Andre Negrao is chasing down Robert Kubica. Fuel and tires for the Corvette. Seven stops in an eight hour race, and so they will be able to change tires on every stop. Ferrari #50 to pit lane and Cadillac #2 is promoted as Nicklas Nielsen gets into the Ferrari 499P. He was on pole last year at Sebring in LMP2. Wheel nut/rattle gun malfunction at Ferrari as Toyota #8 is catching up to Toyota #7. Brendon Hartley concerned with the boss, Kamui Kobayashi. Jacques Villeneuve is the next driver into the #4 Vanwall and Filipe Albuquerque into the #22 United Autosport entry.
The Ferrari wriggling it's way through turn eight. Earl Bamber in the Cadillac is James Calado's next target. Calado is reeling in Bamber hand over fist. Ferrari V6 front drive hybrid vs. Cadillac V8 reardrive hybrid. David Beckman now second in the #38 Jota Oreca in LMP2. Calado went off the rad in turn five on the dust! Yikes! That was close! Calado got balked by a GTE car and was n he right line but the rear pitched him off and he says on the radio that he has no grip at all. Porsche #6 in the pit lane.
Andre Lotterer is in the car and now he has been passed by Earl Bamber. Sebring is relentless. It keeps fighting you as the tires go away. Dane Cameron in trouble in the #5 Porsche 963. Kevin Estre did indeed hand over the #6 to Andre Lotterer. The tire degradation is really high, and the Ferrari has been quicker than the Porsche. Nielsen and Lotterer continue to fight eachother and we have been watching the LMP2 battle as well between Filipe Albuquerque and Mirko Bortolotti. The Hypercars are so different from the old LMP1 cars. They don't have the horsepower or the grip that the LMP1 hybrids did and if these cars do have hybrid power, it does not boost instantly like the LMP1 cars did, the Porsche 919, Audi R18, Toyota TS040 and TS050 erc. etc.
Doirane Pin will be one of the drivers to watch. We have more and more to look forward to. We are past the halfway mark in the race now before we end this race at around 7:00 P.M. tonight. 120 laps, 449 miles. Portimao next time out in Portugal was resurfaced and will be much more compliant for the Hypercars than they are here at Sebring. A bit of a wriggle, look, for the #2 Cadillac. So, we have three hours and 47 minutes to go as Kamui Kobayashi to the pit lane for service. Toyota #8 of Brendon Hartley takes the lead. The undercut is what you are looking for.
Jean Eric Vergne is the driver aboard the surviving #93 Peugeot 9X8. Jacques Villeneuve now at the wheel of the #4 Vanwall but is stymied behind the LMP2 cars as the #2 Cadillac is in the pit lane with Earl Bamber finishing his stint and Richard Westbrook taking over the car. No wheel arch cutouts needed but they help disperse rotating air to keep the car on the ground. The Toyota is off the road, almost, passing Villeneuve. David Beckman leads LMP2 ahead of Mirko Bortolotti. We have seen Bortolotti in GT3 racing for many years.
The #48 car is not a full-season entry. It is invisible for points. A battle between Bortolotti and Kubica as the #8 Toyota pits. The #7 is at turn seven, the hairpin. Ryo Hirakawa takes over the #8 Toyota. Break out the tools at Alpine. I wonder which car. It is #36 in strife. Matthieu Vaxiviere off the pace. #7 passes #8. Jose Maria Lopez passes Ryo Hirakawa who is on cold tires and Jose Maria Lopez has taken off like a shot. That tool at Alpine was not a five pound lump hammer. Zip ties? Gaffer tape?
Nico Varrone leads GTE followed by Scott Huffaker, Casper Stevenson and Christian Ried. Simon Man spins at turn ten in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488. We saw James Calado in the 499P do that same thing in Free Practice yesterday. D'station Aston to the lane while Dempsey Proton Porsche take over third. #36 back on track but the Oreca clearly had a misfire. WRT in the lane for scheduled service and a tire change. OK.
Driver change for the #48 Jota car. Not sure who is going to get into the car. Hertz and Singer are the sponsors for Jota as well as Tom Brady, the football player. Hertz rental car and Singer, the Porsche aftermarket parts supplier and tuner. Andre Lotterer continues to be hounded by Andre Lotterer. Actually, it is the #5 Porsche 963 of Dane Cameron. Cameron is chasing down Richard Westbrook in the #2 Cadillac. Ferari are now trying to lap the Porsche. The Ferrari has the speed advantage I should assume, over the Porsche.
David Beckmann, the German driver, it is his first time in LMP2 and an endurance race. He learned a bunch over the prologue test last weekend. He is encouraging to Yifei Ye and Will Stevens, his co-drivers. Beckman did a half season in Formula 2 single seaters last year. Antonio Felix Da Costa is now a Porsche factory driver as well. Nicolas Varrone leading in GTE in the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R Matthieu Vaxiviere is now back in the race in the #36 Alpine LMP2 car. Co-driver Charles Milesi says they did in fact have an engine/spark plug problem. Milesi will do another stint soon it seems,
Mirko Bortolotti now second and Filipe Albuquerque is back up to fourth spot. Albuquerque passes Bortolotti. Robin Frijns now chasing down Filipe Albuquerque. Frijns is a quick driver and he has fairly new tires. For tire strategy, I think he would have changed right side tires only. Alex Lynn says behind the Toyota's there is a steamingly good race between the Ferrari's, the Porsche's and the Cadillac. He believes Porsche and Ferrari are ripping up their tires. The Cadillac team thinks they are in the pound seats for when we get down to money time towards the end of thus one. The Cadillac has been very gentle on it's tires compared to the other Hypercars. Ferrari #50 has the speed but will they have enough tires.
In qualifying of course, Alex Lynn had to wait to make his run. This is going to be a very interesting season later on. Toyota have saved their stuff for the race, clearly. Even after their subpar qualifying run yesterday. Alexander Wurz, driver coach, sanguine in chatting with the drivers. #7 ahead of #8. Nicolas Varrone almost at the end of his stint for GTE Am. Brand new chassis for Ben Keating and his team but still under the Corvette Racing banner. Nicky Catsburg has yet to do a stint before this race is done and dusted. Yifei Ye leads LMP2 over Mirko Bortolotti. Louis Deletraz, Filipe Albuquerque, and Robin Frijns.
Coming behind them is Fabio Scherer in the Inter Europol Oreca #34. Ferrari #50 to the lane. Antonio Giovinazzi trading lap times with the #2 Cadillac. Giovinazzi in the #51. The seatbelt for Nicklas Nielsen has come out from under his HANS device. That's strange. Fuel and left side tires. OK. Ferrari are learning about their new toy. The #94 Peugeot is back in the race? Hmmm. Loic Duval in the car after a significant ground up restoration. It was pushed and if so it was pushed back out of the paddock but it was pushed in under it's own steam.
The team is fueling the car and putting tires on it. Down off the air jacks and it is back on track now. Gustavo Menezes is now at the wheel, not Loic Duval. Satoshi Hoshino vs. Simon Mann battling in GTE Am. #777 D'station Aston Martin, halfway through his stint against the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Mann on a double stint with fresh tires on the car. This should be the end of Hoshino's drive time. Mann has a Captain Cook on the inside, but no. Mann, the American, born in Paris, France, and a double champion in the Italian GT Championship.
The #35 Alpine is the best of the two as the #5 Porsche is in the pit lane for a driver change and service. Dane Cameron out of the car. Not sure who will get in. The #4 Vanwall is still in the race as well, hanging in there. Villeneuve, Guerreri, and Dillman. Simon Mann moves up a place. Hoshino is lapped in the D'station Aston Martin. Ryo Hirakawa says he is losing traction. Now then, Nico Varrone is speeding down the pit lane and he will hand the Corvette C8.R to Nicky Catsburg? Nope. He will do a triple stint and get new tires.
It will not be a full triple stint for Nicky Catsburg. The team is going to start back timing the race before the end of this thing. Porsche, next year, will be putting out more 963's just like we saw the 956 and 962's back in the 1980s. Proton Competition will eventually have a Porsche 963 later in the year. The Vanwall team with Tom Dillman back at the wheel of it, they are running very well. Jacques Villeneuve, did a single stint, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 Formual 1 champion. The United Autosport Oreca had an electrical failure. Game over. The #31 WRT entry is in the lane for service as well.
The heat and vibration is crazy. It is like a Morris Minor dragging a water tank out on the concrete or like a paint shaker. Thomas Flohr pits the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, the Swiss driver, who is the birthday boy today. He did get a cake. Oh boy. One of the Alpine cars off, the #35 car of Olli Caldwell. Did he spin off the road? No. I think he just sopped at the end of the Ulmann straight and the sister car is in the pit lane now. Peugeot's Francois Coudrain says they have had a drivetrain issue on the car using the FIA procedures and protocols.
They went into the zone for repairing the car and the car was taken back to the tent to be repaired but they knew they were in real trouble and had to analyze it. Was it the MGU, the battery, or the wiring loom? They fixed it, and the system was safe. The car is fine and will just be a test car from now on for the sister car. Full Course Yellow.
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