Kamui Kobayashi pits from second spot. We will see the new Peugeot Hypercar very soon. Porsche 963 #6 in the pit lane, and the left front brake disc is on fire. The left front brake is on fire. That will help warm up the front tires. No tire warmers? Hold my beer. Will Ferrari overcut Jota? James Calado in the lane in the #51 car. Fuel in the tank, a clean windscreen, and left side tires only. Alex Lynn brings the #2 Cadillac in for service and the #93 Peugeot also in the lane. Simon Mann under investigation, again, for abusing track limits as the sun is setting and it will be pitch dark soon. But the floodlights will help. The #50 Ferrari is beginning to come back to the #38 Jota Sport Porsche as now the #8 Toyota is in the lane as well. The conditions will cool off and get better. Thomas Flohr must finish his stint now, as the temperatures cool off. A wise decision.
I think this is indeed his third stint and was replaced by Francesco Castellaci. Alessio Picariello in the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche. Claudio Schiavoni has not gotten into the car yet. Is he fit enough? Is he feeling OK? Confirmed, a stop and go penalty for the #21 Ferrari as Michelle Gatting in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche takes the GTE Am lead. Alessio Picariello a minute or thereabouts to the good on new tires. Antonio Fuoco scything his way through traffic. Toyota #7 aheadf of the #51 Ferrari on the pit exchange but the #38 Jota Porsche is still lurking. #50 under investigation for not respecting Full Course Yellow procedure.
WRT leading LMP2 with fresher tires, Sean Gelael, than Josh Pierson. Pierson though, has a head of steam and is going for it and there is an offset between himself and his teammate in the #22 United Autosport entry of Filipe Albuquerque, the Portuguese driver. These are both Silver rated drivers. WRT are back next year in LM GT3 with the BMW M4 GT3 and the BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercars. United Autosport will be racing two LMGT3 McLaren 720S GT3's. We have not seen a McLaren at Le Mans since the late 1990s and of course, United Autosport team boss Zak Brown is also the team boss of the McLaren Formula 1 team, and we could see McLaren in Hypercar in the very near future.
The energy meter is combining both electrical battery energy and fuel energy. Sarah Bovy steps into the leading #85 Iron Dames Porsche. Michelle Gatting has done a single stint and she will do another full fuel stint and may have run short previously. Ben Barker is in for the #86 GR Racing Porsche team as well. The lead battle in LMP2 is between Josh Pierson and Sean Gelael again. A good battle in GTE Am currently with D'station being passed by Corvette. Casper Stevenson vs. Nico Varrone. We saw this in the GT1 days and in GTE with Corvette vs. Aston Martin in the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans.
Ahmad Al Harthy, I think has completed his drive time. ORT by TF Sport are in good shape. Nico Varrone chops right across the bow of Stevenson and poor old Stevenson got squeezed out of the way. The Gelael and Pierson scrap in LMP2 continues in earnest as well. Christian Ried has finished his stint. Claudio Schiavoni has to get into the car if he feels well enough and a safety car would be a real bear. A Full Course Yellow. Doriane Pin is being harried now by Rui Andrade, the Angolan, in the championship leading #41 WRT entry. A gorgeous night sky above the desert here in the kingdom of Bahrain.
Rui Andrade, the first world championship LMP2 driver from Angola. Doriane Pin is one of five lady drivers we have seen in FIA WEC. Pit stop time now for the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19. Christian Ried might need more drive time but it is hard to say yet. He might have a bit more time on the board before he finishes his career. A very successful one. Lamborghini, the future of Iron Lynx and Prema with the new Lamborghini SC63 Hypercar. It is a 3.8 liter twuin turbo V8 motor. Varrone now within a second of the top six.
The #99 Proton Competition Porsche of Harry Tincknell takes the #5 Penske factory Porsche 963 of Dane Cameron completely by surprise as now, Doriane Pin has a run on Rui Andrade. She might just pull this off and does just before turn six! Two Silver drivers going for it. Yifei Ye continues to reel in James Calado. This is a fascinating cat and mouse game. Antonio Fuoco is told his pace is good and they have an extra lap. A faux pas in the fuel strategy. Drivers can also decide to save a bit of fuel during their stints.
It is simply called lifting and coasting. You can never add too much fuel into the car. Ferrari #50 has gone into fuel save mode. Pit stop time for one of the Prema cars in LMP2. Mirko Bortolotti takes over from Doriane Pin. Four and a half hours to go. The gap is 30 some odd seconds at the front between the two leading Toyota's. Valentino Rossi is ready to test an LMP2 car tomorrow. Rossi won in GT3 at Road to Le Mans. Ye seems to be catching Calado. A battle for sixth in LMP2 between Ryan Cullen, Bent Viscaal, and Fred Lubin. Ryan Cullen loses a place to Viscaal but Viscaal fights back. Cullen's tires are older than those of his rivals.
Pietro Fittipaldi brings in the #28 Jota Sport LMP2 car for service. Fred Lubin, meanwhile, thinks of a pass, but decides discretion is the better part of valor. Porsche 963 #99 has gone past Bent Viscaal and the Porsche was too slow. What is the deal? Ooh! A trip through the gravel for one of the Penske Porsche's and Esteban Masson could not get out of the way! Ahmad Al Harthy has finished his stint and they are set to press the fast forward button with Michael Dinan and with Charlie Eastwood. Memo Rojas has finished his stint in the #35 Alpine Oreca 07 in LMP2. It was Ollie Caldwell, excuse me. Some of the Bronze drivers are nearly finished with their stints.
Pit stop time too for the #22 United Autosport entry. Freddie Lubin out and Filipe Albuquerque in. Albuquerque in for his second stint and I think they were doing single stints. Julien Canal too, is replaced by Charles Milesi. Single stinting in the desert heat makes perfect sense to keep drivers fresh. Antonio Fuoco has dropped away from the battle between the #51 sister Ferrari 499P and the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. Yifei Ye has closed the gap but is still chasing the Ferrari valiantly. The #31 LMP2 leading WRT car pits and now, Sean Gelael has finished his stint and in goes Robin Frijns.
Ditto for the team car #41. Louis Deletraz takes over from Robert Kubica, I think. WRT want to leave the LMP2 ranks with everything they can take out of it. Toyota run 1-2. Ho hum. Third is James Calado in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P and Yifei Ye next in the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. We have not had a driver from Antarctica. Someone hire a penguin to drive! Hardy har har. Tristan Vautier in the #4 Vanwall, he is six laps down, and has to get out of the way of the Ferrari and Porsche battle. Calado fnally can pass. Now Yifei Ye will have to take up the challenge.
The Ferrari's handling is going away. The Vanwall is too slow. Let's play fair. Of course it is the only non-hybrid powered Hypercar left. Mirko Bortolotti, longtime factory GT3 driver for Lamborghini now in his last LMP2 race and could very well race the new Lamborghini SC63 Hypercar next year. Four and a quarter hours left in the season and so we are closer and closer to the halfway mark. We will have to see who stays and who goes for next year. No Inter Europol Competition next year. Will McLaren come in with United Autosport? Northwest AMR will disappear but there will be Heart of Racing and Corvette Racing is gone, giving way to the TF Sport customer cars for next year.
At Ferrari, no further investigation into the potential Full Course Yellow infringement for the #50 car as Dane Cameron is in the lane for service aboard the #5 Penske Porsche 963. The Ferrari's are the bread and the Jota Porsche is the jam in the sandwich. James Calado is babying his tires, still. He is doing what he needs to for a long run as we see a battle in LMP2 between Pietro Fittipaldi and Mirko Bortlotti. No DRS on an LMP2 car. These LMP2 cars are touch and go and they are underpowered and will get power back for ELMS for next year, the European Le Mans Series.
James Calado, Yifei Ye, and Antonio Fuoco, with Kevin Estre fourth in the #6 Penske Porsche. Yifei Ye is being told if he passes he can use more energy but if not, save the energy. Jota has less energy than the Ferrari does. Again it is combining fuel load and electrical energy. Calado is extending his own fuel window compared to the Jota Sport Porsche. There will be an investigation into the Brendon Hartley and Mike Wainwright incident that happened but we did not see it. Alex Riberas from Spain, now at the wheel of the #98 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE.
Brendon Hartley tells his team that the #86 Porsche did push him and had contact. He says he was hit from behind because of being caught out under braking. Hartley overtook on the racing line and then perhaps had contact. The Hypercars are not as quick in the slower speed corners. 39 and a half seconds is still the gap between the two Toyota's. Cadillac #2 continues chasing Fred Makowiecki. Since their first turn penalty and the drive through penalty, the #2 Ganassi Racing Cadillac has done nothing but go backwards. Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, and Richard Westbrook, have been in a spot of bother for a wee while.
In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi is chasing Mirko Bortolotti. Bortolotti has a head of steam. Fittipaldi does not defend and has to let Bortolotti through. This is great racing though and for sure, Fittipaldi reads the situation and he is going to go for it. Bortolotti great under braking as well. A decisive move though using the traffic for Bortolotti. The next target is Robin Frijns and the leading car is the #23 United Autosport entry of Oliver Jarvis. Frijns is chasing Bent Viscaal as well. Ferrari #50 is in the pit lane. They need enough energy. Nicklas Nielsen replacing Antonio Fuoco at the controls.
Tires also being changed. The rattle gun did not go straight enough onto the lug nut. It was a slower stop.
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