Davide Rigon in #71 in third, he led for a brief time but is now 45 seconds behind. The gaps will dissipate when we go back to racing. We are prepping for the restart as we have seen Signes as a major incident point. OK. That was some interesting alliteration. The safety car is indeed on the road, but we are not yet under full on safety car conditions just yet. The order now is Daniel Juncadella, Albert Costa, Davide Rigon, Marco Sorensen, and James Calado, the top five. Sixth is Kelvin van der Linde in the first of the Audi R8's. Nico Muller comes back down pit lane for some reason aboard the #46 Audi for Monster VR46 with Team WRT. Is that Audi smoking? La voiture fume. L'auto fuma. Blue smoke came from the rear as we go to safety car procedure.
The team appears to be refueling the car. What about said smoke? Albert Costa is now running 13.6 seconds behind after he entered the #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3. We will have one or two laps behind the safety car before heading back to green. Daniel Juncadella vs. Albert Costa. Valentino Rossi's fans are here in force and Rossi has completed his stint while the car will continue for a tad less than four hours. The light is getting thinner and we'll have another hour and a half or so before darkness sets in. We will indeed be finishing this race in the dark. Drivers, some of them, have had issues with crossing the demarcation line between the pit lane and the track. The #46 Audi had to be topped off on fuel and you can do that under yellow. It is rare to see WRT have a fueling rig issue.
You never know what could be around the corner, but #46 has now indeed dropped out of the top ten places. Casper Stevenson is seventh in the overall right now. Safety car in this lap from Race Director Alain Adam. We are ready to go racing once again and we lost 10-15 minutes under Full Course Yellow. Daniel Juncadella will lead Albert Costa and Davide Rigon. Valentino Rossi has done his first double stint in SRO Europe. The double stint is long and his neck hurt, but he was right in it with the top drivers trying everything he knew.
He says he struggled with tires but now, he wonders about how the fuel strategy went earlier in the race, but they want to and think the team willr ecover at VR46 Team WRT. This type of racing is an adventure for Valentino Rossi. We are back to green. Rossi says "the track is a jungle." He's bang on with that assessment. Back to green and here, look, we have two back markers between the leaders and Davide Rigon is now third in line. Albert Costa is making his move, now. He dives right up the inside of Audi #26. That is one of the Sainteloc cars if I am right. Yes. Nicolas Baert at the controls of the aforementioned Audi.
61 laps now on the board. 221 miles. Baert being lapped up to Signes. Rigon is coming and makes his move. He has to catch Costa in the Lamborghini while Costa is chasing down the Mercedes Benz in the lead. This is still a pig's breakfast, a real mess. But just be patient. James Calado fifth having taken over from Nicklas Nielsen. Calado, we've seen him in FIA World Endurance but he is focusing now on Fanatec GTWC Europe. He will be racing with AF Corse at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and is doing so this week after running this even we are speaking of now, the GTWC Europe Paul Ricard race. Kelvin van der Linde is next on the road and van der Linde, we know what kind of a racer he is for sure.
A battle ensues between Ralf Bohn in the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche running in the Gold Cup, with Augusto Farfus in the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 right on his six. 47 cars still in the motor race and so we have traffic on top of traffic on top of traffic! Did I mention, traffic? I believe so. Costa and Rigon both must clear this traffic ASAP. Three-wide look, down the Mistral straight! It's like a motorway nightmare to Signes corner. We can see a myriad of Porsche's and Audi's, one of which is the beleaguered #33 entry for WRT. Arnold Robin started it, sharing with Maxime Robin and Ryuichiro Tomita.
Jean-Baptiste Simmenaauer is recovering the #30 Audi which we saw with that lured spin earlier. Time penalty for short refueling for the #163 Lamborghini and the #83 Ferrari for VSR and Iron Dames for fueling infractions. Dan Harper running 11th in the #50 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3, just like anyone else at the top of the order is doing everything to carve his way through this traffic. Criminy, it's unbelievable! It's rush hour here at Paul Ricard, look. We saw around Signes that Casper Stevens went around the wrong side of the floppy marker. That is one of those artificial curbs. Lucas Legeret has taken over from Christopher Mies in the #25 Sainteloc Audi and so, we won't see Patric Niederhauser in that car until the end of the race when he should do a double stint.
Niederhauser is an impressive driver and maybe the team saw he was the best candidate to drive at night. Juncadella leads Costa by a second as Casper Stevenson is the Silver Cup class leader. He runs ninth in the overall. Daniel Juncadella increases his lead slightly. Markus Winkelhock is tenth in the #66 Attempto Racing Audi right now. Drivers are using the windscreen wipers because there's sludge or something on the windscreen. Calado is doing all he can to catch his team mate. A battle for fifth now. Marco Sorensen in the Aston Martin has it and Kelvin van der Linde in the Audi wants it. The power of the Aston could move away from the Audi.
van der Linde has a heavy foot though so he won't care about that. He will still be confident he can catch the British car up ahead. Whoa! van der Linde takes it too deep into Signes. Stay on the road there, sunshine. Sorensen wriggles the Aston through Beauseilles corner and van der Linde has the space and the momentum to make the pass. He will make good his escape. Vincent Abril passes Ralf Bohn onto the front straight. James Calado forces Nicolas Baert off the road. Is that a professional driver being overzealous on a more amateur driver?
That could be a deal where Calado cops a penalty. Juncadella still leads this motor race over Albert Costa by 1.4 seconds. 65 laps now done and dusted. Calado is passed by van der Linde on the inside. van der Linde, fourth, and Calado, fifth. Sorensen is about to give the Ferrari of Calado an ice cream headache here and that will allow van der Linde to whistle off into the distance. Calado taps van der Linde. Bang. Knock, knock. I'm right here, mate. I never thought Mr. Calado was an aggressive bloke, but clearly, he has a wee bit of trouble, or some dislike for Audi's. Hardy har har. Sorensen is still running very well and gaining on Calado.
Davide Rigon is third in the sister yellow Ferrari for Iron Lynx. Nico Muller is 18th in the overall and thankfully still on the lead lap. We are headed for a lovely sunset and a lovely evening here at Paul Ricard. Hopefully Sorensen has overcome the oversteer he was dealing with. He went way off the road and smashed the car in Free Practice of course. Thankfully the team thrashed to fix the car. Back at the top end of town, Juncadella leads Costa by 2.3 seconds. Sorensen reeling in Nico Baert in the lapped Audi, the Sainteloc #26 we spoke of a wee while ago. The chase resumes as Calado is going after van der Linde.
Rigon chipping away at the top two and has to make up a second and a half if he hopes to catch Albert Costa, the rapid Spaniard in the Lamborghini. Remember, it is a battle of the Spaniards for the lead with Costa in the Lambo and the Mercedes with Juncadella at the wheel of it. Markus Winkelhock, down the order, is catching Lucas Legeret hand over fist as well. We are really looking at the battle of the top six cars in which Sorensen is running sixth currently. He is still behind Calado. Ice cream? Anyone who would like an ice cream?
That's the Beechdean Ice Cream Aston Martin of course. Vincent Abril is cooking with olive oil in that McLaren. He is really putting the pedal to the metal. So is Casper Stevenson in the leading Silver Cup entry, the #87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes AMG GT3. He is tenth overall, chasing down the #3 GetSpeed Mercedes of Valdemar Eriksen. Eriksen in class, is leading the #66 Attempto Racing Audi in the hands of Austrian Nicholas Scholl, and third is Mercedes #777 of Axcil Jeffries. Casper Stevenson is doing all he can to pass Valdemar Eriksen in the identical Mercedes saying "please don't make my life difficult as I try gaining places." Stevenson has done enough and Eriksen concedes and gives the place up.
Casper Stevenson tenth on the road and Valdemar Eriksen is around tenth. He is a former open wheel racer in Formula Renault and India's MRF Challenge. Audi #12 has Mattia Drudi at the wheel of it, next up. Adam Eteki has recovered the #10 Boutsen Ginion Audi to 32nd place after Karrim Ojjeh spun the car earlier in the going. Fourth, eighth, and ninth, are the best places for Audi's at the top of the tree, so they are not as close to the lead or to a probable victory here at Paul Ricard as we thought before this race started. So far, Audi's efforts have not yet borne fruit. We'll have to see. Half an hour from the halfway mark, 71 laps completed, 258 miles.
The Iron Dames Ferrari has had a time penalty for a pit stop infringement. Rahel Frey driving, she leads the Gold Cup portion of the race and has gone around the McLaren of Brendon Iribe. Iribe sharing one of several McLaren's in this race, the #7 Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3. The American, teaming up with Ollie Milroy from England and Fredrik Schandorff from Denmark. Rahel Frey leads the Gold Cup and runs 15th in the overall. Iribe is 16th overall as Iribe chases Frey. Rahel Frey the most experienced of her team with Michelle Gatting and Sara Bovy. Three and a half hours left on the board.
Iribe came out of the Pure McLaren series which were really track days for McLaren enthusiasts, then ran in British GT and has run in IMSA and Asian Le Mans but is now also in GTWC Europe. Another McLaren is next up and that is the #188 Garage 59 car of Miguel Ramos from Portugal. Ramos runs 28th in the overall. He is sharing with countryman Henrique Chaves and Alexander West, from Sweden. Ramos has the Barwell Lamborghini of Sandy Mitchell right on his six. Mitchell is a factory Lamborghini driver, who started in open wheel racing. His car is a Gold Cup ranked entry.
Another McLaren, the #112 of Joe Osborne in the second JP Motorsports car. Mitchell made a brave move through Virage du Pont. The race has settled down a bit for a moment. We're going to see more action later on I would guess. Leo Roussel, Axel Blom, and others go by down the straightaway, down the Mistral. Right now, Kelvin van der Linde is two seconds ahead of Marco Sorensen. Rigon is gaining on Albert Costa little by little, eating chunks out of the margin. I'm loose! I'm loose! That is Casper Stevenson dirt tracking it around the corner in his chase of Lucas Legeret. Stevenson wide at Signes corner.
He got out in the clag on the outside on hot tires that now need cleaning. Dan Harper in the #50 BMW M4 GT3 is next in line behind Stevenson and he has uncorked a personal best lap time in the middle sector of the track. Through Virage du Pont they go. This battle is for ninth, tenth, and 11th. Stevenson is the leading driver in the Silver division. Dan Harper is coming in a hurry. Stevenson tries Legeret on the inside but isn't far enough alongside to make the move. Dan Harper is the shark chasing after two minnows. He smells blood in the water if these two run into each other.
Legeret runs wide, paying the price for playing offense, and Stevenson makes the pass. Now Harper is crawling all over Legeret and wants to make a move. Short refueling = a five second penalty at the next pit stop for the #57 car. That is the Winward Racing Mercedes. Harper takes a tight line through Virage du Pont coming up to complete yet another lap of the Paul Ricard circuit. Good, clean racing as Harper strategizes a successful move to pass Legeret. Legeret is pushing it, trying to go for it and gets back by Harper. The Audi has the straight line performance.
Ten second time penalty for the Winward Mercedes, two penalties for Jens Liebhauser. Dan Harper passes Lucas Legeret, and now, look, here is Audi #30 that we thought was out earlier with that tire puncture which damaged the car in a massive way. Jean Baptiste Simenauer is behind these two and is not fighting for overall placings. Let's have a Captain Cook at overall VMAX top speeds. Nico Scholl in the Audi for Attempto Racing, car #99, has recorded the fastest speed at 289 kilometers an hour (180 and 5/8ths miles an hour). Three drivers are tied at 288 kilometers an hour (180 miles an hour even). Baptiste Moulin, Jean Baptiste Simmenauer, and Valentin Hasse Clot. Trailing them at 287 clicks (179 and 3/8ths miles an hour) is Brendon Iribe.
Dan Harper though, is the man whistling off into the distance from this battle pack. Dan Harper is a man on a mission. Pit stops coming up in just over 20 minutes. Leading the motor race is still Dani Juncadella followed by Albert Costa, Davide Rigon, Kelvin van der Linde, James Calado, and Marco Sorensen. 76 laps completed, 255 and a half miles. Juncadella is doing his job and keeping that car at the front. Albert Costa is making inroads while Rigon and van der Linde are not quite up to the top two yet. van der Linde cannot touch the top three yet.
We see another car we have not given a call to yet which had a spin earlier. This is the #8 AGS Events Lamborghini Huracan GT3 shared by an all-French trio. Mike Parisy, Nicolas Gomar, and Loris Cabirou are the drivers. Parisy was the starting driver and now Loris Cabirou takes it around during his stint. Now we move back up the field, checking in with third place Davide Rigon at the wheel of the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari. He is merely 1.8 seconds behind Albert Costa. The gap is now 1.2 seconds to Costa and Rigon and Rigon is closing in on the Spaniard. We do not know why Costa is losing time as there is no traffic in sight of the lead two cars.
Maybe Juncadella is finding more pace than is Costa. Juncadella is able to maintain a cushion which is driving Albert Costa bonkers right now as he just can't make inroads. Then again, is there a plan to run consistently? The camera pans back to find a Porsche vs. Porsche battle for 27th and 28th place. Ralf Bohn vs. James Dorlin. One of the Audi's is chasing these two down the Mistral and we know the straight-line speed of the Porsche may hold the Audi at bay for a wee while. The driver of the Audi, flashing the headlights to say, "move it!" But that's not detering the Porsche duel at the moment. #91 is the new sister car for Allied Racing and of course James Dorlin shares it with Ben Barker and Alex Malykhin. For some reason, on the entry list I am scanning and referencing, I cannot see that car on it.
Malykhin and Dorlin are co-drivers in British GT for Redline Racing and they lose a place to Markus Winkelhock in the Audi. James Dorlin at the wheel of it, and he is a British Porsche Cup racer and won the Sprint Challenge championship in a Porsche Cayman as well as driving GT4 McLaren's and a GT3 Lamborghini. All this traffic is having a bearing on the Winkelhock, Stevens, Harper battle. Harper wants by the Mercedes into the chicane. Harper wants to go for it as Stevens covers him off as they fly past Dorlin.
Winkelhock is chasing Vincent Abril in the McLaren. Nico Scholl in the Attempto Audi #99 has also passed Lucas Legeret in another Audi, I believe one of the Sainteloc cars. Winkelhock a one-time Grand Prix racer and leader in the days of Spyker. Stevenson gets snookered into Signes and Dan Harper has eked out a gap and put daylight between himself and his fellow British driver. Trouble again at Signes for another of the Gulf liveried Audi's. Oh dear. That's probably the beleaguered ROFGO car. Because of cooling temperatures as Dan Harper finding pace in the BMW, cars that didn't look all that flash early doors, they are coming good with a different driver at the controls, or assistance from the cooler temperatures or a stroke of strategy.
Juncadella leads Costa by 1.6 seconds at the top of the shop. Rigon is 8/10ths of a second behind those two followed by Kelvin van der Linde. Ralf Bohn making his way around Paul Ricard in the Porsche and at this time of night, at twilight in an endurance race, the sun is setting right in the driver's eyes, in the west, and it is compounded if they have bugs and other debris on the windscreen needing a cleaning or needing a fresh tear off. The next round of pit stops will happen in another 15 minutes, so Ralf Bohn won't have to deal with a grimy windscreen for much longer.
Bohn runs wide and keeps Harper at bay, but Harper is on a different lap. Bohn is defending for some odd reason. Harper is thinking, "pal, what on earth are you doing?" The Porsche remains quicker than the BMW and Bohn nearly slams the door directly in Harper's face! Harper does the switchback and Bohn will not give up. Bohn is matching Harper move for move. No blue flags. Bohn should be told on the radio, "let him go!" Attention, Herberth Motorsports, get on the horn to your driver, please. The Porsche is able to stay ahead somehow. The BMW straight line performance seems to work. Harper gets through and slams the door on the Porsche.
Lamborghini #163 is pinged for speeding in the lane and so is the #97 for short refueling, the Aston Martin with Andrew Howard at the controls. Casper Stevenson now has to deal with the Porsche. Into Signes corner, no dice. Through Beauseilles is where the next opportunity will be. Bohn is forced wide while Stevenson passes and Nicholas Scholl too, he takes a chance and goes through, finding a hole of opportunity. Traffic has affects on the race order. Nico Muller, meanwhile, the Swiss driver has brought the VR46/WRT Audi to 15th place in the overall.
Daniel Juncadella is serenely on his merry way in the lead of the motor race. His stint has had little fanfare. Albert Costa remains in second place. Juncadella has not pulled away from Costa while Costa has kept Rigon at arm's length. The two leaders really have clear air ahead and behind, both. We're 12 minutes shy of halfway and the gap from second to third is 3/4 of a second. Davide Rigon is moving in and fast. Mercedes, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi. Four brands in the top four. Aston Martin in sixth. McLaren in seventh. Dan Harper has brought BMW into the top ten.
Juncadella leads, with first, second, and third, covered by two seconds. What is the magic Bortolotti found? Costa has not found it yet. Did Mirko Bortolotti eat something special in his pre-race lunch that gave him extra energy? Did he perhaps drink an espresso or two before the race that gave him more energy? The gap is consistently being chipped away. A wisp of smoke from the Lambo? Hmmm. Maybe he ran over a piece of debris. All of a sudden, look, Davide Rigon has begun reeling in the Spaniard. Towards the end of the stint the drivers are pushing harder.
Costa pushing his way through Beauseilles. Rigon closing in on Costa with pit stops imminent in another five laps. Casper Stevenson and Nico Scholl are having a humdinger of a scrap in Silver Cup as well. Rahel Frey has taken the Iron Dames Ferrari back into the Gold Cup class lead. Miguel Ramos is bish bash boshing it in Pro-Am aboard the McLaren ahead of Louis Machiels in a Ferrari and Valentin Pierburg in a Mercedes. Rigon is dropping behind a wee bit having run wide onto the Mistral straight. The gap is 6/10ths of a second. Albert Costa loses a couple tenths to Daniel Juncadella. Maybe there is brake smoke from the Lambo. Is Costa pushing hardet?
Touch wood, as Costa has had good luck and better luck than his teammates in the other two Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini's that have both experienced tire punctures earlier on in the game. At the same time, Kelvin van der Linde running fourth in the Audi, he cannot make any inroads on Davide Rigon for one reason or another. Don't count WRT Audi out. If they do not win the race, they will at least get onto the podium come hell or high water. That is just how consistent and experienced of a team they really are in GT3 competition.
Yours truly ought to mention, he has not had time to take a look at more GT4 Europe racing. Hopefully I shall be able to do that in the near future. But there is a lot of sports car racing coming up in all forms. Kelvin van der Linde catches and passes the #90 Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes. Sean Walkinshaw is the driver of that car now. Dusan Borkovic, the Serbian driver is the third one in that car. Sean Walkinshaw from England, and of course, Ezequiel Perez Companc, from Argentina. That car is way down in 39th spot. James Calado is dragging his way back towards Kelvin van der Linde. Will the Ferrari go for it and fight the Audi? Will we see a fair old scrap between the Brit and the South African before long?
Marco Sorensen in the Aston Martin has not been able to catch up to Calado. That is peculiar. Sorensen still 13 seconds in-arrears. Vincent Abril is starting to go for it as well in the #111 JP Motorsports McLaren. The McLaren did not look all that flash in qualifying, but is coming to the fore in the motor race itself. Christian Klien started that car way, way back on the 16th row of the grid and now Abril is seventh in the overall. Perseverance and recovery indeed. All cars must now have their lights on. Pit stop time now for the leaders. Juncadella, Costa, van der Linde, Rahel Frey is in the lane as well. Will we have more takers?
Richard Dornbecker, Giorgio Roda, Augusto Farfus, are all in. Nearing halfway at five minutes before 9PM local time, the pit lane comes alive. Kelvin van der Linde to the lane as well. Mirko Bortolotti gets back into the Lamborghini for Emil Frey Racing. Daniel Juncadella stays in the Mercedes. Marco Soreensen brings in the #95 Aston Martin and may do a double stint. Maxime Martin might just take over before the end. Status quo maintained as the pit stop for #24 is under investigation by the stewards.
Meanwhile, a slow car on the road at turn ten, up at Signes. Left rear tire flat on the #10 Boutsen Ginion Racing Audi with Adam Eteki at the controls. All dramas late on in the stint. Lateral loads into the tire. Jack Aitken meanwhile, has taken over the Lamborghini, not Mirko Bortolotti as we first thought. Thank you for the clarification, John Watson. Much appreciated. Emil Frey Racing are doing some interesting shuffling of their drivers. My suspicion is that Albert Costa will drive the penultimate stint and Mirko Bortolotti will be the gun driver in the car to the end of the motor race. Fascinating strategy. Davide Rigon leads, staying out for now but needs a stop.
Daniel Juncadella runs second. James Calado hits the pit lane. Kelvin van der Linde stays in the #32 Audi and we should see a double stint before the end by Dries Vanthoor. Calado stays in the #51 Ferrari and so Miguel Molina, the Spaniard will finish out the race. Pitting earlier probably means they are looking for track position and a clear road without getting bogged down in traffic to maximize tire efficiency. Daniel Juncadella in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes is running a double stint. Jules Gounon will be saved to run the night shift. We have seen Gounon winning a number of races globally in 2022 so far.
So, that is no surprise. Jules Gounon has won at Oulton Park, Bathurst, and Oscherslebem spo far this year. McLaren #112 has had a driver change as Joe Osborne gave the seat to Maciej Blazek, one of the two Polish drivers on the team. We're coming to halfway in this race here at Paul Ricard. Davide Rigon continues to lead but needs to pit. Markus Winkelhock brings Audi #66 to the lane for Attempto. Nico Muller has taken Audi #46, the VR46/WRT entry to third place and Muller too must pit soon. Fred Vervisch will finish out the race aboard #46 and so, we cannot discount them. They are still in the fight for top honors.
Juncadella's margin over the second place Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini has increased to three seconds which to me, would be cause for alarm if I were the team manager. Jack Aitken is surely dealing with something as far as that car is concerned and I don't know if it is traffic or if the car is just not handling or performing the way he'd like it to right now. Rigon to the pit lane while the Lamborghini will soldier on in pursuit of the Mercedes.
No comments:
Post a Comment