The minimum mandated pressure is 1.75 bar, so, 25 PSI. Pit stop time at Ferrari and at Jota Sport Porsche. It is the #50 Ferrari and Jota Porsche have had a great race today for a great team that has been extremely successful. It has not been a walk in the park for them. The car was delivered halfway through the year, just before the 6 Hours of Spa I believe. They led at both Le Mans and at Monza. Nicklas Nielsen is running in sixth place as we see full service for the #7 Toyota and the sister #8 is also in as is the #6 Porsche Penske 963. #8 is in the lane. United Autosport got caught out on one tire that was not up to pressure based on weather conditions and ambient temperatures.
That is a very expensive mistake. A slow stop for the #8 Toyota. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is in the pit lane as well. Toyota #7 has gone through past the Ferrari but now, the overcut on the #50 is going to work. Nielsen has bucketloads more grip with hot tires. That is an undercut not an overcut. Matthias Kaiser stays in as the #10 Vector Sport Oreca is in the lane. We have seen Gabriel Aubry and Ryan Cullen also at the wheel of this car. Matthias Kaiser began racing with his brother in the V de V/Dutch Speed Car series. Driver change at the #41 WRT team. Louis Deletraz handing over to Robert Kubica. After his rallying crash, Kubica's arm is severed and he needs assistance to get into the car.
He is not happy and cannot get the seatbelts done up! Oh no. He's lost a belt as it was not clicked into the fastener. Oh dear. So, that will lose them buckets of time. The gap has squeezed and Daniel Mancinelli is right with Rahel Frey and the medium compound Michelin tires are going to have the performance on the cooling track surface. Mancinelli is going for it. The Alpine LMP2 car has less minimum speed even than a GTE car in their final race. A brake lockup for the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. Antonio Felix Da Costa is pushing hard. He is chipping away to the #7 Toyota. Christian Ried has been in WEC since it started.
With the end of GTE he decided to stop. He is thrilled to have been a part of it even with a tough stint and the track conditions were a bear to get a hold of. Christian Ried says his wife was asking for a holiday and he will still be at the track even in not driving. He will have LMP2 cars. The #60 car still has Alessio Picariello at the wheel of it. Two hours and 45 minutes to go. The two Iron Lynx and Iron Dames Porsche's are provided by Proton Competition. Northwest AMR is being chased down. Picariello will try passing the Aston Martin and he has to open the gap to the pink car ahead.
We have the same amount of time as a sprint race for the IMSA WeatherTech Championship to go yet. 2 hours and 40 minutes. Prema now running 1-2 in LMP2. The battle is on in GTE Am between Daniel Mancinelli and Rahel Frey. Brendon Hartley says the #8 team had an advantage in hot weather but as it is cooling, the Jota Porsche is flying and Toyota will have to use their medium compound Michelin qualifying tires or the set they bolted on before qualifying. Ryo Hirakawa in Toyota #8 is not sure what is going on, and he is not happy with the #86 GR Racing Porsche and a drive through penalty for the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963 for indulging in some rallycross.
Their podium chances go right out the window, then. We will have just five Hypercars on the lead lap. The later it gets, the lower track temperature, the less of a hardship it will be on the medium tires but the challenge will remain. Gianmaria Bruni locks the brakes trying hard to stay ahead of Fred Makowiecki in the #5 factory Porsche 963, the first of the Penske cars and Paul di Resta will be lapped in the #93 Peugeot 9X8. They will be looking forward to a new car coming online next year in 2024. All the Hypercars are homologated, or at least the LMDh cars are, but the Porsche's have homologated brake components and brake blanking.
You will not be using brake blanking in the desert. We saw one of the factory cars with the brakes on fire and have seen a lot of carbon brake dust as well with two and a half hours to go. A big lockup and a couple of years ago the factory Aston Martin's had to do a brake change in this race years ago right before the end which lost them the championship. The knackered tires are cusing trouble as Bent Viscaal got tagged from behind by the second GTE-Am car and Bent Viscaal spins the #9 Prema entry. Did Viscaal brake too hard or did the GTE car brake too hard?
Jota #38 serving their drive through penalty as both Ferrari 499P's go by along with the #6 Penske Porsche 963. The Penske, Proton, Penske battle continues. We are seeing Toyota, Toyota, Ferrari, Ferrari, Porsche, Porsche, Porsche, Porsche. The Cadillac and the Peugeot's are down the order in Hypercar and so is obviously, the Vanwall. Bruni does not have enough brakes and so we know Fred Makowiecki is going to get to him and pass him.
Two and a half hours remaining. A good battle in LMP2 as the #63 Prema entry is leading with Mirko Bortolotti ahead of WRT and Ferdinand Habsburg. Full Course Yellow coming for debris at turn one. It looks like a metallic part. The cars with older tires can catch a break and now, Mirko Bortolotti has run over that bit of debris. Full Course Yellow. Run at 80 kilometers per hour while the debris is being cleaned up. There is some housekeeping. No safety car called yet. Maybe this should have been a safety car or maybe not.
It looks frantic when the marshals run on track to retrieve the debris. It is all about line of sight. Can you see enough at slower speeds? Full Course Yellow will be removed in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow removed. Thank you. Habsburg still chasing Bortolotti. A driver change at Prema. Mirko Bortolotti out and I don't know who will be going into the car. So, Ferdinand Habsburg goes back to the lead in LMP2. Oliver Rasmussen now third behind Bent Viscaal. Currently, we have Nicklas Nielsen ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi, and Antonio Felix Da Costa in the battle for third place behind the two leading Toyota's.
Da Costa slams the door in Giovinazzi's face as Antonio Giovinazzi was having none of the games. Porsche have decided Da Costa will be a full-time Formula E driver for Porsche AG next year. Norman Nato is slated to drive for Jota in the Porsche 963 at the rookie test tomorrow. We shall very likely talk about the rookie test. I have not decided how to handle that yet. Two hours and 23 minutes remaining on the board. The #60 Iron Lynx GTE Am leader has not yet had a Bronze driver in it. If Claudio Schiavoni does not take over, they will be disqualified.
Iron Lynx are a lap up on their sister car, quite literally, the Iron Dames Porsche. Bent Viscaal at Prema says that after his spin, it was not what he expected and he could not manage the tires at the end of the double stint he took. They are just going to have to push either for a podium or a win. Game over. Alessio Picariello parks the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche. Claudio Schiavoni is still ill and so, the car has been retired. A lockup from Antonio Felix Da Costa chasing the #51 Ferrari 499P and where is the sister #50 of Nicklas Nielsen? Third in Hypercar and in the overall. No words can describe the disappointment, the heartbreak for Iron Lynx.
They tried to change their strategy but they have to retire. It has been a wonderful season and they'll be back at Iron Lynx next year. This is the only race retirement. Not for accident damage or mechanical troubles. So long Porsche 911 RSR-19. We love you. These GTE cars are prototypes that look like GT cars. The GT3 cars will feel different to the drivers but will be just as exciting. With two hours and 18 minutes to go, Iron Dames are the new leaders, the sister car, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting, and Sarah Bovy. This is the last time we will see the Porsche 911 RSR-19, the Aston Martin Vantage GTE, the Ferrari 488 GTE, and the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.
They have been in service since 2011. There will likely be a penalty for the #98 AMR Aston Martin. The race long battle continues between the #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R and the #77 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Two hours and 15 minutes to go as the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 is pitting for service and for a driver change it looks like. But actually, they are having issues on the car. The car needs to go to the garage. They have another seatbelt issue. Neel Jani will keep going. Recall they had seatbelt trouble at Fuji in Japan, last time out.
Da Costa with a head of steam is chasing Nicjklas Nielsen. The #7 Toyota has come back to second spot but they are 47 seconds in-arrears of the sister car, the #8. Yifei Ye looking on watching his teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa. Da Costa continues chasing Nielsen. Antonio Giovinazzi is closing in behind as well. Nicklas Nielsen doing all in his power to defend from the Porsche. Nielsen will not be sold the dummy again. Pit stop time for Andre Negrao, the Brazilian, in the #35 Alpine. Not a happy year for Alpine in LMP2 before their new A424 Beta Hypercar rolls out next year. Toyota remain 1-2. Ho hum.
Nielsen and Da Costa are still wrestling and wrangling with each other. Never play cards with a racing driver, ever. Homing in on two hours to go. Closing in on a regular race distance with 6 hours on the board. We will have a ten-hour race in Qatar at first. Imola, Interlagos, and COTA, are some of the new and/or returning venues. Antonio Felix Da Costa is clearly fired up and wants it. Gianmaria Bruni tells us that the brakes were OK at first and being short on tires they changed to another hard compound Michelin set. 20 laps to go on the second stint, the heel rest on the floor board broke. Something fiddly, a random part falling off the cockpit or whatever.
Nielsen not defending as much as he could and here comes Da Costa, poking his nose in. No dice this time. Da Costa wearing Nielsen down. Will Stevens suited and booted getting ready to go for it. Jota needs to try and undercut Ferrari on the next pit stop sequence. The #63 Prema LMP2 car, the #5 Penske Porsche as well. under investigation for infringements on Full Course Yellow. The stewards also say that the United Autosport car had trouble with all four tires and not just one. Giovinazzi is closing the gap as Da Costa is giving Nicklas Nielsen a real hard time. Nielsen so far is unflappable.
He is trying the switcheroo. Nielsen has to slow right up and does. Well defended. Giovinazzi is there. Nicklas Nielsen has four consecutive titles in GTE cars. Da Costa shows his hand but gets stymied. They have antoher LMP2 car and now, Da Costa could be a sitting duck. Let the LMP2 car take the corner and try the launch. Da Costa safe from Giovinazzi's challenge currently. This is scintillating! The #98 Heart of Racing Aston Martin is in the pit lane. Da Costa now trying to harry Nielsen for the final podium place.
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