GT4 are production sports cars but GT4 have less power and less aerodynamics than GT3 cars. Peugeot looking to find performance on the medium Michelin tires. More scrapping as Sean Gelael is hanging on for dear life against Erwan Bastard. Gelael knows Batard is right on his six. Erwan Bastard makes the pass for fourth position in GT3. These two are running in the 1:57 range and the others ahead are running in the 1:55 range as Augusto Farfus will take over the #31 BMW M4 GT3. Now, Erwan Bastard will be chasing down Valentino Rossi. Developing talent, known quantities, and a couple secret weapons.
The Hypercar field is incredible, and Kevin Estre is a minute and seven seconds ahead of the Peugeot and a big wiggle from the #95 McLaren! Kevin Estre and company have been the ones to beat today. They have added a whole minute to their lead over the Peugeot through the last stint. Timur Boguslavskiy is being harried by Ben Barker! Lexus RC F GT3 vs. Ford Mustang GT3. Boguslavskiy tries to hold on. The Mustang is under investigation for technical infringements. Up the inside, Barker speeds past Boguslavskiy who was losing grip! The Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3's have dropped from third and fourth to sixth and seventh in GT3.
Matt Campbell goes off the road in the #5 Porsche 963 trying to catch Will Stevens! Mama Mia! The rear end snapped, and he skittered across the gravel trap! He was too late on turn in. That was a mental lapse for Campbell. He was on the wrong line. The #51 Ferrari is in the pit lane. They have had a dreadful race today in Qatar. They needed a completely clean race but haven't gotten one and it isn't necessarily their fault either. For Miguel Molina, it was a very late call for him to come into the pit lane. Timur Boguslavskiy is chasing down Erwan Bastard as the #50 Ferrari 499P is in the pit lane now.
The tires are being changed. Things will only get tougher if you keep making errors. If your car and your drivers are not quick enough, you really need to keep pushing. 60 laps of racing remaining. Ferrari are 15th and 16th in a field of 19. They are behind newcomers like BMW and Alpine which is hard to believe. Sean Gelael has finished his stint in the #31 WRT BMW M4 GT3 and so, it will be Augusto Farfus, the Brazilian, getting into the car. Darren Leung has completed his drive time. Fuel in the tank, and tires on the car. We have been racing now for eight hours and 14 minutes and have 57 laps to go.
The Heart of Racing pits the #27 Aston Martin with Daniel Mancinelli finishing his stint and Alex Riberas getting back in. Game over for the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Tom van Rompuy, Charlie Eastwood, and Rui Andrade. In GT3 car operation by the teams is the key. They are mechanically sound, and all the cars are different, with different bodies and engines, but it is still so competitive. Valentino Rossi chasing Alex Riberas. Manthey Racing is now run by the Raeder brothers. Olaf Manthey has long since retired. This is a battle for podium places.
The #777 D'station Aston Martin is in the pit lane for service and a driver change, coming to the lane from fourth spot. Second, third, and fourth, half a minute apart, with 54 laps to go equaling an hour and a half of racing left on the board. Valentino Rossi is a Silver graded driver and Alex Riberas is Platinum rated. Rossi has completed his minimum drive time, and he can hand over to Maxime Martin for the final stint. Erwan Bastard gets out of the #777 Aston Martin and Marco Sorensen gets in. LMGT3 has been extremely exciting, all day long, all night long.
Davide Rigon and Simon Mann in the #54 and #55 Ferrari's. From third spot, the #12 Jota Porsche 963 is in the lane for servide. Callum Ilott was able to get into F1, did not have the money, went to IndyCar, and is now in sports cars. He comes out ahead of Phil Hanson. Yifei Ye in the #83 Ferrari 499P is in the lane as well. One more pit stop left with 52 laps to go. No matter what, it looks like the #6 Porsche 963 is driving away from everyone. Michelle Gatting says that she is happy but knew this was going to be a difficult race. Iron Dames are struggling with oversteer in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Matteo Cressoni broguht the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini into the lane and now, Franck Perera, the Frenchman, is at the wheel of it.
Alpine #36 serviced and sent, and massively buoyed by their performance. Eight and a half hours into the race, almost. Maxime Martin takes over from Valentino Rossi who has completed his drive time. Valentino Rossi has completed his first ever FIA WEC race. Porsche Penske Motorsports are looking for their very first FIA World Endurance Championship victory. Peugeot, Hertz Team Jota, and the #7 Toyota are all hanging on by their fingernails. Peugeot could also win. 49 laps to go. Charles Milesi goes off the road in the #35 Alpine ajd gets passed by both BMW M Hybrid V8's and the #5 Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell. Robin Frijns passes for position and Dries Vanthoor is getting up to speed.
It could be that the #5 Porsche senses the #93 Peugeot is harboring some trouble. Campbell is now only 53 seconds behind and in 48 laps he must catch the sister car by a second a lap. Peugeot #93 are on medium tires, and they are doing a driver change. Mikkel Jensen out and Jean Eric Vergne into the car. Peugeot opts for hard tires. This is going to be incredibly close. The BMW can live with medium tires on the right side and the Peugeot went with medium tires on all four corners. Takeshi Kimura goes off the road and into the gravel for a second time in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3! Oh my! He goes way off into the Tooley's! He's off in the gravel there, way off!
Hard tires ready for the #6 leading Porsche 963 and the #5 should be in soon, in another lap. Nyck de Vries is in the pit lane in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with hard tires, left side only ready. They are on scrubbed tires. The two Peugeot's go off the road with the Proton Competition Mustang GT3 the meat in the sandwich. Kelvin van der Linde stalled the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, the car that has not had issues, but now the South African is in the garage, and now, Nyck de Vries and Ryo Hirakawa anre ganging up on Oliver Rasmussen and can't slow down on the gravel, he smokes the tires! Ryo Hirakawa and company are now up to seventh but they have a pit stop in their future.
The #8 Toyota is in the lane and the Porsche's are running 1-2 but the race leading #6 car is going to have to be careful. Peugeot are backing away from their medium compound tire option. The medium compound Michelin's have just fallen off a cliff. Porsche Penske Motorsports 1-2. Paul di Resta in the Peugeot warned for track limits. Kevin Estre did go off the track to avoid the Lexus. He looked both ways and went right, to the inside. A big car in a small gap. If you fire someone off the road, the stewards will bring you to the sin bin to pay for it as the #94 Peugeot is in the lane.
The stewards have noted this incident will be investigated. The stewards make the judgment from more camera angles than we have and from CCTV. The #94 Peugeot has made a scheduled pit stop. Kevin Estre and company, if they are going to win, they could have their result decided by the stewards. Now, the #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 is in the garage doing a brake change. Toyota, Ferrari etc. their hybrid unit is on the front axle that wears the brakes. It will be rear brakes related to the hybrid with the rear drive hybrid on the BMW because it is an LMDh car not an LMH. They are still going to do front discs as well. This car has been around in IMSA for a year.
It is new in WEC, but I wonder why they are dealing with a brake change this late. Those brake discs are 600-700 degrees and enormously hot! James Calado in 12th being harried by Julien Andlauer in 13th in the Proton Competition Porsche. Porsche Penske Motorsports have one bullet that can win and another bullet that can finish on the podium. Final stop for Manthey EMA, car #91. Morris Schuring has finished his stint and Richard Lietz will take the car to the checkered flag. James Calado racing with Ryo Hirakawa for 11th place, depressing close in range of getting just a miniscule piece of the points pie.
The #51 Ferrari won't get the two laps back they lost with replacing the tail at the beginning of the race. Porsche #5 have made ten pit stops compared to eight or nine made by the other Hypercars. Cadillac owe us a stop and so does the #35 Alpine just ahead of the #50 Ferrari. Hirakawa has more energy onboard than Calado does. 85% to 27%. Anyone stopping in the next six laps will need to stop again. The #2 Cadillac has 20% in the tank so they might need two and the #6 Porsche is going to be really close. It is not fueling drop. It is how much time they will need to be in and back out of the lane. Who needs new tires? That is another big question. The Ferrari is not quite in shooting distance of the Toyota, getting stymied in traffic, is James Calado.
He is on a lower fuel load but needs to get lucky with traffic. 37 laps to go, maximum of an hour and nine minutes on the board. The BMW is back out of the garage on new tires after the brake change and this elevates the Lamborghini SC63 up one spot. It has been hours since we've talked about the Lamborghini. The #15 BMW is incredibly slow because it is crawling around on stone cold tires. If the #6 Porsche 963 gets a penalty, this could provoke a three-way scrap for the win. Ferrari #51 will stop soon and now, Julien Andlauer is coming back into the picture. Calado will need to be careful. Get out of the dirty air and in the process, you are making shorter work of the circuit.
Nyck de Vries in the quicker #7 Toyota reeling in Oliver Rasmussen in the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. We have had no Full Course Yellows in this race. Just one, maybe, and that's it. Faster cars must pass slower cars safely. No dice for the Ferreri to try and sweep past. Ryo Hirakawa in the middle of the road and it is getting spicy! Charles Milesi will need a splash and a dash unless he can do some epic fuel saving to the end. Julien Andlauer sees the carrot on the end of the string with these two blokes getting scruffy ahead of him.
Yifei Ye gets trapped behind the #81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R! Yikes! Dani Juncadella, the Spaniard, in the #82 Corvette, drive through penalty for track limits. Calado outside on Julien Andlauer and Andlauer is pshing, pushing, argy bargy there, look. You are not free to attack where you want. This how you become vulnerable if you leave the door open too long and he went right over the white line, forced off by Calado but will need to give the spot back. We've seen that move at Monza in Italy over the years.
A drive through penalty too for the TF Sport Corvette and the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3. Calado says that he was on the line and got pushed off the road entirely. Andlauer is probably on the radio claiming he too, got forced off. This refers to the shemozzle in turn one. Callum Ilott closing on Jean Eric Vergne. The Jota Porsche is quicker than the factory Peugeot. Franck Perera is also being penalized. Cadillac to the pit lane. We are about to start the final hour of this motor race. On pit road, the #6 Porsche 963 and the #2 Cadillac and they have to change the number panel! It's gone! They'll get a black and orange meatball flag if they don't fix it.
They went out and I don't think the number panel is working. There is no number. Come back in and fix the number panel and the position lights. There is a hole in the bargeboard. Peugeot vs. Hertz Team Jota for the victory in Qatar! Have you ever? No, I've never! Hertz Team Jota will need to stop sooner than the Peugeot. What happens with the #6 Penske Porsche? Jean Eric Vergne vs. Callum Ilott, this could be the battle for the win. We'll just have to wait and see.
This is the final pit stop for the #50 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen. The #83 car could be fourth or fifth but that is an independent car so I don't think it is part of the overall championship. Two and a half years Peugeot have been in Hypercar with a car that has run like a pig. The #50 Ferrari is in and out. Julien Andlauer dropping like a stone in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche. Norman Nato staying sanguine for now. The last hurrah for this Peugeot 9X8 before it is superseded by it's updated replacement and this car could possibly win the opener, the lid lifter of the 2024 FIA WEC. We'll see. Callum Ilott, too, is in the fight.
Manthey Pure Racing lead Heart of Racing and Team WRT in LMGT3. We have a third retirement. Game over for the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 into the garage and we have no idea what that was. We have two months until Imola and you will be hearing a lot on the blog between now and then. Ilott closing up but the battle is here. The #6 Penske Porsche cotinues to lead. The erstwhile GT3 leader will be the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. Manthey Pure Racing in the lane in the #92 Porsche 911 GT3R. It was an engine going bang in the #78 Lexus RC F GT3. Game over for Arnold Robin, Kelvin van der Linde, and Timur Boguslavskiy.
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