3:35.272 is Lilou Wadoux's best time while Matt Bell, with less experience in an LMP2 as well, 3:34.983, 3/10ths quicker. Pipo Derani finishes his stint in the #708 Glickenhaus and Olivier Pla gets into the car to take it to the end. Tires and fuel for Glickenhaus as well. What a shame. Dempsey Proton car #77 have plummeted down the order. Competitively, they can't get anything else. Harry Tincknell's dream of a third win in three different class, is done. 347 laps done by the leading Toyota, 2,938 miles. Sebastian Priaulx is back on track in Porsche #77, but they will get the car to the end in spite of being laps down in 48th place. It was a ball joint that broke on the lower wishbone.
Richard Lietz leads Daniel Serra by 46 seconds in GTE Pro. Porsche seems to be having better straight-line speed and overall speed. Michelle Gatting tries sending it into Indianapolis on Simon Mann. No dice. Three wide into Porsche Curves and Sebastian Priaulx whistles off into the distance. Again, Simon Mann vs. Michelle Gatting. Porsche readying for driver changes and the same is ture at Spirit of Race as more work happens for the #35 Ultimate LMP2 car with Matthieu Lahaye. Queen Elizabeth II. just celebrated her 70th jubilee last weekend. There is an emblem on the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari for that. The Porsche's just have ther straight line performance while the Ferrari's have punch out of the slow corners.
Jota in the lane checking tires and the race leading #8 Toyota is in the car. Everyone is back timing the race. Brendon Hartley actually is getting into the car. This is Hartley's ninth Le Mans race and on course for his third win. A side pod cover has been opened to get debris out of the radiator so it won't overheat. There's grass and tire clag and all sort of other junk down there I am sure. There is an opening under the nose that channels air and the radiators are canted at an angle. Car #7 continues on it's way. The new Peugeot does not have a rear wing. It channels air around the car and through the diffuser. This is the car we will see at Monza next year. The 1988 winning Jaguar XJR-9 is so low to the ground and the rear wing is tiny, just a trim tab, in those final eras of Group C or the original IMSA Grand Touring Prototypes.
Porsche #92 to the lane. Michael Christensen finishes his stint and Laurens Vanthoor is now into the car. It has continued when we thought it was out of contention and there's rubber clag all over the bumper of the Porsche. Ultimate was in the garage fixing the clutch on their LMP2 car. Davide Rigon is third in LM GTE Pro, the Italian, aboard the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, driving as the third driver along with Sam Bird, and the two of them, used to be co-drivers. Bird of course is in the Riley Motorsports car. The garages being packed up by Corvette Racing as both of them fell out of the motor race at breakfast time.
Richard Lietz in the pit lane and so will Davide Rigon who will be making a driver change. United Autosport now in the lane as well. Paul Lafargue brings the #48 IDEC Sport LMP2 entry to the lane. Miguel Molina, the Spaniard, takes over the Ferrari. Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche. In the lane now, the defending Le Mans champions, the #7 Toyota. Jose Maria Lopez replacing Mike Conway. Nikki Thiim has passed Andrew Haryanto in GTE Am. Ben Keating has finsihed his drive time. Jose Maria Lopez takes over the #7 Toyota as Dies Vanthoor is slowing in the Team WRT LMP2 car. Maybe he has damage and/or a flat tire.
There's delaminated tire would around the fender on the #32. They changed the front left tire. Maybe that was tire carcass all shredded. You will feel a vibration in the steering but not much more. Yet the vibration might get serious. Fifth place GTE Am battle. GR Racing #86 and Dempsey Proton Racing #88. Ricardo Pera vs. Jan Heylen. This is Jan Heylen's Le Mans debut and has run for years in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Champions as RealTeam by WRT almost wrecks and Nico Muller is stalled in the pit lane. The car is hot and won't start. Take a brisk jog in all this heat up the pit lane and push the car.
The team had to change engines and had a wreck with one of the drivers. Giancarlo Fisichella given a penalty for abusing track limits. Michael Fassbender has done some tarmac rallying in Ireland and that would be the place to do it. The #33 TF Sport Aston Martin, Marco Sorensen runs wide through the gravel at the Ford Chicane and almost bins it but keeps it on the road. Aston Martin first and third in GTE Am. In LMP2, Will Stevens leads Robert Kubica, Jonathan Aberdein, and others. There are six LMP2's battling for three podium steps. We are within the final hour and a half of the motor race now.
Charles Milesi takes over the #1 Richard Mille LMP2 Oreca but the car has a broken driver's door. Ricardo Pera and Jan Heylen battle. 50 rookies here at Le Mans in 2022, and we are going to see more in years to come. Pera to the pit lane and Ben Barker will be suited and booted to take the car over and Jan Heylen continues on. The #51 Ferrari pits and drops behind Porsche #91, the two cars on a completely different strategy. 48 tires are supplied to a team per race. You can split them how you like but you need strategy to mount and heat the tires and have spare combinations if you want to do full sets, or halves for the rear's, front's or individual sides of the car.
#45 in the lane in LMP2. Glickenhaus looking for a podium. All of these drivers have been on class podiums but never on an overall podium. Nico Muller out of the #10 and the car went back to the garage. Broken suspension. Sebastien Bourdais was supposed to take over the car. They lost extra time but were already six laps down. Vincent Abril being chased by Simon Mann. Leading GTE Pro, Fred Makowiecki leading in the #91 factory Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19. In GTE Am, Marco Sorensen leads as Aston Martin have snuck up on Porsche.
The Iron Dames are catching up in GTE Am. More cars with debris dangling off the back of the cars. Fred Makowiecki has finished second at Le Mans three times and wants a GTE Pro win in the final year of the class for factory GT cars. Job van Uitert and Filipe Albuquerque are chasing each other for tenth place. United Autosport won it all years ago but this year they've been in the basement. Andrew Haryanto has looped it in the first turn into the gravel trap. Those tires are trashed as the Indian driver locks it up. Thank God he didn't hit the barriers.
Nick Cassidy in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari will probably finish fourth. Too bad for Hardpoint on their debut as Jonathan Aberdein, the South African, hands over to Dane Oliver Rasmussen. Iron Dames qualified sixth and are running sixth, but they had to recover from ebing down the order early yesterday as Jan Heylen finally passes Ben Barker. Heylen on his out lap. Barker has the speed in his Michelin tires. The Slow Zone is from the Ford Chicane to the esses and under the Dunlop bridge.
The crowds are back at Le Mans. Toyota #8 to the lane. Hartley stays in. Aston Martin first and third in GTE Am and David Pittard in his first Le Mans is very happy to be a part of this race, but is amazed by the consistency that has brought them to the front running with the Porsche's. They've stuck with it and Pittard was told to look at the big picture by his team mates and his pit crew at AMR. David Pittard says Le Mans lived up to the hype and has been absolutely blown away by it. Andrew Haryanto is still in the garage, and may have returned to the track. The pit lane, not the garage.
Hardpoint have had a tough race as the wind is picking up and it's hot. The Hardpoint Porsche is trundling 'round slowly. Charles Milesi goes off the road at Dunlop corner. Glickenhaus #708 is back up to fourth spot with an hour or so to go. Alpine cannot crack the top 20. They remain fifth in Hypercar, so they will get points in Hypercar. The #7 has been the best points scorer for Toyota while we will see Toyota #8 score double points should they hold on for victory. Jim Glickenhaus is a boutique automaker and will get one of his cars at least, on the Le Mans podium. Andrew Haryanto has lost a right rear tire at Indianapolis corner.
No one wants to not finish. The circuit is littered with gravel and other junk. One hour to go as we watch Will Stevens in the #38 Jota Oreca.
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