The first round of pit stops begin. At Cadillac, there will be a timed energy fill and then fuel and tires. The tires can be in the lane and there is no loss. They are doing a full set of tires. No. Left side tires only. New hard tires on the left side. We have a race on our hands! Okie dokie then! Proton Competition have put left side tires only on their Porsche 963 and the same is true for the #5 Penske factory Porsche. On a clockwise circuit, the left side tires do most of the work as the sister Ferrari is in the lane, and so is the #2 Cadillac. Fuel and tires. The LMDh cars, the Cadillac and the Porsche's, do the energy charging. 39 laps now completed. 110 and a half miles. Buemi in Toyota #8 will pit in a couple more laps and the two Ferrari's scrapping hard. Calado trying to pass Molina, battling for third, fourth place effectively.
It is all about the battle between the teammates. The #38 Jota Porsche in the lane. At Ferrari, the two cars will score the same points, but the #51 car is the only one in contention for the driver's championship as now, Mike Conway is being harried by Alex Lynn. Toyota vs. Cadillac. Buemi is in a world of pain on cold tires and is the cork in the bottle. Laurens Vanthoor now cycles back to the lead, 17 seconds to the good over Mike Conway. The LMDh cars are stopping six, seven, eight seconds shorter than the Le Mans Hypercars. Two different types of prototypes in this motor race of course.
Buemi tries Da Costa and Da Costa is not buying it. Buemi isn't going to sell the dummy that time. Buemi thinks Da Costa moved too late but Buemi brakes too late. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Humina, humina, humina. Three-minute stop and go penalty for the #5 Penske Porsche 963! Oh dear! Buemi has the preferred line on Da Costa who has to hold station. This is unfair for the #5 Porsche boys. They only needed to pit for that punctured tire. James Calado, as he is tall, and might be having some trouble. Ben Keating gets the door slammed in his face by a couple of Ferrari's with Francesco Castellaci and one other.
Ben Keating now leads Ian James who is in the pit lane as the #5 Porsche is taking a three-minute stop and hold penalty. Porsche, Toyota, Toyota, Porsche, Cadillac, the top five. Troubles for Miguel Molina, outbraking himself into turn one and allowing James Calado to pass. No further action RE: the contact between Molina and Buemi. Laurens Vanthoor leading the motor race. The #51 Ferrari 499P are the only one of the two Ferrari's that can beat the Toyota team to the drivers' championship with one race left after today's event at Fuji is done and dusted. Trouble for Molina as he is passed by Harry Tincknell and the drag race is on down the straightaway!
Look at this! Look at this! Tincknell stays on the outside. Molina gives way. Very respectful racing. Hard, but clean, and poor old Tincknell goes off the road and now, Calado is going to pass while the Alpine LMP2 car was the cork in the bottle, Julien Canal at the controls, the Frenchman, not wanting to be overtaken. Alpine will have their new Hypercar, next year. This is Harry Tincknell's first race really after it went kaput and failed at Monza. Tincknell has indeed been racing in IMSA though, in this car, and was in the most recent prototype IMSA race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Trouble in paradise again for the #5 Porsche 963 for another pit stop infringement, 21st in the overall, having flown Plummet Airways for the first time and is now Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. Shoot self in foot, reload the bullets in the pistol, and repeat. Penske are rumbling, fumbling, and stumbling, and I have to say, Kobayashi's qualifying lap was a stormer and the best of the Porsche's were only two tenths slower than the sister #8 Toyota with Brendon Hartley at the wheel of it. Satoshi Hoshino now leading GTE Am over Iron Dames and AF Corse as well as Corvette Racing. Hoshino, Bovy, Castellaci, Keating.
46 laps completed for Hoshino. 130 miles. Castellaci third and Keating in fourth place. Antonio Felix Da Costa being chased by James Calado as Miguel Molina has sunk to eighth spot. Antonio Felix Da Costa gets boxed in behind the LMP2 car and now, Harry Tincknell in the battle for sixth place has Alex Lynn all over him like a rash. Tincknell steaming along two seconds behind Da Costa. We are almost an hour and a half into this race. A heavier driver has half a percent weight distribution further forward in one of these sports cars. You want a further forward weight distribution if the tires get knackered. Drive through penalty for the hip and shoulder between Da Costa and Heinemeier Hanson and he takes his medicine, reshuffling the order.
Antonio Felix Da Costa has had a ragged start to this race. This is out of character for him. I am surprised and agree with Graham Goodwin's assessments. Filipe Albuquerque leads LMP2. Miguel Molina flying past Alex Lynn. Taking candy from a baby. Pit stop time for the #63 of Doriane Pin. A driver change, at WRT. Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver, out, and Robert Kubica into the car. Josh Pierson, Sean Gelael, and others, are in the lane. Robin Frijns takes over the #31 WRT Oreca. Stoffel Vandoorne looking on, the third driver of the #94 Peugeot 9X8.
Race Control investigating a couple of pit stops. Laurens Vanthoor still leading through traffic over Mike Conway. Porsche vs. Toyota. Vector Sport leading LMP2 by 9.1 seconds over Alpine Elf Team. 54 laps, 153 miles. Inter Europol #34 in the pit lane, Albert Costa at the controls of the LMP2 winning car at Le Mans. The Cadillac did left side tires only and so they are struggling on tires and now, he is trying to hang onto seventh place and here comes Loic Duval in the Peugeot making a clean pass! He is a free man through sector three.
Cadillac Racing, I don't know if they changed tires or not. Vanthoor leads Conway by 14 seconds. 58 laps completed by the leader, 164 miles. James Calado struggling with heat, too hot in the car. I think the Ferrari and the Peugeot both have air conditioning while the Toyota does not. I don't believe the Cadillac, or the Porsche do either. Filipe Albuquerque hopes there are no safety cars because the strategy for United Autosport would be ruined otherwise. Fred Lubin is now leading over Pietro Fittipaldi in LMP2. United Autosports #22 vs. Jota Sport #28. Gabriel Aubry racing with Ollie Caldwell down the order in LMP2 as well.
Cadillac Racing did not take tires on their first pit stop. Sarah Bovy chasing Francesco Castellacci. A change for second place as Castellaci passes Bovy and now, Ben Keating continues chasing Bovy down. Harry Tincknell is closing up on James Calado for fourth, hand over fist. Vanwall are now a lap down in 11th place. Ryan Cullen now in the #10 Vector Sport Oreca. Gabriel Aubry is actually now at the wheel. Vector Sport hope to bring the Isotta Fraschini Hypercar into the series next year. Doriane Pin and Bent Viscaal scrapping for sixht place in LMP2 in the two Prema Oreca's. Doriane Pin is part of the Iron Dames program. She has come of age as an LMP2 driver.
Formula deja vu as we see the switcheroo between Ben Keating and Sarah Bovy. Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg will still drive the Corvette C8.R after Ben Keating's stint. Nico Varrone is next into the car for the second stint, suited and booted. A tight squeeze there between Ricardo Pera and Alessio Rovera who passes. AF Corse Ferrari vs. GR Racing Porsche. Iron Dames double stinted their tires. Harry Tincknell continuing to apply the blowtorch to James Calado. 65 laps now completed by the leading Penske Porsche, 184 miles.
Miguel Molina now running 13 seconds down on James Calado. My goodness. Tire strategy woes at Ferrari or so it seems. The barbarians are at the gates with the new Hypercar class with all the new cars coming, the BMW, the Lamborghini, and the existing cars. There can be too much driver talent and not enough seats to fill and now, it is balancing out. This is true on both sides of the pond with IMSA and with WEC. The convergence and parity with the IMSA rules and the ACO rules seem to be working well. For the moment, some of these cars are exclusive to the WEC and there are others that fit the mold of both WEC and IMSA.
Back in the Group C days in the '80s, the top teams mostly had Porsche's. The 956 and 962 of course. Mikkel Jensen being harried by Antonio Felix Da Costa. The gap is now 12 seconds between Mike Conway and Sebastien Buemi. Ben Keating will be back in LMP2 in a full-time IMSA role with United Autosport next year. United Autosport going to IMSA in LMP2 with LMP2 going away from the WEC next year. Iron Dames Porsche #85 in pit lane and Michelle Gatting is taking over from Sarah Bovy. Porsche #6 puts a lap on the #38 Jota Porsche. Wow.
This is an incredible stint for Laurens Vanthoor and the factory Porsche team. Porsche Penske have won in IMSA and have looked outclassed in WEC, but they are hitting the sweet spot in the World Championship. The Cadillac #2 will be in as well, as Richard Westbrook will take over and start his first stint in Japan. Pit stop time at Porsche Penske and Kevin Estre is now at the controls. Kevin Estre is now the race leader to continue the job Laurens Vanthoor was doing.
The #38 Jota Sport Porsche is in the pit lane for fuel, tires and a driver change. We have seen the Porsche's really competitive between Penske, Jota Sport, and Proton Competition. 73 laps now completed by the leading Toyota. 207 miles. Richard Westbrook now into the #2 Cadillac in his first ever race in Japan. I believe Neel Jani will be the next driver into the #99 Porsche 963 as Miguel Molina is in the pit lane in the #50 Ferrari handing over to the Dane, Nicklas Nielsen.
Nobody has expected the Porsche's to have this turn of speed during the race. Francesco Castellaci stops from second in GTE Am. Ben Keating in second place, seven seconds down on Satoshi Hoshino. But the #777 and #54 have used up full stints of their time they need and Ben Keating and Sarah Bovy have both done their minimums.
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