The #35 Alpine is in the pit lane. Andre Lotterer now leads Jean Eric Vergne by 28 seconds. Yikes! That was a tank slapper through turn two for the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3! Holy cow! I think that might have been Timur Boguslavskiy, the Russian driver. Ryo Hirakawa is being chased by Antonio Fuoco for tenth. Toyota vs. Ferrari, #8 vs. #50. This was expected to be a podium battle, but this is for tenth place. More track limits warnings being handed out. Keep the car on the island, sunbeam.
One of the Ferrari's passes by Tom von Rompuy and Claudio Schiavoni, they are in their own battle, Corvette GT3.R vs. Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Sebastien Bourdais drove hard in his stint. Alex Lynn was hit by the #38 and sent them careering into the Peugeot damaging the nose and the tail, both. We have not had a safety car at all yet today. Valentino Rossi passes Yasser Shahin, and Rossi is now up to fourth in class. Ryo Hirakawa and Antonio Fuoco continue battling each other. The landscape is changing, the first of an eight-race season. Qatar is the outlier as far as tracks are concerned compared to those we will see for the bulk of the season in Europe.
Reliability has been great so far save for the troubles we have seen for the Isotta Fraschini. But we also saw the remote gearshift on the #81 Corvette GT3 but that is all, thus far. Modern race cars are a lot like modern road cars, because the metallurgy and the stress levels on the cars are both so well understood. We are 2/3rds of the way through a regular 6-hour WEC race. The gap between the top 18 of 19 Hypercars is 17 seconds. We are 27 laps from half distance which is a whole Hypercar stint, and we have seen four rounds of pit stops. The #95 McLaren is in the pit lane with Josh Caygill driving.
The Isotta Fraschini has not had major issues, but Jean Karl Vernay had to do a reset on the formation lap. The team has made mistakes, but the car has not been in the garage. Julien Andlauer chasing Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andlauer tags Vaxiviere! Yikes! Sarah Bovy is about to get in for another double stint in the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Daniel Mancinelli and Clement Mateu are running together in the Heart of Racing and D'station Aston Martin's. Doriane Pin is knocking out her drive time now for the Iron Dames Lamborghini.
Dries Vanthoor is driving the #15 BMW Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8. pIT STOP TIME FOR THE #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3. Vergne reeling in Estre, but Estre is 23 seconds ahead. Estre? Excuse me. Andre Lotterer is what I meant to say. Lotterer, the German veteran, in the car. Doriane Pin actually raced with Iron Dames in 2022 in a Ferrari at the 6 Hours of Spa. Valentino Rossi has made his first pit stop, fuel only, for the #46 BMW M4 GT3. He is sixth. Doriane Pin now hands over to Sarah Bovy. Tom van Rompuy has been hit with a drive through penalty which makes TF Sport's race for the #81 go pear shaped. Gregoire Saucy is now in the #59 McLaren and Daniel Juncadella pits the #82 sister TF Sport Corvette.
The #99 Proton Competition FAT Turbo Express Porsche 963 is under investigation for a technical infringement as Antonio Fuoco is getting impatient with Ryo Hirakawa. Toyota vs. Ferrari. Fuoco has newer tires, hard compound Michelin tires. Hirakawa's tires are quite old, and he has been on them now for 76 laps. They didright side tires only to avoid graining at some point earlier in the race. Norman Nato will put a lap on Antonio Fuoco and perhaps on Ryo Hirakawa as well. Tom van Rompuy is serving another penalty and so is Josh Caygill for track limits in the #95 United Autosports McLaren. Philippe Sinault at Alpine says that the race has been tough but they are keeping the pace up. They have different strategies for both cars.
Fred Makowiecki is chasing Norman Nato who is getting stymied. The flag monitoring systems in the car is temporarily disabled. Peugeot #94 in 15th overall, pitting, with Loic Duval still driving. Fred Makowiecki monstering Norman Nato and finally, Antonio Fuoco makes his move on Ryo Hirakawa, but the Toyota should have the straightline speed. No. Not this time. The change in livery makes the Toyota look so different from how it used to. Hirakawa made a mistake losing the rear end on corner exit at turn 15.
Into the pit lane comes the Porsche and the #51 Ferrari is in the lane, too. Ryo Hirakawa got stymied by the Ferrari. There's a big chunk of debris on the road. There will definitely be a Full Course Yellow here. Robert Shwartzmann at 1:42.1 has uncorked fastest lap for the #83 Ferrari 499P, but he is two and a half seconds down on what the Porsche's are capable of as the Porsche's are running in the 1:39 range. Full Course Yellow in 35 seconds. 30 seconds to Full Course Yellow. Daniel Mancinelli closing on Alexander Malykhin. Full Course Yellow in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow, now.
The marshals do recover the debris. I have no idea what that was. A piece of sharp metal. It looked like an exhaust shielding tin. The delivery driver did not leave it there. 30 seconds to remove Full Course Yellow. Ian James maybe has completed his drive time. Full Course Yellow removed in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Green flag. Alex Malykhin and Daniel Mancinelli will be battling each other. Malykhin can finish his stint in 15 minutes. So, we aren't far away if Ian James has finished his time, Manthey Pure Racing might not be as dominant as we first thought.
Daniel Mancinelli makes his move on Alexander Malykhin and makes it stick. Ferrari #50 to the pit lane for scheduled service it appears with fuel going into the tank. This looks like a race between Porsche and Peugeot. Toyota are just nowhere near as close as we thought they would be. They are keeping their noses clean but they do not have the car speed. Stay out of the pits, don't hit things. Toyota know how to do that. They don't make silly errors that would elicit drive through penalties. The depth in the Hypercar class is such that a poor finish is as bad as a full-on retirement. Zeros are going to slaughter you as a team.
Nobody will be in triple figures by the time we get to Le Mans even with 107 points on offer at Imola in Italy and at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium later this spring. A good battle for sixth between Clement Mateu in the Aston Martin and Darren Leung in the BMW M4 GT3. Darren Leung is stepping up from the national British GT championship. Daniel Mancinelli uncorks the fastest lap of the motor race in GT3 as Clement Mateu passes Darren Leung. Darren Leung has already done a season in Asian Le Mans Series. We'll talk more about some of the final races in the Asian Le Mans Series, maybe next week.
Damage behind the headlight on the #83 yellow AF Corse Ferrari 499P. The #12 Jota Porsche 963 in for service and a driver change. Norman Nato out and we'll see who is in the car. Nato has a Jamie Davies tribute helmet. I do remember Jamie Davies in Prodrive GT1 Ferrari's and Aston Martin's as well as Veloqx Audi R8 LMP cars. The BMW and Aston Martin battle continues and speaking of BMW, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 is in the lane. Callum Ilott takes over the #12 Jota Porsche 963. We have seen Callum Ilott in GT cars before and he has also been racing IndyCars over the last number of years.
Full service and a driver change at BMW and the #99 FAT Turbo Porsche 963 is in the pit lane as well. Julien Andlauer stays in the #99 and now, the Belgian, Dries Vanthoor, is in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8. Peugeot on their in lap, 1% on fuel, playing Russian Roulette with their fuel mileage. They are right on the bubble. Ian James has now completed his drive time, so it will be up to Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas. Mancinelli is in. Jean Eric Vergne in the lane. Kamui Kobayashi in third and the Porsche stays out on track, the leading #6 of Andre Lotterer while Vista AF Corse have also pitted. The #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R is being pushed back into the garage.
BMW #20 in the lane, and so is the #7 Toyota with Kamui Kobayashi in the pit lane, ten laps shy of the halfway mark in the motor race. Yasser Shahin just has completed his drive time, and we have no idea what the trouble is with the EMA Porsche 911 GT3R. A left side only tire change for the #8 Toyota. Porsche #6 is in the lane for scheduled service as well, look. The sun is beginning to set. The temperature, the ambient temperature, is cooling off. The BMW Hypercars have been changing right side tires only as of late. The right-side tires might have to work longer than the left side tires. Daniel Mancinelli tells us that everything has gone well save for managing traffic.
There are lots of tire marbles offline. Lots of clag out there. Robert Shwartzman is running very well in the #83 Ferrari 499P at AF Corse and now, here is the #31 BMW Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, with the Brazilian Augusto Farfus now getting into the car. The #36 Alpine A424B is in the pit lane as well. Hello to Stephen Kilby from Racer magazine and Daily Sports Car. The Toyota, one of them, has a jammed left rear wheel nut. The nut is jammed on the stub axle. That was an odd one. The Ferrari team cannot believe what they are seeing.
This is the first time we have seen Toyota striving to catch rivals. The #777 D'station Aston Martin pits as well. Ryo Hirakawa is now back on track. Team manager Kazuki Nakajima debriefing with the team. That was a wheel or wheel nut issue, not trouble with the rattle gun. Paul Loup Chatin is catching Kamui Kobayashi. Alpine reeling in Toyota. 19th and last in Hypercar, the #11 Isotta Fraschini of Antonio Seravalle, the Canadian driver. No mistakes, though, from Isotta Fraschini so far. Earl Bamber is now at the wheel of the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V Series R.
There are a few teams that are definitely contender as we are going to be reaching the halfway mark here in a moment. The intensity of competition has gone up incredibly as we see the #11 Isotta Fraschini in trouble. The car is on the dollies. They will need to go back into the garage. Something has broken. The right front wheel is loose. Antonio Serravalle said on the radio "I knew something was wrong!" I think the suspension is broken. This has a front axle hybrid system, the Isotta Fraschini is a full on Le Mans Hypercar. Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine has passed Julien Andlauer back. Alpine A424B vs. Porsche 963 and the subtlety of the heritage livery is amazing on the FAT Turbo Express Porsche. They took tires.
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