get out and same for those who are running single stints. Christian Klien defending from Neil Verhagen. Valentino Rossi, too, hanging right in there. All these cars will have new drivers for the next phase.
"The Doctor" has done very well today as he continues to learn the ropes of becoming a race car driver after his illustrious quartet century career racing motorcycles and he is not the first driver to step over to the car racing side of things from motorcycles. We've seen other people take it up. Barry Sheene, Wayne Gardner, Scott Russell, Kevin Schwantz, Mike "The Bike" Hailwood, and John Surtees. Does Rossi ever think that motorcycle racing was a lot easier? Longer and hotter stints in a car and more strategy for sure with the team on the radio all the time giving suggestions. 54 laps for the leaders. The lead gap is four seconds. Marciello still has to hand over to his co-drivers in this race. He will have Daniel Juncadella take over and then Jules Gounon will round out the race.
Aitken has now lost four seconds to the lead car. We wonder why that is and have not seen him around since we've followed other battles on the track for a wee while. Pit stop time for Giacomo Altoe. Altoe hands over the #19 Lamborghini to Leo Roussel. Verhagen all over Klien like a cheap suit. OK. I lied. That isn't Christian Klien, it is the sister JP Motorsports McLaren #112. Verhagen not having the best time as he gets mugged by Rossi.
Marius Zug saw the opportunity and said "I'll have some of that, thanks", and also made a pass. Joe Osborne has the wheel of the #112 JP Motorsports McLaren after a scheduled pit stop. Osborne a McLaren factory driver. We have a Lamborghini off the road at high speed, buried in the tires and it's another puncture for Pirelli P Zero as Finlander Tuomas Tujula stuffs it into the barriers. That is diving into Signes right at the end of the Mistral straight. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow, now. Tuomas Tujula has another punctured tire, much more serious than that of Konsta Lappalainen earlier on today.
Pit stop time for one of the two Car Collection Motorsports Audi's. It's all well bailing into the lane early, but remember the drive time on the other side of the pit stops as well. Raffaele Marciello leads and we are going to see a Full Course Yellow with a safety car scramble added to it. #88 is in the lane. The dents on the windscreen are not bullet holes. That is just wear peppering the tear off's on the screen that can be removed as the team decides. A whole list of team managers being summoned to Race Control for meetings with the stewards. So, Daniel Juncadella takes over the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes. Every team boss from Audi has been called. It sounds like this is not for penalties, but to warn the Audi teams about their tires.
The Pirelli engineers and staff are warning the Audi teams to look after their tires so there is no more damage done. Watch the rear wheel camber so the inside shoulder of the tire does not overheat. We watch the replay of the Tuomas Tujula incident. The tire is gone and he spins at least twice if not three times and smashes into the tires. That paint we talked about on the inside of the corners here provides extra friction to slow cars down if they go out of control, but it didn't help here in this specific incident. Thank God he just dislodged the tire bales and did not hit the Armco barrier farther down the track.
Emil Frey Racing came with three bullets in the gun and now one has crashed and a couple have had punctures. #163 has been in the clear as Jack Aitken handed the car over to Spaniard Albert Costa and of course Daniel Juncadella is in the Akkodis ASP Mercedes. So, it will be the battle of the Spaniards when we eventually go back to green. Juncadella chasing down Costa. Everyone trundling 'round at 80 kilometers an hour during the yellow flag as the tire bundles have to be gathered up and bound back together. Casper Stevenson now takes over the #87 Akkodis ASP team Mercedes AMG GT3. The team is owned by French former driver Jerome Policand. Casper Stevenson is graduating from open wheel, single seater cars to GT3.
Daniel Serra has piited only once and he needs to do a driver change. Maybe they can keep Serra out a few minutes longer. #46 Audi in the lane and Rossi hands over to Nico Muller. Vincent Abril, the Monagasque has replaced Christian Klien in the JP Motorsports McLaren #111. There's junked rubber and other clag and detritus on the road. The flatbed truck will now hoist up the Lamborghinin which is out. Emil Frey Racing had a left rear tire issue as Nico Muller, the Swiss driver, has taken over from Valentino Rossi. He can take his time, feel his way around the car, checking his systems in the cockpit.
Ferrari #71 for Iron Lynx in the lane. The stop goes without a hitch. Davide Rigon now at the wheel of it. He will do a double stint and then Antonio Fuoco will bring the car home to the checkered flag. We just saw the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 go by, in 27th place. Augusto Farfus, the Brazilian, at the controls. The driver is now out of the Lamborghini. Tuomas Tujula is shaken up but he's fine. He arrived in the turn at 270 clicks. He nosed into the barrier at 60-70 clicks. The #66 Attempto Racing Audi hits the pit lane for scheduled service.
WRT have colored coded the lollipops and their racing suits for each team. Lime green for car #31, cherry red for car #32, and sunshine yellow for car #46. The lollipop and the firesuits are color coordinated. They look like M&M's candies. Heartwarming to see a team going to those lengths and who knows, we could see them use colored coded neon lights on the pit boards for the 24 Hours of Spa next time out. That could cut out all the imponderables. Just make sure the neon lights are not so bright that they are glaring in the driver's eyes. We now see the safety car has indeed been deployed. It is out there but we're not yet under safety car conditions and remain under Full Course Yellow at this moment. David Rigon has cycled back through to third place and Daniel Juncadella is the race leader aboard the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes.
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