Ciao a tutti. Benvenuti nel tempio della velocità, l'Autodromo Nazionale di Monza a Monza, Italia. Questo meraviglioso palazzo della velocità esiste ormai da oltre un secolo e siamo in serbo per un'altra favolosa gara automobilistica dopo il ritorno della Ferrari ai prototipi di alto livello dopo 50 anni. I vincitori della 24 Ore di Le Mans del mese scorso sono tornati e pronti per di più. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the temple of speed, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. This wonderful palace of speed has existed for over a century now, and we are in store for another fabulous motor race upon the return of Ferrari to top level prototype racing after 50 years. The winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month, are back, and ready for more.
This is the beginning of the second half of a remarkable 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season, with this event, followed by just two more. With the schedule overlapping between this race, and Sunday's IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship race at Mosport in Canada that you have already read about on the blog, there are some driver changes to discuss for various teams, in Hypercar, but also in LMP2 and in GTE Am. Not related to the IMSA clash, there are new drivers, and a new car in the field today. At Vanwall, with the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680, Frenchman Tom Dillman is out, and in as his replacement is Brazilian driver Joao Paulo de Oliveira.
Glickenhaus now has an all-French lineup in the sole #708 SCG 007 LMH with Romain Dumas, Olivier Pla, and Nathaniel Berthon. Germany's Proton Competition steps up to the Hypercar ranks with the #99 Porsche 963 and they too, will introduce another 963 to the IMSA WeatherTech Championship later in the season, next month, when IMSA reaches their race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Proton Competition's Porsche 963 will be driven by Porsche stalwart's Gianmaria Bruni of Italy, and Neel Jani of Switzerland, and they are joined by former factory Mazda Daytona Prototype International driver in IMSA, Harry Tincknell of England.
It is a hot, hot race today. The Tifosi are out in their tens of thousands to witness Ferrari, the Le Mans winners. We have Martin Haven, Graham Goodwin, and Anthony Davidson in the broadcast booth, and Louise Beckett reporting from the pit lane. Let me tell you, the Tifosi are here in droves. There are two national religions in Italy. Catholicism and Ferrari, and Ferrari is the faith professed here at Monza. This track is 101 years old, built in 100 days in 1922. There are 11 corners. The Prima Variante followed by the Variante della Roggia and then into Curva Di Lesmo.
There are two Lesmo corners, right hand turns. The first is slower than the second. Fly down the backstretch and into the Variante Ascari named after the great Formula 1 World Champion Alberto Ascari who lost his life here in a testing crash. The final corner has two names. It has been called the Parabolica for as long as everyone can remember but is also called Curva Alboreto named for another Ferrari racing legend, the late, great Michele Alboreto. Alpine, the defending champions of this event, are now in the LMP2 class. They are developing a new Hypercar for next year which was recently released, the A424B I believe is the name of it.
It is steamingly warm here at Monza and the atmosphere is electric. We have Rinaldo "Dindo" Cappello here to watch. Rinaldo Cappello is a legend of sports car racing who raced for years and years with the all conquering factory Audi team that won Le Mans 13 times. He says it is an unbelievable experience to be back at the track at Monza as a fan. He says the WEC has done a great jo in the last few years bringing the fans in. At least half the fans are here because of Ferrari's return to endurance racing. Rinaldo Cappello is the grand marshal and wave the green flag for the race for the cars to roll off.
Allan McNish is also here. Laura Wontrop Klauser from Cadillac and General Motors is here. She is meeting with one of the FIA WEC technical delegates. Lots of support for Ferrari and for other teams. Le Mans this year was an epic with Hypercar coming of age and that will increase next year. Seven-time Formula 1 winner Rene Arnoux is here. The Iron Dames are on pole in GTE Am. Sara Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Rahel Frey. They were on pole here last year at Monza as well. The Iron Dames are on the cusp of a breakthrough. The tricolore, the Italian flag is here. The Italian military will deliver the flag soon.
Inter Europol are fifth in LMP2, the class winners at Le Mans with Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer, and Jakob Smiechowski, the Spaniard, the Swiss, and the Polish driver. Vector Sport are next on the gird in LMP2. They will run the new Isotta Fraschini Hypercar and we are hearing that program may come online at the beginning of next year more likely than the end of this current season. Matthias Kaiser of Lichtenstein will start the car, sharing with Irishman Ryan Cullen, and Frenchman Gabriel Aubry. Third in LMP2 is the #22 United Autosports entry with an all British driving team of Ben Hanley starting the car, sharing with Fred Lubin and Phil Hanson.
Filipe Albuquerque finished second in the IMSA race at Mosport Park in Canada on Sunday. Ferrari have Danish fans present for Nicklas Nielsen here at Monza as well. Second on the grid in LMP2 is the #28 Jota Sport Oreca with Dane David Heinemeier-Hansson starting the car dsharing with countryman Oliver Rasmussen, and Brazilian driver Pietro Fittipaldi. Pietro Fittipaldi was at the top of the shop in LMP2 qualifying for a good while but they didn't quite stay there. Here comes the helicopters of the Italian military. A month ago there was flooding in Emilia Romagna in Italy.
We have actually seen this morning, the demo laps of the new Isotta Fraschini Hypercar, car #11. They have two cars, the race car itself, and the track day version that wealthy sportsmen can go out and buy to run on track days. There is a stradale road car as well. Wolfgang Ullrich, part of Le Mans Endurance Management, former team boss of Audi Sport. Vanwall start 13th in Hypercar. Monza will be closed for six months for track renovations. We continue up the grid and here is the Proton Competition Porsche 963 we were talking about (car #99). This is indeed the Bruni/Tincknell/Jani car.
Glickenhaus are 11th on the grid. Romain Dumas will start the race with Olivier Pla and Nathaniel Berthon. Again, the all-French trio. The Tricolore, the Italian flag is being delvered. Tenth on the srarting grid is the first of the two factory Porsche 963's from Porsche Penske Motorsport, the #6 car of Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer, and Kevin Estre. Among the nations represented for the first time in WEC is the Dominican Republic. Driver Efrin Castro is in this event. It is time for the Italian national anthem. The national anthem of motor racing performed by Carola Campagna. That was a beautiful rendition of the Italian anthem! Wow!
More Porsche's on the starting grid as we go through the Hypercar feild. Next up is the #38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 to be started by Antonio Felix Da Costa of Portugal sharing with Britain's Will Stevens and Yifei Ye of China. Dindo Cappello will be handed the flag by the marines of the San Marco Green Rifle Brigade. The cars are lined up along the pit wall in herringbone or echelon fashion just like for the traditional Le Mans start of years gone by. The riflemen descend from the helicopter shimmying down a rope. The Italian Marines. Peugeot 9X8 #94 is next in line carrying the same special livery they had at Le Mans. Nico Muller of Switzerland is the starting driver alongside Frenchman Loic Duval and American Gustavo Menezes.
Sixth place is the first of the cars everyone here has come to see. This is the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, the Le Mans 24 Hours winning car of Antonio Giovinazzi sharing with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. We actually have the Italian Navy delivering the flag. Yannick Dalmas, four-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner is going to drive the safety car as he always does, as we round out the grid. Fifth place, the #2 Cadillac V Series R, the Ganassi Racing Cadillac Racing blue nosed car of Alex Lynn sharing with Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook. The other two Cadillac's that raced Le Mans are back in North America as Ganassi Racing and Action Express both competed on Sunday at Mosport Park in Canada in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship event there.
Pedro Couciero is the other official safgety car driver. We had heavy rain here at Monza on Thursday morning. But it is going to be sunny and dry for the race today. Fourth on the grid is the sister #93 Peugeot 9X8 with Mikkel Jensen starting the car and sharing with Jean Eric Vergne and Paul Di Resta. The Peugeot's looked to come alive at Le Mans and every Hypercar came alive at Le Mans. But Peugeot are far more confident today. Third spot goes to the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, the first team and car to be developed for the new Hypercar category, as Sebastien Buemi, the four-time Le Mans winner from Switzerland is the starting driver alongside Ryo Hirakawa of Japan and Brendon Hartley from New Zealand.
#8 leads the championship with three races to go. Dindo Cappello receives the tricolore Italian flag. Second place on the grid, the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P with Spaniard Miguel Molina at the wheel of it for the opening stint sharing with Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen. Pole position goes to the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with Mike Conway starting the car sharing with Jose Maria Lopez and with Kamui Kobayashi. No front row lockouts like we saw with Ferrari at Le Mans. This Hypercar grid is a mixed candy dish of assorted flavors. Hypercar teams can choose medium compound or hard compound Michelin tires. No tire warmers of course for the rest of the year and ongoing. That will make it tricky for these 700+ horsepower Hypercars.
Most teams are going to double stint their tires right from the start. 36 cars ready to go for the 6 Hours of Monza as Rene Arnoux, the Ferrari and Renault Formula 1 driver of decades gone by is looking on. I wonder ehat he thinks of Hypercar. He is a former driver and a fan as well. He gives the command. Gentlemen, start your engines. This is the golden era of sports car racing. Whatever your favorite era of sports car racing, as the cars roll of the grid, I think this era trumps it, whether it is the 5 liter and 3 liter prototypes, Can-Am, Group 5 & 6, or Group C. This is also a Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone for Formula 1.
With Le Mans in the rearview mirror, written on paper in the history books, the championship chase can really begin in earnest now. Toyota, Peugeot, Porsche, and other teams, including Cadillac and Glickenhaus, and even Vanwall, this is revenge time. Especially for Toyota after they were snookered by Ferrari at Circuit de la Sarthe for most of the weekend. The boxing match will be on now and the bell is about to ring for round one of six as the hours go by. We have two formational laps to warm the tires up. Then the safety car will pull in and we'll be underway. Thanks for joining us.
If you have time (not now, because we have another race coming your way in moments), but later on, if you want to relive the whole of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, go to the FIA WEC YouTube channel or perhaps too, to the Motor Trend app if you have it, and dig into that wonderful centenary edition of Le Mans to see all these cars once again in their full glory. Glickenhaus are using both compounds. One on each end. Mike Conway and Miguel Molina, Sebastien Buemi, and Mikkel Jensen, the top four. Here comes the field.
So many questions. How will Porsche do with the factory and private teams? Will Ferrari win at home? Will Toyota regain their strength? Is Peugeot competitive over six hours a year after making their debut here at Monza? So many questions. Here we go. Green flag! This motor race is underway! Three wide, look, and into the first chicane we have cas all over the shop and the Le Mans winning #51 Ferrari has spun backwards already! We have another of the Hypercars off on the escape road already. Is that the Glickenhaus? No. It is indeed the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963, the WeatherTech liveried car.
Just what we did not need to see. The top runners on the first lap are Mike Conway, Miguel Molina, Mikkel Jensen, Alex Lynn, Nico Muller, and more. The Glickenhaus locks up. David Heinemeier Hanson leads Tristan Vautier in the LMP2. Vector Sport has contact but they are moving up and the Hertz Team Jota #38 Porsche is moving up as Sebastien Buemi has had a lockup. We can see damage to the #51 Ferrari 499P, the Le Mans winner, already. Deary me! Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 just barely hanging on over the #708 Glickenhaus of Romain Dumas. Behind Dumas is the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963, Gianmaria Bruni in the WeatherTech liveried car.
Nico Muller in the sister #94 Peugoet 9X8 makes his move on the #2 Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Alex Lynn but he goes straight on through the chicane and so he will have to give that place back. Ferrari #51 in the meantime is making up for lost time carving his way through the LMP2 field. Lynn ahead of Muller and then Antonio Felix Da Costa in the #38 Porsche 963. The top Porsche Hypercar is now the Jota entry ahead of the two Porsche Penske Motorsport factory cars. We saw the Porsche boys having a tough old time of it in IMSA at Mosport in Canada yesterday. I wonder if their luck will change here at Monza. Penske of course has teams on both sides of the Atlantic.
Michael Christensen is the starting driver aboard the #5 Penske Porsche 963 sharing with Dane Cameron and Fred Makowiecki as Vector Sport spins again! He is facing the wrong way, Matthias Kaiser, the Licthenstein driver. Christensen chasing down te field and a late lunge by the #63 Prema Oreca 07 with Doriane Pin at the wheel of it. Kaiser was committed. Michael Christensen passes ANtonio Felix Da Costa and makes the move. Sebastien Buemi told he is P8 and has no aero or tire trouble. Beumi at the start as momentarily around the Toyota but did Buemi get tagged by the #2 Cadillac?
No. He locked the front brakeand it was too late. I think the left front dive plane is gone. Mike Conway leading the motor race. I wonder what the stewards' view of all that shemozzle will be? Ferrari #51 moves ahead of the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 for 12th place. The Vanwall of course is the Guerreri/Vautier/de Oliveira car, the Argentinian, the Frenchman, and the Brazilian. Ben Hanley is right up on David Heinemeier Hanson's six right now in LMP2 as we watch the Le Mans winning #34 Inter Europol car, the bright yellow Oreca currently in the hands of Jakub Smiechowski. The Polish driver passes the #9 Prema Oreca 07 in the hands of Romanian driver Filip Ugran.
Ugran has passed the Alpine of Julien Canal. Two leaders trading fastest sectors and laps. Antonio Felix Da Costa is complaining of a lack of top speed. The factory Porsche just whistled right by. For some reason, the works car is four miles an hour faster than the Jota Porsche. That's strange. David Heinemier Hanson has his hands full with the defending champions of this race in LMP2, United Autosports, the #22 Oreca. Both United cars have an alternate driver again because of the scheduling clash between this race and the IMSA race up in Canada that we brought to you on the blog last Sunday.
Hanley tries a lunge on Hansson and I don't believe that is going to work! He's keeping it clean, and now, the sister United Autosport Oreca wants a bite of the cherry as well! This is getting scrappy early doors here at Monza! The better placed United car is trying to pass both outside in Lesmo 2! That's Giedo van der Garde, one of the super sub drivers, having a strong beginning to this motor race. That is a bizarre spot on this track to make a feisty move, but Hanley had the intent. Meanwhile in Hypercar, the second place battle is raging. It is Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P being monstered by Mikkel Jensen in the #93 Peugeot 9X8. Jensen uncorked the fastest lap of the motor race last time by and now he is reeling in the Ferrari hand over fist!
1:38.1 for Molina, 1:37.6 for Jensen. Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac cuts a 1:37.9 and he is creeping away from the sister Peugeot. Antonio Felix Da Costa is now faster than the Toyota. The other privateer Porsche, the #99 WeatherTech 963 from Proton Competition, it too does not have the speed of the factory cars from Team Penske. The battle is heating up in GTE Am. ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin, Richard Mille - AF Corse Ferrari, and the factory Corvette C8.R from Corvette Racing liner stern. Now, Corvette have been so dominant in GTE-Am, that if they win this race today, they can lock up the GTE Am championship with two rounds to spare. Wouldn't that be something?
Corvette prevailed in GTD Pro at Mosport in IMSA. If they can prevail at Monza, too in WEC, they will be over the moon. In replay, a spin there for Takeshi Kimura being shoved out of the way by Satoshi Hoshino! Japanese gentleman driver on Japanese gentleman driver as the D'station #777 Aston Martin shows no respect for his adversary and biffs poor old Kimura in the dayglow yellow CarGuy Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE out of the way. This is the #57 car Kimura is sharing with countryman Kei Cozzolino for this race and with regular co-driver, American, Scott Huffaker.
Mike Conway in Toyota #7 runs 1.8 seconds clear of the second place Hypercar battle. A long chain of LMP2 cars racing each other single file. Alpine, Prema, Alpine, Inter Europol, Prema, it looks like. Julien Canal has his hands full with the aforementioned Polish driver, Jakub "Kuba" Smiechowski. Most people named Jakub with that spelling are nicknamed "Kuba" whereas it is "Jake" if it is spelled Jacob of course. Smiechowski is reeling in Memo Rojas, the vastly experienced Mexican sports car racer. Side by side in GTE Am, Ferrari and Corvette!
Ben Keating in the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R goes ahead of Luis Perez Companc, the Argentine driver at the wheel of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Second place is going to guarantee the Corvette team the title. Second right now is the orange ORT by TF Sport #25 Aston Martin Vantage of Ahmad Al Harthy, the Omani driver. ORT is Oman Racing Team. Sarah Bovy in the pink Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 still leads in class. The AO Porsche is trundling around with Efrin Castro at the controls. The Ferrari goes straight on. Castro from the Dominican Republic is making his WEC debut and his debut in a GTE Porsche. He is at the wheel of the #56 Project 1 - AO car.
Castro is sharing with Matteo Cairoli of Italy, and Portuguese driver Guilherme Oliveira. David Heinemeier Hansson is doing what he can in LMP2 to fend off the two United Autosports cars who will have to work together to get by. Giedo van der Garde and Ben Hanley who won in Portimao, Portugal, they are the ones who won LMP2 at Portimao in Portugal last spring. Ben Keating passes Ahmad Al Harthy through the Curva Grande. That was a brave move by Ben Keating! Wow! In the meantime, we are back looking at the Hypercar battle. Toyota #8 will serve a ten second penalty for making contact with the #51 Ferrari, on their first pit stop.
Sebastien Buemi working on lining up Antonio Felix Da Costa through Variante della Roggia for a move for seventh spot. Ah. A lead change and Giedo van der Garde moves ahead and the #8 Toyota has dropped from eighth to 12th place and cannot make headway after the penalty. Oh dear! Trouble for Satoshi Hoshino, spinning the #777 D'station Aston Martin into the gravel trap at Variante della Roggia! It could be at Ascari too. It is Ascari as Ben Hanley passes David Heinemeier Hanson for second. Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver is next in the first of the two WRT Oreca's followed by Memo Rojas, and look at that massive dust cloud where Hoshino has gone off the road! Are we racing at Monza? Or are we in an off road desert race?
Additionally, there is debris, carbon fiber shards, all over the road! That will cut down a tire in a heartbeat and as we have seen before, the destructive power of a cut down tire is enormous to these sports cars because it becomes like a saw blade tearing even more bodywork to bits. Safety Car scramble. Safety Car scramble. The front splitter and the bonnet totally gone. The safety car is on the circuit. Game over for the #777 Aston Martin. He could have three wheels on the wagon. In replay, let's see if we can tell exactly what happened to Satoshi Hoshino.
Contact pitches him sideways and he slews right into the fence! Ker-runch! The whole front end is gone and could that have been the race leading Toyota he made contact with? That would be truly bizarre! That is a massive shunt as we go onboard with the #6 Porsche 963 Laurens Vanthoor was a lucky bloke indeed to muscle his way through that melee. He was two cars behind Sebastien Buemi and Buemi has passed Antonio Felix Da Costa in the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963, but at what cost? The #8 Toyota, as we see the replay of the start again, car #8 has been pinged by the stewards for the contact that sent the Ferrari 499P #51, the Le Mans winner, spinning off the road.
Kazuki Nakajima throws his hands in the air as if to say, "what on earth was that?" It could have been minor contact with the rear of the #93 Peugeot as well. #51 rejoins on the escape road. Yikes! Turn one was expected to be calamity corner. That's for dead sure. Casper Stevenson, Satoshi Hoshino's co-driver at D'station and the rest of the team are looking at what happened to their Aston Martin when Hoshino went off course. He says the season has been hard for the last few races and has not seen the accident yet. He says that these things happen and it is disappointing for D'station and TF Sport.
Stevenson says "I was in the back of the truck on the radio, and saw there was an incident. It is hard at the start because all the cars come by at once. It's fine." You know he is not being serious there because it is most certainly not fine if Casper Stevenson and co-driver Tomonobu Fujii don't even get to drive. It is game over for D'station on this day here at Monza. We hear radio transmission from Sebastien Buemi before the yellow came out and the team is calling to him on the radio that there is a safety car. But he is panicking. "Guys, guys, guys! I think I have puncture! Just check quickly, please."
He is told that the tires look OK. Buemi argues "no, it is not OK. The tires locked up." The team is seeing tire pressure monitoring in the garage on the telemetry in the banks and banks of TV monitors on the pit wall. What they don't see of course, but Sebastien Buemi will feel, is whether the suspension is bent out of shape and the alignment, the front toe in is knocked out of square. I thought so. I was right. Martin Haven, WEC lead commentator confirms it, the toe in on that Toyota is completely out of square. He believes something hit him. No, Seb. You hit something when you went by.
In replay, we are watching the attempted pass by the Peugeot on the Ferrari. I take that back. That was the #50. This was for second spot and probably happened just after the incident with the D'station Aston Martin which will no doubt retire from the motor race. I think the Ferrari was held up through the last turn, so Parabolica, or Michele Alboreto corner as it is now. The Peugeot has a head of steam and makes the pass on the Ferrari into the first turn at Prima Variante. Such a surprise to see the Peugeot in the fight here at Monza. But, keep in mind that this is the first time theyu have come to a track with a setup sheet because the Peugeot 9X8 debuted here at Monza in the gray primer colors here last year in 2022.
Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson, looking on. Ferrari are also part of Stellantis along with Peugeot because of Fiat Chrysler now also being a part of Stellantis. Carlos Tavares, the Peugeot CEO, not just here in that capacity, but he was also in the Historic Formula 3 support race this weekend. He races an old Ralt RT3 Formula 3 car with a Nova motor in it. That I believe is an ex Thierry Boutsen car. Boutsen of course also a veteran sports car endurance racer and Formula 1 racer. Buemi apologizes to the team who tell him, "It's OK, mate. Only 20 minutes gone. Still a long way to go." That is true. All of us will hang in for the long haul here at Monza even though we've already hung in for the long haul at the centenary Le Mans, what, a month ago now.
Lots of cleanup at Variante Ascar9i. In replay, Hoshino just spun out and plowed into the barriers. The stewards will ask if the Aston Martin moved over. I think he kept his line and it was a miscalculation and a clonk by Sebastien Buemi in the Toyota. For the most part, Sebastien Buemi keeps his nose clean. This time, he had a slight brain freeze. Race car drivers are human after all. He has apologized to the team. A multiple world champion, a multiple Le Mans winner. In the replay, there was no touching, no contact. He said "there was touching, I felt it."
Rationally thinking of this, there was clearly contact with the D'station Aston Martin. There is no activity at the #8 Toyota team. They are assessing it, sussing it out currently. The tire pressures are fne. There is no puncture. But he is feeling something like a puncture but it isn't. It's clag or gravel on the tires. Maybe the toe angle is all messed up. Hard to tell. Great drivers can feel things through the seat of their pants, truly. Ferrari not part of Stellantis. They are still owned by Fiat. Sheesh! Where did we come up with that? Of course, John Elkin is a Stellantis board member.
In LMP2, at United Autosport, both cars are going to come in for driver changes. Phil Hanson is set to take over the #22 car and the sister #23 will get Josh Pierson into the cockpit for his first stint of the day. There's lots of sweeping, lots of track cleanup to do and we might need more barrier repairs, but I don't think they will need to be repaired. Every driver needs a minimum and maximum drive time in a six-hour race. I don't think that Aston Martin clattered a concrete wall. If that is a steel Armco barrier there won't be as much wreckage to clean up.
David Heinemier-Hansson, third in LMP2, he was just passed by the two Jota entries. He is still third and nobody can pass him. How do you fair against the professional drivers? He remains third in LMP2. DHH, as we call him by his initials is a driver but also a businessman. He is a lower graded driver, obviously. We'll be headed back to green here soon. Mikkel Jensen and Peugeot really want to win. They feel after Le Mans that they've got a chance. The car was a test mule at this time last year. Race Director Edoardo Freitas cues the radio and tells us that instead of the marshals sweeping up, we are going to have a street sweeper, a track sweeper come over and take care of the job.
That will save an ice cream headache for the orange army, the corner workers, who we could not go racing without. They wear orange worldwide or white uniforms in the United States, and without them, there'd be no motorsports at all. So, we must thank them. I keep hammering the point home, but it is absolutely true. These people who volunteer to keep the track and driver's safe are why we can go motor racing in the first place. Send out the sweeper. You can cope with running over grass. Gravel is more dangerous. Buemi will have to serve a ten second penalty at the next pit stop. Toyota #8's race could already be going pear shaped.
Buemi locked up on cold tires and he got pinched by the Ferrari locking the brakes. He got spooked by the Ferrari being there. The stewards know there was a car's width on the inside of the road. This is a draconian analysis, but he had to spike the brakes to avoid wrecking. The Iron Dames in the #85 pink Porsche 911 RSR-19 lead the Corvette in GTE Am. So, the battle continues in earnest between Sara Bovy and Ben Keating. Ahmad Al Harthy next up. Pits will be open and fuel will be taken at Ferrari. They will box. Team manager Justin Taylor informs Antonio Giovinazzi to box.
Guess what? Every one of the Hypercars is going to dive for the lane. Let's reload the fuel tank. No driver changes yet. No tires. Fuel in the tank is all we need to get through the opening stint of this motor race. The LMP2 cars are doing likewise. The #8 Toyota stays out and the #93 Peugeot stays out. Logically speaking, #8 cannot serve it's ten second penalty while the safety car is leading the field around. That would open a can of worms. The two-car teams are splitting their strategies. Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche etc. Of course, we do have two customer Porsche's in the field unrelated to the factory 963's at Penske. Those are the Jota car and the Proton Competition car.
Jota are serviced and sent. The LMP2 cars would have been coming close to the end of a fuel load at this stage anyhow. So let's see where all this stuff comes out in the wash. The LMP2 cars are far thirstier than the Hypercars are because the LMP2 cars don't make use of any kind of hybrid power, regeneration, or boost. Jota have split the United Autosport cars. The GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 is also in. That is the #86 Ben Barker, Mike Wainwright, Ricardo Pera car. The #777 Aston Martin has been rescued. 14 cars stayed on track, so 21 cars came into the pit lane. The only LMP2 car to stay on track at the time was the #36 Alpine Elf Team Oreca.
The Iron Dames stayed out in GTE Am and Corvette hit the lane for service. The safety car lights are still on and Iron Dames could pit this lap. Giedo van der Garde made a great move, third in LMP2 right now. They had issues with the car in qualifying but are moving forward currently. They are stepping up the performance. Oliver Jarvis too is happy with what he sees from his co-driver, from last to first in eight laps. They did do a driver change at United and are going to keep pushing hard as always. We look in replay at the battle between United and Jota in LMP2 and are hearing there could very well be a triple whammy of bad news in Sebastien Buemi's immediate future.
This was Ben Hanley going to the inside of David Heinemeier Hansson, and Giedo van der Garde whistles right by his teammate trying not to get too wide out into the fuzz. Hanley managed to hang onto the car. He brought the car in having come up ten places to the lead after starting 11th. 15 laps now complete. This is a time race not a distance race. No overtaking before the control line. Gren lights on. Green flag. Mike Conway in the lead defending from the Peugeot but here comes Mikkel Jensen putting the squeeze play on Conway into Prima Variante!
They were going wheel to wheel and now Mikkel Jensen down the inside takes the lead. Talk about sending it, and Mikkel Jensen did just that! Down to the second chicane, Conway will pop his nose out again and try to take the place back. Miguel Molina in third in the #50 Ferrari, if these two have a dust up, the Spaniard could see an opening. Nico Muller runs fourth in the sister #94 Peugeot. Jensen is driving in a defensive position and slams the door in Mike Conway's face to make sure that the Brit in the Toyota cannot get by. Peugeot on medium compound Michelin's and Toyota on hard compound Michelin's.
Are they double stinting or triple stinting tires? The Peugeot, we saw them double and triple stint tires at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last time out and they could use that trick in their playbook here, too, no question. In the meantime, Miguel Molina is the matador here and he is right up on Conway's six, look. Through the Parabolica, or Michele Alboreto corner (take your pick), and I wonder, along with Anthony Davidson in the booth, is the Toyota not able to get heat into the tires as quickly as the competition? The Peugeot and the Ferrari seem to be able to turn the tires on a wee bit earlier than the Toyota does. Molina does the job even before the braking zone. Signed, sealed, delivered. Well, well, well.
You can hear the fans going bonkers in the background. The Tifosi expect and they are getting what they came for, to see a Ferrari going for the lead at Monza. Buemi has the penalty, the sword of Damocles hanging over him, and when he serves that penalty, the cars are going to be more bunched together in a pack. So, he is going to have to fight like no tomorrow. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Doriane Pin in the #63 Prema LMP2 car for contact with the similar LMP2 car, the #10 Vector Sport entry as now we watch Michael Christensen at the back of the queue in the #5 Porsche 963 chasing down the second of the Peugeot 9X8's.
One minute stop and go penalty for Buemi for the contact we saw. Aha. Two penalties together will put him a lap down. One minute stop and go penalty for car #8 with car #777. Will he serve it now? Will he make a regular pit stop. The Aston Martin hit on the driver's side. That was a horrid accident. Now, Buemi is copping the penalty as we speak. Take your medicine, get out in clean air. Head down. Focus forward. He'll have another ten second penalty added to the first pit stop, so this is only the first dose of medication. There is a second dose yet to come.
He might be able to halve the deficit if there is another safety car later on in the motor race. So, things can come back to the Toyota team but they have to take the pain first. Mikkel Jensen believes he can run a 1:33 lap time. His previous lap is a 1:37. He must be talking about fuel save, not sector times or lap times. I see. Never mind. Now, we see the battle in GTE Am with a swap between the TF Sport Aston Martin and the Corvette C8.R. The Iron Dames are banking on track position instead of fuel. Peugeot #93 meanwhile is in the lead of the motor race.
Toyota #8 is back out but they are on the tail end of the lead lap. Sebastien Buemi has to book it. He will not be as quick as the Peugeot and has to obey the blue flags. He is receiving blue flags and now has to drive out of his skin and he has to take a routine pit stop and ten more seconds. He has not done a flying lap on this stint yet. Or this portion of the stint after his out lap. Josh Pierson leading LMP2 over Memo Rojas and Freddie Lubin. Kuba Smiechowksi is pushing and the Vector Sport car is ahead and then comes the Jota Sport car. Vector Sport will be the team racing the Isotta Fraschini Hypercar in 2024.
That is going to be fascinating as the Hypercar class in World Endurance and the GTP class in IMSA both continue their growth. Mikkel Jensen chasing down Sebastien Buemi. Paul di Resta says leading the race is a good position to be in with a long, hot race ahead. They have had technical issues and are still unsure of how the strategy will pan out. But the team has risen to another level compared to a year ago on their debut here at Monza. Jean Eric Vergne did well in qualifying too, and so we can see that Peugeot is running well. They had a gearbox change. So, a lot like Le Mans was, at a certain point, we see Peugeot in contention.
Peugeot #93 beginning to cloe on Toyota and on Ferrari. Things will be shaken up since the #8 Toyota is the points leader coming into this race. Mike Conway in third spot and Conway could have traffic ahead to catch up to the Ferrari and he has caught Miguel Molina. Seventh through tenth place in Hypercar, those cars pitted under the safety car phase. Those are the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 factory car, the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V Series R and the Le Mans winning #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
There is a ten second spread between the quickest at Team Jota, 47 seconds, 49 for Penske Porsche, 50 for the Cadillac, and 56 for the #51 Ferrari. Mikkel Jensen mentions getting six blue flags in the last few laps and the team informs him they are on the phone to Race Control as we speak. Sebastien Buemi is doing all he can to stay on the lead lap and he will not pull over unless he is forced to do so. We know he is going to be hanging on by his fingernails. He still has two penalties in play, one during his first pit stop. Romain Dumas goes purple, fastest of all, in sector one, aboard the Glickenhaus, which is a car that always seems to be quick around Monza.
The Glickenhaus of course is one of only two Hypercars, along with the Vanwall, that are privately run and thus make no use of hybrid power or boost like the factory cars do. Buemi is in clean air and is ediging away from Mikkel Jensen. He is not happy. Meanwhile, Mikkel Jensen is upset ablut being in dirty air. It is hard to get by Buemi and they have the tail enders of the GTE Am field to contend with and then Buemi will be right up his exhaust and in the background, look, we can see lurking not far behind, the Ferrari and the Porsche as well as the second Toyota at the very least.
Jensen is getting a better break than we thought and he is all over the Toyota like a cheap suit and so this is going to get spicy before long. This lead group of half a dozen Hypercars is seven seconds apart! That is how close we are seeing the racing here at Monza! Absolutely amazing stuff. Jensen is through on Buemi who has had blue passing flags in his face for the last two and a half laps and has to know by now that once more discretion is indeed the better part of valor. Nico Muller in fourth place in the sister #94 Peugeot 9X8 has Mike Conway ahead in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid. This is tough sledding for the Hypercar drivers because their top speed at the end of the straightaway is far higher than the GTE cars, the minimum speed through the chicanes is slower!
The GTE cars according to Antonio Felix Da Costa at Jota Sport in the Porsche 963 #38, the GTE Am cars are quicker than the Hypercars and have far better grip through the corners. The Hypercars are a handful to drive as far as cornering is concerned. The GTE cars are softer sprung and have softer tires. Mike Conway is losing out as we watch the battle rage on in LMP2 as Memo Rojas gets passed by the United Autosport entry, one of them. Sara Bovy leads GTE Am in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19. Josh Pierson and Fred Lubin, the "sneaky Silvers" are in the two United Autosports cars. Pierson aboard #23 and Lubin aboard #22.
Jakub Smiechowski, into the second Lesmo chicane, has a little argy bargy there with Doriane Pin. So, Inter Europol engaging in hip and shoulder with one of the Prema cars, in a fight for LMP2 honors. That is a change for sixth place in the LMP2 class. So, Mikkel Jensen and Peugeot lead the 6 Hours of Monza currently, fulfilling their promise they set out with a year ago when they debuted in this very race at Monza with Miguel Molina second for Ferrari, and in third place Mike Conway aboard the #7 Toyota, fourth the #94 Peugeot 9X8 of Nico Muller, and behind him in a battle for fourth, is the first of the Penske Motorsports Porsche 963's, the #5 car of the Dane, Michael Christensen.
We also see the AO Racing GTE Am Porsche of FIA WEC debutant Efrin Castro from the Dominican Republic, the Porsche Carrera Cup North America veteran stepping onto the world stage in a GTE car for the first time, sharing with Guilherme Oliveira from Portugal, and the team lead driver, Italian Matteo Cairoli. Efrin Castro is also in his first race at Monza. The #85 pink Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Sara Bovy is leading GTE Am, nine seconds to the good over the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE in the hands of Argentine driver Luis Perez Companc.
Companc sharing with Italian Alessio Rovera and Lilou Wadoux of France. Christian Ried is next up. Five GTE Am cars opting to not pit under safety car conditions. Ried at the wheel of the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, the German sharing with Dane Mikkel Pedersen, and Frenchman Julien Andlauer. The GTE Am fuel window might open up in about ten minutes as Sarah Bovy is the first female driver to repeat a pole position at the same track in consecutive years. In the meantime, in LMP2, David Heinemeier Hansson has driven a great opening stint and continues reeling in Memo Rojas at the wheel of the Alpine Elf Team Oreca 07 the Mexican driver is sharing with Olli Caldwell of England and Brazilian Andre Negrao.
Josh Pierson, in the meantime, is ahead of United Autosports teammate Frederic Lubin by nine seconds in LMP2. Josh Pierson is an incredibly fast Silver rated driver and he is making hay while the sun shines here at Monza, definitely. Christian Ried is continuing to chase Luis Perez Companc in the #83 Richard Mille Racing AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Behind them is the other AF Corse #21 Ferrari being harried by Ahmad Al Harthy in the #25 Oman Racing Team by TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage. Al Harthy, the Omani driver, sharing with American Michael Dinan, and Irishman Charlie Eastwood.
Mikkel Jensen continues to lead the motor race. We are working the 28th lap of this race and the left hand side tires have run 33 laps while the left-hand side tires have done 27 laps. How does this make sense? The right-hand side tires were obviously scrubbed in, in Free Practice for a handful of laps. Truthfully, they are using part of their qualifying set of tires on the side of the car that does less work around the circuit here at Monza. Fresher tires on the left side. They are part of your whole tire allocation that is split between qualifying and the race.
Quite the gamble to start with one side of the car on qualifying tires because they simply have more time and more laps on them, so they are bedded in but they are also a bit worn. The point is that you are pushing the tires to the limit more in qualifying than you ever would in a racing situation. Mike Conway ahs set the fastest middle sector time of the race thus far as he continues making inroads on Miguel Molina in this scrap between Toyota and Ferrari that we really saw develop towards the end of the Le Mans 24 Hours last month. Conway has uncorked the fastest lap of the race and Nico Muller answers the bell as well.
Muller is only 13 thousandths of a second slower than Conway running right in the slipstream of the Toyota. The dominos are beginning to fall in Hypercar and the first team set out in the lane for routine service is the #5 Porsche Penske squad. The top five cars did not pit yet. Both Peugeot's, Ferrari #50, Toyota #7, Porsche #5, Peugeot #94, and Glickenhaus #708 haven't pitted yet. If this race goes green flag all the way without any yellows, phew! We are going to be in for some serious smoke emanating from the old ears when this one is done and dusted.
Molina and Conway second and hird, battling for position, both running ;low on energy, on fuel. The teams that pitted under safety car conditions, their advantages are hampered because they on lap time. Peugeot #94 off in the grass! Peugeot #94 is indeed back up to speed, but Nico Muller, clearly was trying to find the right gear on the paddle shifter. He goes straight, missing the corner and did not slow down before the bollards. That was weird. We are officially an hour into the race now. Nico Muller says he was briefly stuck in gear even off the brake. I thought so. He could not slow it down to get through the bollard in the chicane.
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