Habsburg now leads Fabio Scherer in LMP2. WRT over Inter Europol. Renger van der Zande explaining to Jack Aitken and Sebastien Bourdais that he went over the curb, with the steering input, the car was spat out under compression in Eau Rouge. The rack locked and the car was gone. A shame for the Cadillac team. They will indeed be back for Le Mans but it is a tough deal as more will need to be learned in testing before Le Mans. GTE Am third place battle as we have passed halfway in this motor race on a dry, fast track. Ahmad Al Harthy being chased by Rahel Frey. Another LMP2 battle is simmering between Jota #28 of Oliver Rasmussen and Filipe Albuquerque in the #23 United Autosport Oreca. Alessandro Pier Guidi is being acknowledged by team manager Justin Taylor that the traffic is a real bear. Lilou Wadoux is now in the pit lane in GTE Am.
#9 passes #35. Bent Viscaal passing Ollie Caldwell. #9 had a penalty for loose bodywork. Pit stop time for Lilou Wadoux. Fuel only and cold tires. Rahel Frey also in for tires and for petrol. She is blocked by Mikkel Pedersen in the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19. Jose Maria Lopez leads over Ryo Hirakawa. Toyota's #7 and #8. The comes the #5 Porsche 963, and the #2 Cadillac V Series R. Corvette #33 in the lane as Nico Varrone will do a double stint but is languishing in eighth in class while Zacharie Robichon was the erstwhile leader, and Louis Deletraz has been passed by Ferdinand Habsburg. Ferdinand Habsburg seems to have had better pace recently and one of the Ferrari's was way off in the never never! Wow! Miguel Molina faked going for the pit lane!
The sole remaining #5 Porsche 963 pits. That is Dane Cameron at the controls. The Ferrari was forced toward the lane when the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 decided to pit! Yikes! Talk about being blindsided! The stewards will investigate. Stay to the right through the Bus Stop before you come to the lane. Ahmad Al Harthy brings the #25 ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin in to get grass cleaned out of the front grille. Check that, the #98 Heart of Racing Aston Martin of Daniel Mancinelli. OK. We are under Full Course Yellow for now for track cleanup. As soon as I say that, we are going back to green.
Jose Maria Lopez in and out of the pit lane, leads Ryo Hirakawa in the sister Toyota. Toyota's car knowledge has allowed them to wriggle free of their Hypercar opponents. For Ferrari, when they are up and running, they can match the speed of Toyota. Somehow, the Toyota can bed in it's tires far easier than Ferrari can. The Ferrari has just really struggled on tires. What compound are they running? Daniel Mancinelli has made another pit stop again. Mancinelli was trying to overtake Nico Varrone as Ryo Hirakawa pits the #8 Toyota. Toyota 1-2 again. They have strength, knowledge, and a stellar driver lineup.
The Toyota is a wholly different feeling car than what we have seen in the past. Cadillac #2 has decent pace and were matching the Porsche 963's earlier in the game. Alex Lynn in third place right now. With three Cadillac's at Le Mans, they will be hoping for something special to happen. Oliver Rasmussen is pushing Louis Deletraz who has been overtaken by Louis Deletraz. Rasmussen wants it but can't quite make it downhll from Pouhon. Ferdinand Habsburg allowed to play through. Vincent Vosse knew that position swapping was necessary because of losing pace to the Prema entry. Stopped on the road is the #4 Vanwall of Jacques Villeneuve on his out lap.
He is back on the button now as Louis Deletraz and Oliver Rasmussen are still fighting! He is off the road through Eau Rouge and makes the pass! Rasmussen's foot buried in the throttle! In replay, Rasmussen way off and could have taken a flying lesson through Eau Rouge! Yikes! That is a daunting corner, always! That was so close! My steering went light! Trouble for Jacques Villeneuve. He is crawling around, watching his mirrors, trying to make sure he can get to a place of safety. Drive through penalties for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE and for the #50 Ferrari 499P for crossing the white line at pit exit.
JOTA and WRT nearly split the Corvette C8.R of Nico Varrone! Oliver Rasmussen survives the shemozzle. Varrone played that right in Eau Rouge. Mirko Bortlotti passes Filipe Albuquerque into La Source. Jacques Villeneuve in the lane with the pening door. The door is closed and hopefully it will stay that way. He stalled the car and it is stuck in gear. He has stalled the car twice, gunning the motor. Can he get power? Yes. #54 through the lane, taking the drive through penalty. Jose Maria Lopez is still in the lead of the motor race and the cars are bottoming out under compression. Jose Maria Lopez, the 2021 FIA WEC champion and multiple FIA World Touring Car champion. Ryo Hirakawa 2/3rds of a lap behind, a minute and 20 seconds.
Ferdinand Habsburg now 4.6 seconds ahead of Oliver Rasmussen. Tom Blomqvist getting out and Oliver Jarvis getting back in. Nope. Excuse me. That is Fredric Lubin. Zacharie Robichon has cycled back to the GTE Am lead but Lilou Wadoux is pressing hard to try and take the lead. Rahel Frey third, Ahmad Al Harthy in fourth. Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin. Peugeot #94 in the lane and Miguel Molina has served his drive through penalty and still in fourth spot in Ferrari #50. Nico Muller is now into the #94 Pegueot 9X8 for the final two and a half hours of the race. Alex Lynn in the lane for the #2 Cadillac.
Cadillac will be back at the 24 Hours of Le Mand for the first time in over 20 years with Chip Ganassi Racing and with Action Express Racing of course. Lilou Wadoux passes Zacharie Robichon, a well-known racer in North America as well. Ferdinand Habsburg makes a scheduled pit stop. Lilou Wadoux is only 19 years old. We see more and more women racing in endurance sports car racing now. That is a great thing. In the meantime, the sister #93 Peugeot 9X8 is in the lane as well. Trouble for Mikkel Jensen. Did he have his belts come undone? What is the deal? New tires being put on the #93 Peugeot. A delay for Mikkel Jensen who stays at the wheel of the Peugeot.
That is Paul di Resta. Oh dear. Jacques Villeneuve has spun and come together with the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Safety car scramble. Has Villeneuve gone down the inside? He clipped the Ferrari, spun, and tagged the wall. He is stopped on the road and cannot get the fire back in the beast. Game over. Immediate safety car and Full Course Yellow at Stavelot, also known now as Courbe Paul Frere named after the motor racing driver who was also a journalist. Jacques Villeneuve very unhappy with Francesco Castellaci, a driver who has lots of experience. Castellaci misjudged it and did not even see Villeneuve! Oh man!
Both Prema cars in the lane, Mirko Bortolotti, and Bent Viscaal. We are under safety car conditions. Robin Frijns at WRT says that things were going well for them, leading in the LMP2 class and Frijns said his stint went well fighting with Pietro Fittipaldi. At WRT, they are going for the LMP2 championship but they will be racing for BMW in Hypercar with a BMW M Hybrid V8 that we have seen full-time with BMW Team RLL in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. Vanwall #4, game over. The car is retired. Francesco Castellaci will be able to continue but that is a rolling restoration for sure. Villeneuve was committed and y the time he got to the Ferrari, Castellaci was committed to stay on the racing line and I don't think he ever saw the Vanwall.
The #63 Prema Oreca in LMP2 almost could have been caught up in that mess as well. Thankfully there was not another car involved. Castellaci has gotten out of the gravel trundling his way back to the pit lane. The wave around is underway right now and on cold tires, Diego Alessi in the #21 Ferrari on cold tires shoots up the escape road from Les Combes! Yikes! We remain under safety car conditions as Toyota are discussing strategy and the deal is that Jose Maria Lopez is going to have to start saving fuel if he wants to keep going for it. At Cadillac, Alex Lynn is being notified of who his rivals will be.
We still have just over two hours to go. Ryo Hirakawa is behind on the road but ahead on timing and scoring. Ryo Hirakawa gets three gimmes and so does Alex Lynn as we are back to green but Lynn has to overtake Miguel Molina through Eau Rouge! Lynn backed up behind the Peugeot and he goes inside the Peugeot into the second sector. Lynn is right there through Brussels corner. The other Ferrari has cleared the Ferrari as the scrap ontinues for fourth spot between Ferrari and Cadillac and now, there is a pit stop at Jota Porsche. The Hypercars are much more closely fought than we saw in the LMP1 days. Go for it but don't exceed the fuel figure. Traffic ahead over the top of Raidillon and up the Kemmel straightaway.
Alex Lynn might have too much power through Eau Rouge. Ferdinand Habsburg leads Mirko Bortolotti in LMP2 while Lilou Wadoux leads Zacharie Robichon and Rahel Frey. In fifth place, Nico Varrone ahead of Diego Alessi behind Ahmad Al Harthy. Aleessi wants by Varrone but it is not working. Aston Martin, Porsche, Aston Martin, with Daniel Mancinelli. Alex Lynn cannot get by Miguel Molina. Lynn has the power but in the mid corner, the Ferrari has the speed. The Cadillac is not as good through Eau Rouge for some reason. Molina and Lynn fighting for position. These two are catching third place Dane Cameron in the #5 Porsche 963 hand over fist.
Ferdinand Habsburg leading Mirko Bortolotti half a second behind followed immediately by Oliver Jarvis and Phil Hanson in LMP2. Jose Maria Lopez leads as we get close to the end of hour four and the leader passes the #94 Peugeot. Check that, it is the #8, the sister Toyota. Eau Rouge is such an incredible corner, you need to compromise and you need all of the road. Going side by side there in a Hypercar or even in an LMP2, is a massively difficult proposition. Is there trouble for the #8 Toyota? olina is trying to geti in the fight with Dane Cameron. Alex Lynn is in this fight and so is the sister Ferrari 499P.
They are all about a lap away. Ryo Hirakawa has an evil handling Toyota GR010 Hybrid under him at the moment, moving around on the tires. Too much roll on the rear tires. It feels like oversteer but it is sliding tires. In LMP2, it is Bent Viscaal being harried along by Ollie Caldwell. Alex Lynn has fresher tires on the left side of the #2 Cadillac than he does on the right side which has had those other two Michelin's on for a wee while now.
No comments:
Post a Comment