Listen to a special edition of Double Stint, featuring Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid...
https://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/ds-extra-jonathan-diuguid-on-porsche-penskes-progress/
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
DS EXTRA: Jonathan Diuguid on Porsche Penske LMDh Progress
Heart of Racing Team's Season a Zero-to-Hero Saga
The Aston Martin team rebounded from a slow start to win the GTD title and show strong in GTD Pro.
https://www.imsa.com/news/2022/11/30/heart-of-racing-teams-season-a-zero-to-hero-saga/
Prepping the cars for the Hankook 12H KUWAIT 2022 | 24H SERIES
Preparations for this weekend's 12 Hours of Kuwait, split race (two six hour halves) the 2022 season finale for the Creventic 24 Hour Series. Race action begins tomorrow with qualifying and night practice on either or both the Motor Trend app and/or the 24H Series YouTube channel and the race itself will extend from the wee hours of Friday morning into Friday afternoon.
2023 CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT | Middle East Trophy & 24H Series
The official trailer for the 2023 Creventic Calendar, including the 2022/2023 Middle East Trophy, and the 24H Series European series. Visit the 24H SERIES website for more information on the 2023 Championship and all of our upcoming races: https://www.24hseries.com/ 24H SERIES on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/24hseries/ 24H SERIES on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/24hseries/ 24H SERIES on Twitter: https://twitter.com/24HSERIES/ 24H SERIES on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@24hseriesoffi...
WeatherTech Championship LMP2 developments
A couple developments from the WeatherTech Championship in the LMP2 division that have been known now for a short period of time.
Racing Team Turkey Enters Daytona with Correa, Hanson
...and
Van der Garde, Pierson Join Heriau in TDS Racing Entry
Some top drivers in the LMP2 class as always and these two are a couple of quality entries that will appear at Daytona and maybe at least one will be for the full season, the TDS Racing car to be led by Giedo van der Garde and Josh Pierson. We shall see.
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Gulf 12 Hours news
A few tidbits of news from the Gulf 12 Hours which will be the finale of the 2022 Intercontinental GT Challenge, in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned as there will be more to come in the lead up to the motor race itself which you will be able to definitely read all about on the blog when it happens.
Juncadella on the Cusp of Title as Mercedes-AMG Sets Gulf Crews
A new car for Sky-Tempesta Racing. We have seen them all year in the European rounds of the championship for SRO running a Mercedes AMG GT3. Well, at the Gulf 12 Hours, they will enter with a McLaren 720S GT3 instead.
Sky-Tempesta Enters Gulf 12H with McLaren, Garage 59
Watch this space for more pre-race news that is surely still to come as we approach the Gulf 12 Hours in a couple of weeks.
DOUBLE STINT: DPi Reflections, News Roundup & More (11-29-22)
The latest Double Stint Podcast as John Dagys and Jonathan Grace reflect on the IMSA DPi era, delve into the sports car racing news of the week, and more.
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-dpi-reflections-news-roundup-more/
Monday, November 28, 2022
Porsche Race Patrons are Paramount
New race cars, same exceptional support from Porsche.
https://www.imsa.com/news/2022/11/28/porsche-race-patrons-are-paramount/
Weekly Racing Roundup (11-28-22)
News and notes including SRO end-of-season awards and Super Taikyu race action...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-11-28-22/
Sunday, November 27, 2022
24H Series News
Stories from the Creventic 24 Hour Series looking ahead to this coming weekend's season finale, the two-part race that will be the 12 Hours of Kuwait.
Century to Give M4 GT4 Customer 24H Debut in Dubai
...and
All-Kuwait Lineup Among Entries for 12H Kuwait
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Suzuka Round Moved to Avoid 24H Spa Clash
This story broke a couple weeks ago but is still relevant.
GTWC Asia announces calendar updates for 2023 including new date for Suzuka round...
https://sportscar365.com/sro/world-challenge-asia/suzuka-date-moved-to-avoid-24h-spa-clash/
Friday, November 25, 2022
Mies, Van der Linde Drafted into MPC Lineup for Adelaide Finale
Audi Sport factory starts to compete in GTWC Australia season finale on streets of Adelaide...
Car Collection Purchases Two New Porsche 911 GT3R’s
Car Collection to run two new Porsche’s alongside continuing Audi stable in GT3 next year…
https://sportscar365.com/sro/world-challenge-europe/car-collection-purchases-two-porsche-911-gt3-rs/
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Endurance Round Ruled Out for 2023
Pirelli GT4 America to maintain seven-event season as originally announced…
https://sportscar365.com/sro/sro-america/gt4-america/endurance-round-ruled-out-for-2023/
Factory-Supported Audi Entries Return for Gulf 12H
After missing Indy, Audi Sport returns to IGTC at Gulf 12H with factory-driven cars…
https://sportscar365.com/sro/igtc/factory-supported-audi-entries-return-for-gulf-12h/
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
When It Comes to Giving Thanks, IMSA Has Plenty to Offer
Reflecting on a great season and looking ahead to 2023 satisfies like a good Thanksgiving meal.
https://www.imsa.com/news/2022/11/23/when-it-comes-to-giving-thanks-imsa-has-plenty-to-offer/
Agreed.
Intercontinental GT Challenge news as we look towards the Gulf 12 Hours
As we anticipate the running of the Gulf 12 Hours as the season finale for the 2022 Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli, here is some of the latest news. Only three major stories as of late. But they are worth the read.
Manthey, EMA Team Up for Bathurst 12H Entry
RAM Reveals Gulf 12H Driver Lineup, Special Livery
SPS to Run SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG at Gulf 12H
It appears the SPS effort will have two cars. Should there be more about the Gulf 12 Hours, you will read about it here on the blog soon. So, keep your eyes peeled. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
DOUBLE STINT: News Roundup, Listener Questions & More (11-22-22)
The latest Double Stint Podcast covering the news in sports car racing for the week and answering listeners' questions.
https://sportscar365.com/podcasts/double-stint-news-roundup-listener-questions-more-5/
Monday, November 21, 2022
Grisham, O'Meara-Hunt Win Heart of Racing Win Heart of Racing Aston Drives
The Heart of Racing selects two drivers for 2023 race seats from female driver shootout...
Weekly Racing Roundup (11-21-22)
Report from Macau GT Cup plus a new team in ADAC GT Masters and other news...
https://sportscar365.com/features/roundup/weekly-racing-roundup-11-21-22/
Saturday, November 19, 2022
8 Hours of Bahrain: Hour 8 (the finish)
We are into the final hour of the motor race. Toyota in Hypercar and Jota in LMP2 look like they are in good shape. TF Sport in GTE Am, too. AF Corse heading the standings in LMP2 Pro-Am. Ferrari #51 is in survival mode. Antonio Felix Da Costa will take the #38 Jota Sport LMP2 car to the flag. More drama sure to come as we see the United Autosports car in. Our eyes will be glued to the battle for GTE Pro honors in the final ever race for that class in FIA WEC. Factory Porsche #91 is in the pit lane. They are fueling and changing tires. Everything has been blown wide open with the gearbox issues for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado. Calado has been stuck in fourth gear and the car was doing nothing but revving into neutral.
Currently in the GTE Pro standings, it is the sister #52 AF Core Ferrari leading by 57 seconds over the #64 factory Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. 200 laps completed, 673 miles. Porsche #91 driven by Richard Lietz who has just gotten in the car after Gianmaria Bruni ended his stint. Porsche #91, if they succeed, Bruni will be the lone champion in GTE Pro because Richard Lietz missed a race earlier in the year with illness, which was indeed the dreaded virus. That was at Monza. Lietz has been a lone drivers' champion in GTE Pro before. Ferrari also in the lane with the #52, serviced and sent. A driver change in LMP2 at the #31 WRT car. Rene Rast will finish the race out.
Porsche are looking for the GTE Pro manufacturers' title. Fuel in the tank and new tires bolted onto the car. The #98 Aston Martin GTE Am factory car is in the pit lane too. No love lost between Porsche and Ferrari in this GTE Pro fight through 2022. Toyota Gazoo Racing are on their way to a world championship running 1-2. 216 laps now on the board, 726 miles. There's 38 seconds separating car #7 and car #8. WRT lead LMP2. Ferrari #52 lead GTE Pro. In GTE Am, it is the #46 Porsche 911 RSR-19 from Team Project 1 on top.
If the #8 finishes the race, it is game over for everyone else and they win the title. If they don't, on the other side of the coin, the driver's title goes to the #36 Signatech Alpine team in their final race with a grandfathered LMP1 version of their car before they bring forth an all new Hypercar for the 2024 season. The GTE Am title will likely go to the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin team. In LMP2, WRT managed to escape contact with another car and the car that was hit picked up the penalty. We'll give you the LMP2 running otder in just a minute.
First off, here are the points as they run in Hypercar. Toyota leading the championship on 186 points with a 42 point buffer on Alpine in second place, who have a total of 144. Glickenhaus, the American team who are competing here in Bahrain becaude their company is way too small to sell cars in this part of the wrold, they are third with 70 points. Fourth place is Peugeot with only 42 points. But keep in mind, they are the newcomers, and both 9X8 Hypercars have had fraught races in Bahrain this evening. They are really a test team still, at this point, not yet a race team.
In the LMP2 class, WRT lead over Prema and both United Autosports cars, fifth place belongs to RealTeam by WRT, and speaking of team cars, next in the serial we have Jota with both of their cars, sixth and seventh. Who will win the LMP2 race is very much open for debate. There is a three-way tie in both first and second in Hypercar. Currently it is the #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, and Sebastien Buemi leading with 149 points equal between the trio. Then in second place, five points behind on 144 points, it is the #36 trio in the Alpine A480 Hypercar which is the grandfathered LMP1 machine, the old Rebellion, driven by Andre Negrao, the Brazilian, and his French co-drivers Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Nicolas Lapierre.
In the first few hours the two Toyota's were fairly evenly matched but then the #7 car caught up. Buemi and Lopez battled eachother and both had stellar stints. Then, both Toyota's had a driver change. Brendon Hartley in the #8 and Mike Conway in the #7. Conway had more speed and Hartley let him by. Conway pulled a gap of ten seconds. Ryo Hirakawa and Kamui Kobayashi then battled. Hirakawa in the #8 was absolutely obliterated by Kobayashi by 45 seconds. Their lap times were not even in the same ballpark. Kobayashi was out there on track, crushing it.
Now, it is Buemi vs, Lopez, 38 seconds apart. As we ride onboard the #94 Peugeot, we are now going to look at what has been going on in GTE Pro. There has just been a significant moment as Corvette #64 and Porsche #91 just made their final pit stops. A close shave there, look, between the #92 sister factory GTE Pro Porsche and the #1 Oreca for Richard Mille Racing! Yikes! Corvette was required to take a timed fuel stop. But, guess what? Corvette were 13 seconds quicker on their pit stop than the #91 Porsche. This is going to pay dividends. Open the pay window, the money is on the line here in Bahrain tonight!
The gap is 25 seconds. Those two have stopped but the leading #52 Ferrari has yet to make a pit stop. One pit stop left for the cars in fourth and fifth in GTE Pro, which are the #51 Ferrari and the #92 Porsche. The gap between Alessandro Pier Guidi in fifth and Matteo Cairoli in the Project 1 #56 GTE Am leading Porsche in sixth place, is under 40 seconds. If Cairoli passes the #51 Ferrari, they lose the championship. Now, while we were figuring all of that out, there was a scenario in LMP2 that flashed up on the screen, and we have an interview with Sean Gelael to get to. It is all getting busy in the final hour of this race.
OK. Let's first deal with reviewing the points table as they run in LMP2. Jota #38 leads the table at 126 points. They are ten points clear of the #31 WRT car on 116. Third spot belongs to the #23 United Autosports USA car on 109 points. Behind them by just six, on 103 points in fourth is the #9 for Prema Orlen Team. Fifth spot is held by the sister RealTeam by WRT car, the #41. They have 96 points. Sixth spot and long out of the fight is the sister #28 Jota car and they have just 70 points. OK. That's done. Now, we can get to pit reporter Louise Beckett with Sean Gelael and hear what the WRT driver has to say.
Gelael says they had a good start and they are leading after Rene Rast's stint. They are hoping to finish well and that this race stays green until the end. While we heard from Sean Gelael on his prospects, the #8 Toyota came to the pit lane for a routine stop which looks to have included a driver change. In the GTE situation, it will be Am vs. Pro and it is all down to Matteo Cairoli to put the pressure on Alessandro Pier Guidi. It is still a battle royal between Ferrari and Porsche. Porsche placement of the Am car could help them win the GTE Pro title. The Corvette's fuel economy has won them their battle.
Corvette C8.R #64 is clearly racing the #91 Porsche and not the #52 Ferrari. This has given them a cushion. Richard Lietz is racing for the manufacturers' title for Porsche but I don't know if he is going to be able to catch up to the Corvette which has been shared today by Nick Tandy and Alexander Sims. It is not enough time being eaten out. Matteo Cairoli can take five seconds a lap out of Alessandro Pier Guidi as we now see the #7 Toyota in the pit lane. 48 minutes of racing remain in the season in FIA WEC 2022. I don't think it is enough. The Ferrari still has a pit stop in their future. First, second, and third gear are fine. Remember though that Ferrari #51 has a stripped fourth gear and the teeth are rattling around in the casing f the gearbox.
That is not good. Toyota #8 has completed service. The sister #7 is being serviced as we speak. Mike Conway staying at the wheel to finish the race. Conway gets int the car and I believe it is Sebastien Buemi in the sister #8 car. Holy mackerel! We have a close shave here, look, between the #22 United Autosport Oreca and the similar LMP2 #41 for RealTeam by WRT going into the first turn! That was a touch as these two are battling for the final podium place in LMP2! That could've gotten ugly, fast! Mind your P's and Q's. It's the final hour of the final race of the year. WRT have completed 212 laps, 713 miles down. WRT lead the #23 United car by 44 seconds. So, we just saw the sister #22 United car going by the #38 Jota entry.
Jota are in position to win the championship without winning the finale race of the year as Mike Conway passes the LMP2's on his out lap. The Hypercars ought to be good on fuel to the very end while the LMP2 cars run 40 minutes on a tank, so, to get home, they will have to stop in a few minutes for a splash and a dash. None of the LMP2 cars are under pressure so they can afford to lift and coast significantly. Ferdinand Habsburg is not averse to a lunge. He will go for it when he has to. Antonio Felix Da Costa, though, is coming in a hurry. Toyota #7, the leader, he has a head of steam, look, and is right on top of the #71 Ferrari 488 GTE for Spirit of Race.
I don't think this is going to be a replay of how the factory Ferrari was going through their gearbox woes earlier on. A different Ferrari. Calm down, everyone. No worries. Pierre Ragues is in the car. Recall in the first hour he took the class lead from the other Ferrari, the Iron Dames #85 of Sarah Bovy and the Iron Dames entry led for a good chunk of the opening part of the event. Now they are the penultimate car. Franck Dezoteux in the #71 Ferrari is languishing down in ninth spot in GTE Am.
Jose Maria Lopez looking on. Toyota #7 are not the Le Mans winners in 2022 and not going to be World Champions. Those honors both go the way of their sister car, but, they will salvage something out of this nonetheless. Amato Ferrari and Batti Pregliasco for AF Corse, they are stressed and strained. We also look at Philippe Sinault from Alpine and Signatech. They will be back in 2024 with a new car. So many titles still on the line. Antonio Fuoco leads in GTE Pro. Now, just hang on a minute. I think... I think... I may have highlighted the GTE Pro points situation insofar as manufacturers. But, I repeat myself.
Currently, Ferrari are in the lead with 269 points, a dozen points clear of Porsche on 257, and Chevrolet with the Corvette C8.R are in third place on 102 points. If a red flag were to happen now and the race would be stopped for some reason, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina would be the GTE Pro champions for Ferrari. However, it is not over yet. Right now, we can see the points situation. It says that Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado are tied for the lead on 135 points. Hard to say if they are going to keep the lead with the troubles they've been through.
Second place is a tie on 131 points with the sister car, the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE, and the drivers we just talked about, Miguel Molina, and Antonio Fuoco. They have 131 points. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz are of course separated because as we said, Richard Lietz was ill with the dreaded coronavirus and missed a race. Therefore, Bruni is all alone in third place in points on 130 points, a solitary marker behind Molina, while Kevin Estre, the Frenchman who is his Porsche GT Team factory teammate, Estre is fourth on 127 points. Of course, he has shared a car all season in the #92 with Michael Christensen, the Dane, and with Laurens Vanthoor, the Belgian.
Ferrari have been able to stay ahead of Porsche #91. Corvette have made their car more drivable than what it was when this race began and that is why they are contenders in the waning moments, as we see a pit stop for Frank Dezoteux and the #71 Spirit of Race Ferrari in GTE Am. Fresh, sticker Michelin tires on that Ferrari. We have an interview now with Jose Maria Lopez. 43 minutes to go in the season finale. Lopez says the race is always tough and there's a way to go yet but so far so well. He says this is the best result Toyota could hope for insofar as the manufacturers' championship and the sister car winning the drivers' title.
The indication is that the #7 car has been the stronger team today and there is a big difference between car #7 and car #8. The balance of the cars changes through the race and sometimes they are comfortable and sometimes not. Lopez says the #7 team has a bit more pace than their teammates and it sounds like he is referring to the #8 car dealing with an understeer condition all day. They know, though, that the #8 team is going to be champions once we click off these final 42 minutes. Meanwhile, while we heard from Jose Maria Lopez, Alessandro Pier Guidi came to the pit lane for the final stop for the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE which we almost mistakenly confused for the #71 Spirit of Race Am class Ferrari.
A handful of red Ferrari's, hard to keep them all together. Meanwhile the LMP2 battle for fourth place rages on between the #22 United Autosport Oreca and the #38 Jota Sport Oreca. #38 tries the inside squeeze play! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! They really don't need to be doing that! #22 is forced wide onto the paint way, way beyond the curbs! They're leaning on each other! This is totally, utterly unnecessary! Boys, I know you want to win, each of you. But, blimey! Keep it clean! There is a clear rivalry between these two Portuguese drivers. Antonio Felix Da Costa, he plays that down, but I have to say, judging from that little bit of argy bargy, you can see it.
It's great entertainment. I'm glad they are racing each other earnestly. That said, even though we chuckle with delight in the commentary box, out on the speedway itself, this is no laughing matter. That being said, there is a school of thinking in motor racing. That lesson is, if you see a gap and you don't go for it, you are no longer a racing driver or a racer, and you are just twizzling around on a Sunday drive. Are you a man, or a mouse? No, said the racing driver. I am a man, or woman, who races seriously. I am not chicken!
That's cheeky. Albuquerque left him a wee gap, but then he starts the rough him up, Albuquerque feeling hard done by as if he got boshed off the road. Antonio Felix Da Costa still isn't happy. He knows this is going to be an ice cream headache for him if he doesn't just scream right back by the United car. Trust me, it looked like Filipe Albuquerque was leaving the door open. But clearly, he had other ideas. 40 minutes to go. The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche pits for the moment, and this puts the Iron Dames in the #85 Ferrari 488 GTE back to the GTE Am lead. The Iron Dames owe a stop yet and that will put them behind the GTE Pro #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
So, the longer the Iron Dames stay out, the closer the two are going to be. I think that it would be fabulous if the Iron Dames won the race in GTE Am. They deserve it. They have shown their capability as a driving trio and their tenacity, and ability to go for it. Their program would benefit a lot. Alright, we were looking at the overall race leader, r at least I thought we were, but now it is showing the LMP2 leading WRT car on screen. They have a 42 second cushion over the #23 United car in LMP2 and have completed 216 laps, 726 miles. GR Racing and Ben Barker are now up to third in GTE Am for the #86 Porsche 911 RSR-19. In the battle of the Aston Martin's, the #33 TF Sport entry has dropped back, but critically, they remain ahead of their rivals in the #98 Aston Martin Racing factory entry.
Oh no! There's smoke everywhere and a car has spun off the road! That is a massive, monster brake lockup for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari! Nick Cassidy, the New Zealander at the wheel of it. He looped it and so did the #35 Ultimate LMP2 car in the hands of Jean Baptiste Lahaye. Let's see if in replay we can find out what happened. Bang! Cassidy ran right into the back of Lahaye after locking the brakes and Cassidy it is clear, gets the worst of it. He just barely tagged the back of the #35. However, there's no question in my mind that the stewards will ding him with a penalty for the contact.
Rahel Frey, meanwhile, brings the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari into the pit lane. Iron Dames pi from the lead. Mikkel Pedersen is second followed by Ben Barnicoat. So, these are the two Team Project 1 Porsche's, #46 and #56 respectively. A driver change at Iron Dames for the final portion of the race. Michelle Gatting must finish the race and have a small amount of time to drive. 37 and a half minute to go as Mikkel Pedersen takes the lead. Tires taken for the car as well. They are not rolling over to have their tummy tickled. It is time for full send now. Believe me. They are down and away and chasing down Mikkel Pedersen. Iron Dames has gained six seconds on Mikkel Pedersen who had a slower pit stop.
After the monster brake lockup, the #54 AF Corse Ferrari is now in the pit lane on tires that might as well be shaped as cubes! He is right behind the team car, the #21 entry that has not been a factor in this race. That is the car of Simon Mann, Christoph Ulrich, and Toni Vilander. #54 is under investigation for the tiniest of touches. Nick Cassidy is a placed pro driver. We did not see how early the #35 hit the brakes. We don't know if the driver was tired or if the tires gave up or the brakes gave out. If the guy in front lifts off early, you are catching him at a closing rate that is unreal. He had enough gap though to know where the braking zone is/
The Iron Dames have a lead gap in GTE Am that is 20.4 seconds. It appears, as we look again at GTE Pro points standings, that not too much has changed except now Poer Guidi and Calado are tied for the lead at 135 points each followed by Fuoco and Molina tied on 131 and then we see Bruni in third on 130 and Estre in fourth on 127, in both of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19's, car #91 and #92. We do not see the teams working behind the scenes at the factory, but we know they are dedicated to optimizing the pit stops as well as the preparation of these cars and they live and breathe it as much as the drivers do. We have an interview coming up with Miguel Molina.
Molina tells us the race has been tough and it was a shame for the team car to have trouble. They want to achieve a result at the #52 team in the last GTE Pro race ever. They are crossing their fingers to finish well and to win in a shade over half an hour. They can go to the end on fuel and are managing the tires. They only need 30 minutes. Can they go the distance. 32 minutes on the board. They can likely begin fuel saving because they have a 40 second buffer over the Corvette and have completed 213 laps, 716 miles. Corvette need a Monza miracle. If anyone can do it is the American team because American racing depends on fuel mileage strategies.
The leading #46 GTE Am Project 1 Porsche is taking a lap back from the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, but it is not the time to do it. They will have to catch a whole lap in a half an hour. That is, if nothing changes. Now, in GTE Am there is a battle afoot for fourth in class. Formula 1 veteran Giancarlo Fisichella in the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE has it, and Henrique Chaves, the Portuguese driver in the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage, wants it. OK. It's no contest because Fisichella dives for the lane giving it up and Chaves can sail right past.
That was a gimme for the TF Sport Aston who have already made their final stop of the race. Alessio Rovera and AF Corsa have something to say. Alessio Rovera has had a tough battle that is really close, with some fast drivers. Theya re in a good place for the championship with Nicklas Nielsen finishing the race, and they have their fingers crossed. The season has gone extremely well for the #83 team even though they have not had time to develop the car. They had two poles this year at Sebring and Spa and in the European Le Mans Series at Imola too.
Francois Perrodo and company who drive this car have run in LMP2 but then went back to GTE Am. Before getting back to that story, here is the provisional points situation in LMP2 as the race draws to an end and so does the season. This is the teams' championship in LMP2. AF Corse are the leaders with 177 points, 19 points up on Algarve Pro Racing with 158 points. 52 points behind and still mathematically in the fight, the #35 Ultimate car, and in fourth place, on 78 points, and perhaps out of the running, is the #44 Oreca from ARC Bratislava, the Slovakian team.
Francois Perrodo previously raced with TDS Racing in LMP2 and shared the car with a different set of drivers, including an all-French team of Perrodo along with Loic Duval and Jean Eric Vergne. Meanwhile, we also have the points table situation on screen in the LMP2 Pro-Am subcategory. That shows us a three-way tie on both sides of the table. The AF Corse #83 drivers, Alessio Rovera, Francois Perrodo who we just mentioned, and Nicklas Nielsen, all have 177 points. In second place, tied, are the three drivers aboard the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca.
These drvers are James Allen from Australia, Austrian Rene Binder, and American, Stephen Thomas. Perrodo is a three-time GTE Am winner who stands to add an LMP2 Pro-Am title to his CV. That is four titles for a privateer racer which is pretty remarkable. Perrodo was involved in the dramas at Le Mans with Corvette, apologizing to their team. He has put together an incredible program and they have worked hard all year. We see the top three overtakes in Hypercar lead by Toyota #7 with 422 passes, followed by the sister #8 Toyota with 392 overtakes, and the #94 Peugeot 9X8 with 340 overtakes.
Mike Conway leads the race in the dark of Bahrain. How different is the track for the driver in terms of visibility at night? It is nicer in the dark with the floodlights on because it intensifies the visibility of the track and there are no external surroundings. The headlights are even more visible in the dark so you can judge distances and spot cars better in the dark here in Bahrain with the floodlights. Conway has opened a gap on Brendon Hartley to the tune of 45 seconds and has gained seven seconds as the gap before was 38 seconds. Conway and company are looking for a well-earned race victory, but they will not have enough in terms of the championship and should come up just short there.
Mikkel Jensen is aboard the much delayed, beleaguered #93 Peugeot 9X8 as both cars have had a baptism f fire in their first race. Jensen and co-divers Paul di Resta and Jean Eric Vergne lie fifth in Hypercar and the overall as the front nose is off of the Peugeot and it is on the jacks, the jack stands actually, in the garage, being repaired. They have run 171 laps so far, 575 miles. Toyota #7 had a better balance but also dealt with understeer. That actually went against the sister #8 Toyota and fell into car #7's favor. Meanwhile, the #41 RealTeam by WRT LMP2 is in the lane for it's final stop, more than likely.
#41 is down and away. Conway has done so well driving the #7 today and Buemi has come up short. They will forget about today's race and focus instead on the championship as well as making preparations for next year in 2023 which it seems should offer a bunch more in terms of competition in the Hypercar division. It looks like there will be more and more cars coming and we'll hear all about that as the 2023 season approaches. Toyota scored 50 points for victory at Le Mans. If you get those 50 points ad if you are close, it will work and the same thing is true for the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, but of course the #7 lost a ton at Sebring, #8 lost out at Spa, and then #8 also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Then it's like any sport you can think of. You give your rivals an inch, and it is the devil's own job to catch them. From then on you must be better at everything all the time and it is a bear. In 2021, last year, it was #7 winning Le Mans and the championship. Contrast that with 2022 where #8 won Le Mans and it appears as though they will indeed win the title. The potential dramas lie within GTE Pro as Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche is ever so slightly catching up to Nick Tandy at the wheel of the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. But, at what cost to his tires.
How much tire wear is left in the sets of Michelin's on the Corvette and the Porsche alike? There is a warning for the earlier Portuguese two step we saw with the #22 and #38 in LMP2 that we were bantering about. I think with that shemozzle, the word investigate is indeed implied. 15 seconds is the gap between Nick Tandy in Corvette #64 and Richard Lietz in Porsche #91. No further action on the incident between Oreca #35 and Ferrari #54. 24 minutes remaining. So, once again in GTE Pro, here are your championship tables updates.
It is going to be a Ferrari 1-2. Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado equal on 135 points. Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina equal on 131 points. That's first and second. Gianmaria Bruni a single point behind in third place, all on his own with 130 points, and three points behid in fourth, Kevin Estre with 127 points. The manfuacturer's standings in GTE Pro have not changed either. Ferrari leads Porsche by a dozen points, 269-257 with Corvette a distant third, trailing on 102 points. That is the significance of the #52 being allowed to go by and blunting the sister car.
As things stand now, #51 will win the title and the manufacturers' championship for Ferrari. #52 would be second and Porsche will be third by one point with #91 and Gianmaria Bruni. Things could (and I emphasize, could) change if the #52 needs a splash and a dash at the end of the race, but it is being murmured that they don't think they do. They can make it all the way on fuel to the checkered flag. If they do, they'd still come out ahead of Richard Lietz. In LMP2, WRT lead United Autosports by 40 seconds. That's a massive margin with so little time left on the clock. In third, the #38 Jota Sport car is another 48 seconds in-arrears.
Team Project 1 leads the Iron Dames in GTE Am by 21 seconds in GTE Am and that gap is going up. It is increasing as we speak and as I type the words on paper. Well, on the computer into the blog anyway. Mikkel Pedersen has done good work since he got in for his stint while Michelle Gatting really has not yet found the answer to his riddle. Speaking of finding an answer to a riddle, here is the battle for sixth spot in GTE Am between two more Porsche's. The #77 Dempsey Proton Racing APorsche 911 RSR-19 of Harry Tincknell vs. the similar car #86 for GR Racing and Ben Barker. Ben Barnicoat is third in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche.
Ben Barnicoat is clearly answering the bell and closing in on Michelle Gatting. Gunnar Jeanette and P.J. Hyett are both racing the FIA World Endurance Championshuo for the first time in their careers. We see the #23 United Autosport Oreca in the pit lane. #77 has had a topsy turvy race. A late stop for Oliver Jarvis which puts the #38 Jota machine into second spot in LMP2. Well, well, well. The plot thickens. We had not had a well, well, well moment in this race in a wee while if at all and there it is. After stopping under a Full Course Yellow, we can clearly see the #23 car is now taking the pain, or taking the medicine to relieve the pain, maybe.
20 minutes to go. This drops the #23 to fifth in LMP2 as #28, the sister Jota car is in the lane. For crying out loud, Jota! We cannot tell any difference between your two LMP2 cars! At least give us a visual reference! Next year their plan will be to run one LMP2 car and one Hypercar. If they are both the same color, we might not be able to tell who it is. It is the Hertz backing and so, they should have a Porsche 963 Hypercar which is one of the exciting new arrivals coming for next year. But here is a question for you. Will it be delivered to the hotel the day after you got to the airport? OK. That was a joke.
#38 in the pit lane and #23 has come and gone. Now we see that this car has the Mexican flag not the British flag. #23 back into a podium place, but also, when do WRT stop? We can see the table of pit stops and most cars in LMP2 have taken 11 stops through this race with the top two at WRT and Prema Orlen Team having both taken ten to this point. WRT and Prema Orlen still to come. Robin Frijns leads Louis Deletraz to the tune of one minute and 37 seconds. Prema have been in fuel saving mode apparently. Well, if that is going to work for them, then they've only got 18 more minutes on the board to make something happen.
No further action on "the Portuguese two step". One of the mechanics appears to be broken. They need a new one. Sub, please! That bloke was in the garage, on the floor, down for the count, catching some zeds! No surprises in Hypercar. No surprises in LMP2 for overall victory, but maybe for other positions. It is still GTE Pro that hangs in the balance, and it is about getting home. With a shade over 17 minutes to go, it appears as if the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE that has been through the wars for most of this motor race might just pull off a highly unlikely victory. That'll be smashing if it comes true but we do have a detractor among us it seems.
Prema second in LMP2 passing the Corvette of Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner which is second in the GTE Pro class. If that car comes home with a secondhand gearbox, the Ferrari, these are cars built for endurance. We've seen cars broken and with faults that can come home even walking wounded. In other forms of racing, say, open wheel racing or stock car racing for example, if there is even one minor fault on the car after a shunt, the thing is parked and put in the bin for the foreseeable future. But not here in endurance sports car racing. Drivers and teams must simply maintain a never give up attitude.
A quick pit stop, in and out, serviced and sent for the #31 WRT car in LMP2. The later you stop, the closer you are to the end, the less fuel you need for your journey. In second place, the #9 Prema Orlen Team car of Louis Deletraz. Do they have to stop? That is the burning question. Indeed, they do, is the answer. WRT had a 52 second stop. 15 minutes is seven laps around here. 15 and a half minutes. The strategy laptop is either forgotten or busted. The only laptop here is the one I am typing the blog on. So, we will just have to play it completely by ear, honestly. There's no other way around it. If all the pain of 7 hours and 45 minutes is going to come good, they have to stay out of the pit lane.
Oliver Jarvis reeling in Louis Deletraz. Nothing will change on pace in Hypercar. Oliver Jarvis is second, running 1.4 seconds behind Deletraz currently. If Deletraz has to stop, it's over. But, if Deletraz can hold on, believe you me, he will have to catch Jarvis. That being said, Deletraz still knows he needs to push as the #35 Ultimate car pits from third in LMP2 Pro-Am. Algarve Pro back to second. In GTE Am, the gap is Michelle Gatting only 1.7 seconds ahead of of Ben Barnicoat. In GTE Pro, Nick Tandy is fending off the challenge of Richard Lietz but only by 15 seconds.
Giancarlo Fisichella has just been given a final warning for track limits. He has enough leeway to keep the car on the road ahead of Charlie Fagg at the wheel of the #777 D'station Aston Martin Vantage Fagg has shared during the race today with Japanese drivers Tomonobu Fujii and Satoshi Hoshino. At the head of GTE Am, TF Sport with Henrique Chaves driving is well ahead of the #98 Northwest AMR entry being taken to the checkered flag by Nicki Thiim. In the next 12 and a half minutes, if the order does not change, TF Sport car #33 will win the 2022 LM GTE Am championship in WEC.
Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen are former factory Aston Martin GTE teammates now racing in different camps. That said, neither of them has been on the racetrack at the same time today when the other has been. Totally different driving schedules for their different teams, for both of them. Watch for news about a new manufacturer coming into GT racing later this week. Is there a Danish manufacturer entering GT racing? Well, not unless it's Lego. Hardy har har. WRT meanwhile in LMP2 are 45 seconds to the good over United Autosport. OK then.
Richard Lietz is reeling in Nick Tandy but not quickly enough with the clock ticking. Alpine in the pit lane for their final stop, and the final pit stop for an LMP1 class car in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Next year, we will see all LMH and LMDh Hypercars in the Hypercar category and in the World Endurance Championship. Oh jeez! The #54 AF Corse Ferrari gets on the whirligig in turn one, again! How many times has that happened now? Answers on a postcard, please. Oh boy. It's getting late in the race, folks. Late in the season, to boot.
Did he hit the #77 Porsche? I don't think so. Nick Cassidy finishing the race in #54. It is very susceptible to rear brake locking, and maybe the brake bias is shifted heavily towards the rear brakes. Alpine #36 pits for the final time and is back on track. If there is too much rearward brake bias then the car is harder to manage and control, as now we see the battle for second place in GTE Am! Ben Barnicoat up the inside of Michelle Gatting! Wow! That was full send! He used all the momentum. A 1-2 for Team Project 1. The Iron Dames are looking for an overall podium which I think they have had before. They were second at Monza and second at Fuji as well.
They were racing the Proton Porsche in Monza. AF Corse Ferrari #52 is now leading the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R by 45 seconds having completed 225 laps, 757 miles. For Team Project 1 this is an impressive result because neither car was on the money at all in qualifying, but in the race, they've found the magic sauce here, the magic ingredient to their recipe for success. The nonprofessional drivers are actually showing how good they are. Nicki Leutwiler, the Swiss driver, is showing more today than he has all year that he can be the full package. He is comfortable with the car after setting fastest lap time in Free Practice 3 earlier in the weekend.
Meanwhile in the sister #56 car, the late replacements for Ollie Milroy and Brendon Iribe, so, P.J. Hyett and Gunnar Jeanette, they have done very well. We know Gunnar Jeanette. He has been at this endurance racing game for a long time. P.J. Hyett though is showing his talent very well as we look again at the top three cars in LMP2. WRT ahead of Prema Orlen Team by 45 and a half seconds with United Autosports USA in third place. WRT have now put 231 laps on the board, 777 miles. Very impressive for a team on a track they don't know and are running for the first time.
Nervous faces in the garage, and some ferocious gum chewing. Don't chew it all the way until it loses it's flavor entirely, boys. Eight minutes or less to go in the 2022 season and Prema Orlen Team have no intention of pitting. So, they are sticking it out until the bitter end. WRT still leading. Two-minute stop and go penalty for the #34 Inter Europol LMP2 team according to the Race Director on the radio. Confirmed, two minute stop and go penalty for a pit lane infringement. Whatever that was it is serious indeed dropping them from 13th to 14th place. They have seven minutes to take a two minute hold or take a post-race penalty or be disqualified.
There are more than three laps left so they will have to do so immediately. A pit stop too, with seven minutes to go for the #83 AF Corse LMP2 car which is at the top of the shop in LMP2 Pro-Am. What's the gap? This could be critical. Vector Sport have gone by. The passenger door was open. But this has to be a strategy call because here comes the #45 Algarve Pro Racing machine as well, diving for the lane. The pressure is on in LMP2 Pro-Am. It was a splash and Algatve Pro also needed one. The difference in the championship run in this race was the stop and go for the #45 plus they need a quick driver change to cover for the last six minutes.
Toyota Gazoo Racing run 1-2 passing Michelle Gatting who leads in GTE Am. The top three in Hypercar is the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid for Toyota Gazoo Racing of Mike Conway leading, followed b the sister #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid also for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the hands of Brendon Hartley, and in third place, the #36 Alpine Elf Team in the Alpine A480 Gibson being driven by Nicolas Lapierre. Alpine are two laps down to the leaders while Hartley is 47 seconds behind Conway who has completed 241 laps, 875 and a half miles.
Sarah Bovy and Ben Keating, Iron Dames Ferrari and TF Sport Aston Martin are fighting it out for GTE Am honors as the #9 Prema Orlen Team car comes to the pit lane for a splash and a dash. They were five minutes shy of being bang on the money on their fuel strategy and so, the #23 United Autosports entry will make a pass on track while #9 has to box. Five minutes is two laps over eight hours of fuel saving. #38 might just nip the #9 car as he exits the lane with only five minutes to go. This is going to be close.
#38 crosses the line going through to third and so the #9 had their strategy backfire, which is really, really frustrating for them. Lorenzo Colombo, Robert Kubica, and Louis Deletraz will surely be disappointed. Eight hours all pinned on making the last pit stop last and they came up about two or three laps shy. They are two laps shy of a great strategy working and they'd only needed one more lap of yellow or one more Full Course Yellow. United Autosports #23 will be on the podium. WRT, Jota, and United Autosport will complete the podium. Cool and calm at the front for the #52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE in GTE Pro. They have run 228 laps, 767 miles.
They can run a formation, photo finish for AF Corse. James Calado covering his eyes. He's uncontrollably emotional. He won't be in the garage. No photo finishes. This #51 Ferrari has been dragging a broken leg behind it for the last two hours. Chris at AF Corse is not only a member of the AF Corse team, but he is also responsible for the vast majority of the windscreen tearoffs for the entire grid that we see the mechanic's ripping off the windscreens of the cars when they get too dirty revealing another one, which are layered one on top of the other. That is his business.
The last time the #22 United Autosport car finished the season without a podium, I don't know. But they will have no podium this year. They have taken a real beating. Inter Europol is the same way. They will not be happy. It pays for the #52 Ferrari to stay behind the wounded sister car until the end because they don't have to do an extra lap before the checkered flag is displayed. Without a shadow of a doubt that will be their game plan. Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner have taken their best chance and fended off both Porsche's.
The podium for the final GTE Pro race will be Ferrari #52, Corvette #64, and Ferrari #51, which through their wrecks, damage, and travails, is going to claim the final LM GTE Pro championship in WEC history here in 2022. But they have now only just started their final lap. Toyota might just run 1-2. Don't count your chickens just yet. Oh my Lord! #91 in the pit lane on the final lap?! What is this? The shortest splahs and dash ever. This has to have been a mistake for fueling. They are doing a timed stop. Is the fuel hose not working?
The Ferrari is slowing down. I think this is by design so they can get back to the checkered flag without doing another lap of the circuit. The Toyota started the last lap of the race, and the Ferrari will now be back on terms before the checkered flag falls here tonight. There had to be a mistake on fueling for the #91 Porsche. Why on earth would he sit in the lane for so long just to add two or three liters to the tank? Porsche #92 has gone ahead of the #91 but this 100% will not change the math. This is the final lap, final corner, final race of the year. Mike Conway takes the checkered flag! He, Jose Maria Lopez, and Kamui Kobayashi win the 8 Hours of Bahrain!
The #38 Jota Sport car behind. Ferrari #51 creeps across the line. James Calado can breathe again and let the tears go. We now see the GTE Am and LMP2 winners coming across the line. In GTE Am it is the #46 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Mateeo Cairoli, Mikkel Pedersen, and Nicky Leutwiler, winning! In LMP2, the #31 WRT Oreca 07 of Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael, and Rene Rast are the winners!
Overall/Hypercar: #7 Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid
LMP2: #31 Frijns/Gelael/Rast Team WRT Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro-Am: #83 Nielsen/Perrodo/Rovera AF Corse Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #52 Fuoco/Molina AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE
LM GTE Am: #46 Cairoli/Leutwiler/Pedersen Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19
245 laps completed by the winning Toyota, equaling a grand total of 824 miles. Corvette will not win if the #52 gets to the line. Northwest AMR fifth. TF Sport fourth and they win the title in GTE Am! The #34 Inter Europol LMP2 car did not cross the line! I don't believe they even bothered to send the car back out of the pit lane! Mama Mia! That is a tough break. They do not finish the race. Two non-finishers out of the 37 starters. If you win Le Mans which Toyota #8 did, could have won the title but it isn't going to be. Sebring, Spa, Le Mans, Ferrari have come through even after not having the speed at the start of the year and that gearbox clattering without fourth gear made it to the bitter end.
Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado are world champions in GTE Pro for the final time and Ferrari takes the manufacturers' championship!
Champions:
Hypercar: #8 Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid
GTE Pro: #51 Pier Guidi/Calado AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE
LMP2 Endurance Trophy: #38 da Costa/Gonzalez/Stevens Jota Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro/Am: #83 Rovera/Perrodo/Nielsen AF Corse Oreca 07
GTE Am Endurance Trophy: #33 Keating/Sorensen TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE
Toyota and Ferrari win the manufacturers' titles in Hypercar and GTE Pro. Jota win the LMP2 Endurance Championship. AF Corse the LMP2 Pro-Am endurance championship, and TF Sport in the Endurance Championship for GTE Am teams. Brendon Hartley becomes the first driver to win the championship with two different brands in two different top classes with Porsche and Toyota, in LMP1 and in Hypercar. Ryo Hirakawa takes his first ever FIA World Endurance Championship. Alpine could have won the drivers' title which was nowhere near the level of the genuine Hypercars from Toyota on performance. Toyota win the title by 42 points over Alpine, 186-144.
Glickenhaus and Peugeot next up and the competition in the future will only step up for next year and the future. The drivers collect their trophies. The podium celebration is now underway for LMP2 as well. WRT, United Autosport, and LMP2 World Champions for 2022, Jota! The Belgian national anthem plays for WRT. The fourth British champion and the second Portuguese champion in LMP2. Spray the champagne!
How many of these drivers will be in Hypercar in 2023 and 2024, well, a good number of them. Many drivers will be in Hypercars on both sides of the Atlantic. Iron Dames, third in GTE Am while Team Project 1 go first and second and the ceew im second spot had never raced together as a trio. The German national anthem plays for Project 1 and for Porsche. Gunnar Jeanette raced in 2012 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Luxury Racing. P.J. Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette will be in IMSA GT Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
We celebrate too, the podium for LMP2 Pro-Am and the winners, AF Corse, with the Italian national anthem. No LMP2 Pro-Am in WEC next year. TDS Racing headed to the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship next year after climbing the entire ladder of the FIA sports car racing ladder. Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera will go to the Ferrari Hypercar team next year.
Kudos to Stuart Cox for putting the team together for Algarve Pro Racing, Stuart and Sam Cox. So, that's a wrap for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship. GTE Pro is in the history books. We have GTE Am and more and more Hypercars to look forward to seeing race in 2023. Until then, for now, so long and good night, from the kingdom of Bahrain and the Sakhir Circuit. It's been a long, hot day and night today in Bahrain, but it's been great. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you next year. Bye bye. Until we meet again, and oh my goodness. Get ready for 2023, the centenary Le Mans and the birth of the greatest age of sports car racing. So long for now, everybody. Take care.
8 Hours of Bahrain: Hour 7
Third, fourth, fifth, and sixth in LMP2 are all in sight of eachother. United Autosport #22, Prema Orlen #9, Jota #38, and RealTeam by WRT #41. Six hours down and two hours to go. We have no idea who will win any of our titles. Stevens shooting past Colombo late on the brakes and makes it stick in turn two! He's kept the momentum. Will Stevens in the slipstream and Lorenzo Colombo defending. Done and dusted. He has made the pass. These two blokes have been nose to tail and could be getting closer to Will Owen. Despite the two cars fighting, Steven is closing rapidly on Will Owen. We ought to mention that half the engineering staff of the Prema Orlen #9 car is being provided by the Iron Lynx team. WRT lead the motor race in the LMP2 class in the #31 car having completed 176 laps, 592 miles. They have a season of LMP2 racing under their belt. Prema's single seater experience, Iron Lynx's GT endurance experience, and putting both together in one package.
They have come into endurance racing, and prototype racing with a bang and have had tremendous success in GT3 racing particularly in Europe. It is the Will and Will show, in the meantime, for third spot in LMP2 with Will Stevens harrying Will Owen at every opportunity. Iron Lynx are becoming a very viable contender in GT racing and in LMP2. Watch for them in Hypercar in 2024. Pit stop time for Renger van der Zande at Vector Sport. The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19 is in as well. Gunnar Jeannette is staying in the car even though the door is open.
Check that. It was a driver change and will be P.J. Hyett in the car. A battle ensues now for eighth place in LMP2 between Alex Brundle at Inter Europol Competition and Charles Milesi at Richard Mille Racing Team. Car #34 vs. car #1. They pass Antonio Fuoco in the GTE Pro leading #52 Ferrari 488 GTE. The Will and Will show continues apace in LMP2 and before we take another look at that, let's go through the current LMP2 points standings. Jota #38 are still the points leaders on 129 points, 13 ahead of second place, the #31 car for WRT on 116.
Only three points behind at 113 markers is the #23 United Autosports entry followed by Prema Orlen Team and RealTeam by WRT who are 19 and 20 points behind, respectively. At the same time Prema and RealTeam are a single point apart for fourth place in the points 94-93. The sister Jota #28 car in sixth place is on 70 points, 23 points away. So, unlike their teammates, I don't see the #28 crew even getting a look in as we approach the end of this motor race in Bahrain this evening. Will, will will himself, past Will. OK. That's a confused tongue-tied mess if I ever heard it. That is a quote from Graham Goodwin, not from me. Omit repeated word? Not in this case, in this context of the LMP2 battle.
So, the LMP2 points at this juncture appear as a three-way tie for first place between the three Jota drivers aboard the #38 car, Antonio Felix Da Costa of Portugal, Roberto Gonzalez of Mexico, and Will Stevens of course from England. Second place on 116 points, in their own tie, are the WRT #31 co-drivers, Dutchman Robin Frijns and Indonesian driver Sean Gelael on 116 points. In third, all alone on 113 points is American Josh Pierson, the lead driver for the #23 United Autosports entry. So, that clears up most of the relevant runners and riders in the LMP2 fight.
This is no contest. Will Owen will have trouble holding off Will Stevens. Owen has the skills I am sure, but Stevens has more experience. He has grown into sports car racing. Pit stop time for the #36 Alpine A480 Gibson. Stevens has become more relaxed. He is a great character. He tried Formula 1 and it did not work for him. He should have a Hypercar drive for 2023. Charles Milesi, meanwhile, uses the faster Toyota Hypercar as a pick, to force his way past Alex Brundle, his chief rival in LMP2 in this motor race. Milesi has made his move and the Owen and Stevens scrap continues in earnest. Owen runs wide in turn 11 and is feeling the pressure, not defending two corners later into turn 13.
The dirty air gets kicked up and then really disturbs the aero of the following car. Brundle and Inter Europol to the pit lane. There is a driver change going on at Inter Europol as we speak. I am not sure who will be stepping aboard the car just yet. Peugeot #94 back in the lane. Stevens is indeed going for it. Control it, control it. That is hat he is doing. He slides down the inside of Owen and makes it stick. It's easy to fling the car to the inside but get the car to stop in the braking zone to make the pass stick or you are just going to be sailing off into the desert sand on the outside of the circuit.
Owen gets crossed up in turns six and seven and so, now is the chance for Stevens to again have a bite of the cherry. Owen can see where he is but Filipe Albuquerque now knows his job will be even harder. No news yet on the contact between Rene Rast in the #31 WRT car and Alex Brundle in the #34 Inter Europol machine. Esteban Guttierez of Mexico is now at the wheel of the #34. For WRT they do have a damocletian sword dangling above them. United #23 in second with Alex Lynn at the controls. Will Stevens is going to have a harder time with Alex Lynn.
The drive through penalty will halve the lead. It is not 26 seconds lost because it is a drive through penalty where they don't have to stop but the p[ressure is on. It gives a ray of hope to the chasing car. So, the four-way battle for third spot in LMP2 looks like this. It is Will Stevens, Will Owen, Lorenzo Colombo, and Norman Nato. The two Brits, the Italian, and the Frenchman. You lose 20 seconds, not 26 seconds, although the actual drive through is 24-26 seconds but not lost to your opposition. It will not do anything to change the lead of the race.
Moments ago, we heard from Jean Eric Vergne. It is game over for the #93 Peugeot 9X8. They are out. That said, the team at Peugeot TotalEnergies is still very much doing development and so, we ought to see the Peugeot come on song and be a full-fledged race car, next year, in 2023. For now, they are a test car and a test team still. Over the winter they are going to do as much as they can as far as homework is concerned. There is something untraceable in the electronics or the transmission is broken. Vincent Vosse looking on under the flat hat.
We continue to watch this fourth-place battle in LMP2. It remains Owen vs. Colombo vs. Nato. Will Stevens is free to chase. This is a three-way chess match. Prema's evening, sadly, is going from bad to worse. Kubica has caught Owen. We have a driver change going on at Toyota. That is car #8 that is in for full service. Sebastien Buemi back in the car and he is serviced and sent. They remain ahead of the Alpine which must win the race tonight with Toyota as low as third place to take the drivers' championship. That seems less and less likely. They still have to finish ahead of Toyota and race for an hour and 50 minutes.
Now, the #7 Toyota is in. But there's drama in GTE Pro! James Calado calls in on the radio and says, "something's loose". We can indeed hear on the in-car microphone something below the underbody of the car scraping around. Something has come through the floor. One minute stop and go for #34 causing a collision with #31. Now, #41, the sister WRT car is in the lane. We have had a second penalty on this car and there's likely a wrong decision being made here. #41 leaves the pit lane as we debate the merit of the #31's penalty.
"Something is touching the ground, there is no fourth gear" says James Calado. I thought (as did Martin Haven in the booth), that the undertray on the car was coming loose. Clearly, that isn't what's happening. The side bodywork is flapping and if the car is revving freely in fourth gear, it's not good. This is a sequential, paddle shift gearbox that isn't supposed to miss gears. With an H pattern box or a slush box, it is common to sometimes miss a shift and over rev the motor. But with paddle shifters and a linear sequential box that isn't supposed to happen. Oh dear. Endurance racing has taught us not everything is as easy as it looks.
Lorenzo Colombo is now pouring on the steam catching Will Owen hand over fist. Charles Milesi in the pit lane in the #1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca 07. Norman Nato has been in and out for RealTeam in LMP2. An hour and 45 minutes to go now. Calado has lost seven and a half seconds to the GTE Pro leading Porsche in the last two laps. This does not sound like a fixable issue without going to the garage. AF Corse Ferrari are in trouble. Nick Tandy is next up, 33 seconds down on Calado in the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Gianmaria Bruni and Michael Christensen are next up in each of the two factory Porsche 911 RSR-19's, cars #91 and #92. My apologies. Christensen is not in the fight at all.
He is way down the order. Meanwhile, Esteban Guttierez brings the #34 Inter Europol LMP2 entry to the pit lane. Inter Europol are serving their stop and go penalty for being clattered off the road by WRT. In the meantime, the #23 United Autosport car is in the lane as well. Alex Lynn will do a double stint as they tear the windscreen tearoff, off. Things are looking bleak at AF Corse. Many glum faces in that garage. The reigning champions, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado are doing all they can. Calado is trying to drive around the problem but it's not good. He is running very slowly. The engine is laboring in fifth gear, coughing and sputtering.
Everything was looking peachy for AF Corse and team boss Batti Pregliasco. But now, the wheels are falling off the wagon and their race is turning pear shaped. Calado is running laps in the 2:05 range and now the sister car and the Porsche are both running bang on two-minute lap times. So, Calado's woes are going from bad to worse. This is swinging in favor of Gianmaria Bruni and Porsche very rapidly. Colombo continues chasing Owen for third in LMP2. It is a little too late to speak to the stewards about these penalties that have taken an hour to apply. They are non sequiturs. They don't follow the situation.
51 seconds is the gap between James Calado and Gianmaria Bruni in GTE Pro in the Ferrari vs. Porsche battle. Make that 52. That is the gap to look at closely. However, the Gianmaria Bruni Porsche, he is not the next car behind James Calado at this stage. He has to get by the Corvette but that has not worked out for him because as we clearly see and are aware of, the Ferrari is down on power with it's gearbox issues. United Autosports #22 is in the lane. The Corvette C8.R is now in the window insofar as performance with tire selection and with changing settings on the suspension, the front and rear sway bars.
If Calado can push, the gap is vast between he and Michael Christensen. Some push and shove, hip and shoulder between the #54 AF Corse Ferrari and the #86 GR Racing Porsche in the GTE Am class. This is the inside of turn nine and the two are balked by the #41 RealTeam WRT LMP2 and the #777 D'station Aston Martin. Meanwhile, the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen is in the lane as is the #98 factory GTE Am Aston Martin Racing car with David Pittard at the controls. United and Jota's battle is also in the lane, Will Owen vs. Will Stevens. Paul Dalla Lana replaces David Pittard aboard the #98 and will run a full stint.
Warning light on the #51 Ferrari. Gearbox oil at 131 degrees. The gearbox is laboring and is going to overheat. This is big, big trouble and could be curtains for the Ferrari. AF Corse are setting up to bring both cars to the pit lane, but they ought to just retire the #51 before the gearbox completely blows itself to pieces. An hour and 40 minutes left on the board. Uh oh. The gearbox oil temperature has not risen so James Calado believes there is no oil left. This is the death rattle for the gearbox. No oil, no lubrication, metal on metal friction. The gearbox in the car is cooked.
Calado is third behind Nick Tandy as Calado is pulling off to the side of the road. The gearbox in the Ferrari 488 GTE factory car has cried enough. #52, the sister car now leads. Calado gets a free place anyhow, but it is all a moot point as the gearbox is burning itself up. He has to be skating around on his own oil. That gearbox has to now be imploding and, in the process, it is puking oil all over the road. Strangely, the Porsche still cannot find its way past the Corvette. That's a head scratcher, believe me. If all the cars in GTE Pro keep running, the reality is that the #92 Porsche must finish second, not third, to take the title.
We see the completion of a scheduled pit stop for the #31 WRT Oreca in LMP2. They cannot be caught if the #51 continues to run. Conversely, if the #51 retires by lunching the gearbox completely, and somehow the #52 runs into terminal trouble, the #91 factory Porsche might have enough points in the bank to beat the sister #92 car. These permutations are hypothetical of course. The longer this race goes on the crazier it is getting. Nick Tandy is 11 seconds behind and in the next couple of laps should overtake the Ferrari without a doubt. I mean, as I was saying, there is just no way that Ferrari is going to last without the transmission going boom.
Calado is in fifth gear on this part of the circuit. Ugh. Stupid onboard camera! The director had to cut away from it to show us a replay of something else! Arrrgh! Oh no. Calado straight off over the sand. I am telling you, this Ferrari is doomed to retirement. There is just no way this car is going to keep going without expiring in a plume of very expensive smoke. That was an earlier replay we just saw. Calado in big, big trouble. Nick Tandy is now second. Someone has a telemetry problem and I am saying it is James Calado. It cannot be Nick Tandy.
That transmission in the Ferrari is giving up the ghost. Now maybe, the electronics are putting the kibosh on themselves and maybe the gearbox is perfectly fine. However, we did hear that the gear oil temperature was through the roof. Calado, 2:11 and Tandy is right with him. Michael Christensen has lost a lap. Gianmaria Bruni is 14 seconds down on Nick Tandy. Corvette could wind this race. Calado is going offline and he is trying to keep the car in the same gear because shifting it ultimately will either make the transmission go bang or the electronics will go totally on the fritz.
He is stuck in gear. Stay on the onboard Mr. Director! Sheesh! The Porsche team are all over this like bees to a flower. Calado shifts to third, and has to jump a gear to fifth which is at a lower ratio even though it is a higher number. This means only one thing. Fourth gear is totally gone. The fourth gear has been stripped out of the transmission. He's barely pulling any revs. He is at 2,000 RPM, crawling. It is a disaster for the #51 as the sister #52 hits the lane. Antonio Fuoco is out of the car replaced by Spaniard Miguel Molina.
The only way Ferrari wins the title is for the #51 to stay out and hobble along with this toasted transmission and for the #91 to finish no better than third. #51 must win. For #52 to win, everyone else needs to retire. So, the #64 Corvette leads the motor race in GTE Pro as the #51 is in with Calado handing this wounded bird of a race car over to Alessandro Pier Guidi and Pier Guidi will have to suffer now through these gearbox maladies. They cannot be sending Pier Guidi back out. They have to pull the car back into the garage and fix this problem. They'd be foolish to send him out with that transmission going bonkers.
That said though, they have to win it or bin it. There is nothing they can do. They will have to send Pier Guidi out with a dud transmission and drive the son of a gun until it blows itself to pieces. The Peugeot retired with a stripped fourth gear. They are changing tires. The car is back on track. You have to be all in for everything. It sounds like the car is in neutral as it rattles like a bugger until you put the clutch in. It sounds like silverware in a blender. At what point, does something else break in that car? The input shaft is no longer being driven by that stripped gear and that is making the car ten seconds a lap slower to the GTE Pro competition.
It is daunting. Calado has made Alessandro Pier Guidi aware of what is going on, but this is still massive trouble. To get any kind of pace out of that car, Calado was driving off the circuit to keep the car in gear and let me just say that Race Control will not tolerate that. I don't care if he has a problem or not. You know Edoardo Freitas will get on the radio to the Ferrari team and say that driving off the course and cutting the corners is unacceptable. Michael Christensen is chasing Alessandro Pier Guidi and you can bet the Porsche driver is well aware that the Ferrari is ailing up ahead.
It will be the meatball flag, the mechanical black flag with the orange disc on it. Calado and Pier Guidi were in the pound seats earlier with the Full Course Yellow but now, the wheels are figuratively coming off the wagon. Until the last lap last year, the Ferrari was losing the title and then they did. Kevin Estre is well aware that it is not his year for the championship. Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni are not going to win either. Lietz had to miss a race thanks to contracting the virus. Thanks for nothing, COVID.
Michael Christensen is being told he is still in the race and to manage his tires. He is 37 seconds back on Alessandro Pier Guidi to put pressure on the ailing Ferrari. The #91 sister car is in position but out of sequence on pit stops. It is a dead giveaway that #91 is where it needs to be but that the #92 will also overtake the Ferrari. The two Porsche's will be fighting each other and the #64 Corvette too. The #41 RealTeam by WRT car of Norman Nato is 11 seconds quicker even with a tire change. He is ahead of the #38 Jota car which I think was the one that took tires. Please forgive me, but I am a little confused on this pit strategy.
Ferrari #52 makes a positional pass on Porsche #91. OK. That is the critical position now with an hour and a half of racing remaining in the 2022 FIA WEC. Christensen is told at Porsche GT Team that he is still in the race. That said, he is now running 37 seconds behind Alessandro Pier Guidi and crucially he must get by his rival. It is all about gaps and points differences. Currently, as we explained, the #91 is in position but it is out of sequence on pit strategy. So, it is a given, that everything may catch up to Stuttgart if their plan goes sideways.
The trouble for #92 is the sister car ad well as the Corvette. I think I have straightened out the pit strategy after claiming to be confused earlier on. #52 Ferrari putting the squeeze play on Porsche #91 into turn eight! Wow! Job done. A second-place finish, #91 are the 2022 GTE Pro champs. A third -place finish, and they aren't. This is the last chance. No more GTE Pro after this race because we have the Hypercars coming for next year and Porsche and Ferrari will both be a part of that evolution and revolution in prototype racing that has continued this year. They nearly had contact with the GTE Am class Ferrari. #54.
It is someone else's accident coming and finding you. That's the Italian, Francesco Castellaci, having to take avoiding action. You need to be aware of other cars coming up behind you and Castellaci had to bail out of it to avoid being clattered into oblivion. Now, we can see the running order and the intervals. Corvette #64 is leading the category with 186 laps completed, 625 and a half miles. So, the GTE Pro class have crossed the magic 1,000 kilometers mark in this race which back in the 1980s these international endurance races, a lot of them, ran to that distance in the old Group C prototype era. There is 15 seconds separating he Covette from the sole remaining #52 AF Corse Ferrari.
Third is still the sister Porsche #91 1.1 seconds back. Now, I said sole remaining Ferrari, but the #51 car can't still be in this race after it's troubles. They are listed as a minute and 11 seconds behind, but it has to be more than that. That reads like a false gap to me. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, the second Porsche GT Team factory car is a further 32 seconds out. If the #51 Ferrari does finish in fifth, the #91 car has to be second. Into the lane comes the #91. Poor old Francesco Castellaci is expected to get out of the way of the GTE Pro battle. But, he has no place to go. Come on, guys! Give me some room here!
Let's have another look at the driver's standings in GTE Pro. Currently Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado are tied for the lead at 138 points. They have a four-point margin on Gianmaria Bruni who has 134 points. Ten points behind him at 124 points are Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen, and Richard Lietz, all of them are tied on 124 points in fact. Check this out, too. Porsche is now a single point behind Ferrari in the GTE Pro manufacturers' standings, 258-257, with Corvette a distant third, with 113 points. The manufacturers' points are defined by the top two finishing cars of each brand and includes the GTE Am class cars in the whole equation.
Two Am class Ferrari's are running. Pier Guidi is struggling. The Ferrari sounds like a bucket of bolts, stumbling and fumbling with the transmission running out of steam. In a sequential gearbox you go into the gear that has trouble but get out of it as quick as possible by upshifting or downshifting, whereas, with an H pattern gearbox, you can bypass it. On the previous lap Pier Guidi still cut a 2:04. Corvette from the lead is in the pit lane. They were out of it earlier but are now back in the fight and have had good pace, buoyed by the Ferrari's troubles.
This is their first time racing in Bahrain. They did not race here in 2021. In American racing, you are constantly working on the car all the time without a set race setup in the can. In American racing, you run to a pit strategy even more crucially than you do in global motorsports at least on the endurance sports car side of things. Corvette in the pit lane and so the #52 Ferrari leads GTE Pro. Alessandro Pier Guidi is being caught by Richard Lietz and this is all about the manufacturers' championship for Porsche and the driver's championship for Gianmaria Bruni. Kevin Estre is not happy.
Ferrari have to somehow keep that bucket of bolts, the #51, from destroying itself for the next hour and 25 minutes before this race ends. If your road car sounded like that Ferrari does with a clattering transmission, you'd leave it in the driveway and call a tow truck. A good mechanic would firmly tell you, "Don't drive the car!" You know nothing good can happen. If the car makes it to the checkered flag, they will be jolly lucky. There is something rattling around and with no fourth gear, when he upshifts the car, you can hear it skip and stumble. It's lurching every time probably.
Ferrari #51 and Alessandro Pier Guidi, they are in survival mode here. Come on, baby. What's the Italian for 'come on, baby'? We'll, we're about to answer that. Dai, piccola. Dai, piccola. When Jaguar won Le Mans in 1988, the gearbox went boom before the end of the race and they had to hold the XJR-9 in top gear to bring it home to victory with the trio of Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries, and Andy Wallace.
Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen might help Porsche win the title, but it will be their team car. Christensen and Estre will not win. The pit stops are equalized, and Christensen is 19 seconds down and four laps up on Pier Guidi. Pier Guidi has to nurse the Ferrari home without the damn thing imploding and eating itself alive like the grim reaper. Pier Guidi in fourth and Christensen fifth. It is only Pier Guidi, his Ferrari, and the gearbox. Ferrari are helpless and so are Porsche. Porsche can pass #51 and it won't be enough. Richard Lietz is making inroads on Nick Tandy. That is the gap for the championship.
No doubt in my mind Christensen will pass Pier Guidi. Pier Guidi has no lifelines left. He is a shot duck. The battle is between Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz. One hour and 22 minutes to go. What we are watching out for, is catastrophic loss of pace for Alessandro Pier Guidi, again, if that transmission goes boom and has nothing but metal swarth inside of it at the bitter end of this motor race when the team receives the car in the garage, packs it up for the trip back to the factory, and then tears the car down discovering nothing but metal shavings inside the gearbox when they uncouple it and take the bell housing off.
Richard Lietz is catching Nick Tandy and could take second if he gains 13 seconds. Pit stop under investigation for the #83 LMP2 Pro-Am leading car, the AF Corse Oreca of Nicklas Nielsen. Rene Binder is reeling him in. By the way, Matteo Cairoli leads in GTE Am for Team Project 1 aboard the #46 Porsche 911 RSR-19. The Italian sharing that automobile with Mikkel Pedersen of Denmark and Switzerland's Nicky Leutwiler. Binder in the Algarve Pro car. Now the debate rages. Which Italian racing driver has the most Italian sounding name?
Is it Francesco Castellaci? Is it former Formula 1 driver and former Ferrari sports car driver Giancarlo Fisichella? Is it Alessandro Pier Guidi? No. It isn't Alessandro Pier Guidi. Meanwhile, Michael Christensen is closing up for fourth place. This nudges things a bit, but the key is not what the #92 can do. The ball is not in their court. The ball is in the court of the #91 car. An hour and 20 minutes left on the board. #91 will have to climb the mountain and make the hard yakka to win this thing. As I use that term, I find out doing a search through DuckDuckGo, that is actually a brand of Australian work clothing.
12.3 seconds lays 13.7 seconds to Richard Lietz. Lietz is catching Tandy. The GTE Pro race has the most jeopardy. Jose Maria Lopez is now aboard the #7 Toyota in the lead of the motor race. He is 37 seconds up on his teammate Sebastien Buemi in the sister #8 car. Matthieu Vaxiviere third, in the #36 Alpine and Gustavo Menezes is aboard the sole remaining #94 Peugeot 9X8 after we lost the #93 sister car earlier on due to gearbox troubles. In the GTE Pro manufacturers' standings Ferrari are 18 points to the good over Porsche, 272-254. Corvette still a distant third on 102 points.
After a few troubles Gustavo Menezes is four laps down in the sole remaining #94 Peugeot. In the driver's standings in GTE Pro, provisionally of course, it is Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, with their ailing transmission in the Ferrari, tied for the lead on 138 points. In second place it is a tie between their teammates Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina in the healthy AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE on 131 points. Third place is Gianmaria Bruni in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 a single point away from the Fuoco and Molina duo on 130 points and six points behind in fourth on 124 points lies Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche.
Rene Rast leads LMP2 aboard the #31 WRT car ahead of Alex Lynn in the #23 United Autosport entry by 42 seconds. Norman Nato is third in the #41 RealTeam by WRT car. Farther behind is a close-knit group of LMP2 cars from ninth and class on down including the #38 Jota car, the #9 Prema Orlen entry, the sister #28 Jota car, and the #1 Richard Mille Racing entry. Then comes Oliver Rasmussen. Rasmussen is 11th overall. Nicklas Nielsen leads the Pro-Am subclass of LMP2 six seconds ahead of his rivals aboard the #83 AF Corse Oreca 07. He runs six seconds ahead of Rene Binder at the wheel of the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca.
Nielsen and Binder are the contenders. Matteo Cairoli leads the GTE Am class for Team Project 1 ahead of Rahel Frey in the Iron Dames Ferrari. Cairoli owes us a pit stop. The Iron Dames have been leading much of this race, but are 2.7 seconds back and then are ahead of Marco Sorensen and Ben Keating ahead of the #98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin factory car. Then we get to GTE Pro. Alessandro Pier Guidi continues struggling. Above the steering wheel with the light display on the dashboard, the shift lights, it illuminated one digit.
He is crawling around. He is doing 2:10 laps and is nine or so seconds down. He is running safety car lap speed at about 100 kilometers an hour, 130 kilometers an hour, losing 50 seconds to Richard Lietz, running in survival mode. If they finish, they are still champions. They've got 76 minutes on the board to try and make something work if the car stays together. Nato and Albuquerque in their battle are 8/10ths of a second apart. Drive through penalty for the #45 Algarve Pro team for not respecting the Full Course Yellow procedure. They will drop back with the drive through penalty. An hour and 15 minutes to go.
Harry Tincknell warned for abusing track limits in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. They are stuck in sixth place and have no pace. Harry Tincknell sharing with Christian Ried and Sebastian Priaulx. Meanwhile, RealTeam and United scrap for third in LMP2. Filipe Albuquerque goes straight past Norman Nato. Contrastingly, Albuquerque has fresh tires while Nato does not. The two of them passed by Will Stevens and Will Owen. The last time we saw a GT car in the throes of a problem that could have broken the car, was Nick Tandy at the 2019 24 Hours of Spa when he went on to win with a gearbox that blew itself to smithereens right at the end of the race.
It was a broken differential with a lap and a half left. Jose Maria Lopez continues leading the race overall in Toyota #7. You cannot make this stuff up. Racing is real life. It is like wanting your pet hamster to hang on without the cat eating it. Toyota Gazoo Racing 1-2 still. Sebastien Buemi holds the gap at 37 seconds and is closing it ever so slightly on Jose Maria Lopez. Ryo Hirakawa was losing time before. At every race I can think of in 2022, the Toyota's have not been on equal footing. One Toyota has been demonstrably superior to the other for the bulk of the race.
The #36 Alpine A480 is third. Any remote chance they have at a championship revolves around the #8 Toyota coughing and spluttering and parking up on the side of the road with a massive mechanical malady in the next hour and ten minutes. One Peugeot remains in the fight, the #94 car which has had electronics and potential gearbox issues. Of course, it was gearbox troubles that forced the sister #93 Peugeot 9X8 into retirement from the race. 37 seconds still separate the two Toyota's. #7 has put 207 laps on the board, 696 miles.
So, we are almost 700 miles into this race with just over an hour to run. Gustavo Menezes chasing down the Alpine. At one time, he did in fact drive for Alpine, and for Rebellion. Gustavo Menezes is the only driver to race two different Hypercars. He may have driven the Glickenhaus. I think he did. Alpine and Toyota have had stable lineups. He is the only man on the planet to have raced two different Hypercars. Many gestures going on down in the Peugeot garage as we have a good look at the moon. It is a waning moon. Tuesday of this week there was a full moon.
Nick Tandy in recovery mode and has put the GTE Pro lead back up to 12.8 seconds. The longer the stint in the Corvette the better it is. I wonder if this has to do too, with the trouble they have in qualifying. The Corvette is gentler on it's tires than the Ferrari and it is better because the track is cooler and more rubbered in. Nick Tandy is racing his final event for Corvette presumed to be headed back to Porsche. Porsche is saying, "no, Nick. You didn't win Le Mans. It was all Nico Hulkenberg." Oh, forget it. All will be forgiven when he returns to Stuttgart next year.
Every one of the top five GTE Pro cars has now made half a dozen pit stops through this race. Ferrari #52 followed by Corvette #64, Porsche #91, Porsche #92, and of course the beleaguered Ferrari #51. Miguel Molina has completed 195 laps, 656 miles. Tandy is nearly 58 seconds behind Molina while Lietz is 12 seconds behind him, with Christensen half a minute down and Pier Guidi, again, in the struggling Ferrari, is 38 seconds out of range. He is going to just have to nurse that car until the thing cooks itself and breaks. For Corvette this is undoubtedly vindication for never giving up which is no different from anyone else on the track.
Ferrari #52 leads GTE Pro still. Matteo Cairoli continues leading the race in GTE Am from the Iron Dames with Rahel Frey driving. Marco Sorensen runs third. Fourth spot belongs to Ben Barker. Paul Dalla Lana is in fifth place. In GTE Am, the drivers are just incredible. Matteo Cairoli should be a Porsche factory driver. Marco Sorensen is an Aston Martin driver. Ben Barker is a top driver. Paul Dalla Lana drove for years with ex-F1 driver Pedro Lamy of Portugal. Harry Tincknell, a Ford, Mazda, and Nissan factory driver. Tincknell will be back in the top class soon. Nick Cassidy should be in the picture for Ferrari. Giancarlo Fisichella, too, is amazing.
Gustavo Menezes warned about Sebastien Buemi lapping him, but it does not bother him. Among other stellar GTE drivers, Giancarlo Fisichella, Tomonobu Fujii, Toni Vilander, who also does commentary on racing for Eurosport, Jan Heylen, Pierre Ragues, Mikkel Jensen who was in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 before it retired. So, we look again at the Hypercar running over. Toyota #7 has now completed 209 laps, 759 miles. The gap between the two Toyota's has remained constant at 37 and a half seconds. The Alpine #36 is third, two laps down. Fourth, the #94 Peugeot, the sole surviving Peugeot that is three laps down while the #93 Peugeot is retired and had to box with much detailed mechanical trouble.
Some astonishing drivers are racing in the Pro-Am situation. RealTeam by WRT, car #41 in the pit lane and for the time being they drop behind the #38 Jota entry. This is in LMP2. Algarve Pro are third in LMP2 Pro-Am after serving their penalty. Hopefully they don't get clonked by someone else. Sebastien Buemi has had a torrid lap getting stymied behind a couple of LMP2 cars. The warning to Gustavo Menezes has not materialized just yet. Alessandro Pier Guidi has been warned for a third and final time about track limits. He is doing everything possible to keep the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE in a gear it can run in so he does not implode the fragile transmission as we've talked about at length during this next to last racing hour.
65 minutes to go. Pier Guidi will have to be on the brakes and the tires. Furthermore, having to skip a gear, going down from fifth to third, it locks the rear tires up. There's too much engine braking. He certainly does not want a drive through penalty because putting the pit lane speed limiter on will do more damage to the transmission. They just have to focus on finishig the race out. The Am cars do count in the GTE order, but not in the GTE Pro world championship points I don't think. That's nonsense.
In the pit lane for service, as we hear the rattle guns changing the tires, the #1 Richard Mille Racing Oreca 07 LMP2 car. If the #85 Iron Dames GTE Am Ferrari finishes ahead of the #51 AF Corse GTE Pro Ferrari, then, the Iron Dames entry scores points in the manufacturers' cup for Ferrari and the AF Corse entry does not, Pro and Am for the GTE divisions notwithstanding as for the manufacturers' championship, it is all taken as one cluster of cars. The top two cars for each registered manufacturer count for points. Alpine #36 pits in the Hypercar class.
There is a driver change at #36. I think Nico Lapierre is getting into the car. Matteo Cairoli is about to enter this picture. A GTE Am driver not as an unguided missile but as a quick car, could eclipse the GTE Pro Ferrari and the Iron Dames, if they pass the #51 car, the #51 will lose the drivers' championship. Ferrari would swap cars in the GTE overall manufacturers' cup. They have to hold them off for an hour. It is bonkers and confusing. I can't even keep up with it as I write about it. At the moment, Toyota has been able to lick the stamp and send the check in the mail. It is looking good for them to win the whole enchilada.
Third place for the #38 Jota car of Will Stevens in LMP2 behind Filipe Albuquerque and Rene Rast who leads LMP2 in the #31 WRT car. Team Project 1 lead GTE Am currently in their #46 Porsche from Iron Dames and TF Sport and TF Sport will be champions in GTE Am. In LMP2 Pro Am due to pace, and a penalty for Algarve Pro Racing, Af Corse are looking good. Once again, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari is in survival mode as we see pit stops a go go in LMP2 for Jota #38 and more. Alpine have been in. #23 United were in as was #22. Jota #28 has been in.
Now there will be, in fact there is, a routine pit stop for the #92 Porsche GT Team factory 911 RSR-19 and they are doing a driver change at Jota. Will Stevens out and Antonio Felix Da Costa in. Great stint for Will Stevens. Antonio Felix Da Costa should very well take the car to the very end of the race and this should be a splash and a dash to get home for the final hour on fuel.
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