Seven hours and ten minutes into the race and the Porsche #6 seems to be living a charmed life currently. In fourth place, the best Ferrari in the race is the #83 Ferrari 499P of Robert Kubica. Lamborghini Iron Lynx making their global debut with the SC63 Hypercar in it's race debut. Edoardo Mortara is getting back into the car. James Calado soon to take over the #51 Ferrari. They still don't know why they lost the rear end and don't understand how it could have been James' fault. The stewards are looking at Alex Riberas' incident from earlier. Daniel Mancinelli chasing Joel Sturm in LMGT3 with Valentino Rossi behind. Three different brands in the top three. Porsche, Aston Martin, and BMW. Rossi being chased by double WEC champion Marco Sorensen.
Look at the smoke billowing off the left front brake on the Ferrari 499P #51! Yikes! Those brakes get unbelievably hot! The more delayed of the two Peugeot's is delayed in the pit lane. We have had two retirements, one each in Hypercar from Isotta Fraschini and in GT3 from TF Sport Corvette. A smoking brake lockup from the #94 Peugeot 9X8. Rossi is holding his nerve checking to see where Marco Sorensen is. The #36 Alpine A424B of Mick Schumacher was just off in the gravel trap, shedding gravel fro out of the back and thank heavens he kept it out of the barriers as well! He was very safe with the rejoin, thankfully. He tried sending it to the inside, but was alongside a GT car and then e had to come around get out of the gravel trap after locking up.
The Alpine is a brand-new car to every one of their drivers of course. But both Alpine's have had stellar reliability to this point. Sebastien Buemi is losing the handling, bouncing like a kangaroo in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid. These cars are noisy and bumpy. Marco Sorensen has passed Valentino Rossi for third in LMGT3. Matt Campbell has caught and reeled in Jenson Button. Passing is his next task. These two Porsche 963's are identical when delivered. Now, you have the factory car and the privateer car battling for position. Porsche did this with their 956 and 962 in FIA World Endurance and IMSA in the 1980s. Matt Campbell is doing everything to catch a Formula 1 World Champion in Jenson Button. That is a big carrot.
Button finished on the podium in January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the Acura ARX-06. Jota operate as if they are a manufacturer team, and much less as a "privateer" in quotes. Button knew Campbell was there and Campbell gave him the room. Campbell is also learning from Button, in the same exact car, the Porsche 963. Neel Jani ahead in another privateer Porsche 963, the Proton car, the Fat Turbo car. The #94 Peugeot is running a full medium tire setup, and the #93 sister car is getting data on that. The #12 Jota Sport Porsche team are doing single stints. Norman Nato is out. Not sure who just got in, either Callum Ilott or Will Stevens. \
At that moment, in the replay, Campbell ws just teasing or so it seemed. My gosh. Campbell said he was pushed straight off the road. That's racing, mate. That's racing. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P pits. Yifei Ye at the controls. This is the battle for third in the overall. We are beginning to back time this race. This is why on strategy sports car racing is a team sport. Diving to the inside, and Campbell forces Button out of the way! Robert Kubica says that the race has gone well so far even with issues before the race began and a chaotic opening stint.
They have managed everything well after that. Jenson Button out of the car from the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963 sharing with Will Stevens and Oliver Rasmussen. At the height of his Formula 1 career at Brawn and McLaren, Baja 1,000, GT3, Super GT champion, Garage 56 Generation 7 NASCAR Cup Camaro last year at Le Mans, and now this. Sebastien Buemi is now chasing Yifei Ye for ninth place. Peugeot #93 in the pit lane for service and a driver change. Mikkel Jensen getting in. Nico Muller getting out. This is the second place Peugeot. Laurens Vanthoor has scampered away from the Peugeot and we have only about an hour and 45 minutes of racing to go yet.
We have about an hour, maybe two to go yet. We should see about energy levels. We will also need to watch and find out what the tire life does, the tire degradation. We could be seeing the final tire stops, save the tires for the left side of the car. It does not have to be split evenly with 16 tires in a usable allocation. Jenson Button says that he had a good battle out there with Matt Campbell. Campbell turned in on him and the two of them hit. He decided to nail Jenson Button in turn six.
The leading Porsche #6 of Laurens Vanthoor is in and so is the Toyota #7. Now, it is Kevin Estre taking over the Porsche in the lead. Four new tires for the #93 Peugeot and four new boots for the Porsche as well. Robin Frijns taking over for RENE rAST AT bmw. Toyota #7 have pitted, and they remain a lap down. 77 laps left to run. Incident involving cars #5 and #38 under investigation? It's possible. The stewards are duly bound to investigate, as Yifei Ye is being chased by the #8 Toyota which runs ahead of the #7. Phil Hanson is just ahead of both Yifei Ye and Sebastien Buemi. Porsche, Ferrari, Toyota.
Alpine #36 in the lane. A driver change is underway. Mick Schumacher out and Nico Lapierre in. Toyota #8 pits as well Sebastien Buemi out, and Ryo Hirakawa in. The #59 McLaren is in the pit lane as well. Most of the Hypercars have had eight pit stops so far, one of them with seven. Matt Campbell now in the pit lane from third place moving the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 back up to third spot. Will this be an all four tire change? The #2 Cadillac appears too, to have a turn of speed. No tires at Porsche Pneske Motorsport and they are saving a bit in fairness.
The Cadillac moves up to fourth place. Estre now leads Campbell. Peugeot #94 is in the pit lane as well. Erwan Bastard is running offline and is very slow. Is he out of fuel? Where is the #777 D'station Aston Martin? Hard to know why he ran off the track. It is not fuel this time. Simon Mann in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 is serving a penalty. 70 laps to go in Qatar. Yifei Ye ahead of Phil Hanson by a car length and a half. A brake lockup for the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963. The #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R is in the pit lane for service, and has had a fraught race but they are hanging in there.
There's the Mustang, the Jota Porsche, th Lexus, the Lamborghini, two BMW's, and more. Ferdinand Habsburg brings the Alpine into the pit lane. Timur Boguslavskiy in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus and Ben Barker is in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3. Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P will have five seconds, or maybe ten seconds, added to his next pit stop. Ben Barker is ninth in GT3 ahead of Nico Pino in the McLaren. Eighteen cars in each class, but the points only go to tenth place. So many new cars especially in GT3 but in Hypercar as well. Sean Gelael under pressure from Erwan Bastard, the French GT4 champion.
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