Paul Dalla Lana reported to the stewards for track limits. He is 12th in GTE Am. Sarah Bovy and Ben Keating both in. Richard Westbrook says his tires are not going to make it. His tires are flat spotted. The tread is shaved away at the bottom. This thins out the contact patch of the tire. It is vibrating like mad and he can feel that the tire might blow out. He is passed by at least one of the Ferrari's. You have turned a circle into a hexagon. The Ferrari's have the heat in their tires and both are past poor old Richard Westbrook. Box this lap. He is hemorrhaging lap time and has to bite the bullet. You get blurred vision and your whole body vibrates as you are trying to drive the car. Hang in there until you can get to the lane to change the darn thing.
The battle continues in GTE Am as Ben Keating is now behind the Ferrari followed by the Iron Dames Porsche. Ben Keating will be happy with a new and different set of tires. This is a fascinating dynamic between Keating in the Corvette and Bovy in the Porsche. Mike Conway is stymied behind the GTE Am cars. What gorgeous scenery around the circuit here at Portimao. Another penalty for exceeding track limits for Takeshi Kimura in the #57 CarGuy Ferrari 488 GTE. Kimura sharing with Scott Huffaker and Daniel Serra. "Tire is critical" according to Richard Westbrook. So they will have to pit. Team manager to report to the Race Director. No tea and biscuits for you. Sarah Bovy, meanwhile, monstering Ben Keating in the Corvette, and he has to be very careful on his track limits so he does not cop a drive through penalty. It could be a stop and hold if you don't learn your lesson.
Bovy has a run as Keating went deep into turn five. Get maximum traction and into the slipstream. Ferrari #50 of Nicklas Nielsen chasing the #6 Porsche 963 of Laurens Vanthoor. Down the inside of the Jota LMP2 car they come. Vanthoor vs. Nielsen as Nielsen goes in wide. Minimum speed for the LMP2 cars is no different than it is for the Hypercars. Antonio Felix Da Costa is of course going to drive a Porsche next time at Spa in Belgium in two weeks as James Calado gets a tow off the LMP2 car. He might be recovering but was very upset earlier of course.
Porsche and Ferrari have tested tons around here. But there is no traffic in testing when you do the endurance testing around a track like Portimao. Sarah Bovy has passed Ben Keating and he now has his hands full with Lilou Wadoux. Wadoux in the AF Corse #83 Ferrari 488 which flipped at Sebring. Toyota #7 warned with a meatball flag. In the garage, the #777 D'station Aston Martin of Satoshi Hoshino. Vector Sport back on track and I believe Ryan Hardwick too is back on track in the #88 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Earl Bamber is suited and booted ready to take over the #2 Ganassi Racing Cadillac.
Shorten this stint up a tad to get to the end. Coming in right now is not the best idea. Nielsen dives inside of the #6 Porsche for third place. We have no idea what the stewards are wondering about with respect to Toyota #7. Amother drive through for the #57 Ferrari. #41 is also in the lane, Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver, for WRT in LMP2. Phil Hanson taking over from Giedo van der Garde in the #23 United Autosports Oreca. Make that #22 I think. Mike Conway worried about something on the radio and says the engine has no power. That is the internal combustion engine, the turbo 3.5 liter V6 motor. He is telling the team he has a mechanical black flag with the disk on it, the meatball flag. That is bizarre he is reporting it to the team/
Is he leaking fluid out the back of the car? I don't see any smoke. Lockup there, look, for Diego Alessi with mirrors full of the Hypercars. Yikes. Mike Conway told to box. Something wrong with the front axle driveshaft. These cars have torque sensors in the axles and all sorts of electronics. Maybe there is a failed torque sensor on that car. Wow. 50 laps now completed. 144 and a half miles. No chance of victory for the #7 Toyota today. So, #8 will be able to take advantage, or, other teams will as well. Porsche? Ferrari? We'll see. There is a long way to go yet.
Toyota have just one bullet left in the gun. Pace and longevity not an issue but if one car has trouble, the sister car could possibly have an issue. We'll have to see if they keep things together. Conway was told to avoid the turn nine curb. Ferrari moves past Porsche for second place. Third place, excuse me. Cadillac #2 to the lane. Toyota team manager Rob Leupen says that the driveshaft data is needed by the FIA. The driveshaft needs repair to comply with the regulations. They are changing the telemetry system on the left rear corner. It is electronics.
It is not just suspension, driveshaft, and brakes, it is also the electronics. The car has to be compliant with the performance windows for the Hypercars. Power, weight, downforce, drag. Those are the parameters. The bodywork is also homologated. Fabio Scherer is chasing Filip Ugran for sixht in LMP2. Inter Europol vs. Prema. In Hypercar it is cumulative power output and not full boosting like we saw in the LMP1 days. The difference between LMP1 and Hypercar, LMP1 was an open tech book but a closed geometric book with defined values. Power, drag, downforce, weight. If you have met those, build what you like. That is why the Hypercars are all so different between both IMSA and here in WEC.
Peugeot #93 is working it's way back. But Toyota #7 has now dropped to 11th and stone last in the Hypercar field. Strange how the driver, Mike Conway, detected the trouble, and the team could not see the telemetry with the torque sensor failure. Richard Westbrook on new tires in the #2 Cadillac is being harried and hassled by Tom Dillman in the #4 Vanwall. The Cadillac's troubles are less worrisome but they have fallen away from Porsche and Ferrari. Richard Westbrook just avoided running into the back of the #94 Peugeot 9X8. Nico Muller is at the controls of the Peugeot. Toyota #7 are coming back out on track but they are six laps down and won't make the podium. There are too many cars ahead and they will not even be in points paying spots.
Buemi leads Nielsen at the top of the shop. #7 was in the garage of over 11 minutes and Jose Maria Lopez is now set to drive. Yikes! More scrapping in LMP2 between Prema and Inter Europol! That is an edgy spot in turn one! Yikes! Toyota #8 leads the 6 Hours of Portimao over Ferrari second and third, Porsche, Peugeot, Cadillac, Glickenhaus etc. D'station Aston Martin back in the garage after only a lap with Tomonobu Fujii. The car has overheated or the engine has gone bang. At Vector Sport, they have had issues with the fly by wire throttle. 36 of 37 cars that started are currently running. If it is not upside down, or on fire, it is electronics. Charles Milesi in the Signatech Alpine Oreca is next up, closing up on Filip Ugran from Romania. Alpine will be back in Hypercar with a new car, next year.
Josh Pierson and Fred Lubin are the other United Autosport drivers. Daniil Kvyat in another LMP2 car. Lamborghini have their Hypercar program and then, they have their full fledged GT3 program when we see the new GT3 cars come into the championship next year. It is going to be increasingly competitive in Hypercar and in GT. Michael Dinan is doing all he can to stay ahead of Francesco Castellacci. Ricard Pera is behind these two a lap down in the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19. ORT by TF Sport (Oman Racing Team), and AF Corse with Francesco Castellaci, the most Italian name on earth, the most Italian driver, surely.
Pera unlaps himself from Michael Dinan. Dinan warned for track limits but getting to the end of his stint. Ahmad Al Harthy may have started the car. Nope. Dinan did start. He will be at the end of his double stint soon. Josh Pierson, meanwhile, leads Fred Lubin and Daniil Kvyat. David Beckman, Robin Frijns, and more. David Beckman is a Silver ranked driver. Will Stevens is here to support the team and Antonio Felix Da Costa is in the car. Lilou Wadoux has moved ahead of Diego Alessi and she is now ahead of Sarah Bovy and Ben Keating who has only eight seconds on Francesco Castellaci who has cleared Michael Dinan.
Lilou Wadoux has moved ahead and the Peugeot 9X8 comes through. Lego Technic of course has released a build your own model of the Porsche 9X8. Dear, Santa... Well, anyhow, back at the racing, and now, Lilou Wadoux makes the pass on Diego Alessi. Done and dusted. Lilou Wadoux leads GTE Am. Wadoux is performing as a driver. Wadoux and Sarah Bovy sandwiched by Diego Alessi. Richaerd Westbrook in the Cadillac runs ahead of Olivier Pla in the Glickenhaus. Westbrook is out of sequence on tires and on fuel, both. At Ferrari, Nielsen is pulling away from Calado.
Ferrari seem to be using more energy than Toyota at this stage as Ben Keating has had contact with one of the Jota cars. Driveshaft sensor trouble for Toyota #7 with Jose Maria Lopez now 31st in the overall. Sebastien Buemi leads the motor race over the two Ferrari's. Josh Pierson leads Fred Lubin in LMP2 for United Autosports while the Iron Dames Porsche leads GTE Am. In 2021, Glickenhaus had a bright red paint scheme before changing over to eggshell blue, robin's egg blue. It is curtains for the #777 Aston Martin. Game over. The engine went boom and very rarely do you see that. Charles Milesi is fending off the challenge from Louis Deletraz.
Alpine Elf Team vs. Team WRT. Milesi's lap times are wee bit off. Louis Deletraz and Jacques Villeneuve are the two sons of famous Formula 1 drivers. Jean Denis Deletraz was racing sports cars up until a few years ago. Ben Keating being harried by Francesco Castellaci. Nico Varrone should step into the #33 Corvette C8.R for the next stint. Keating has it covered for now. The Hypercar Ferrari made a clean pass. Pit stop time for the #98 Aston Martin and the #63 Prema Oreca tags the #10 Vector Sport car of Irishman Ryan Cullen into a spin.
Cullen was about to be lapped. Toyota leads over the two Ferrari's and Nicklas Nielsen dives for the pit lane. Both Ferrari's in at the same time and they need energy boosting. Fuel and tires. Do not go into the negative or you will be penalized. It is not fuel, it is a virtual energy value of megajoules from the battery same as in Formula E. Daniel Serra and Chico Serra are also, well, a son of a famed Formula 1 driver. Peugeot #94 in the pit lane. Pit stops everywhere for everybody it looks like. Pit infringement, five second stop and go penalty for too many people working on the car or other penalties. That is the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680.
Diego Alessi now seven seconds down on Lilou Wadoux I believe. Sebastien Buemi is in and the Porsche #5 of Dane Cameron is also in. Porsche #6 might resume in the lead. Ferrari only changed two tires instead of four. Ryo Hirakawa is now driving the #8 Toyota. Four tires at Ferrari. Miguel Molina in #50 and Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51. Porsche 963 #6 in the lane as well.
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