The Ferrari's are working in tandem albeit in a safe manner. Alex Jacques, Lena Gade, and Oliver Webb have been on commentary, and we are joined now by Ben Edwards. It is now beginning to brighten up. Those on slicks have really benefitted from it. We have not seen any weird overlap at all, thankfully. Peugeot telling Loic Duval that another shower will pass in 25 minutes, and it is windy at Le Mans. Wind speed at 17 miles an hour. Some teams have paid dividends by knowing about their tire strategies. Double yellows at Indianapolis. The ebb and flow of traffic is beginning to show itself. Box this lap, confim, for the #50 Ferrari. The track is fine, and all the wet patches are gone as the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 is in the lane, the car for Will Stevens, Norman Nato, and Callum Ilott. Robert Kubica continues to chase Nicklas Nielsen.
Two laps to the next pit stop in the Ferrari camp. #50 is in and the rearview mirror is askew, I think. The curb vibrations have knocked the mirror off the mounting. So, now, Antonio Fuoco is getting in. The #54 Ferrari 296 GG3 has gone wide into Dunlop curb, too much right-hand lock, and spins, and plows backwards... ker-runch!, into the wall! We are back to Full Course Yellow. The GT3 cars are loaded up through that turn. The mirror aboard the #50 is dangling but it is now an LCD screen. Race Control could have concerns, but it is at the teams' discretion to fix that mirror. In a slow zone, the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63. Andrea Caldarelli driving sharing with Matteo Cairoli and Romain Grosjean.
Pit stop time at Inter Europol Competition and the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P. Robert Kubica getting out and handing the car to Robert Shwartzman the Israeli driver. At Inter Europol it is the #34 of Jakub Smiechowski, Clement Novalak, and Vadislav Lomko. Nicklas Nielsen tells us it is the most hectic two-hour stint he has had at Le Mans. He and the engineer decided to stay out and it was dry at Mulsanne and Indianapolis but then rained at Dunlop curve. Hard to tell what happened with the mirror. It is just loose and still usable. Robin Frijns in the #20 "art car" BMW M Hybrid V8 has made a pass on Will Stevens in the #12 Jota Porsche 963. Frijns sharing #20 with Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast.
Robin Frijns is now back into the pit lane for another stop. Many Hypercars have made four pit stops and other have made three. We still have a slow zone past the pits. Buemi closing in hand over fist on Will Stevens. Very light rain coming in 15 minutes. Michael Christensen in the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963 has moved to third. Make that second place. Sebastien Buemi is now up to eighth spot for the other Toyota. Christensen sharing Porsche #5 with Fred Makowiecki and Matt Campbell. Ferrari leading Porsche at this juncture. In LMP2 the #10 Patrick Pilet driven Vector Sport Oreca is leading sharing with Ryan Cullen and Stephane Richelmi.
It is extremely windy with a draft for the Hypercars with their shark fins on the back. We have the chance to look at LMP2 and GT3 but the Hypercars are the big deal. Strange! The #20 BMW is off the road at the edge of the barrier at the Ford Chicane! Another slow zone and Robin Frijns just spins after going too hard over the curbs and crunches the barrier! Holy mackerel! That was quite the impact. BMW Team WRT, the damage is repairable when they get the car back but that was a hefty hit and he is trundling back to the lane. He just lost the car and spun off.
That is a very fast, loaded part on the road snapping back the other way with tires and a concrete wall and poor old Frijns has to trundle 'round for an entire lap! Blimey! No tire on the right rear. His crew chief tells him, "slow down, Robin. Slow down." I think he is driving way too fast! Jack Aitken chasing Mirko Bortolotti. Iron Lynx Lamborghini #63 and Whelen Action Express Cadillac #311. We now have a slow zone towards the Ford chicane. One of the Toyota's, #8 is pitting with Sebastien Buemi and the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963. So is the #51 Ferrari 499P the defending champions here at Le Mans, plus the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Pit stops under Full Course Yellow are extremely advantageous. Penske Porsche 963 #6 in as well. Action Express in and out of the pit lane, with Jack Aitken driving. The #36 Alpine A424B is in too. With the Balance of Performance, you can have different engines with or without turbos, with different sizes of V6 and V8 motors. Gorgeous cinematography in the pit lane with the slow-motion shots. Bortolotti chasing Kobayashi for tenth place. There is rain in the pit lane, but it will just be drizzle. Matt Campbell at Porsche says things are chaotic in mixed conditions. Some cars on wets others on slicks.
BMW #20 is in the garage now for making repairs on the art car. Campbell was one of the winning drivers at Porsche Penske in the Rolex 24 back in January. BMW set to work on replacing and repairng the wrecked parts. BMW has many of the old Team Joest Audi mechanics who also worked with Glickenhaus in the past. Phil Hanson in the #38 Jota Porsche chasing Sebastien Buemi and Jack Aitken is being encouraged to chase down one of the Peugeot's and one of the Porsche's. We are onboard with the Peugeot #93 of Mikkel Jensen, the Danish racer. in 15th place sharing with Jean Eric Vergne and Nico Muller. Peugeot have a bigger tire and a rear wing on the 9X8.
Jack Aitken in the Whelen Cadillac is chasing Mikkel Jensen. A technical reprimand for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 and I don't know what for. It was a pit lane technical infringement. "Let's go get the Peugeot, buddy" the AXR engineer tells Jack Aitken. Can Jack Aitken go inside the Peugeot into the first chicane? Not yet. The Cadillac's strong under braking while the Peugeot has the pull and the power from the turbo V6. 2.6-liter turbo V6 in the Peugeot, 5.5 liter naturally aspirated V8 in the Cadillac. For ninth, the battle remains between Toyota #7 and Lamborghini #19.
Kamui Kobayashi called for track limits at turn seven. He had a big spin in qualifying under threat from Romain Grosjean in the Lamborghini as the #4 Porsche 963 from Porsche Penske, Matthieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy, Felipe Nasr car. Patrick Pilet has a very decent lead in the LMP2 class. Peugeot #93 in the lane and the refueling is done before the tire change of course with other servicing on the car including cleaning the windscreen. No tires at Peugeot. Robert Shwartzman leading Michael Christensen in the battle of Ferrari and Porsche. Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, the four driver ratings.
A Bronze driver is an amateur with an international C or above license. Then you move up to Silver, Gold, and Platinum depending on several factors. Earl Bamber in Cadillac #2 in 11th chasing Paul Loup Chatin in tenth in the #35 Alpine A424B. Earl Bamber has won Le Mans twice and an FIA WEC title and both of them are in the pit lane at the same time. The Hypercars with Balance of Performance, the manufacturers, too, can bring distinctive design of their manufacturer to the table. IMSA and the FIA have cooperated on all of this with car design parameters. It is great to see cars that look different, sound different, and are competitive.
Will Stevens tells us at Jota Porsche #12, after their FP2 crash and rebuild, it was pretty hectic at the beginning, but they know the weather will throw curveballs and they kept slick tires and survived. They were struggling for straight line speed but now have things settled down and are staying out of trouble. We just shy of three hours being completed. We do focus on the Hypercars and the overall win. But we are also looking at other battles in GT3. Nico Pino in the #59 United Autisport McLaren 720S and the #27 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Ian James. Ryan Cullen is being passed by Clement Novalak to unlap himself. I stand corrected though because it is Novalak passing Cullen for the class lead. #10 vs. #34 and now the #20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 is now back on pit lane and they prepared the new parts that have been pre-fitted and took the work out of fixing the car.
Antonio Fuoco now pitting from third in the #50 Ferrari 499P. AO Racing, "Spike" the dragon, is in the pit lane as well. Fuel only and double stinting soft tires for the #50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco. The rearview mirror video screen is still loose but no worries. The #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 is leading the GT3 class currently over Ahmad Al Harthy in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3. I don't know who is in the Lexus #87 currently. Antonio Fuoco is being pressured by Callum Ilott. If you have a chance overtake a Ferrari, do go for it, force your rival into a mistake. That is the plan. Porsche 963 #5, the second Penske car is in, Michael Christensen.
The Toyota is now catching the Ferrari and the Porsche's.
No comments:
Post a Comment