No fog. No rain. Little wind. Clear as a bell. There was morning fog at 6AM. Sebastien Ogier being told to box, to pit this lap, aboard the #1 Richard Mille LMP2 entry. Mega lockup into Arnage for the Glickenhaus! Eek! There's more chances of going off the road in the darkness. #1 in the lane now. The car is being cleaned up. Ogier will do a quadruple stint. These stints are far shorter than what we have seen in the past. LMP2 pit stops have shaken up the order. David Heinemeier Hanson, Ed Jones, and Tijmen van der Helm are scrapping for the lower rungs on the LMP2 ladder. Seventh, eighth, and ninth place. All five Hypercars are still running, but in LMP2 it is 27 cars vs. five Hypercars and only five. An LMP2 winner will require major trouble for the Hypercars.
There is no need for Toyota to be cranking out 3:29 laps. 14 hours and 54 minutes left on the board. Inter Europol, TDS Vaillante, and Jota all scrap with the aforementioned drivers. I have just reversed the order for some odd reason. Warning for contact with the #30 LMP2, the least green of the four green prototypesm for Duqueine Team and Richard Bradley. Bradley loves racing here. He raced an Aston Martin Ulster in the vintage race here at Le Mans Classic I believe. In an old, antique race car, you literally get your elbows out because there are no doors. Ed Jones under the flag of England/Northern Ireland and not the UAE. Former IndyCar racer, Ed Jones. Team Penske have dropped to ninth in the LMP2 order.
#13 to the lane, Tijmen van der Helm at the controls. The #47 Algarve Pro car of Jack Aitken, there was no contact with Sophia Floresch driving, as a gearbox actuator melted. There was no contact as we thought earlier in the day today. Trouble in paradise for Corvette #63 I believe which has sunken into quicksand practically. The car is not well. It is the #63 in the hands of Jordan Taylor. The car is coughing and spluttering. David Heinemeier-Hanson is being chased down by Dane Cameron. Tight squeeze in Mulsanne between the #27 CD Sport entry of Matt Bell and the #24 Nielsen Racing car. Not sure who is in the Nielsen entry. Matt Bell. Will Stevens leads LMP2 for Jota.
Glickenhaus #709 into the pit lane with Richard Westbrook driving. Dane Cameron chasing David Heinemeier-Hanson. Robin Frijns is chasing down Robert Kubica in LMP2. WRT and Prema as Dane Cameron divebombs past David Heinemeier-Hanson. Olivier Pla is up to 14th looking to pass by Tijmen van der Helm. Brendon Hartley is being told to keep an eye out for his tires. Business as usual for Toyota, 22 seconds to the good on Jose Maria Lopez. Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosport entry being passed by Tristan Vautier in the ARC Bratislava entry. Bent Viscaal and Miro Konopka are the other two drivers in #44 sharing with Tristan Vautier.
Alexander Sims in and out in the #64 Corvette. #63 is back out of the garage. The #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari is in the race still as well. Robin Frijns inherits second in LMP2 as the #75 Iron Lynx Ferrari with Rinaldi Racing spins. Pierre Ehret got slammed in that car earlier. John Falb, the American, taking over the #47 LMP2 car for Algarve Pro Racing. Pierre Ehret simply spins and is now back on track. Glickenhaus in the lane for their driver change. Romain Dumas has finished his stint. Could it be Pipo Derani into the car?
Robin Frijns in the lane in LMP2 from second place in the class. Fuel only at WRT I believe. Panis Racing, watch out for them. They are quietly making inroads with no dramas. The gap is now 17 seconds between Hartley and Lopez. Alpine #36 back on the road, definitely in a test session. Car #43 at Inter Europol for David Heinemier Hanson into the lane for a replacement door. We have seen doors going awry on the left side of the Oreca's. Ferrari #51 in the lane. A lock malfunction or the gas struts being stubborn for the LMP2 Oreca doors.
Oliver Jarvis trails David Heimeieier Hanson by nine seconds while Sebastien Ogier is still driving car #1 ahead of Dries Vanthoor who is half a minute ahead of the #708 Glickenhaus with Romain Dumas at the wheel of it. Matthieu Vaxiviere is driving the fifth classified #36 Alpine. Porsche looking good, in 1-2 places in GTE Pro right now. Porsche outlasting the competition at Le Mans? Who'd have thunk it. Don't count le poulets until they hatch. Poulets? Chickens. Toyota #7 in the lane. The gap between the Toyota's is 26 seconds with the #709 Glickenhaus third. Jota leads LMP2 with Will Stevens ahead of Nico Jamin and Robin Frijns, ahead of Robert Kubica and Dane Cameron. Nicklas Kruettem is next followed by Ed Jones.
Then comes TDS by Vaillante, Inter Europol #43, and Oliver Jarvis in the #23 United Autosport entry, battling with David Heinemeier Hanson. Porsche #92 spinning at Mulsanne, getting in really hot on cold tires! No worries on traffic. One of the Am Porsche's goes by. Drive through penalty for the #66 JMW Ferrari, not respecting slow zone procedures. Renger van der Zande at the wheel currently. It could have been either of his co-drivers, Jason Hart or Mark Kvamme. Brendon Hartley continues to lead the motor race but he is slower than is Jose Maria Lopez. "Pechito" is 12 seconds faster.
Brendon Hartley up by 22 seconds as we have reached 1:30 A.M., or a little after. A quarter to 2:00 A.M. as the #65 hits the lane. Same for the #5 Team Penske LMP2 entry. Daniel Serra is going for his third GTE Pro win here, with Aston Martin and Ferrari. 2017 would have been Serra's win with Jonny Adam on rooted tires chasing the Corvette. The #3 DKR car did spin b etween Indianapolis and Arnage and nosed in at Indianapolis and Arnage. Team manager for Nielsen Racing #24 summoned to the steward's office.
P.S. Bring cake to the stewards office. Toyota looking for their sixth straight Le Mans win as Glickenhaus and Richard Westbrook are running third behind Jose Maria Lopez. Will Stevens leading LMP2. D'station, retired. Spirit of Race back into the motor race with Gabriel Aubry at the wheel of it now, just two laps down on the Pro class Corvette and five laps behind the hugely delayed #93 Proton Porsche with Matty Campbell at the controls. Pit stop time for the #22 United Autosport LMP2 entry. Battle for fourth in LMP2, Nicklas Kruetten chasing Julien Canal.
Teams and drivers are far more satisfied with slow zones and whatnot save for safety cars being for really serious incidents. Unsafe release for the #24 Nielsen Racing LMP2 car, 20th in LMP2 while fourth in LMP2 Pro-Am. Matthieu Vaxiviere, 26th and in the car in the Alpine, behind the Ultimate LMP2 car of Francois Heriau. John Falb, David Droux, Stephen Thomas, Alexandre Cougnaud, Paul Lafargue, the gentlemen drivers are in for a night drive. We're not far from the longest day of the year in another ten days. More trouble for the #71. Game over for Gabriel Aubry and Spirit of Race. The #9 entry is in the lane. That Ferrari has had the engine go bang.
That is very sad. Gabriel Aubry was pumped for this race. Former driver for Jackie Chan DC Racing. You just don't want to see drivers upset. Pit stop time for Cool Racing as well for Nicklas Kruetten. The vents on the fenders is to stop cars flipping when they go sideways. Pit stop time for Oliver Jarvis. Glickenhaus #709 also into the lane and out again. NASCAR roof flaps are the same as the holes in the fenders n sports cars to keep cars from going airborne. Filipe Albuquerque closing up on Paul Lafargue.
Keep going. We are two hours, fully, from halfway. Filipe Albuquerque working the gap indeed. United vs. IDEC Sport in LMP2. WRT #31 in the lane and back out.
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