At the end of this hour we'll be at 1/3rd distance. Puncture to left rear of Antonio Garcia in Corvette #63 with the bodywork unraveling! Dear oh dear! Slow down, sunshine. Slow down. Garcia was ahead of Kevin Estre by 17 seconds and is now losing time hand over fist as we welcome Anthony Davidson and Ben Constanduros to the broadcast booth. Kevin Estre now in the GTE Pro lead. The #63 had a tire being ripped apart at Indianapolis as we see Prema in the lane and back out again behind Jota and we have seem the sister Jota car and the Panis Racing entry also in the lane. So, it is Antonio Felix Da Costa leading over Lorenzo Colombo I believe. Antonio Garcia still in a very ugly situation as Cool Rcing is in the lane with Yifei Ye driving the #37 and there could have been a driver change to either Niklas Kruetten or Ricky Taylor.
Garcia has made it to the lane and has lost boatloads of time. Mike Conway is about a second quicker than team mate Sebastien Buemi at Toyota Gazoo Racing. Sebastien Buemi in Toyota #8 now leads. Buemi and Conway are fairly equal through the middle sector. Buemi cutting laps in the 3:32-3:34 range and Conway at 3:33. Double yellow at marshal post 17 at the chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Antonio Garcia now in the garage for damage repair and Garcia out of the car, look. Refueled the car and they need time to repair the car. 14 crew members have sprung into action to try and see if they can fix this car. Garcia had just covered a handful of laps in his latest stint.
We have 61 cars still running as the #46 Project 1 Porsche is the only retirement. The Toyota's are pushing each other, and I don't have to tell you, hard. Both teams have won Le Mans and both have won championship titles. Both have had a DNF in this year's series, so they are Even Steven right now. Mike Conway is just 1.1 seconds down on Seb Buemi with yellow flags at Indianapolis, marshal post 25. Porsche #93 of Michael Fassbender has crashed and he is in the tires. Dang it. Troubel for Proton Comeptition and he had contact with someone who was passing on the inside and clobbered the tires!
That was not his fault. Someone got into him as he does try to drive away. That's a risky spot to overtake and he has followed the exit road. Don't put it behind the barriers! He is trying to find a way to get to a three-point turn. He could have hit the #61 Ferrari or the #80 Ferrari or maybe the #79 WeahterTech Porsche. So, we have another slow zone on the road. It is the #61 APM Monaco Ferrari, Vincent Abril at the controls, which is wheeled on the dollies into the garage. Abril seemed to accidentally turn in on Michael Fassbender. He was trying to drive off the road in avoidance. He is behind the barriers trying to do a three point turn and the marshals are trying to help him out.
It has hit the barrier facing the outside of the circuit and way off the road behind the barriers between a rock and a hard place. Buemi leads. Conway second. It is a DNF if you get out of the car walk away from it. You have to fix the car with remote assistance from the mechanics. Conway flashes the lights letting the GTE cars know he is steaming through. It is a massive high speed chess game. Olivier Pla has spun the Glickenhaus #708 on the exit of Tertre Rouge. Cold tires for the #708. He should be back on his way. Mike Conway in the lane for service putting team mate Buemi under pressure.
Michael Fassbender also in the lane with a clobbered right side of the automobile, totally sideswiping the tires and getting damaged by that other catapulted GT car. It is not your fault, Michael. But he will not be happy. Vincent Abril in the #61 Ferrari says he has mixed emotions. They are three seconds off the pace, and he feels bitter about losing time in traffic, with no straightline speed. Abril sharing with Conrad Grunewald and Louis Prette, the Frenchman, the American, and the Monagasque. Antonio Felix Da Costa pits the #38 Jota LMP2 car.
Da Costa haranguing the #1 Richard Mille entry. Move it! They make their way through turns four and five as Sebastien Buemi hits the lane and he wants to stay ahead of team mate Mike Conway who just pitted. Conway in the Ford chicane. Buemi trundling down the lane and back on track, and where is Conway? Did he pass? Buemi gets squeezed by the aforementioned Ferrari. The gap is 2.6 seconds with Buemi in traffic. This is risky stuff, look. In the dark, in the middle of the night, here at Le Mans. You are bullish on your moves. That's for dead sure.
You are wincing, freaking out, because you don't want contact with a slower car. Every other move is a lunge. Olivier Pla is slow in the #708 Glickenhaus. Olivier Pla has glanced off the barriers. Trouble at Glickenhaus. They were the better of the two Glickenahus cars with toe out trouble? Not really. It is a puncture. Too much time in the lane and you will never recover. They are going to have to hurry. Pla was off the curb on cold tires on the out lap. Jeez! Cold tires, suspension damage, and Olivier Pla is not a happy bunny right now. The team is examining the left rear of the car. Estre and Bruni 1-2 in GTE Pro for Porsche AG.
Corvette #63 still in the pit lane from the lead of GTE Pro. The rear suspension is being mended. We have also seen the #64 Corvette with brake issues and the #52 Ferrari with suspension damage and that means the two Porsche's and the #51 AF Corse Ferrari have had no worries. Glickenhaus still being serviced and they have dropped two places, three places down from the LMP2's. The #48 IDEC Sport LMP2 just pitted whiole we watch the bodywork damage being repaired for the #93 Proton Competition Porsche having already rebuilt that car entirely after a Wednesday crash with a brake disc failure and no driver error.
That other car that smashed on Wednesday night was totally written off. #708 Glickenhaus having the left rear suspension being fixed. If you can't fix it, slam it with a hammer, with the Birmingham screwdriver. It was a fast fix for Glickenhaus. They will be in recovery mode as the #93 Porsche is still being put back together like good old Humpty Dumpty. Mike Conway wants by a lapped Ferrari through one of the final turns, the Ford Chicane. Conway is 2.4 seconds down on Buemi. Glickenhaus #708 back on track, losing a dozen places to LMP2 cars. Olivier Pla, don't make a mistake again. Did the car fail? I believe he spun 180 degrees and he whacked the barrier.
Hypercar has multiple compounds of tire available while there is a single compound for LMP2. A harder compound is faster when they are hot, but the tires won't get there instantly so you have to suffer the pain and take your medicine as the #708 Glickenhaus is 17th overall. #709 is now third. Vincent Abril has been penalized for the contact with Michael Fassbender. One minute stop and go penalty. LMP2 battle for fifth between Penske and Inter Europol. Emmanuel Collard vs. Fabio Scherer. We are getting close to midnight here at Le Mans. The drivers can't see as well in the dark but the lap times are tumbling.
Robert Kubica second over Jonathan Aberdein third. Jim Glickenhaus says there was either a puncture or Olivier Pla spun and hit the nose, the side, and the rear. It is a modular car that can be fixed quickly and they are running fast, so they will move back up. The team replaced the pushrods, the rear suspension, and the front nose section. It was a quick rebuild. The team deserves a round of applause and this stuff happens. It does not mean anything. When you are knocked down, you get up and get back after it. There was slight contact with the wall. The Hypercar standings remain the same as we work our way into the hours of darkness here at Le Mans. Glickenhaus back in with the #709. Toyota of course had the Prius, a hybrid car before everyone else.
The car was ugly and the technology was not there, back in the late 1990s. #709 in and back out. Sebastian Priaulx has pitted the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche. Toyota want competition. Peugeot coming next time out at Monza. Priaulx sharing the #77 Porsche with Christian Ried and Harry Tincknell. Mike Conway has now passed team mate Sebastien Buemi. Buemi was let by, by Conway when both were passing the slow #777 D'station GTE Am Aston Martin. We don't know if the #8 Toyota might be doing some lift and coast to save gas. Is Buemi dealing with an evil handling race car again? I don't think so. They did in qualifying on Thursday.
#7 has run 127 laps, 1,075 miles. Tight squeeze into Arnage between TDS #13 and Jota #28 in LMP2. Jonathan Aberdein vs. Matthias Beche! Close shave! Philippe Cimmadomo, the Bronze paid driver of course was removed by the FIA, suspended from the motor race and replaced by pro driver Nyck de Vries from Holland. That has never happened before that I can remember here at Le Mans. #777 has made it to the lane but was reported as stopped, Charlie Fagg at the wheel of it having completed all sectors while Gianmaria Bruni is in the lane from second in GTE Pro. Wow. Mike Conway uncorks the fastest first sector time of all! The track is getting better. The Aston Martin is indeed in the lane, #777. They run 15th overall.
Kevin Estre to the lane in the sister factory GTE Pro Porsche. He will be relieved by one of his co-drivers. Is it Michael Christensen? Yes. The Dane will get into the car. It is easier in a GT car to do up the seatbelts compared to the prototypes. In #777, the gearbox may have gone bang as the #5 Penske LMP2 is in the lane, Emmanuel Collard at the controls. Excuse me. Dane Cameron has stepped into the #5. Antonio Felix Da Costa stays in the LMP2 leading Jota entry. Rapid fire pit stops every nine to ten laps. Unbelievable. Fabio Scherer had a lunge there, look. Like the country western song by Alabama "I'm in a hurry and I don't know why." Conway and Buemi are still 1-2. We are close to midnight having completed eight hours at 1/3rd distance. The gap at one second between Conway and Buemi for the Toyota team.
Conway has indeed uncorked best lap, fastest lap of the motkr race thus far. More grip, downforce, power, and still more drag in the cool of the night. At night you can surely go faster than at the race start when the road is at it's hottest but at sunrise, that is the magic hour, Happy Hour, and no, it isn't being at the bar for beer and appetizers to enjoy. Not even close. It's well before breakfast. 130 laps now done and dusted. It comes with instinct and reference points that can change even with things like gearshifts and braking points.
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