Saturday, June 10, 2023

24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 15

Crunch!  We have a big accident with a car walloping the barrier!  One of the GTE cars is off big style and we need a slow zone to cover it.  One of the GTE Am Porsche's has wrecked while Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari is in the pit lane, tenth in the Hyper Car class and six laps behind.  Double waved yellows.  Thank you to the marshals for keeping everyone safe.  Without you, we could not go racing.  Alessandro Pier Guidi needs 44 seconds to gain on Toyota.  The Porsche that clouted that clouted the wall at Indianapolis corner, we are still looking to see who it was who crashed that specific car.  Or rather, too, which car wrecked.  The sun is rising.  The engine is crisp, the tires are working well, and the tiredness is there among the drivers and the team.

Mechanics and crewmembers can fall asleep at certain times.  When the sun comes up, drivers begin making mistakes but you have to battle through this part of the race and get past sunrise.  The #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R has just made a scheduled pit stop and we have a slow zone for Jonas Ried.  He was the one in the #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche who absolutely clobbered the barriers.  Game over for Jonas Ried, Harry Tincknell, and Don Yount.  Toyota are still looking for their sixth overall Le Mans victory in the last half a dozen years I believe.  

The sun is rising, and the clouds are burning off as we have reached Sunday, June 11th, 2023.  This is the first time in six years that we have seen at least one Toyota fail to finish.  So many Armco elements have been replaced.  We ought to thank the circuit staff as well for helping to replace the barriers.  Still wet offline.  The track has been greasy under the wet, cool conditions here at Le Mans.  Rhe sun dries the water off the circuit.  The slow zone is still indeed being enforced.  

We saw Fabio Scherer hobbling and he says he had his left foot run over by a Corvette and he was pushing like mad through his stint and he probably does not even feel any pain!  That is commitment!  You don't just want it.  You need it.  Toyota tried for years and years and years to break their duck and eventually they finally did it, five years ago and have succeeded over and over and over again.  The Ferrari are still in it.  The Hyper Cars are all hand built while the manufacturers have built an LMDh car with spec bodywork with a comnpany's styling and their productiion engines.

Barrier repairs continue with a circular saw and plenty of ahsowers of sparks.  Alessandro Pier Guidi and Brendon Hartley are now separated by 41 seconds.  Jonas Ried took a sizable hit in the #88 Porsche 911 RSR-19.  There is a battle for the final step of the poduum in LMP2.  Brendon Hartley has now run 191 laps.  Car #41 and #34 scrapping.  WRT vs. Inter Europool.  Ben Viscaal at Prema, he said that Filip Ugran crashed out of the race in the rain with heavy damage.

Pino vs. Chatin in LMP2.  IDEC trying to take advantage of the Duqueine Team.  We have been seeing such a close battle in LMP2 with the cars all beng equal,  Barrier repairs continue to take place as we go through Indianapolis corner.  The tire changers are readying as now, both Nico Pino and Job van Uitert come into the pit lane at the same time.  Robert Kubica is now leading LMP2 for WRT, a Formula 1 Grand Prix winner in Canada some years ago.  

Brendon Hartley has now run 193 laps.  Fabio Scherer continues to lead LMP2.  Nine and a half hours to go.  Robert Kubica, LMP2 leader, may have to pay a fine and drop a race from his score.  6:34 A.M. local time in France.  Toyota still leading even with a single bullet.  Welcome back, Leigh Diffey to the broadcast booth!  We have a massive accident, again, with Ben Barincoat all torn up in the #80 AF Corse LMP2 car!  He is a regular in IMSA for Lexus.  Smash!  Right into the Tech Pro barriers!  Another moment.  It will be covered by a slow zone.  The Porsche also wrecked there earlier on in the game.

Frnacois Perrodo was ready for a driver change and to take over the car but that will not happen.  Game over for AF Corse's LMP2 squad.  Ben Barnicoat out of the car and he is jkust fine but he has to be gutted.  Game over for AF Corse.  A massive impact into the barriers.  That hurt.  He got up on the curb and it sent him spinning and pounding into the barriers.  Ferrari and Toyota still ging for it for overall victory as the #8 tam adds fuel and changes tires and so does the #51 Ferrari team.  Ferrari and Toyota could indeed be duking it out in the final stanzas.

We have a race on our hands as the Garage 56 Camaro ZL1 is now 29th overall and we have not seen a NASCAR Cup car running around Le Mans since 1976.  Robert Kubica vs. Fabio Scherer in the LMP2 class.  The battle is raging in LMP2.  Robert Kubica wants an LMP2 class win for the first time at Le Mans.  Robert Kubica had a podium last year but in 2021 in his first appearance it was tough because he lost the victory on the last lap around Circuit de la Sarthe.  Kubica and Scherer continue battling each other and we had miltiple slow zones.  Paul Loup Chatin making his move for third in LMP2 on Nico Pino.  

Cadillac Racing with Chip Ganassi Racing, car #3, Richard Westbrook said he faced the hardest conditions ever in endurance racing last night as we have just over nine hours to go.  Derek Bell, a true legend, a five-time winner of this race.  Le Mans has been the centerpiece of his life.  Ryo Hirakawa leads by 14 seconds but it is shrinking between Toyota and Ferrari.  Ryo Hirakawa has not been in the car for a good while.  This is Alessandro Pier Guidi's second stint in the #51 Ferrari 499P.  Fabio Scherer takes over the LMP2 lead from Robert Kubica.  

Pera na dAl Harthy in an Aston Martin vs. Porsche battle, look, in LM GTE Am.  The Iron Dames too have been doing very well.  There were no Porsche's in Hyper Pole on Friday.  But now, they are coming backt o the fore in the class.  Laurens Vanthoor in the factory #6 Porsche 963.  We have just a we bit over nine hours of racing remaining.  The gap is 14 seconds between the Ferrari and the Toyota.  Toyota going for win number six.  Peugeot to the pit lane for the #94 9X8 while the team has had an eventful night.  They have gleaned a bunch from this experience.  Loic Duval, Le Mans winner at the wheel of the #94.

The gap is certainly closing between Toyota and Ferrari.  Good morning to Tom Kristensen.  Toyota, Ferrari, and Cadillac at the top of the tree.  Morning at Le Mans is here with the checkers in nine hours' time.  The Ferrari is here to win and they are truly pushing hard once again as each race they have gotten stronger and now they have gone way more than nine hours.  The Iron Dames are on it with Rahel Frey, Sara Bovy, and Michelle Gatting.  

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