We saw a good fight earlier with Jack Aitken driving and the Cadillac just does not have the straight-line speed for some reason but maybe the #311 has a different setup on the car compared to the other Ganassi Cadillac's. The two Ganassi Cadillac's are still in the mix here, but they too will need a fair slice of luck to stay competitive with Toyota, Ferrari, and Porsche. We have not heard any more about rain and it has been dry, in the last couple hours. So much can happen. We'll just have to see what is going on. Laurens Vanthoor and the #6 Porsche have come back up the order after making a wrong tire call earlier on. McLaren, Lexus, Manthey Porsche, these have been some of the top contenders in GT3. Klaus Bachler third in class and now Kelvin van der Linde who started from pit lane is next up the road. The stewards must be looking at the earlier Gregoire Saucy and Jordan Taylor incident. I think Saucy will be pinged with a drive through penalty.
This is what our commentators, David Addison, Peter Dumbreck, and Rob Bell, think. Now, Kelvin van der Linde is chasing down Klaus Bachler who has stayed ahead. Morris Schuring, the Dutchman, is now at the wheel of the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3R sharing with Yasser Shahin, the Australian, and Austrian veteran Richard Lietz. Pit crews either keeping themselves awake or catching 20 winks. Some teams doing the Mexican wave it appears. Pit crew calisthenics between pit stops. Not many Ferrari 296 GT3's are in the race including the #86 GR Racing car of Mike Wainwright, Ricardo Pera, and Daniel Serra. Jordan Taylor though should be back out. Sebastien Buemi in the 3:31 range and absolutely flying ahead of Andre Lotterer and Kamui Kobayashi.
Toyota on soft Michelin's and Porsche on medium Michelin's. Buemi is a four-time winner of Le Mans and ex Formula 1 racer and Formula E champion, winning in 2018, '19, '20, and '22. Cadillac #3 is the last car on the lead lap in Hypercar, the six-time IndyCar champion. Morris Schuring to the lane from the GT3 lead and Klaus Bachler will reassume the class lead. Klaus Bachler has raced at Le Mans before as I recall, three times in fact. Lots of experience and many miles in just about every category raced in a Porsche. Bachler ahead of Kelvin van der Linde and Gregoire Saucy followed by Takeshi Kimura in the sister Lexus.
Erwan Bastard, the GT4 SRO champion a few years ago at the wheel of the #777 D'station Aston Martin. Andre Lotterer now beginning to match the lap times being laid down by Sebastien Buemi as we have a yellow flag at the first chicane with a spun United Autosport McLaren, Nico Pino, the Chilean, has dropped a spot to Morris Schuring, the Dutchman. Porsche 963 #4 of Nick Tandy way down in 16th place. 147 laps now completed. Toyota, Porsche, Toyota in the top three then comes Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari. Improved sector times now in GT3 with the experienced drivers on a dry track with cooler temperatures in the middle of the night, actually, in the wee small hours of Sunday morning.
Happy hour is yet to come. Five second stop and go penalty, for the second time, for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 of Giorgio Roda, Dennis Olsen, and Mikkel Pedersen. In LMP2, Nico Varrone is now the class leader having taken over from Ben Barnicoat in the #183 AF Corse car ahead of David Heinemeier Hansson in the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07. Patrick Pilet aboard the #10 Vector Sport Oreca is running very well, too. Stephane Richelmi and Ryan Cullen are the other two drivers. One drive through for a slow zone offense but that's it, going around the track, metronomically. The times are coming down then, and track is getting quicker.,
Klaus Bachler back to the top of the shop in GT3. The #311 Whelen Cadillac is back in the pit lane and Felipe Drugovich has cycled through, and now Jack Aitken and Pipo Derani are doing the night stints. After the pit stop, minimizing risk, Aitken goes back out for another stint. Felipe Drugovich did a triple stint earlier in the day. Charlie Eastwood is giving the #81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Rear brake lights are not working on the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3. Sort out the brake lights now. At Isotta Fraschini, they are doing everything they have to with Jean Karl Vernay saying that everything is running smoothly.
We have just seen the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin in the pit lane for service. Peter Dumbreck and Ian James raced against each other in the 1994 Formula Vauxhall Junior open wheel series, 30 years ago. It is very wet offline, and the temperatures have been chilly with spots of sunshine, all day. James Calado wonders who is behind him and the answer is Phil Hanson in the #38 Jota Sport Porsche 963. 1.6 seconds behind, the elasticated gap, shrinking. Triple stint for the tires and James Calado will do another stint in the #51 Ferrari 499P, the defending champions here at Le Mans.
Tire degradation, as we well know, plays a massive part in endurance sports car racing. 13 and a half hours to go. Calado needs to stay on the pace. He was a race winner, last year, at the centenary Le Mans of course. Scott Dixon will get fuel and stay on the same tire set in the #3 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V Series.R. Another spikey Peugeot lap for Paul di Resta in #94 and now, the #4 Porsche 963 of Nick Tandy has also uncorked his fastest lap as well. Renger van der Zande suited and booted and not called upon. Dixon is doing a double stint.
Ford Mustang #77 and Lexus RC F GT3 #78 in the lane as now, the rear lamps are definitely on and the rear brake lights were in question from Race Control. Maybe a marshal reported it in or a driver, and/or a scrutineer, and maybe erroneously reported? If it is a brake light, that would be a marshal report. Greogire Saucy leads the GT3 class but with the Damocletian investigation of contact with Jordan Taylor as Buemi and Lotterer are in from the top two. The gap at 21 seconds when the two came into the lane. Lotterer taking on a full fuel load and is down and away. Also, in the lane, is Toyota #7. Now it is coming back out with Kobayashi on a double stint.
In this replay through the Dunlop esses, on the way to Tertre Rouge, Porsche #4 of Nick Tandy rattles across the gravel trap and not panicking. Ferrari 296 GT3 #155 in the lane now for service and out again. #51 Ferrari in the pit lane now for fuel but will triple stint the tires. The team is checking the fenders for damage. The Peugeot's in the wet picked up a ton of rubber in the wheel arches. Porsche 963 #99 for Porotn Competition in the lane and the same is true for the #37 Cool Racing Oreca in LMP2 of Ritomo Miyata.
Porsche #12 for Jota. There is a driver change in this car. Will Stevens is actually behind the wheel and he might be doing another stint. The left rear wheel is recalcitrant in coming off. We go onboard with Romain Grosjean in the #19 Lamborghini SC63 who raced here in 2010 in GT1 with the Matech Ford GT team, the first-generation Ford GT team. Now, Antonio Fuoco has finished his stint in the #50 Ferrari 499P. Miguel Molina has taken the car over. Phil Hanson is now in the lane for fuel in tires. New boots on the #38 Jota Porsche 963 and he is down and away. Robert Shwartzman has just left the pit lane and now, two cars off the road and we see the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 and the #24 Nielsen Racing LMP2 Oreca through the Dunlop esses, with David Heinemeier Hansson. Thwack! Screech! That was a really clumsy move. Why take the risk with 13 hours and 15 minutes remaining?
That was stupid. He stuffed it up the inside of the Ford Mustang GT3. David Heinemeier Hansson should know better having raced in ten previous 24 Hours of Le Mans races in his career. Not malicious but clumsy. Both of them are buried in the gravel trap. The Proton Mustang's day goes from bad to worse and now, Nielsen Racing will fly Plummet Airways down the LMP2 order, they could be damaged, and will be out of contention in the category. Slow Zone activated. The recovery crane is getting the nearer located car into the lane.
David Heinemier Hansson must be thinking, "what am I? Chopped liver? What about me? Where's my rescue?" Porsche to the lane for scheduled service with the Michelin engineers examining the tires. The brakes are also being examined. I could not see which Penske Porsche that was. 20th in Hypercar, the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 art car is out of the running some 20 laps down. P.J. Hyett now driving the #14 "Spike" the dragon LMP2 vs. IDEC Sport in the #28 IDEC Sport entry of Job van Uitert. Ryan Cullen is ahead of Ritomo Miyata and Clement Novalak. Patrick Cullen, Ryan's father, owns the Vector Sport team. P.J. Hyett again is chasing Job van Uitert. His uncle, Darrell van Uiterts raced Formula Ford in England in the 1980s.
van Uitert has made his move on "Spike" I believe. The slow zone is at marshal post three and the #24 Nielsen Racing car was too late into the turn and biffed the Mustang off the road and into the gravel. He had a head of steam and walloped the Mustang unexpectedly. Zach Robichon's race unraveling around him, the Canadian. Isotta Fraschini #11 back in the pit lane after Vernay went off and Antonio Serravalle is in the car now as the Mustang, covered in gravel, has made it back. They are wheeling the car back into the garage. They might be fighting a losing battle and could be throwing in the towel.
The mechanics have put a huge effort in after being in France for well over two weeks. In the Mustang camp they are looking at the front end, grabbing all the stones out from underneath which is wise so there is no further damage. Morris Schuring pitted, took the lead in class back, but he is scrapping with Gregoire Saucy in the McLaren. So, no trouble with the lights on the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche. New Goodyear boots going on the car and Morris Schuring on stone cold tires will do a double stint. James Calado in seventh place. Rain coming in about ten minutes.
Here we go again. Hashtag, blame Skip. I've done it again, wondering if we'd get more. Ugh! Sebastien Buemi being told about the rain coming in Porsche Curves. Gregoire Saucy, no further action on the Jordan Taylor shemozzle from earlier and we did not see the replay of the cause of the incident. James Calado pressing on at full chat, chasing Robert Shwartzman, 19 seconds ahead in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, the yellow car. Calado seems to be at the peak of his career after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours last year, doing single seaters in Formula 4, Formula Renault, and Formula 2 as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment