We have reached single digits in terms of the hours remaining in the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans. There is a rear tail change on the Vector Sport car. At Cadillac, they use 6.2 kilograms of fuel per lap. We are well away from the amount of fuel being used as we are still behind the safety car. You haven't missed anything if you've gone off for a wee bit of kip. Could the #4 Penske Porsche 963 be having issues with the windscreen wiper? I wonder about that. Alessandro Pier Guidi has the windscreen wiper on aboard the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Isotta Fraschini in the pit lane for a driver change for the #11 car. They are changing tires as well. Ian James is well over his necessary six-hour duration.
We have almost cycled through all of our available safety cars. Safety Car C will need refueling. We are waiting for the rain to decrease before we turn the cars loose. The flat floor on these cars causes aquaplaning, especially the Hypercars, the prototypes. Rain should be stopping in another 10-11 minutes. Water in the cockpit aboard the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Something you see with dirt and dust as well as water, in rallying. I wonder who is up on drive time and three hours in the last six. Miguel Molina is still at the wheel of the #50 Ferrari and has driven for three hours and 20 minutes. Jack Aitken has been cycled out of the #311 Whelen Action Express Cadillac now being driven by Felipe Drugovich. Nicklas Nielsen will be the next driver suited and booted for the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
Ferrari #55, the Vista AF Corse entry, is investigated for exiting the pit lane before the next safety car. Did he clear the red light? Don't leave the lane when the red light is on. Safety car still out there as we have gotten to the daylight hours, but the rain is still falling. Jenson Button getting a massage in the garage. The NASCAR Cup Series Garage 56 Camaro from last year probably much easier to drive than a Le Mans Hypercar Porsche 963. Neel Jani now at the wheel of the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 after Harry Tincknell in the Fat Turbo livery. The legendary FATurbo Express entry. New wet tires in the rotation at Ferrari.
Ferrari #50 will be in for another set of wets and Miguel Molina's drive time will likely be up. They could be close on their fuel window, too. Ferrari #50 in the lane. With the tire release agent, it is the same as making an omelet with either no oil or too much oil. The mechanic was late to change the drivers' drink bottle and had to be back across the line at the section between the pit box and the garage. Brendon Hartley keeping his feet off the pedals at the wheel of the #8 Toyota, and he must be getting leg cramps, still. He must be dealing with it as best he can. 34 nations represented at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023. Alex Malykhin registered by St. Kitts & Nevis, and also, Granada and the Cayman Islands.
The #86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Ricardo Pera, the Italian, he was off on the outside of Arnage being overtaken. What in the ta da was he doing in the Arnage runoff area? Iron Lynx in the pit lane for a driver change in the Lamborghini. I will bet that Claudio Schiavoni is not driving under this red flag. It is his fellow Italian, Claudio Schiavoni. Norman Nato in the #12 Jota Porsche 963, he and Jenson Button have been delayed under this safety car. Callum Ilott was requesting Norman Nato was requesting he be awakened. Ewan Wane tells us that the #8 Toyota, at this speed rate, could use enough energy. We have never had a red flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 92 years.
#83 is still the best of the three Ferrari 499P Hypercars. Miguel Molina says the stints have been long but there's been tons of aquaplaning. Nine and a half hours to go. Keep awake and stay active. The conditions may have improved again. The rain lights on the LMP2 and GT3 cars are very bright. Oliver Rasmussen brought the #38 Jota Sport Porsche into the lane to bring the car in to hand off to Jenson Button. Robert Kubica is now working out his drive time for the next stint as he only did some 36 minutes in the previous six hours.
Toyota #8 leads over the #6 Penske Porsche and the sister #7 Toyota. The first Cadillac is fourth followed by the second AF Corse Ferrari. Norman Nato is now into the #12 Jota Porsche 963. Lots of pit lane action as Brendon Hartley is staying in the #8 Toyota I believe. Maybe Brendon Hartley's leg has gone totally numb as the #155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 GT3 is in the pit lane. The reason Le Mans is not red flagged is because of people trying to leave the circuit, it would become unsafe for an emergency procedure. It would clog up the transit in and out of the circuit in the eyes of the ACO. The folklore goes back to the horrible 1955 accident here at Le Mans that killed 90 people.
Alex Palou is now in the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac. P.J. Hyett leaves the pit lane from service, for "Spike" the dragon, car #14. Ryan Hardwick is back aboard the much delayed #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3. Porsche 963 #6 just pitted. They are the leaders. BMW has not yet retired the #20 BMW. You turn in a form, a piece of paper, to declare they have retired from the motor race. Over ten cars are on the lead lap at sunrise at Le Mans. We are still under the safety car with nine and a quarter hours to go. In the safety car process at Le Mans, you cannot gain any laps back. In IMSA you can manage the wave by. You cannot do that in WEC or at Le Mans.
Jose Maria Lopez has handed the #7 Toyota to Nyck de Vries for the next stint. These are not plug in hybrids. They harvest the energy for the hybrid boost under braking. Laurens Vanthoor is now at the wheel of the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963. We have the most OEM car brands here at Le Mans, ever, in 2024. There are no one-off cars. The most relative to that would be Dome who raced in early Group C in the very early '80s and with open cockpit LMP900 cars between 2001 and 2005 and again in what, 2010 or 2011 or someting. I cannot remember the last time we saw the Dome name here at Le Mans.
The red light is on at the end of pit lane. We continue trundling around behind the safety car. Yawn, snore. Yawn, snore. The marshals waved the cars out from the lane. Pit stops allowed under the safety car intervention for the weather. Now, the #7 Toyota is being held in the pit lane for the safety car queue. I think he served a drive through penalty, but he wasn't given anything of the sort. How strange. They've dropped the #7 back to mitigate a penalty. That was weird. Nyck de Vries at the wheel of it, the #7 Toyota. Sebastien Bourdais telling the team that the rain is dripping into the car. How strange. We did see rain in Imola back in April.
There was some rain last year here at Le Mans in the early afternoon and at night. There is an air bubble around the car to clear the water away with the curvature of the windscreen and the windscreen wipers are very much secondary. No investigation necessary on the #7 Toyota. So, #7 has dropped down behind the #50 Ferrari 499P in third place. How confusing. Safety Car B has had the longest queue of cars behind it but the issues have indeed been mitigated.
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