James Calado now 2.3 seconds in-arrears of Sebastien Buemi. Less than 14 hours to go. 2AM Sunday morning in France. Can Calado catch the Toyota? That is the next obvious question as we hear from Guy Smith along with Jim Roller and with Peter Dumbreck on the world feed coverage. Hello, gentlemen. Peugeot, Toyota, and Ferrari have been scrapping. Most endurance championship have a pit window now but the Le Mans stops still need to be as quick as possible. Cool Racing and Malthe Jakobsen, another Danish driver of the 14, are in this, and Jakobsen is now signed up as a Peugeot junior driver. An LMP2 car has a very different engine note. Save fuel to stay out longer with more rain in the forecast. It is coming soon. Lift off and coast at VMax, maximum velocity. If you lift and coast well, you can do it quickly.
This will save fuel. That is for dead sure. The LMP2 is quite high revving and the resonance causes vibration. They are super reliable. It is a one make division. It sounds like a 1980s Formula 2 single seater. It is a spec car, a Gibson V8 based on a Nissan engine and with Oreca chassis' and a spec Goodyear tire. Ferrari #50 still undergoing repairs as James Calado is closing up on Sebastien Buemi. Buemi is not necessarily closing on Nico Muller just yet. I tbink the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R went off course straight lining the Mulssane straight chicanes. The #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 has spent a lot of time at the front of GTE Am.
Gunnar Jeanette on an out lap in the #56 T Rex Porsche followed by Rahel Frey for Iron Dames, then a couple Ferrari's for Francesco Castellaci and Daniel Serra. The Italian for AF Corse and Daniel Serra in the #57 CarGuy Ferrari. A leaking brake line on the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Sebastien Buemi continues to run second in the sole remaining Toyota left in the race. He is making inroads on the Peugeot slowly but surely. He is seven seconds down and has the carrot on the string. The Peugeot has been at the top of the shop for a good while right now.
One Peugeot, one Toyota, one Ferrari, two Cadillac's and a few more in the Hyper Car class. The #24 NASCAR Camaro for Garage 56 is in the pit lane for service with Mike Rockenfeller at the controls. Watch the jack man. No air jacks on this car. This car uses the floor jack and they are doing fluid top up with a high pressure oil bottle I think. But the oiing system is not working the way the boys at Hendrick Motorsports want to. That is a 45 pound floor jack those boys are using. This car is so cool! They continue on in the race running 4 minute laps.
All of their lap times were quicker in Free Practice and testing than the GTE cars. They want to achieve being as close as they can in the top 20. They lost their straight line speed in the rain earlier. Both of the Glickenhaus 007s are eighth and ninth and there was trouble for the #37 Cool Racing LMP2 car and the same is true with the #50 Ferrari flying Plummet Airways down the leaderboard. Five speed paddle shifter on this car compared to the NASCAR Cup Series which has a sequential gearbox. This car has paddle shift on the gearbox.
Other than that it is identical and they have 400 pounds less weight running carbon brakes instead of steel brakes. Full Course Yellow, again. The ACO originally asked Garage 56 and Hendrick Motorsports to have a hybrid unit but it was removed to save weight. This is neutralizing the field to 80 kilometers an hour. The #66 JMW Ferrari is in the pit lane. We wonder if there is debris around. The #50 Ferrari might be able to gain back time but they are six laps down. #50 will become the test mule for the #51. Rain is expected in a wee while. Maybe in 20 minutes or so.
Full Course Yellow will end soon. Just debris on the road. Soft compound tires for the Ferrari. The Toyota's started on soft tires due to mixed conditions. Proton Competition are third in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 in GTE Am, Martin Rump, the Estonian driver, at the wheel of it. Rahel Frey doing her best to hold off Martin Rump in the first chicane on the Mulsanne but Rump is now second out of the chicane chasing down Gunnar Jeanette a way up the road in the #56 Project 1 - AO Porsche, the T Rex car. Alex Lynn now 12 seconds in-arrears of the leading Peugeot and just a wee bit behind the Ferrari #51. The hunter and the hunted.
There might just be more rain on the way and Nico Muller knows it I am sure. The Toyota is right there. This is the lead scrap indeed. Leading #8 Toyota under investigation for the pit stop. James Calado in Ferrari #51 remains in third spot. Now back to your regularly scheduled program here on The Sarcasm Channel. Nico Muller is two seconds down on Sebastien Buemi in the Toyota now. The Toyota has passed the Peugeot and maybe he will be overtaken by the Ferrari too. James Calado is pouring on the steam in the Porsche Curves. The Peugeot is looser, moving around more while the Ferrari is glued to the road.
Headed for the chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Muller vs. Calado and it does not look like Calado closed up too much. This is the battle for second. 3:32.727 and 3:32.580. Muller had a better last lap time by just a tad. The Peugeot seems to be compressing the spring on Buemi. Who can work the traffic better? They pass by the #98 Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Ian James who is racing at Le Mans for the first time in 20 years. He has been racing in America for 27 years. Ian James and Peter Dumbreck raced each other in the 1994 Formula Vauxhall Junior series. Denser air, cooler air, more horsepower this time of night. The scoop at Toyota is Sebastien Buemi has three laps remaining in his current stint.
Alex Lynn is lapping similarly to the leaders but is 10-12 seconds behind but chipping away at the gap. Calado closing the gap to Muller. Calado now closing up on Muller for second spot, inching towards the Ferrari. Many lap time deleted for track limits but no warnings or penalties. That's a strange deal. We have a quick yellow at marshal post 35. Muller passes Calado. Buemi over Muller and Calado. This battle between Peugeot and Ferrari is getting spicy. Muller is carrying this car unbelievably as we see pit stop acton for one of the LMP2 cars. In replay, a pass, Sebastien Birudais gets clonked byna competitors and spins off just missing the wall.
He showed his intention but the LMP2 car was having none of it. Rui Andrade the villain of the peace on that one. James Calado, does he have the steam to pass Muller? Calado in front and he stuck it going around one of the Cadillac's. That might have been the other Ganassi car or the Action Express entry. Could not tell. Calado now second and will hunt down Sebastien Buemi who leads the motor race by four and a half seconds. The Hendrick Motorsports boys are a wee bit sleepy. The Coca Cola 600, at 600 miles is the longest NASCAR race on the schedule. Bourdais to the lane after the contretemps with the P2 car.
Kevin Estre in the lane in the #6 Porsche 963 for routine service. A driver change in Cadillac #3 from Bourdais over to Scott Dixon, the seven time IndyCar champion. We have Jim Roller and Guy Smith continuing with us for the insomniac coverage here at Le Mans. Jakub Smiechowski and Neel Jani battling for the lead in LMP2. Inter Europol vs. Duqueine. Neel Jani has just been announced to drive a Porsche again in the Proton Competition Potsche 963 which will debut in the next FIA WEC race, the 6 Hours of Monza coming up next month. Neel Jani to the lane in the #30 Duqueine entry. They have not had a trouble free run.
Toyota #8 pits from the lead of the motor race cycling the #94 Peugeot and the #2 Cadillac to the top of the shop. Ferrari #51 to the lane as well. Fuel only for both the Toyota and the Ferrari. No loss or gain at Ferrari. Action Express back to the pit lane having not made much headway, unfortunately. My pals are still learning. In sports car racing there is give and take on the pit strategy. There really is. Fuel only at Ferrari. Buemi gained one second in the pit stop. Anything to cheer up your driver. Nico Muller and Alex Lynn have both been in the clear, cutting fast lap after fast lap after fast lap, the undercut and the overcut.
Inter Europol pitting from the LMP2 lead, the Polish bakers. A three minute stop and go penalty for not respecting Full Course Yellow procedure, the Kessel Racing GTE Am Ferrari of the Japanese trio of Kei Cozzolino, Yorikatsu Tsojiko, and Naoki Yokomizo. Alex Lynn has a consistent gap behind Nico Muller but is keeping the pressure on. The #38 Jota Porsche 963 tenth in class and four laps down to the leader back to the garage with Antonio Felix Da Costa, the Portuguese driver at the controls. Alex Lynn now 7.2 seconds down on Nico Muller. This is a four or five horse race at this stage. Box this lap. Fuel only for Alex Lynn. No tires and no driver change.
Five brands in the top five. Peugeot, Cadillac, Toyota, Ferrari, and Porsche. Project 1 - AO still leading GTE, the tyrannosaurus Rex car. Dirver change at Peugeot. Nico Muller handing over to either Gustavo Menezes or to Loic Duval. Well, it is Menezes. Sebastien Bourdais thinks Ganassi Racing still has a chance and they should be fine if it does not rain. Tonight should be clear. Job van Uitert leads LMP2 and Gunnar Jeanette are leading in LMP2 and GTE Am. Francesco Castellaci next up and Rahel Frey after that in the Iron Dames Porsche, the #85. The #54 Ferrari is the silver one. Le Mans is all about staying out of trouble.
Sebastien Buemi is not sure he needs assistance with the suspension settings, pulling a gap on Calado but he cannot find the setup on the Toyota. That is strange. Yellow at the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight at marshal post 11. The battle rages still in LMP2 between Neel Jani and Jakub Smiechowski I believe. It is Smiechowski, the Polish driver at the wheel of #34. Slow Zone three active at marshal post six at Tertre Rouge. Calamity corner. It is the sister #32 Inter Europol LMP2 that has spun and crashed. That is Jan Magnussen, Mark Kvamme, and Anders Fjordbach. Slow zone active. This is after the Dunlop chicane. It has been a while since we have dealt with a slow zone. This will go through the end of the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight.
#32 had Jan Magnussen at the wheel of it when the wreck occurred.
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