Hello to Leigh Diffey and Alex Jakes again in the commentary box along with Lena Gade. We will begin the process of getting the point by started. So many fans here! It is fabulous to see tons of people who are here. People have planned to be here for the last year and a half. Again, hello to Leigh Diffey. Five retirements from this race officially. Grab a bite to eat and a little rest. Keep going. The theme is of excitement that we have a legitimate race at the top of the shop. At Toyota, Jose Maria Lopez says the trac conditions are getting better. Lopez, the Argentinian now in the #7 Toyota. We have a very healthy field with the Hyper Car category. We are still circulating behind the safety car with Olivier Pla currently driving the #708 Glickenhaus 007 SCG. We might have some dry racing ahead of us here.
Bear left. No zigzagging. LMP2 cars prepare for the wave by, for the drop back. It is effective on a short circuit to do the wave by but on a long tack like Le Mans it takes a large amount of time. Justin Bell is here as well, a class winner, and of course his dad Derek Bell has won this race five times. We are still under the safety car. Justin Bell ran his first Le Mans race as a driver in 1992. We are getting closer to going back to racing. We are now going back to green. Some will pit and other car stay out. Green flag! Finally! The two Peugeot's separated by a fair amount as the #94 leads.
Pit stop time for both Toyota's and Yifei Ye passes Nick Tandy. Alex Lynn fighting the two Ferrari's. Miguel Molina ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi. #2 vs. #50 vs. #51. The Ferrari's go three wide and Dane Cameron in the #5 Porsche goes by with Dane Cameron! Molina and Giovinazzi are relentless! Giovinazzi tries Dane Cameron! This is high risk stuff! Holy cow! They are fighting and Alex Lynn has pressure as well, look, while Yifei Ye and Gustavo Menezes are scrapping hard. Dane Cameron now catching Yifei Ye. Hertz Team Jota and now, Dane Cameron clears the Peugeot. In the dry, the Peugeot does not have the pace.
Miguel Molina is the top Ferrari ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and now, the #38 Oliver Rasmussen driven LMP2 leads for Jota. Problems for the #36 Alpine Oreca in LMP2 of Julien Canal. Yellow flag. A battle between Dane Cameron and Yifei Ye. Alpine hits the barrier somewhere. I think that is out of one of the chicanes on the Mulsaane straight. Peugeot #94 pits with Gustavo Menezes driving. We are watching the Ferrari's as well. Watching Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske chasing after Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota and both of them have moved by the Glickenhaus, I think the #708 through the chicanes. Sara Bovy, Martin Rump, and Thomas Neubauer.
Oh dear. #311 around. Action Express Cadillac in trouble again. Yellow removed as Alexander Sims gets back underway. Alexander Sims now back up to speed. He got in hot through the Daytona chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Porsche the meat in a Toyota sandwich. Cadillac #3 gains a one minute stop and go penalty and Renger van der Zande currently taking the pain, or the medicine however you look at it. Hartley and Lopez have Kevin Estre in between them. Four and a half hours now on the board and a long, long way to go. Toyota pressuring themselves to continue their run of form. Hertz Team Jota Porsche leading one of the factory cars from Stuttgart.
Jota Porsche in the lead of the motor race. Toyota are relishing the opportunity to be racing against Porsche, Peugeot, Cadillac for the first time in more than 20 years, and others like Ferrari and Peugeot. Dane Cameron has gone off the road and hit one of the advertising signs and almost got hit by Miguel Molina! Welcome Calvin Fish back to the booth with Leigh and Lena. We are getting into a rhythm with this race, four and a half hours completed and so much run behind the safety car. We have seen five retirements early doors.
Yifei Ye leads the race so far and Jean Eric Vetgne in the #93 Peugeot is going for it. Marginal conditions since the green flag came back out. Slow Zone at zone eight into the Porsche Curves and here it is. They are cleaning up the advertising board that Dane Cameron clobbered. Porsche #6 has a flat right rear tire. He has to drive slowly so the tire doesn't become a saw blade and shred the bodywork and the suspension. Kevin Estre knows that he has to drive slowly. On the Mulsanne straight, the tire goes down and he could certainly feel that.
Dane Cameron now being harried by Antonio Giovinazzi. In the meantime, we check in with Jimmie Johnson in the #24 Garage 56 NASCAR Camaro. He says he has a wonderful experience driving on track and doing the parades. Jimmie Johnson does not have much rain experience but he is so used to this car. He is excited to be racing at Le Mans. He is a diversified driver. A sevent-ime NASCAR champion, a motocross racer, has raced trophy trucks, NASCAR, IndyCar, and IMSA at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A small moment for Dane Cameron getting loose through the Daytona chicane and Antonio Giovinazzi passes.
Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer is getting set for another stint aboard the #6 Porsche 963. Lotterer has three Le Mans wins with Audi. He has also run Formula E with Porsche but Kevin Estre is trundling around and drifting backwards. The #38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche has uncorked the fastest first sector time and his gap is growing! Holy moly! A tough week for United Autosports in the LMP2 class with two cars and they will be moving full-time to the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in LMP2 for next year in 2024. The fact is that the LMP2 cars are only going to race next year at Le Mans only.
Kevin Estre has made it back to the Porsche Penske Motorsports pit. The team is changing the tail section of the car. Norman Nato holding off Albert Costa in the #34 Inter Europol Oreca 07. Oliver Rasmussen for Jota in the #28 continues to lead. We are approaching another slow zone now. Race Control tells us the #5 Porsche 963 of Dane Cameron, he may have overtaken the #100 Walkenhorst Motorsports Ferrari 488 GTE and will have to serve a penalty after doing so under yellow. That Walkenhorst Ferrari being shared by Americans Chandler Hull and Jeff Segal and Indonesian driver Andrew Haryanto.
Tijmen van der Helm, Oliver Jarvis, and others are next in the serial in LMP2. Louis Deletraz is next up followed by Nico Pino, Bent Viscaal, and Malthe Jakobsen with Simon Pagenaud next up and now we can see the LMP2 battle steaming along. Different pace in different classes and different Am or Pro driving levels of course as well. Battle in GTE Am between Sara Bovy in the Iron Dames Porsche and Arnold Robin in the Aston Martin for TF Sport racing with Maxime Robin, his brother, and with Valentin Hasse-Clot. The D'station Aston Martin #777 is 12th in class and they had to bring a new car in after a massive accident in Free Practice getting clobbered by the Tower Motorsports #13 LMP2 of Steven Thomas.
We had a ton of GTE cars last year and we have only 1/3rd of the field. The prototype drivers are not dealing with as much traffic this year. We watch the #74 Ferrari 488 GTE, the Kessel Racing car of Takeshi Kimura, went off at the Daytona chicane at marshal post 11. Tom Gamble running the #923 TF Sport LMP2 car sharing with Salih Yoluc and Dries Vanthoor while Jose Maria Lopez cuts the corner and saves the car, thankfully. Another off and that is through the Daytona Chicane again, the #30 Duqueine Oreca of Nico Pino, sharing with Rene Binder and Neel Jani. Dane Cameron pinged with a drive through penalty for passing under the safety car while the #6 sister Porsche has Andre Lotterer at the wheel of it going on the attack in catch up mode.
Andre Lotterer in full chase mode. Andre Lotterer transitioned to Audi Sport after the trio of Emmanuele Pirro, Tom Kristensen, and Frank Bield. Oh my! Yifei Ye has had a massive spin through the Porsche curves and lost the rear tail of the car! He went off the road at the Porsche Curves and slammed the wall! Holy cow! He was into the pit lane way too hot! Yikes! I think we are at around 9:15-9:30 at night, French time. We have a Full Course Yellow coming and the two Ferrari 499P's are going to be able to get back in the picture. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow for removing debris.
Can you imagine if a customer car wins overall? With LMH and LMDh that means bringing the customers back into the fold to go for overall victory. United Autosports have had a tough week, one of a dozen two car teams and they will be moving to the IMSA WeatherTech Championship full time next year in LMP2. Team boss Richard Dean wants a footprint in North America. 15 LMP2 spots will be available on the grid as the #6 Porsche 963 hits the pit lane. Lena Gade working at Multimatic and joining us here on the Eurosport coverage. Precautionary tail change on the Porsche #6 as Norman Nato is currently fending off the challenge of Albert Costa.
Tijmen van der Helm next up for Panis Racing while Jota and Oliver Rasmussen lead in LMP2 into a slow zone. Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist sharing an LMP2 car. We have other standouts in the top ten in LMP2. Louis Deletraz for WRT, Nico Pino for Duqueine, Bent Viscaal, and Malthe Jakobsen followed by Simon Pagenaud who has not run Le Mans in a long time and now, we have a back marker being passed. Am's in a Pro-Am lineup have to do a minimum of six hours. Don't slip up and fall off the road.
Sara Bovy in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche makes a move on one of the Aston Martin's. They won in the 2022 European Le Mans Series and won in class in the Spa 24 Hours in GT World Challenge Europe in SRO last year. We also saw D'station Racing having to have their car replaced after getting nailed by the Tower Motorsports TDS entry. 50% of the field was GTE cars last year and now we are down by 1/3rd at 33% and remember there is always a speed differential. Trouble for the #74 Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura clouting the wall.
That was at the Daytona Chicane on the Mulsanne straight. This was a quick double yellow at Marshal post 11. The #923 car for TF Sport and Racing Team Turkey, Tom Gamble at the wheel of it sharing with Salih Yoluc and Dries Vanthoor and now, Jose Maria Lopez cuts a corner and continues back on the track. Another off course excursion for the Duqueine Team entry of Nico Pino, the Chilean driver who has LMP3 experience, spinning off. Pino sharing with Rene Binder and Neel Jani. Dane Cameron will cop a drive through penalty for overtaking under a safety car. Andre Lotterer playing catch up and on the attack in the #6 sister Penske Porsche 963.
He is chasing the #708 Glickenhaus of Ryan Briscoe. These are 13 lap stints. Lotterer loves this race and he is able to really push, when he started to be the lead driver at Audi when Dindo Cappello, Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, and those folks, began retiring from racing. Oh no! Jota Sport has spun and destroyed the tail and wing assembly on the #38 Jota Sport Porsche, rattling over the grass and the pavement! He lost it on corner entry and clobbered the tires! Ouch! His confidence will be squished. We are nearly five hours into this motor race.
Yifei Ye finally gets the car back to the pit lane but he is lucky to get back even with damage and the two Ferrari's of Miguel Molina and Antonio Giovinazzi will get back in the game. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. Full Course Yellow removing debris around the track in several spots. Everyone on their last lap of the stint on the virtual energy tank. Porsche #5 have served their penalty and that is all fine. Yifei Ye could not stop and went right off the road losing bodywork in the process. All hands on deck at Jota.
Tires strapped together with conveyor belt help dissipate the impact. The two Ferrari's are 1-2. Fred Vasseur and Charles Leclerc from the Ferrari Formula 1 team are here cheering their teammates on and this Ferrari 499P did not even turn a wheel until last year in July, July of 2022. Both Ferrari's to pit lane under Full Course Yellow and they are in the right order for energy replenishment. Refueling and recharging I believe. New tires for the #50, Miguel Molina at the controls, the Spaniard, with Antonio Giovinazzi in the sister #51. Four mechanics and two rattle guns, as the #923 Racing Team Turkey LMP2 car of Tom Gamble goes inside the #63 Prema Oreca in LMP2 of Mirko Bortolotti and Gamble goes off the road.
Loic Duval in second in the #94 Peugeot 9X8. Duval shared an Audi with Tom Kristensen and won the race, a decade ago in 2013 I think. 2014 is when Duval had a huge accident. Brendon Hartley chasing Loic Duval in the battle for second place. Hartley wants this one towards Indianapolis. The Porsche and the Toyota are right within a kilometer of speed but the three Cadillac's for some reason have been six kilometers an hour slower. That is odd. Hoping for better for my buddies at Action Express. The short chute between Indianapolis and Arnage is bonkers!
Peugeot to the pit lane. Nick Tandy in the Porsche 963 remains the leader. Louis Deletraz leads Oliver Jarvis and Oliver Rasmussen in LMP2. Pit stop time for Peugeot. That is the #94 car.
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