OK. The #15 BMW is in and out in the hands of Marco Wittmann, a two-tire stop, as the #50 Ferrari completes service. The first lap looked like rush hour traffic here in Austin. But now everything is settling down. The #36 Alpine has stopped for service and our current race leader, the #51 Ferrari 499P is in as well. The BMW can do one more lap and so can the #6 Porsche 963, the Penske car. BMW are in. OK. Whoops! One of the Jota Porsche's is off and on, the #12 Porsche 963. So, the #6 Penske Porsche 963 are only the erstwhile leaders as it was Callum Ilott trying to defend against Alex Lynn, but he locked the brakes and got onto the marbles, offline there.
Ferrari #83 is just barely ahead due to the undercut. Laurens Vanthoor is the race leader, and the three Ferrari's are closer together than they were. Miguel Molina took just two tires, right with Antonio Giovinazzi and the #83 of Robert Kubica just up the road. Molina will be in the danger zone as far as his tires. Laurens Vanthoor in the pit lane for service. He will do a double stint. Giovinazzi second and Molina third. Giovinazzi, we'll have to see where he is at. We saw the #2 Cadillac, by dint of a shorter stop, move ahead of the #7 Toyota taken over by Nyck de Vries taking over from Mike Conway and Sebastien Buemi has now taken over the #8 from Brendon Hartley.
Ben Keating being chased by the sister #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 in the hands of Canadian Zacharie Robichon. Heart of Racing, Iron Dames, TF Sport, the top three. Aston Matin, Lamborghini, Corvette, Porsche. So it is Ian James vs. Sarah Bovy. Aston Martin has seven wins at COTA in GTE Pro and GTE Am. The McLaren now passes by the #777 D'station Aston Martin. Nico Costa ahead of Clement Mateu. Darren Leung stays in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 and in the sister #46 it is Maxime Martin taking over from Ahmad Al Harthy. Miguel Molina warned three times now about track limits and the Spaniard is not happy about it. His crew chief tells him to keep going, calm down, not worry about the tires.
The drivers are in fight mode. They aren't just sitting down here and having a good time chatting about the race. Drivers have a right to be miffed, but they have to keep their cool. The team engineer has to be a psychiatrist just as much as an engineer. Ferrari still holding the top three. BMW fourth and fifth. Cadillac in sixth and trying to chase down the two Bimmers. 37 laps completed, 126 miles. Robert Kubica has used left side tires, new right sides. Antonio Giovinazzi only had rear tires changed on the #51. Strategizing around the limited tire allocation is what they are doing at Ferrari. That makes it really hard to read what is going on.
Sebastien Buemi being told the front tires are less worn than the rears, with much more on the left rear. The #83 Ferrari is running a hard tire on the left rear I believe. Robert Kubica, the Polish driver, he has a newer rear tire I believe. Alex Lynn, Nyck de Vries, and Callum Ilott, all in a battle. This is sixth, seventh, and eighth. Oliver Rasmussen has more grip with two newer left side Michelin tires. He still does, honestly. We have a couple battles. Toyota #7 vs. the #12 Porsche. Nyck de Vries vs. Callum Ilott while the sister car #38, Oliver Rasmussen, fending off the challenge from Sebastien Buemi in Toyota #8.
Sarah Bovy is right on Ian James' six for the lead battle in LMGT3. Aston Martin vs. Lamborghini. Ian James defending into turn 12 or at least contemplating it. Sarah Bovy, she is piling on the pressure. Cold gel packs frozen in the freezer are helping drivers. Fans work with the air conditioning, but the hot air is very static in these cars which are all closed cockpit of course. Oliver Rasmussen crawling all over Nico Muller for tenth and the Peugeot runs way deep into the turn! That was ugly. He didn't find a ladder. He found a snake. Under pressure, Nico Muller couldn't stop. All four wheels were clearly off the road. Definitely track limits.
Sarah Bovy says she doesn't have enough power or grip to attack. Well, Sarah, you can definitely do it. Ian James in the meantime, fending off the challenge. Robert Kubica believes he can do a double stint on the tires but will need to push hard to do it. His crew chief wants him to do a triple stint. He says he is OK with that. The key detail is that the track is gripping up and it means the tires are sliding less and they are not overheating. Marco Wittmann and Rene Rast continue their battle with the two Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8's. Robert Kubica has huge experience and is helping his teammates progress, Yifei Ye, the Chinese driver, and Israeli driver, Robert Shwartzman.
#83 was the only Ferrari to change al of their tires. Sarah Bovy is now telling the team she needs to lift and coast. Antonio Giovinazzi goes for a gap but one of the Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3's flies in there. Everyone tries straightlining those esses. They are compared to the Maggots/Becketts/Chapel corner sequence at Silverstone, but they are their own unique deal. The racing line isn't going all the way across the track. Giovinazzi was not expecting the GT3 car to move all the way over. There is debris between turns seven and eight that might need to be retrieved via a Full Course Yellow or a safety car as the BMW boys swap places.
Huge pressure from Rene Rast on Marco Wittmann. Marco... Rene is faster than you. Car #38, Oliver Rasmussen cops a five second penalty on his next pit stop for going off the road to overtake in the second Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963. OK then. Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari is told he has 19 laps left in his stint. Oliver Rasmussen has copped two separate time penalties for overtaking. Jeepers creepers! He will have 15 seconds added to the pit stop. He will have to hear the words of "Doc Hudson" from "Cars", "stay on the gray stuff, sunbeam. That's what it's there for."
Ian James and Sarah Bovy still within a second of each other with the Corvette of Tom van Rompuy next in third in the #81 TF Sport car and Maxime Martin in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3. Callum Ilott still racing behind Nyck de Vries. Toyota GR010 vs. privateer Porsche 963. That is the #12 Hertz Team Jota entry. Clement Mateu in the #777 D'station Aston Mattin is battling with Zacharie Robichon in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3. Ben Keating in the #88 Ford Mustang GT3 has gone down to 11th in class and is behind Darren Leung in the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.
Four and a half hours to go. The BMW IMSA team led by Bobby Rahal and David Letterman, the comedian, have been running the BMW M Hybrid V8 in the WeatherTech Championship a year longer compared to WRT. However, the IMSA WeatherTech Championship no longer races at Circuit of the Americas. They used to, but not anymore. There hasn't been an IMSA race at COTA for a few years now. Robert Kubica is positive and he says "I don't have a strategy, but anything is possible." Nyck de Vries is right with Marco Wittmann and Wittmann is doing all he knows to try passing Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac.
Lynn motoring ahead of Wittmann who is ahead of Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota. Harry Tincknell cops a drive through penalty in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963. Marco Wittmann says the rear end is all over the place. Hang in there, sunshine. As soon as the window opens, we will box. We can see the BMW wagging it's tail, stepping out through the corner. Wittmann is losing performance to his teammate Rene Rast in the sister #20 BMW M Hybrid V8. Porsche #12, Callum Ilott screams past Wittmann as does the Cadillac #2 I believe!
That was a close shave! The BMW was boxed in by the #27 Aaston Martin. Poor old Marco Wittmann's race is now going pear shaped. In this replay, we can see the #51 Ferrari 499P around the outside, giving absolutely no space to the Lexus RC F GT3. Psst the Texas flag they fly. We are just over an hour and a half into the race. In the Hypercar class, the established order can change dramatically. That is how competitive the top class is. Ian James stretching his advantage over Sarah Bovy who got stymied by the Hypercar battle we were just looking at.
Oh no! Marco Wittmann has gone off the road, someplace. That BMW is back on the road but is very wrorried. He completely spun because he has a flat tire. All the air has escaped from the tire. I think Wittmann is tired. He is physically fatigued and under investigation for overtaking and gaining and advantage over a GT3 car but lost two spots. He didn't have to slow down. Goodness me. That is bizarre. So, Alex Lynn is now into the top five. Earl Bamber tells us how things are going. He says that they had really good pace, but the Alpine hit the Cadillac in order to avoid hitting the BMW.
Marco Wittman's troubles have meant the Cadillac has moved to fifth. Raffaele Marciello is now at the wheel of the #15 BMW. Rene Rast in the #20 BMW chasing down Miguel Molina. The BMW is much quicker than its previous best race at Imola in Italy way back in April. Driver fatigue for Marco Wittmann and Raffaele Marciello must cop a penalty for overtaking in a bad spot. That was Marco Wittmann's maneuver of course. In GT3, Maxime Martin continues being chased by Tom van Rompuy. We are soon to being an hour and 45 minutes so the Bronze-rated drivers can do a driver change. Ian James will have finished his drive time by then.
Ian James, Sarah Bovy, Tom van Rompuy, Aleksandr Malykhin, Josh Caygill, Arnold Robin, Yasser Shahin, Hiroshi Koizumi, Takeshi Kimura, and Thomas Flohr, all of them will be finished. Excuse me. Thomas Flohr was late into the race, so he will have more driving to do. Callum Ilott is now chasing down Nyck de Vries. Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 #12 vs. Toyota #7. Maxime Martin in hot pursuit of Sarah Bovy. BMW vs. Lamborghini. Team WRT vs. Iron Dames. Bovy in defensive mode over Matin who is a platinum rated, factory driver.
Tom van Rompuy is sticking with this group and one of the Ferrari's spins! That is the #51! Oh man! Antonio Giovinazzi in traffic, tags one of the Peugeot's! There could be a penalty for that! I think that was Stoffel Vandoorne in the #94 and he is still stranded! Now, in GT3, Maxime Martin is going to go for it. Antonio Giovinazzi is still wondering what is wrong with the car. The engine is running but he is stuck in gear! My gosh! This is very disappointing for the #51 team. He could be stuck in neutral, revving the engine and dropping like a stone down the running order from second, down to 15th.
Finally! Mercifully, Giovinazzi is back on his way. Ferrari #51 will be out of contention. At Toyota, Mike Conway says the beginning of the race was like a jungle. He managed to gain places and Nyck de Vries is doing a solid job. There are hints of trouble for The Prancing Horse. GT3 pit stops, and Erwan Bastard has taken over the #777 D'station Aston Martin plus more driver changes. Ferrari #51 is in limp home mode and the team wll have to plug in the laptops and try to get the car to play ball. A plethora of GT3 cars have just stopped. Wow. The #51 Ferrari is coughing and spluttering to a stop./ He has no energy left.
He has run on empty. He cannot move. The mechanics will have to push the car. He has no first gear. You can't bump start the car in the pit lane. Wow. Trouble in paradise at Ferrari with four hours and ten minutes to go. Zacharie Robichon is now in the LMGT3 lead in the #77 Proton Comeptition Ford Mustang GT3. Stay in neutral. Antonio Giovinazzi is crushed. I think they are out. Now, Miguel Molina is being chased by Rene Rast. Molina now must change from a tortoise to a hare. The engine is running, the #51 Ferrari's motor but it has no gears. I think the transmission is shot.
They are putting the car on the hello dollies and is being wheeled into the garage. Only ten Hypercars will score points of the 18 starters. There can be weather and we'll see what is going to happen in the next four hours. Daniel Mancinelli is now in the leading #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin completing 52 laps, 177 miles. The #51 Ferrari was in gear, but the clutch would not release. Something might be wrong with the electronics. The #54 Ferrari 296 GT3 had the same trouble. Last year, on the last two stops at Le Mans, the engine would not start. Electronics do not like heat and vibration and it is hot today.
Very soon we are going to see Miguel Molina, Rene Rast, Alex Lynn, and Nyck de Vries in their battle. Ferrari, BMW, Cadillac, Toyota. Alex Lynn goes to the pit lane to top up on fuel. The BMW still has 11% energy! Are they running on fairy dust? Are they running on cinnamon sugar? What's going on here? The LMDh cars deploy their energy through the rear wheels instead of the front like the LMH cars. Oh! A touch! The BMW goes the long way and he snags the Ferrari for second when they got balked by one of the TF Sport Corvette's! Robert Kubica in the lane in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P.
The Corvette was defending a position and outbraked himself. Rene Rast leads for BMW with the #83 Ferrari in the lane. It is game over for the #51 Ferrari. They are retiring the car. Ferrari needs the points in the manufacturers' championship. Miguel Molina will be the only dog in the fight in the #50 car. BMW still running on their cinnamon sugar here. I really think so.
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