The sun has set, and we are in that magic blue light hour for the photographers as the night is upon us here at Le Mans. We are no longer taking odds on an LMP2 car winning this motor race overall. Alpine just do not have the race pace. Just stroke it to the end. That's the tough part about Balance of Performance. The same is true with the Ferrari in GTE Pro compared to Porsche and Corvette. Now, Matteo Cairoli is back in the race and we can see a very close shave between Toyota #7 and an LMP2! Egad! Gorgeous sunset here at Le Mans. The cornering speed between a Hypercar and an LMP2 is very close and the passes just have to be done under braking as we see Nyck de Vries being harried by Pietro Fittipaldi. You can't hide anything now. Everything is spotted. The driver knows. The team knows. So you just have to say, "sorry, mate. It won't happen again."
We have tents, motorhomes, caravans, the fans are back. Not a capacity crowd because of the travel and the weather, but today and tomorrow are going to be great weather. Tristan Vautier just pitted as we watch the #7 car running off the road a wee bit into the first chicane on the Mulsanne. Hey, boss man, cool it! Ryo Hirakawa is closing in. This is a public road, not a closed course. Ricky Taylor pitted for fuel at Cool Racing as we see Miguel Molina holding off Fred Makowiecki for fourth in GTE Pro. Ferrari vs. Porsche. It is moonrise here in northwestern France. All the training is to keep the body alive and then the body keeps the mind healthy while you are pushing it at the wheel of an endurance sports car. Motor racing is a rare sport where you race on the weekend, and training the whole remainder of the week.
IDEC Sport vs. United Autosport for 15th place. Phil Hanson being chased by Paul Loup Chatin while the #5 Penske Oreca is in the pit alne. Felipe Nasr out and it looks like Emmanuel Collard is now in the car. The pink sky, the sunset, is gorgeous. Richard Mille Racing pit and so does Glickenhaus. This is #709, Ryan Briscoe at the wheel of it. A driver change happening while the fuel is going in. More LMP2's in the lane as well. The milestone checklist is being ticked. We are headed fast towards the hours of darkness here at Le Mans. The visibility is less, the concentration level must be higher to get through the traffic.
Stunning sky from Indianapolis to Arnage. No time to check out the scenery. You are pushing at ten tenths trying to figure out to pass the next car. A car is put in the path to be passed. Physically you are fine, but your brain is on overload. Teams are being made aware of having all their light panels on. Porsche #91 chasing down Ferrari #52. Felipe Nasr says the Penske LMP2 is flying and he has had a lot of fun driving. They've worked on the car all week. He is happy driving through clean air or in traffic but they had a cut down tire earlier on in the motor race forcing a nose change. Find open doors through traffic as the night time approaches.
More LMP2 battles as Tristan Vautier is being harries by James Allen. ARC Bratislava vs. APR. This one is for 19th place. APR = Algarve Pro Racing. There is an overall battle and a Pro-Am battle in LMP2. JMW Motorsports and Ferrari, the #66 JMW Ferrari is in the garage with a failed power steering system that is being replaced. #66 is being shared by Jason Hart, Mark Kvamme, and Renger van der Zande. In the dark, track limits are far harder to enforce. As the temperatures change, will this mean the Ferrari comes to the fore over the Porsche and the Corvette? Makowiecki still crawling all over the Ferrari and they are wheel to wheel into Indianapolis, and the Porsche makes the move.
Indianapolis corner is absolutely incredible. Silverstone, that track, we lost Bridge corner and Priory corner. Those two turns were something else, taken out in the reconfiguration of the circuit. Corvette into the garage with the #64! Dear oh dear. They are doing a brake change from the looks of it. What are we, almost seven and a half hours into the motor race. Ricky Taylor has his hands full with Job van Uitert. Cool Racing vs. Panis Racing as Emmanuel Collard has waited to get into the Penske car. Corvette #64 now back on track. That was a quick changeover and out of the lane with Nick Tandy into the car. They have lost 2/3rds of a lap. Cool Racing now in the lane.
A quick stop. Aston Martin have more tire dependent performance than the other GTE cars like the Porsche, the Ferrari, the Corvette, the only front engine top flight GT racer. Speaking of Aston, Tomonobu Fujii is back on track in the #777 D'station Aston Martin. Rear right brake on the Corvette #64, and so, they did a full brake change on that car. Okie dokie. Caliper anf rotor changes are super quick and the car was in for just two minutes. Holy smokes! Toyota #7 1.7 seconds ahead of #8. 105 laps complete, 889 miles.
Makowiecki still leads Molina in GTE Pro and the Porsche gets held up by the LMP2 car. Molina is going to push hard to get back to Makowiecki. Molina is right on his six, and maybe the Ferrari is coming back into it's own in the coooler nighttime weather. Nighttime is the right time, to be with the one you love, and well, it is the right time for endurance sports car racing as well. Be careful what you wish for. Could the boys racing the Prancing Horse be praying for a rainstorm? We are past 1/4 distance.
Toyota to the lane while yours truly was grabbing a coffee and we see Miguel Molina having spun out, and he had contact at Indianapolis with his teammate?! Well, well, well. A puncture into Indianapolis for Miguel Molina with splitter damage and the right front wheel was not rotating with a suspension collapse. Fuel and a driver change but they will have to wheel the car into the garage. The #64 Corvette had their brake change and a few things. The rim on the Ferrari and the wheel arch have been totally damaged. Wiill they send him out? Yes. A driver change also happened. An LMP2 went off and back on at Mulsanne, either Emmanuel Collard or Lorenzo Colombo. It seems like it was the Nielsen Racing #24.
Antonio Fuoco now at the wheel of the #52. The inner sidewall of the tire is scraped by the tire which destroys it. The Ferrari boys had to change their tires. A couple of the GTE Am porsche's in the lane. WeatherTech and Dempsey Proton. These are the GTE Am leaders. Cooper MacNeil and Harry Tincknell. New boots on the #79 as David Pittard is now third ahead f the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin and the #7 had a slower pit stop for a tire. It felt like forever for the pit crew. The nut was stuck, the rattle gun didn't work, or the wheel did not come off the drive pegs.
Antonio Felix Da Costa is back at the wheel of the #38 Jota car in LMP2. Gentleman drivers have to do six or so stints in a GTE car but it is hard to say about LMP2. Da Costa is now running his fifth stint and the stints are a wee bit shorter around nine laps compared to ten or eleven. Francois Perrodo has brought in the #83 AF Corse LMP2 car. Roberto Gonzalez is making his fifth or sixth Le Mans start and he will maximize his strength. The pro drivers are doing the heavy lifting during the night on the Pro-Am teams.
Antonio Garcia may have touched the white line at pit exit. Porsche #91 in the lane, too. Kevin Estre in the #92 factory Porsche is leading GTE Pro. He owes us a pit stop. Antonio Garcia owes us a pit stop as well. The Alpine, Andre Negrao at the wheel of it, has now just overtaken his first LMP2 car. Drive through penalty for track limits in GTE Pro! Oh my gosh! #92 gets balked by the GTE Am #56 Project 1 Porsche. Their problem child remains in the garage, the #46. #46 and the #30 Duqueine have had a lot of trouble. #30, Richard Bradley, the veteran campaigner at the wheel of it for Duqueine Team.
Yifei Ye, eighth on the road, he is fastest in LMP2 with Jakub Smiechowski and Fabio Scherer. Rene Rast working his way up behind Panis Racing in LMP2 in the #31 WRT car as the wind is picking up. Darkness has well and truly fallen yours truly has had a glug of espresso to try and keep going. Will need several more glugs of espresso later in the evening. Sebastien Buemi encouraged to get a good exit off of turn seven at the kink after Tertre Rouge. Just punch it and go flat out, right? Franck Mailleux in the #709 Glickenhaus, emtying a cooling space on that car.
We may just break out the marker of doom. Game over for the #46 Project 1 Porsche. The car is junk and has had to stop. Game over for Nicky Leutwiler, Matteo Cairoli, and Mikkel Pedersen. A few other cars still are indeed on the comeback trail including Alpine and the #47 Algarve Pro LMP2 in the hands of Sophia Floresch. Clutch issues and coil pack issues for the Alpine boys. They need to finish and that's what they must do. Points make prizes. Stay at it and keep going if you can.
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