Will Stevens is ready to get into the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. #50 is in the pit lane. No traffic ahead. Driver change, to Antonio Fuoco. Four tires onto the car, fresh Michelin tires. Jose Maria Lopez in the lane as well, look. Toyota #7 now in as well. Ah. Fresh Michelin tires for Ferrari and I think Jota might use their qualifying tires. Antonio Felix Da Costa pushing for all he's worth on the in lap goes off the road. Da Costa out, and into the car, it is Will Stevens. We have the #51 Ferrari 499P in the lane and I believe both of the Toyota's. #38 out of the lane and #51 makes the move. Well, well, well. Both leading GTE Am cars in the lane and the #50 Ferrari is on hot tires and Pier Guidi nearly loses it! Sheesh!
#50 has a real hot rod on warm tires and poor old Will Stevens has nothing left and they touch, the two Ferrari's! They retain places. They are still side by side! What is this? Antonello Coletta will be fuming! That was too much argy bargy! Ugh! He was off track and committed in advance, over comitted, and he's back through again. Does this keep going? No. Pier Guidi has to back away from Fuoco. This shemozzle is under investigation by the stewards. Will Stevens has to be upset that on cold tires he cannot respond to this little fracas between the red cars. This is a bad move and a bad look for Ferrari.
That was not exactly "give up the place." That was also very dangerous driving with the #77 Dempsey Proton GTE Am car in the way. The #63 Prema car, no further action for Daniil Kvyat. The #4 Vanwall came into the lane from nine laps down and has plummeted. The Vanwall in real big trouble. Hmmm. I wonder about tonight's debrief at Scuderia Ferrari will turn out. You get espresso but no biscotti for you tonight, sunbeam. Sebastien Buemi uncorks his quickest lap ahead of Mike Conway in the sister car. So, Toyota are whistling while they work as Ferrari has a mud wrestling match.
Alessandro Pier Guidi is scrapping with teammate Antonio Fuoco and making the team aware, is told by Justin Taylor, "I can see that, man. He has no manners." That was the best team comms ever! Holy moly! That's the Captain Obvious Award. Will Steves reeling in the red cars, but he has an ice cream headache dealing with the factory Penske #6 Porsche behind him. Oy yoy yoy! It is Kevin Estre in Porsche #6, and you know that the Ferrari wrestling match might be manna from heaven for the Porsche boys. Alessandro Pier Guidi being closed in on by Will Stevens. Stevens is finding a way to fight. Time for another "yeah, baby!" on the radio!
Kevin Estre is the last car in the picture. Neel Jani and the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 are a minute down, Gianmaria Bruni at the wheel of it, I think. Alessandro Pier Guidi's tires are going to be shriveled to the cords. He has to be driving angry. Play the long game, and don't get carried away. Vanwall #4 in the garage being worked on with Ryan Briscoe at the controls. They just want to get the car to the bitter end of the motor race. Toyota #8 has completed 194 laps, 652 miles. Alessandro Pier Guidi claiming he is faster than Antonio Fuoco. Ferrari playing the poker table.
Kevin Estre back of the queue is also a danger man, within shooting distance of poor old Will Stevens who is the man stuck in the middle. Clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you. 100 minutes still on the board. Stevens squeezes past the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Ricardo Pera. Antonio Felix Da Costa looking as deflated as a party balloon on Monday morning. Trouble in paradise for D'station Aston Martin, a pit stop is under investigation. Habsburg and Kubica are 1-2 in LMP2 for WRT. There is some loose tape or bodywork on one of the cars.
Kevin Estte still trying to close the gap. The battle rages between Antonio Fuoco and Alessandro Pier Guidi and now, Will Stevens is going to be monstered by Kevin Estre in a wee while. An hour and 36 minutes remaining in the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Porsche lead GTE Am over a trio of Aston Martin's followed by the Corvette. Hertz Team Jota and Porsche Penske looking a bit po faced. Porsche Penske rolled the dice and it didn't come up sixes. Estre tries a lunge and can't do it. The #8 Toyota in the race lead is in the background, look.
Sebastien Buemi will have to scythe his way through traffic as Loic Duval gets steamrolled by the #36 Alpine LMP2 car and the #51 Ferrari. Porsche 963 #5 of Michael Christensen is being told to repair his left rear taillight. Kick it, tap it with a hammer, or replace the whole tail. Toyota have the manufacturer's championship in their back pocket. Peugeot are hopeful of finding a small extra bit of performance. The Porsche boys are hungry. Maybe that is why they were po faced. They are tired too after a shedload of trophy lifting at Porsche as a whole. Vanwall back in the pits and into the garage. An hour and a half to go now. The gaps are static in GTE Am.
D'station has the sword of Damocles hanging over them. The LMP2 era and GTE era are almost at an end. Again, an hour and a half to go. Peugeot had speed but no reliability last year. Today they have not had speed. Glickenhaus too, they were nowhere in development compared to the factory Hypercars like the Porsche's, Toyota's, Ferrari's, Peugeot's, and Cadillac's. Ryan Briscoe is back at it in the #4 Vanwall. In replay, a battle for last in Hyperer, no, wait. The #2 Cadillac unlaps itself from the Peugeot 9X8.
The #28 Jota Sport LMP2 car pits. An hour and 25 minutes to go in the 2023 season. Michelle Gatting leads GTE Am as the #10 Vector Sport entry hits the pit lane for service. Ryan Cullen out and we are backtiming the race to the end of it and the end of the 2023 season. Isotta Fraschini on the nose and tail of the LMP2 car which will have an Isotta Fraschini Hypercar coming next year. They built trucks until the 1950s as well as their lovely road cars back in the 1930s. The #5 Porsche 963 is in the pit lane and the #31 WRT car is pitting for a driver change. Out, Ferdinand Habsburg, and in, Robin Frijns Robert Kubica out and Louis Deletraz back into the sister car.
#41 now pitting as well. 80 minutes left in the 2023 FIA WEC season and in the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain. Can Ferrari or Porsche snag the final step on the podium? Toyota, Prema, and Iron Lynx are the class leaders. Fuel mileage will likely determine the LMP2 outcome. We have had a couple Full Course Yellows but no safety car scrambles. The #4 Vanwall is back in the garage. They have had a horrid, forgettable race today. Meanwhile, Will Stevens is pulling away from Kevin Estre. The Frenchman has knackered his tires.
Toyota #8 is about to lap this group of cars. That is how far he is ahead of a good chunk of the Hypercar field. But the battle for the lower placings is starting to come back to the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. Jota Sport Porsche are going to be giving the #51 Ferrari 499P fits. That is for sure. Now, Will Stevens has to get stuck into the Ferrari. There will be blue flags and Stevens will not roll over and play dead. An hour and a quarter to go. The Ferrari will get stymied by the #22 United Autosports car. Stevens reeling in Pier Guidi.
Pier Guidi may be on fuels save. The Toyota flashing the lights to the #6 Porsche going for the win and the title. Here comes Stevens late on the brakes, and he makes the pass! Holy cow! He used the tow and made it to fourth place! Wow! Alessandro Pier Guidi has Kevin Estre right on his six. The Toyota getting in front of the Ferrari might just work. There's trouble in the power unit for the Ferrari. He has lost the advantage in straightline performance, the car of Alessandro Pier Guidi. Estre needs to push because the Toyota is right there.
Justin Taylor tells Pier Guidi to turn up the traction control. Spinning the tires off turn ten. Kevin Estre is under pressure from the race leading #8 Toyota. The second place GTE Am car, reprimanded for the #777 Aston Martin but no penalty called. Estre embroiled in the fight with Pier Guidi. Respect the blue flags. Toyota #8 has run 211 laps, 709 and a half miles. #777 stopped outside of the pit box slightly. That is small potatoes. Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota and now, Estre wants to reel in the Toyota, and we'll see as Will Stevens is closing hand over fist on Antonio Fuoco. Fuoco barely quicker than Pier Guidi. Sebastien Buemi is mad. He is mad at the lappe traffic.
Seb, they are battling for a top four spot. Shush, please. Kevin Estre moves up. Fuoco in third but going slower than both Stevens and Estre in the Hertz Team Jota and Porsche Penske Porsche 963's respectively. No love lost between Estre and Pier Guidi. This is payback for their scrapping in GTE Pro through the years. Buemi's speed and aggression is great. He is cruising and he complains still that there is no respect. Sebastien, just drive your own race, please.
Buemi is a perfectionist. Michelle Gatting leading in GTE Am for Iron Dames. The Hypercars are all very much the same in straight line speed due to Balance of Performance. Buemi though has a valid point that slow cars should get out of the way. But alas, they were quicker than he was. Antonio Fuoco is now chasing Mike Conway for second place. 64 minutes to go. The gap between Sebastien Buemi and Mike Conway is nearly 47 seconds. Robin Frijns leads Louis Deletraz in LMP2 and the #41 could be on the way to a championship.
Deletraz will copy and paste what Jota do trying to cover them off for the championship. Michelle Gatting, in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche in the very last race in GTE racing hstory as we say thanks for this wonderful era of GTE racing. The #54 Ferrari 488 GTE pits as well. These GTE cars will be missed. We are going to see tons of cars in the GT3 category coming up next year which is extremely close globally. They won't be as demanding but the race will be great. Final tire? Oh boy. Multiple major GT3 brands will be turned away from the series because there is just no room. One hour to go.
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