We are into the final hour here at Monza. 28 seconds is the gap between Iron Dames and Dempsey Proton in GTE Am. Alpine have now run 157 laps, 565 miles. Can Harry Tincknell go all the way? Does Sebastian Priaulx do more? Has he done his maximum? Harry Tincknell will take it to the finish apparently and Michelle Gatting takes the Iron Dames to the end. Matty Vaxiviere leads over Toyota as Will Stevens leads LMP2. Lots of chopping and changing in LMP2 too. We focus on Harry Tincknell on track. Now, to Toyota. Kazuki Nakajima says that Kamui Kobayashi didn't do anything wrong and was leaving enough space for the Alpine. Kazuki Nakajima is one of the team managers at Toyota, a thre-time winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The tech issues for car #8 are settled. The battle we have been seeing has been very exciting. The Alpine is lighter with less power and the Toyota is the pure opposite of that. The fans seem to be very happy about the racing. It has not been easy for Toyota. The counterargument is what happened at Le Mans. Alpine had trouble, but the Alpine was totally uncompetitive at Le Mans after the Balance of Performance changes. Nico Muller is chasing Alex Brundle in LMP2. Hypercar, as a class, it is where each car performs totally differently than the others. The end result is the same but how do you slice the loaf of bread? You can use any kind of engine you want, but will pay for it in certain places compared to the different cars with the different strengths and weaknesses.
A Ferrari battle in GTE-Am between Iron Lynx and Spirit of Race and Giancarlo Fisichella goes full send for fourth on Pierre Ragues! The gap now between Vaxiviere and Hirakawa has ballooned to four seconds. Harry Tincknell leads Michelle Gatting by nearly 26 seconds. Alex Burndle ahead of Nico Mueller. Will Stevens remains in the lead in LMP2. Pit stop for the #60 Ferrari we just talked about is under investigation as we see the Brundle vs. Muller battle. The gap increases between the Alpine and the Toyota at the front.
In Hypercar and LMP2 there may be a splash and a dash required. Peugeot #94 is back on track. You can hear a humming noise in the car, well, that is the elecric power steering on the 9X8. The #94 is back into the race. Gustavo Menezes will take the car to the very end. Two wheels off in the dirt for Nico Muller as he is going do everything he knows to make a pass on the #34 of Alex Brundle for second in LMP2. Jonathan Aberdein and Ferdinand Habsburg are both coming in a hurry. Mueller hit the inside curb. Brundle steadily closing on Stevens with 50 minutes to go.
We hear Alex Brundle will go to the end in #34. The Iron Dames did not pit under Full Course Yellow while Dempsey Proton did so. Matthieu Vaxiviere in the meantime has uncorked the fastest lap of the race for Alpine #36 at 1:37.760. Wow! He is running a second and a half quicker than is Ryo Hirakawa. Alpine does not run as far on fuel as Toyota. If they give time away to Toyota, Alpine are toast. Pit stops may very well determine what the podium positions at the end of this race here tonight are going to look like.
Roberto Gonzalez does not have to drive #38 again today and he is at the back of the garage in his jeans and t shirt. Brundle is not even three seconds behind Stevens. Will Stevens in the lead of LMP2 is now inbetween, the meat in the sandwich between a couple GTE cars, an Am class car and a Pro class car. It is a four-way battle for second place in LMP2 between Brundle, Muller, Aberdein, and Habsburg. Nick Tandy is catching the leading GTE Pro Ferrari. Nico Muller is catching lex Brundle or so it seems. It is all to play for in each of the classes.
All the LMP2 cars will have to do a splash and a dash. No tires or driver changes as Alpine continues to lead over the two Toyota's. Fuoco ahead of Tandy in GTE Pro as a 90 second stop and go penalty is given to the #7 Toyota for causing a collision with the #36 Alpine. Whoa! Jonathan Aberdein goes off the road making contact with the #92 Porsche! My oh my! Stay on the line. Game over for Jonathan Aberdein and Jota Sport #28! Good grief. That was between both of the Lesmo corners.
A very odd movement indeed. #28 were truly in the hunt today. The Porsche of Estre moved right and moved left. This is a double waved local yellow and not a Full Course Yellow as the GTE Pro lead is shrinking between Ferrari and Corvette. Nick Tandy has lit the afterburners. Double yellows removed. Aberdein still stopped. Harry Tincknell leads GTE-Am by 30 seconds over Michelle Gatting. The stewards are going to investigate the incident between Aberdein and Estre. #28 and #92. Final pit stop for Toyota #7 of Kamui Kobayashi.
The Iron Dames pitted with five seconds left of the yellow flag, the Full Course Yellow. That was pretty much a free stop. Side by side stuff in LMP2 between Vector Sport and WRT. Nico Muller passed by Ferdinand Habsburg as Alex Brundle makes a final stop. He will need more than a splash of gas before the end. Brundle taking the car to the flag. Contact again into the Lesmo's between Estre and the Ferrari of Calado. Oh dear! No love lost between those two. Estre did not even remotely make the corner.
These two will drive next year for their teams (Ferrari and Porsche) in Hypercar/LMDh cars. Vaxiviere told to pit this time and he hits the pit lane. Toyota has one bullet left in the gun now. The fuel hose has to be attached to the tank for the same amount of time. A splash and dash for Alpine. For Toyota, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 seconds. Time is of the essence. Iron Dames will have to see what they can do. Andre Negrao at Alpine taking great interest as Alpine want to become the first two-time winners this year after winning Sebring at the start of the year back in March. Andre Negrao is nervous but says things have been good thus far and the car is running just fine.
Matthieu Vaxiviere did not move, and it is a racing incident. This might be too close to call. Vaxiviere staring down in the cockpit. Check that. Alessandro Pier Guidi is taking the #51 Ferrari to the flag, and now, he has his hands full trying to make his move on Kevin Estre. Pier Guidi rubs Estre who brakes too late and has to give it up. It seems Kevin Estre could indeed get a penalty with the fracas with the #28 Jota LMP2. The stewards will have to analyze this. Ryo Hirakawa has halved the gap at the front. Pier Guidi wants to try Estre again, but no. Not this time. In the meatime, Will Stevens and Ferdinand Habsburg continue to scrap.
Antonio Felix Da Costa will not get back into the #38 Jota car. Will Stevens will finish, and the tires will be triple stinted as the #41 RealTeam WRT car has pitted. They have fresher tires. 38 leapfrogs 41. Estre refuses to give way to the Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi through Curva Grande. Estre is mad. He is off the road again and that was totally intentional. Pier Guidi is off the road and both of them are fighting. This has boiled over. A couple very angry racing drivers. Pier Guidi did not need to squeeze Estre in Curva Grande. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
We saw bad blood between Porsche and Ferrari after Bahrain last year. Well, there will be even more after Monza this year. Matty Vaxiviere opening a slight gap on Ryo Hirakawa. The Alpine can exploit it's advantages in clear air like the Glickenhaus did earlier. The Toyota blunts the mid corner speed of the Alpine and can use it's own mid corner speed to it's advantage. The GTE Pro lead is now yoyoing back and forth.
Miguel Molina says that everything is going right for the #52 as they are doing their job, but it is difficult, and they just want to finish. The Porsche and Ferrari scrap is gettign heated and Ferrari are focusing on fighting for victory. Will we hear from Porsche? Nico Muller is catching Will Stevens. Stevens is struggling for grip on old tires. Jonathan Aberdein is back in the race in the sister Jota Sport entry. They are in the points. The Stevens and Habsburg fight would have been great to see. Habsburg must believe the Ayrton Senna maxim that "if there is a gap there and you don't go for it, you are no longer a racing driver."
Habsburg's tires are a full stint fresher than those of Stevens, and Nico Muller is coming as well. Aberdein will be a distraction for Muller, maybe. 20 minutes to go. Harry Tincknell still ahead in the GTE-Am class. Michelle Gatting second in GTE Am. Gatting runs 14 seconds ahead of Matteo Cairoli in the #46 Project 1 Porsche. Tincknell's lead is almost 40 seconds ahead. Como, Italy, is where Matteo Cairoli hails from and is the most local driver here at Monza, in the lake's region. Porsche #92 will have a drive through penalty for the contact between #28 and #51, both. Drive through penalty for #92 for multiple contacts on track.
Estre will head for the pit lane and so the podium will be Ferrari, Ferrari, Corvette, as the #31 WRT car is back on track but goes off the road, Sean Gelael at the controls. Jonathan Aberdein is getting racy. Estre takes his drive through penalty. Kamui Kobayashi got a 90 second hold and Estre gets a drive through for with two different cars. Kobayashi's incident was a racing misjudgment. But the Porsche and Ferrari incident was pure bashing into each other. Loic Duval fourth in Hypercar in the #94 Peugeot 9X8. They had to have realistic expectations and the car at least has pace. They have speed and they need reliability.
Some teams in testing, never drive on the tire marbles enough as Jonathan Aberdeins gets crossed up but thankfully continues. That is real world racing as Kamui Kobayashi makes what will be a final pit stop. Tire recovery, driving offline, in tire testing is crucial for temperature and clag pickup as Aberdein is trying unlap himself from Nic Mueller while Will Stevens has pressure relieved from his shoulders. Jota are hanging onto second place or trying hard to do so. Will Stevens might be the only driver to triple stint tires. He has surely earned his money as the Corvette #64 of Nick Tandy still runs second in GTE Pro between the two Ferrari's.
Any of the top six LMP2 teams, could easily have won this race by the roll of the dice. The same is true for Iron Dames. But they were hamstrung by a Full Course Yellow situation. We have just over ten minutes to go. Henrique Chaves and the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin, Chaves is OK. He is more concerned about the damage to the car and the team is shell shocked after that accident. Wow. He'll be sore in the morning. Alpine leads both Toyota's. If everything works out, Alpine will be our first two-time winners in FIA WEC 2022.
Ryo Hirakawa has been closing up. He will be in a race with the Alpine before this is over. Stevens barely hanging on over Nico Mueller. Mueller would love to be ahead of Will Stevens as they are closing on Michelle Gatting. Drive through penalty for Thomas Flohr in the #54 AF Corse Am class Ferrari, crossing the white line at pit exit. Splashes and dashes in progress right now. TF Sport will be at Fuji next time out in September. Ryo Hirakawa now 2.2 seconds in-arrears. Hirakawa is not going down without a fight.
Traffic ahead for the Alpine. Matty Vaxiviere gets a good exit out of the Ascari chicane. We'll have about five laps to run with seven and a half minutes to go. 189 laps completed. RealTeam by WRT looks good in LMP2 and the Ferrari looks good in GTE Pro as GTE Am leader Harry Tincknell pits late for a splash and a dash. It has to be. Where is the Iron Dames Ferrari? Iron Dames are right there, but not close enough yet to Dempsey Proton. Gatting will be chasing. Tincknell is Platinum graded while Gatting is a Silver.
Traffic ahead for Ryo Hirakawa in Toyota #8. Man, this has been a long race for a six-hour event. RealTeam by WRT are looking for their first LMP2 win in 2022. Peugeot #94 in the lane again. This is great to see the Peugeot team finishing one car. In free practice and qualifying they were right in it. This is a learning game. Peugeot will be loaded for bear come next season in 2023. All of the Hypercar field was separated in qualifying by less than a second. Loic Duval is giving it all he can right behind the Toyota. They just want to finish but they also want to see where they stack up to the Toyota which is the best of the best insofar as Hypercar goes.
Ferrari in the lane with less than three minutes to run! #51, the leader! #64 Corvette to the lead! Ferrari rolls the dice. Corvette will roll the dice too! Oh man, oh man! #52 and now #51 are in for a splash and dash. 1:50 to go. Corvette's best lap is 1:48, so in theory heh ahs to do another lap. Jeez! How will this shake out? Corvette are the ones for a fuel race crap shoot. Vaxiviere will get to the line before time expires. Corvette runs down the final lap. This is it. How have Corvette done this epic fuel saving? Holy cow! Last lap. Nerves shot. Pins and needles time. All the Corvette mechanics are getting ready to celebrate! Blimey!
Iron Dames in and out so they won't win GTE Am. Alpine on the verge of their second win of 2022 through the Variante Ascari named after Alberto Ascari, the Formula 1 champ who was killed here at Monza testing a pal's sports car. Toyota #8 second in the race and the championship. Not enough! Alpine win at Monza! Toyota #8 in second. Peugeot finish. Corvette wins GTE Pro! Wow! Alpine fought like mad, and they did it. Algarve Pro win LMP2 Pro-Am from Ultimate and AF Corse. RealTeam by WRT win LMP2.
In GTE-Am, Project 1 and Iron Dames second and third. #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche win GTE Am and it has been a massively awesome race! Corvette #64 and their team will be celebrating in Milan tonight after the heartbreak of Le Mans. So, let's have a look at our winners before we say Arriva Derci from Monza.
Overall/Hypercar: #36 Lapierre/Negrao/Vaxiviere Alpine Elf Team Alpine A480 Gibson
LMP2: #41 Andrade/Habsburg/Nato RealTeam by WRT Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro-Am: #45 Allen/Binder/Thomas Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #64 Milner/Tandy Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R
LM GTE Am: #77 Priaulx/Ried/Tincknell Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19
The European portion of the 2022 season is now complete. Only two flyaway races remain as the championship battles heat up in FIA World Endurance. We'll see you next from the fabled Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan, for the 6 Hours of Fuji in September. The race will be taking place the second weekend in September, and it will be one to watch. You won't want to miss it. Trust me. For now, ciao and arriva derci from the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, the Cathedral of Speed, in Monza, Italy. So long, everyone.
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