Ricardo Pera has gone off the road at Mulsanne corner, I think. Ben Barker was scrapping for the lead earlier in the motor race. They put a bumper, a fender, a set of brakes, and then have to put a side skirt, another fender, and another bumper on the thing. We have Graham Goodwin, Jazeman Jafar, and Peter Dumbreck in the commentary box. Ed Jones has the Jota LMP2 third. Matty Campbell in the #93 Proton Competition Porsche, 54th in the overall but still running. Michael Fassbender, Matt Campbell, and Zacharie Robichon just want to get to the end. Andrew Kirkaldy as we said is back as a team manager this year at Inception Racing. #86 will be repaired and now, Michael Fassbender is back in the garage as they have trouble with the right rear wheel.
A rear wing component on the Porsche is being replaced. Brendon Hartley now pits the leading #8 Toyota. The #79 WeatherTech Porsche moves aside for the Toyota. Olivier Pla should move up in the #708 Glickenhaus. Alexander Sims and Corvette have moved up to the lead in GTE Pro in the #64 entry while the sister Corvette has had a litany of trouble. Another offcourse excursion and the Alpine has crashed! Matthieu Vaxiviere has crashed it on the left hand corner and the car has just not looked comfortable all weekend. Oh my. The #86 GR Racing Porsche caused the Alpine to skitter through the gravel and whack the wall. He was way off on the gravel and Mike Wainwright had no place to go. Vaxiviere looks puzzled.
Christian Ried hits the pit lane and has run his 75th consecutive FIA WEC race. Michael Fassbender and company are back on track, Fassbender stayin the car. The #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche has been at the sharpe end all race in GTE-Am with Harry Tincknell, Sebastian Priaulx, and Christian Ried. The marshals have to dig the Alpine out of the gravel, the beleaguered Hypercar that has had a fraught race today. It's more than bodywork, says Matthieu Vaxiviere. That will need a big repair job. Why the Porsche moved to the left I don't know. He was going to let Matthieu Vaxiviere by, but it did not work and Vaxiviere got the worst of it. He did not see the Alpine. He only saw the IDEC Sport entry.
Big damage to the Alpine's left front corner. It will have to go into the garage for sure. This shall require a whole new nose change. This car is a grandfathered LMP1. They will go on for the bridging year in 2023 and then they will introduced an Oreca based Hypercar in 2024. Rapid work on the left front corner of the car as Prema Orlen are ready for another pit stop. ARC Bratislava will serve a drive through penalty with Bent Viscaal at the controls. Jota #38 to the lane. Will Stevens, the former Formula 1 driver. He is finally getting noticed by the sports car racing world.
Prema in the lane in the #9 car, a lap down to the leaders, a highly successful Formula 3 team who want to run a Hypercar and they have made a major splash with WEC and European Le Mans Series. Jota go 1-2 in LMP2. Will Stevens wants the advantage. Jota run 1-2 ahead of the pair of Glickenhaus cars in the crocodile. Olivier Pla can move up for position and Ryan Briscoe is also right there. A fifth-place battle coming between three cars. Jota, Prema, Glickenhaus, scrapping for fifth coming to 9:30 A.M. in the morning.
Six and a half hours to go. The LMP2 cars look to be pulling away from the Glickenhaus. Ed Jones is running a full season effort with Jota in WEC this year. We've seen teams like United Autosport, and WRT succeed. Will Jota be in the same boat this year? They also ran with Jackie Chan DC Racing. Henrique Chaves is a minute clear of Nikki Thiim. Iron Lynx looking after the Prema Orlen team. The front assembly on the Alpine is damaged and being fixed. They want to score points and finish and he ended up braking too late and hitting the wall did Nico Lapierre. Alpine Endurance Team have just not had a good race at Le Mans this year at all.
Lena Gade, one of the most successful engineers, successful female engineers in sports car racing with Audi Sport Team Joest and now determining motorsports policy for the future. Vector Sport in the lane for sticker tires. Louis Deletraz chasing down Ed Jones. Two drive through penalties to come, one for the #23 United Autosports car. Josh Pierson is the youngest starter and should be the youngest finisher. Giancarlo Fisichella in the #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari, their white car, will have a drive through penalty, chasing his team mates in the #60, the yellow Iron Lynx Ferrari. Toyota lead the motor race. Jota run 1-2 in LMP2. The Dane, Oliver Rasmussen will take over #28.
For some reason, the Glickenhaus is losing a bit of pace to the LMP2 cars ahead. #28 is back on tack and so is the #36 Alpine Hypercar, the A480 Gibson grandfathered LMP1 car. Prema Orlen are a lap up on Jota in LMP2. United, WRT, DKR, IDEC. The LMP2 scrap is hot and heavy. Corvette Racing come to the pits. The leading #64 is in. Josh Pierson is not making life easy for Robin Frijns. Pierson, Frijns and other screaming througb Indianapolis and headed to Arnage. Robin Frijns makes his move in the IDEC Sport car. That is Paul Loup Chatin I believe.
Le Mans is the halfway mark of the six race 2022 calendar. Pierson, drive through penalty and Laurens Vanthoor is penalized for track limits. Pierson was caught by a slow zone and made a mistake but there's no excuse. Alexander Sims reeling in James Calado in GTE Pro. The sister #63 Corvette has retired from the race due to mechanical damage at the rear of the car. Game over for Jordan Taylor, Nicky Catsburg, and Antonio Garcia and the #64 car hits the wall as well! He made contact with Francois Perrodo! That car is out on the spot! Perrodo moved and tagged Alexander Sims!
It has all come apart for the Corvette Racing team! The AF Corse team will cop a penalty for that even though it was a mistake. Corvette Racing will be sick to their stomachs! Yellow flag on the Mulsanne straight. Alexander Sims is out of this one and Francois Perrodo will be genuinely upset about that incident. GM head of motorsport Laura Wontrop Klausrr devastated. Wow. The AF Corse car hip checked Alexander Sims. Three into one at high speeds won't work. Game over. Amato Ferrari and company at AF Corse also gutted.
James Calado stays in the lead in GTE Pro so it will be Ferrari vs. Porsche, the final race at Le Mans for this fabulous class and Corvette Racing, they are out of it! Unbelievable! Just devastating for the Corvette camp! Suspension and steering arm damage. Francois Perrodo will finish his stints and then he will go down to Corvette Racing to chat and to apologize. Francois is a two-time GTE Am champion at Ferrari, an avid Ferrari collector, and a driver of high downforce cars. It was an honest mistake. #83 will rejoin the race with Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel.
Drama between AF Corse and Corvette Racing. Corvette are stunningly professional, but this is a bitter pill to swallow. #83 needs rear suspension repair.
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