Local Yellow at the Dunlop esses with a drying road as we join David Addison, Graham Goodwin, and Peter Dumbreck. Through the gravel goes the #51 Ferrari of James Calado. Toyota are still first and third. Stay out of trouble and stick to ye olde plan. The cream might just be rising to the top. The race is only nine hours old. One of the Ferrari's, if they make it to the morning tomorrow, they could be in contention. It might be a replay of last year, Toyota vs. Ferrari. James Calado out on cold slick tires. Difficult times trying to get heat into the tires. James Calado ninth on the Mulsanne straight headed for the first chicane as a troubled Ferrari is trundling 'round, the #66 JMW Motorsports Ferrari 296 GT3 coming to a grinding halt. Salih Yoluc, the Turkish driver coasting to one side, sharing that car with Giacomo Petrobelli of Italy and Dutchman Larry ten Voorde.
Toyota #8 in the lane and so is the #5 Porsche 963 of Fred Makowiecki. It looks like other cars are swapping over to slick tires. Rain lights now to be switched off. No added moisture. We have had some rain but not a ton. Weather apps can be a real rip off, believe me. The #37 Cool Racing Oreca in LMP2 has spun with Ritomo Miyata at the controls, wrong way through the wet gravel trap. We also saw Lorenzo Fluxa spin the #37 and now, Salih Yoluc is crawling back to the pit lane and becoming more of a hazard at least not on the road itself, on the racing line. The Inception Racing McLaren, powerless to move, with other cars bearing down, screaming down the straightaway, is scary.
Yoluc is moving again but he needs to keep the damn thing moving. Honestly, I wonder. He stops again. He is crawling almost like it is on the starter motor. We will have a slow zone. Race Control has given Yoluc time, but the marshals will need to push the car, or it will have to be towed across if there is a gap. Slow zone now enforced. The Toyota's are quick, and they have the package for the time being. Drive through penalties for the #70 Inception Racing McLaren of Brendan Iribe and the #311 Action Express Whelen Cadillac of Pipo Derani. This is for overtaking under the safety car.
Antonio Fuoco runs wide and is chasing Earl Bamber in the #2 Ganassi Racing Cadillac. Ahmad Al Harthy and the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 has not moved. JMW team manager summoned to Race Control immediately as Salih Yoluc is listening to what the team is saying and not the marshals. JMW has raced 15 Le Mans events in 16 years. They did one year with an Aston Martin. Tom Hodgson, the team manager. The Peugeot #93 Mikkel Jensen just made a pig's breakfast and tagged the wall but he might be lucky and not get any damage. Porsche 1-2 in GT3. Now we watch seventh and eighth in GT3 with Michelle Gatting and Esteban Masson.
Gregoire Saucy in the #59 United Autosport McLaren is rising up the order in GT3. Jordan Taylor has the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari followed by Alex Riberas in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin and the second Akkodis ASP Lexus of Kelvin van der Linde, the #78 driven by the South African. Ben Barnicoat back un the #183 AF Corse LMP2 and Louis Deletraz owes a pit stop in Spike the dragon, the #14 Oreca. Gregoire Saucy will do a double stint. Salih Yoluc, has had electronic woes and should be retired. Game over for him, Larry ten Voorde, and Giacomo Petrobelli.
Daniel Serra along with Gianmaria Bruni have won in GT cars for factory teams, Aston Martin and Ferrari. Bruni for Porsche and Ferrari. Earl Bamber is beign harried by Antonio Fuoco! Bamber brave it out. Fuoco is quicker. Bamber knows how to defend. Jack Aitken at Action Express says the car is struggling with top speed. The distribution of where the lap times are made up, is making it hard to race. They made a wrong call with tires with the challenging conditions. Trying to stay clean and on the lead lap. Aitken will be back into the #311. Pipo Derani reports there is a dry line, but it is treacherous in sector one. If you drop a wheel, it is very unforgiving. Minimize mistakes in the nighttime hours.
The manufacturer battle in Hypercar is so deep! It's incredible! Fuoco outside of Bamber and he almost misses the chicane on the Mulsanne straight! Yikes! I think Fuoco is on a medium Michelin and Earl Bamber is on soft tires. The Porsche Curves I think are much wetter. We'll just have to see what is going to happen. Bamber gets Fuoco back and now, GT3 traffic ahead with a couple of Ford Mustang GT3's I think. "Tony Fire" will not like what he is seeing. More penalties for the #94 Peugeot, the #92 Manthey Pure Racing and the #31 surviving Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sean Gelael for abuse of track limits. Bamber, bravely moving ahead of the traffic and Fuoco needs no second invitation.
Bamber making good his escape. Buemi, Vanthoor, Kobayashi, and then this fourth-place scrap. Buemi being caught by Vanthoor and Kobayashi. Fuoco slices past Bamber. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Bamber staying with him. To the second chicane, the gap is widening. Backmarkers are up the road once more. Bamber after Mulsanne has the power, has the grip under braking compared with the Ferrari. Each Hypercar running an identical lap time but delivering performance in different ways. Vanthoor is lapping quicker than Buemi in the #6 pole sitting Porsche 963 for Porsche Penske Motorsports at 1:30 A.M. on a Sunday morning, maybe ten minutes before 2:00 A.M. actually. Not sure.
"Spike" in the pit lane with P.J. Hyett climbing in. #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, game over for Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, and Maxime Martin. Ten and a half hours into the race. Laurens Vanthoor is doing all he can to A. uphold family honor, and B. go for the lead against Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota. Earl Bamber is glued to Antonio Fuoco. Further back, what will we do to get the #83 AF Corse Ferrari back into the fight? Robert Shwartzman, the Israeli driver, is now ninth. Earl Bamber watching Antonio Fuoco bottoming out as Paul di Resta is under investigation for a slow zone infringement.
Also off the lead lap, both Lambo's, the #311 Action Express Whelen Cadillac of Jack Aitken, the second #94 Peugeot, the #4 Porsche of Nick Tandy, the #11 Isotta Fraschini, and the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963. Claudio Schiavoni is now back at the wheel of the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 which is playing the part of Rasputin and coming back to life at this moment in time. Matteo Cressoni now at the wheel, excuse me. Porsche 963 #5 is now in the lane and Fred Makowiecki remains at the wheel of it while the team does a tire change and adds fuel, excuse me, energy.
Toyota leads by a second and a half as we see a four way battle in GT3. Nico Pino, Alex Riberas, Kelvin van der Linde, and Joran Taylor. McLaren, Aston Martin, Lexus, Ferrari. United Autosport, Heart of Racing, Akkodis ASP, and Spirit of Race. Peter Dumbreck has been a part of the Aston Martin team developing the new Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH coming out next year with a two-car team in WEC and one in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship with a single car. Aston Martin coming, and we will have Hypercar rules until at least 2029 so more brands can come in. Cost control is a big part of this. LMP1 hybrid cars were great but if you joined late trying to race against Audi, Porsche, and Toyota, you just got left in the dust.
We are watching Zacharie Robichon in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang and Esteban Masson in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3. Klaus Bachler into the pit lane in the #92 Manthey Pure Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. Ben Barnicoat, fourth in class in LMP2 in the #183 AF Corse Oreca 07. The #11 Isotta Fraschini of Jean Karl Vernay was tagged into a spin and fortunately the car is still running with an HWA built V6 turbo engine and a Michelotto built chassis from Italy. Maybe there is liquid in one of the corners as the #155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 GT3 of Jordan Taylor, off the road. The LP2 goes straight on and... bang! Gregoire Saucy biffs Jordan Taylor in the Ferrari.
Saucy failed in his braking judgment and now Jordan Taylor will need to find reverse and back it up. Jack Aitken now 16th overall as Action Express are charging trying to get back into part of the picture chasing Mikkel Jensen in the #93 Peugeot 9X8. One line in the damp here onto the frontstretch. The Cadillac is a lap down from the leader and so is the #93 Peugeot. Action Express have dropped off the lead lap. They were running 12th and have fallen off. In 13th it is Andrea Caldarelli at 3:31 dead, 3:31.091 with fastest lap pursuing the sister Peugeot, I think.
Laurens Vanthoor is now pursuing the leading Toyota as Jordan Taylor remains stationary. The Cadillac not really able to stay with the Peugeot. Slow Zone, and Jordan Taylor has backed out of the barrier, and he could not find reverse. A reverse gear in a race car is made of chocolate, practically. It is so hard to use. It is so fragile. Jordan Taylor is out of ghe gravel, the LMP2 car went up the escape road, the Lexus cut across the bow, and the LMP2 car hit the GT3 cars the McLaren and the Ferrari and, wait for the bang... and... boom! Lexus now first and third with the sister United Autosports McLaren in GT3. Mustang, McLaren, Lexus, and others are right at the front in GT3.
Peugeot #93 of Mikkel Jensen is in. He will do a double stint. He has been a Formula 4 champion, an LMP2 champion, an LMP3 champion. Now, Vanthoor and Buemi are in. Porsche #6 and Toyota #8. No driver change at Toyota. Rip off the raroff. Vanthoor is getting new tires. Toyota will have the same tires I think and Andre Lotterer will be back in the Porsche. Buemi should be quicker but Lotterer, a former Le Mans winner as well, will be quicker, but Penske Porsche did not change tires. Blimey! That was strange. So, Toyota maintain their lead.
Vanthoor has done a single stint on the softer compound Michelin. Kamui Kobayashi now in the lane in Toyota #7. Antonio Fuoco stays out and will do all he can to catch the #7 Toyota. Fuoco goes by for position, and I think he tried taking the place for the Toyota but #50 will be in next time by as we are closing in on the end of hour ten. Fuoco told to keep an eye on energy and go full push. The Hypercars are supposed to be like a big GT3 car but they are still prototypes and have a hybrid unit which the GT3 cars don't. Fuoco over the curbs vs. the Toyota #7. He was caught out, your honor, by seeing the Ferrari out of the pit lane. Fuel only for Fuoco, stay in the car, box, box, box.
Slow Zone drive through penalties for the #10 Vector Sport Oreca of Patrick Pilet, #65 of Panis Racing and overtaking in a slow zone for the #94 Peugeot. Hello, to Rob Bell who will join us in commentary for a wee while. That was our mate, Graham Goodwin. Antonio Fuoco down and away with a full fuel tank. Ferrari #83 in and we are going to keep an eye on Andre Lotterer to see how his pace stacks up- with co-drivers Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. Phil Hanson out of the lane in the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. Jack Aitken in the #311 Action Express Whelen Cadillac now chasing the sister #94 Peugeot of Paul di Resta.
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