Toyota #8 leading the motor race has completed 330 laps, 2,794 miles. Sam Bird in the #74 Riley Motorsports Ferrari pits in GTE Pro. That was a pretty high-speed incident for that Ferrari spinning off out of karting corner for the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Alessandro Balzan at Iron Lynx says that Claudio Schiavoni is OK. They don't want to risk anything. Balzan was ready to go out to drive for a stint before he was texted by Cooper MacNeil to say that the #60 crashed. Claudio Schiavoni, Alessandro Balzan, and Raffaele Giammaria, the all-Italian team, are out. All these cars are equipped with a G Force meter. A blue light comes on if it is over a G limit, and a driver must go to the medical center for a checkup.
Lots has been learned since 1999 when our colleague Peter Dumbreck was the crash test dummy in that Mercedes Benz flip, that dramatic incident. Back underway as Norman Nato is 15th in the #41 LMP2 Oreca for RealTeam by WRT and Nico Jamin at the controls of the #65 Panis Racing LMP2 racer. Toyota Gazoo Racing run 1-2, three minutes between the two cars. Jota #38 is being eaten into. Roberto Gonzalez is being caught steadily by Lorenzo Colombo; I think. Emmanuel Collard catching Mathias Beche. The gap is a minute and 17 seconds as Oliver Jarvis is ready to step into the #23 United Autosport entry. It is Colombo in the Prema Orlen LMP2 car.
A Silver rated driver must drive six hours maximum instead of four. Slow Zone through Karting and the Ford Chicane. United Autosport #23 in the lane for a scheduled pit stop and a driver change. Daniel Serra, second in GTE Pro. Lots of tradition and certain changes to Le Mans, but not wholesale changes. Pit stop time for the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. Drivers from all disciplines race here. Actors, ex-Formula 1 drivers, road racing specialists and so forth. Sebastian Priaulx in car #77. Nyck de Vries says despite the glitches, everything is working out with TDS Vaillante Racing. Pipo Derani pits the Glickenhaus from fourth spot.
Nyck de Vries came from the Formula E event in Jakarta, Indonesia. Fuel and tires for the #92 factory Porsche. We have a dozen ex-F1 drivers and half a dozen Formula E drivers, plus, Sebastien Ogier, a World Rally Championship driver. Ogier ninth in LMP2 in the #1 Richard Mille LMP2 car. Sebastien Ogier is a factory Toyota driver in World Rally Championship. Sebastien Ogier could possibly drive a Toyota Hypercar. Michael Christensen in the #92 factory Porsche 911 RSR-19 fourth in GTE Pro. Toyota support their celebrity drivers. Fernando Alonso raced Le Mans and the Dakar Rally for them. Richard Mille Racing also in the pit lane.
Gianmaria Bruni finishes his stint in the #91 Porsche. Ditto, Ferrari #52. Sebastien Ogier enjoys driving sports cars and says he wants to improve his driving style and he enjoys racing Le Mans for the first time. Downforce is a major deal with these sports cars. GT drivers are used to it, but LMP2 and Hypercar do not have ABS or tractional control. This field at Le Mans is very, very competitive as we see one tire going onto the #1 Richard Mille LMP2. This is actually tires and a new door going on that we can see. Roberto Gonzalez is almost done with his stints Emmanuel Collard needs more drive time. Francois Perrodo likewise. Lots of the drivers have time complete.
Takeshi Kimura cannot complete his driving time and he cannot make it. Unless it is a timing glitch, Takeshi Kimura and his team cannot complete the race. Toyota #8 pits from the race lead. Two and a half hours remaining. With shorter driving stints, it is easier to get the drive time completed for everyone on your team. Cooper MacNeil is second in GTE Am. The WeatherTech Porsche is running very well. Thomas Merrill spun in the Porsche Curves and did not hit anything. Two more pit stops and two more fresh sets of Michelin tires. Job van Uitert, 11th in LMP2, and now Nico Jamin in the car for this stint.
Tijmen van der Helm in the #13 car we are also checking for. van der Helm went off the road. He is finished with his stints as the #33 TF Sport Aston is in the lane and all the Silver rated drivers in the top ten have completed their required six hours save for Emmanuel Collard who will get a chance now to complete it I think. Nicola Varrone has driven nine hours and 25 minutes of this race in the #75 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Penske and Jota are on similar pit strategy in LMP2. Roberto Gonzalez has finished his drive time but is going out for another stint. Prema will use Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica. Ben Keating has run seven or so hours at the wheel.
Lorenzo Colombo is chasing Roberto Gonzalez. Thomas Merrill has to run half an hour of his drive time. Christian Ried has run nearly all his drive time although Andrew Haryanto, too, he needs to be driving for a while more. Drama for the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche of Sebastian Priaulx. Priaulx went off and the steering is broken on that Poesche. Jonathan Aberdein in the lane for service and he needs to do kore driving. That was just a puncture. #28 had a delaminated tire and Mike Conway gets back into the #7 Toyota.
Dempsey Proton have lost a podium place as Hardpoint passes and so does Northwest AMR. Andrew Haryanto vs. David Pittard. Haryanto needs another hour of driving and Pittard is coming in a hurry, with a 44 second gap. Wow. Nico Lapierre and Alpine pit from fifth and Glickenhaus now fifth as Glickenhaus are due to pit before the #38 Jota Sport entry. Thomas Merrill has spun off and goe nto the gravel trapp and thankfull didn't bury it. He locked up and saved the car, but lost time. If those tires are flat spotted, that's trouble. He lost the rear end and braked too late trying to get back on track.
He'll have Fred Flintstoned those tires. #77, there's a broken wishbone being fixed. David Pittard is now 40 seconds behind the Hardpoint entry. GTE Am comes together to provide entertainment. The Alpine is way down and the Glickenhaus put another lap on the car. Alpine changed their tire strategy in the pits and maybe Nic Lapierre wanted that, but it does not matter because they are way down in 25th place. #77 has won GTE Am at Le Mans before and while the car is being fixed, Sebastian Priaulx waits. This is too long and they won't make it on pace with just a tad over two hours to go.
Pipo Derani is chasing down the LMP2 leader and finding pace in Glickenhaus #708. Robert Kubica replaces Lorenzo Colombo at Prema Orlen. Car #38 is three laps into a nine lap stint. Does the #28 Jota Sport LMP2 car have anything? Algarve Pro have both of their cars still running. Robert Kubica, a Formula 1 race winner is one of a dozen ex-F1 drivers in this race. Robert Kubica has a weaker hand on his right hand and he places pressure with his palm on the steering wheel. He is not gripping the wheel. It is a slightly different approach he takes. Kubica is a Polish national hero.
Prema, on debut at Le Mans, are running very well. They are in their first Le Mans 24 Hour race, pressuring Jota who have raced here for years. Pipo Derani is catching these LMP2 cars. Shane van Gisbergen warned again about track limits. Australian V8 Supercars, you can toss those around a lot. Nyck de Vries, fifth in LMP2. van Gisbergen is a world class driver. David Pittard held a record at the Nurburgring and then went through a rookie test in FIA WEC with Aston Martin and is proving himself as an endurance driver. Andrew Haryanto must drive more before the end of the race. Lilou Wadoux and Paul Lafargue live in or near Le Mans. Lilou Wadoux in her first Le Mans proves she has what it takes. She is only 21 years old.
Sebastien Buemi calls what tires he wants for the final stint. He was apologizing to the team. Buemi is on course to win his fourth Le Mans race and join greats like Henri Pescarolo and Yannick Dalmas. Lilou Wadoux is catching Paul Lafargue hand over fist. It sounds like Buemi will box and do a driver change. Oh. Never mind. Wadoux is in the lane and she will hand over probably to Charles Milesi. Lilou Wadoux has been very impressive driving an LMP2 at Le Mans for the first time, but she needs four more minutes in the car.
No comments:
Post a Comment