Apparently, the front of the Peugeot just flew away, detatched itself from it's mounting posts. Inter Europol's penalty relates to something that occurred at 8PM last night. This is such a huge race that they have to account for discussions with team manager's, extra begging and pleading. The Race Director does not assign penalties, the stewards do. There are five stewards on the team for Le Mans and the FIA WEC I believe. We have had a lot of calls but not many full on final decisions I don't think. Brendon Hartley has to take the pain with another track limits warning. Once they get to ten, they are judged as fact and done automatically via cameras on the track from the first chicane on the Mulsanne, Tertre Rouge, and Karting. Judge of fact is a motorsport term that says if they say it happened, it happened.
This has been a great race so far. It's been wild for sure. The gaps continue to be minute. One lockup, one shemozzle, that's pressure. Ferrari are not giving in. They want it so much, their first win since 1965. Crashing is never in the plan. Doriane Pin, Daniil Kvyat, and Mirko Bortolotti of course, crashed the #63 Prema LMP2 Oreca last night. Michelle Gatting will be next into the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19. They have a relationship with Lamborghini moving forward. Will they be in a Lamborghini next year? Will it be a GT3 car? Will it be a Hyper Car? Lamborghini will have just one Hyper Car if my memory serves me correctly. They have a lot of top level GT and prototype talent and ex Formula 1 drivers to call on.
The #25 ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin, the bonnet is busted and may just make it's bid for freedom. Nicky Catsburg, a month ago, won the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring and could get a class victory at Le Mans as well. He is a talented driver and a nice guy just the same. The gap is now 16 seconds. But that's nothing. We have seen gaps disappear and appear on a slow zone. This race is very close. We have the standard duration of the sprint races in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship by now. In 1949, that was the first time a Ferrari came to Circuit de la Sarthe. It was entered by Luigi Chinetti, a car dealer.
He approached Enzo Ferrari in Italy and said to Ferrari, "we should race at this place called Le Mans", and Enzo said "I am not sure, so, find someone and we'll see." He found someone named Lord Selsdon who won the Varsity Motorsports event at Oxford University. Lord Selsdon had the cash for a Ferrari 166MM and they entered the race but Selsdon got sick and Chinetti did just under 23 hours of the race and he was and is still the oldest driver to ever win Le Mans. Enzo Ferrari never came to Le Mans but recognized Luigi Chinetti and entered cars at Le Mans.
In '49, that was the first V12 powered car to win. Car #41 in and out with Robett Kubica. A tail change for the #3 Ganassi Racing Cadillac. The #2 has run through and has not been there and Scott Dixon was jolly lucky to escape hitting the wall in the deluge we had yesterday. Toyota in the pit lane from second spot. Peugeot #93 has a power steering leak and that is why they go back and forth between the track and the garage. They must have hydraulic steering on that Peugeot while electronic power steering is the way to go in endurance racing.
They need cooling as well or you lose tension and pressure. Toyota #8 just pitted. But if you lose steering... boom! You crunch right into the wall. Pietro Fittipaldi had a nasty crash at Eau Rouge at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium years ago when the power steering failed. Driver change coming up at Ferrari, covering off James Calado's full service stop. This is Calado in #51. We have a dry heat at Le Mans today and it was humid and steamy yesterday when the race started. Antonio Giovinazzi into the #51. Toyota are being forced onto a tire compound from Michelin they don't want to run at this time of day.
Medium compound Michelin's onto the car. Everything is still hanging in the balance for the centenary edition of Le Mans. James Calado's job is done. He can take it easy for the time being. 300 laps now completed. Wow. It is coming down to crunch time. But of course this race is by time not by distance. What kind of lap times will Brendon Hartley be able to uncork on new boots? It is indeed Antonio Giovinazzi who has taken over the #51 Ferrari 499P. Albert Costa eking out a gap on Robert Kubica who is coming back at him. It is nip and tuck between those two drivers, the Spaniard and the Pole. Corvette Racing lead GTE Am with Ben Keating, Nico Varrone, and Nicky Catsburg. Nicky Catsburg taking the car over.
Nicky "The Cat" Catsburg. Robert Kubica still runs second in LMP2. Traffic and yellows, failures and issues with the car, cluster early on for things built erroneously, or, late, for things and different parts that wear out. You have used up the life of the car. Yellow flag probability will ramp up as we get closer to the end of these races. Neel Jani going back to Porsche when Proton Competition take delivery of their Porsche 963 Hyper Car. Alpine #35 and #36, both had some delays and tough times during the night but I think they are still around, using the Delage name on the car that ceased operations in the 1950s but which raced in the '20s and '30s and won Le Mans in class in 1937.
Hendrick Motorsports back in the garage with the Garage 56 NASCAR Cup car. More servce and it looks like they might be cooling the car down or something. We have not talked about the #10 Vector Sport LMP2 car today. Ryan Cullen of Ireland, Matthias Kaiser of Lichtenstein, and Gabriel Aubry of France. The sole remaining Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske Motorsports heads out onto the track and the privateer Jota entry is beating the factory cars I think? No. No. Brain fade. I take that back. #75 had the fuel leak and the #38 went off the road in the rain yesterday.
The inertia of the Hyper Cars is more because they are heavier than an LMP1 or an LMP2. Brendon Hartley giving good info to Toyota about regeneration and brake pedal pressure so he does not lock the rear brakes. Toyota are trying to make the front end pointier but it is now pitch sensitive and they are working on the hnadling. Kevin Estre's avoided accident had to do with handling. Find a balance in the middle about playing the team game and doing things for yourself. Don't block your teammate. Leave your teammate space. Be courteous. The gap is 11 seconds between the Ferrari and the Toyota. Brendon Hartley still at the wheel of the Toyota and of course Antonio Giovinazzi in the Ferrari.
The car is driving on a knife edge when you are cornering and braking. Don't push too hard or you will just bleed away time. Rain at Le Mans can be a constant like it was last night. We are not going to see rain at the end of this race but last night in that deluge we saw things get unpredictable. We have not seen this many top level prototypes in the Le Mans race since about 2010 which was Audi, Peugeot, and Toyota followed by Porsche I think. The #22 United Autosport Oreca has not starred like we thought they would.
Tom Blomqvist is back aboard the sister #23 car. He was checked outat the medical center last night because the G Force sensor lit up. Hartley taking chunks out of Giovinazzi due to traffic. United Autosports must have been faceplanted last night but they are now back into it and looking for track position. The sister #50 Ferrari is now in fifth place and Brendon Hartley is going to be pushing. This is Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P. Toyota can request blue flags but they know their rival will be topping up on energy and fuel or whatever the case may be.
Ferrari #50 to the pit lane. So long to Ben Constanduros and to Alex Brundle. Nicklas Nielsen gets out of the Ferrari and Antonio Fuoco will get into the car. We will have Alex Brundle, Alex Jakes, Lena Gade and Tom Kristensen before Leigh Diffey and Calvin Fish join us for the end of this race. Everyone will be here to bring us home at the centenary of Le Mans, the penultimate hour coming up now with the on track gap at 9.6 seconds.
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