Brendon Hartley has spun the #8! He is on wet tires, skittering across the gravel trap! He has lost loads of time. Hartley was tagged by Alessandro Pier Guidi! Oh my! That was ugly! No damage to the car. Hartley knows he will have to floor it through the gravel. Rob Leupen, the Toyota team boss, disgusted. Hartley is in sixth place. This will go towards Ferrari it seems. The Ferrari has gone off the road and back on. The sister #7 Toyota is now third. The open door is ajar and could cause the marshals to put out the meatball flag, the blakc flag with the orange dot. The passenger side door is flapping in the breeze and the team will have to fix it. You don't want to lose the 24 Hours of Le Mans over a flappy door.
Ferrari #51 is second with Alessandro Pier Guidi, the defending champion's car. Jose Maria Lopez third in the #7 Toyota. Thank you, Lena Gade, for your engineering insights. Oliver Webb explains that traction control intervention could be needed in these wet conditions. Ferrari run 1-2. The Ferrari door continues to rattle around. We are not seeing anything. That right side of the car, the passenger side has necessary ancillary equipment. Hartley has a large gap to Laurens Vanthoor in the battle for fifth place. Big rain to come in sector one in 15 minutes. Ferrari has not heard yet from the Race Director, neither have the rest of us.
Nicklas Nielsen leading but the team manager for car #50 is being called by Race Director Edoardo Freitas. Is that a delayed message? Or is it giving Ferrari the benefit of the doubt? Rework the strategy to change the door. Nicklas Nielsen should finish the racer as we welcome Ben Constanduros back to the booth. Through the Ford chicane, Alessandro Pier Guidi wriggles his way through the corner! He is loose! No news either from Race Control on the Brendon Hartley incident or the unsafe release from the #50 Ferrari. How strange. Yikes. The Toyota #7 almost gets chopped by an LMP2, the United Autosports car!
Rain is coming and Pier Guidi must be the blocker against the #7 Toyota. Three retirements in Hypercar. Alex Lynn says he has lost the wiper blade. There is rain coming. Contact between Ferrari and Toyota and Alessandro Pier Guidi makes contact with Jose Maria Lopez! Yikes! Some bodywork coming off at the Dunlop chicane. He has a tow and takes second place away from Alessandro Pier Guidi. The Toyota might have too much speed for the Ferrari. Car #50 team manager, if the driver cannot close the door, bring the car in. This is a safety issue.
If you issue the meatball flag, they must pit in three laps. Nicklas Nielsen can reach the door but tries to pull the handle but that opens the door, not closing it, while driving the car on a wet track. He can't reach it. He hits the pit lane after the meatball flag is issued, the black and orange mechanical flag. Toyota #7 is closing in. Jose Maria Lopez will take the lead and we still have the duration of a Formula 1 race. The door works fine now. Now they are off strategy at Ferrari AF Corse. Alex Lynn is up to third behind Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Toyota, Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche, Ferrari. Nielsen now fifth. Nielsen knows he can do it. He says to his engineer, "just give me necessary information." Alex Lynn is just over five seconds behind Alessandro Pier Guidi but it is coming down in a big hurry. Pier Guidi is not a happy bunny. He is struggling. It is greasy, intermediate conditions, not wet, not dry, no huge spray and rooster tails. Alex Palou is set to possibly get into the #2 Cadillac. Palou is indeed suited and booted. Oliver Jarvis and United Autosports leads LMP2. Ben Barnicoat is second in class and leading the Pro-Am class.
In GT3 it is pretty close. Richard Lietz leads Sean Gelael by ten seconds. Richard Lietz has been driving GT cars for 20 years. Porsche Penske the #6 963 is fourth in class in Hypercar. Just a tad over an hour and a half to go. The track is starting to dry moderately. The sky is brightening somewhat and the LMP2 cars are cutting 4-minute lap times. Jose Maria Lopez leads the motor race by almost ten seconds. The Toyota and the Cadillac are running faster than the Ferrari. Everything has been unpredictable here at Le Mans all week, since the test day last Sunday.
More rain coming in the pit lane! My goodness! Brendon Hartley has had nine track limit warnings, and he has no idea why. He said "I'm sorry, I want to stay in until the end." They want to change over to Sebastien Buemi. Hartley could still cop a penalty. Vadislav Lomko takes away a place and there's Spike the LMP2 dragon race car. More rain ad it is pouring on the frontstretch. The wet tires are now worn out. The visibility is horrid. It is raining hard. An hour and a half to go.
Action Express has spun again. Just a 360. An incredible job from my pals at Action Express and Whelen Cadillac. Felipe Drugovich spins. Alex Lynn is still having windscreen wiper issues. Vector Sport bounding over the gravel through Indianapolis corner and into Arnage. Thanks, Ollie Webb for being with us for Le Mans. Alex Brundle of course is back in the booth. Will the rain quit? We will not have anything close to the distance record here at Le Mans this year, maybe records of safety car time overnight.
Alex Lynn is aquaplaning in the #2 Cadillac. This is over the Mulsanne straight. It is dry at Mulsanne. Alex Lynn is told to box this lap. The #31 BMW M4 GT3 is goign for rain tires, with Sean Gelael. WRT has had a star-crossed weekend. Oliver Rasmussen has pitted the #38 Jota Porsche 963. We never knew why the #20 art car from BMW Team WRT, the second M Hybrid V8 was retired. The Cadillac ducks past the #11 Isotta Fraschini and the Isotta Fraschini is still running! Alex Lynn into the lane and the Isotta Fraschini bounds over the curbs. Lynn will need yet another set of wet tires. He bails and there will be a driver change to Alex Palou.
On the #2 the team is trying to fix the windscreen wiper that has been floating over the top. These are not bespoke wipers for racing. Race Control are now investigated the fracas, the shemozzle, between the #8 Toyota and the #51 Ferrari. Ben Barnicoat pits the #183 AF Corse Oreca and hands over to Francois Perrodo I believe. Vadislav Lomko is still in the #34 Inter Europol entry. Ferrari #51 to the lane.
#51 will have five seconds adeed to the next pit stop after the contact. #8 offered space to #51 and #51 ran wide. A busy pit lane in Hypercar. Porsche and Lamborghini in and out. Ferrari #50 leads. Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche 963 is sixth and he is the only other car that can match Jose Maria Lopez's pace. The Toyota is very drivable in this weather while the other Hypercars are incredibly pointy. Clement Novalak vs. Job van Uitert racing in LMP2. Job van Uitert ran over the curbs passing Clement Novalak and then van Uitert lets Novalak play through.
Nico Varrone is catching up hand over fist after the other two blokes made a pig's breakfast out of that corner. Toyota #8 in the lane. Sebastien Buemi getting in. In these conditions of standing water, to bone dry, that is the only wet tire they have from Muchelin or even Goodyear. That is why there are struggles for drivers with standing water. Ferrari #50 under investigation for a pit stop infringement. Engineers are guessing about strategy based on the data, boxing the car as late as possible to make it to the end.
The track at Le Mans remains wet even though the rain stopped. United Autosports and Oliver Jarvis is well clear of the other LMP2 cars as the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus runs long into Arnage. In the battle for second in LMP2, Job van Uitert is falling away from Clement Novalak. In GT3, Manthey Porsche vs. WRT BMW. The seventh place Hypercar attle. Jota Porsche 963 vs. factory Penske Porsche 963. We cannot judge how much fuel will be used in this upcoming final hour of the race. We can confirm that Oliver Jarvis has won in LMP2 before and is also an IMSA LMP2 champion. The McLaren tie up in GT3 has been problematic this weekend. Clement Novalak cuts across the chaicane and not note use an alternate route.
Palou chasing Buemi with a dry line approaching on the road. The rain has stopped. The esses at Tertre Rouge are beginning to dry. More rain expected in five to ten minutes. Augusto Farfus and Richard Lietz are going to fight for the GT3 honors. Buemi asking for the maximum information he can have as Jose Maria Lopez goes wide and off the road in the #7 Toyota. Fredric Vesti in the #47 spins the car from up the order. Jose Maria Lopez is told he is running WELL
Lopez is well aware he is leading Le Masnd when the Ferrari hits the pit lane. Clement Novalak is under investigation for cutting the first chicane on the Mulsannestraight/
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