We seem to have a yellow flag on the speedway. Phillip Eng is stopped at one of the marshal posts with the BMW. Not sure what marshal post it is. It is the second chicane on the Mulsanne straight. So, obviously, there are yellow flags around. We continue to follow the LMP2 cars. The GT cars have just 15 sets of tires. Ben Keating asnd company have done 21 pit stops, double stinting tires. He'll have new tires. Patrick Lindsey has mirrored the strategy in LM GTE Am. Phillip Eng is being wheeled out of harm's way so as to not barge themselves into the back of the BMW M8 GTE. He'll have to recycle the electrics on that car and do a Control + Alt + Delete. Eng's speed is top notch and he's a team player.
Keating Motorsports is preparing a new front end for their Ford GT. There was a double local yellow that has been removed. The #85 car is very clean compared to many others that are out there after 22 hours of racing. The LMP2 class leading car has just pitted. Andre Negrao has done a lot of work and he is still at the wheel of the Alpine. Ben Keating brings the Ford GT #85 back to the lane, tidying up the car it appears. Our friend Damien Faulkner has just left the commentary box. Patrick Lindsey brings in the Project 1 Porsche and more pit action inclduing for the #7 Toyota. Kamui Kobayashi hands the carover to one of his team mates. The #8 car repeating their 2018 Le Mans triumph, any of those ideas have been put to bed.
Jorg Bergmeister in the Project 1 art car Porsche, is running well, partnered by Patrick Lindsey, and Edgidio Perfetti. Daniel Serra is ahead of Fred Makowiecki in LM GTE Pro. He's thrown caution to the wind. Fred Makowiecki brings the second place #91 Porsche 911 RSR, second in class in LM GTE Pro with Fred Makowiecki at the wheel of it. All of the brutal retirements and changes have come after dawn and into the afternoon, at this year's Le Mans. Patrick Pilet momentarily leapfrogs Makowiecki as the #68 Ford GT is in the lane. Alonso is closing in on Jose Maria Lopez in the leading Toyota. Alonso seems to be due a pit stop, or maybe Lopez is due one. Alonso is running lightweight, attacking it before his inlap.
Mike Rockenfeller in the #63 Corvette, he sits behind all four Chip Ganassi Ford GT's as Vitaly Petrov has pitted the #11 SMP Racing BR01. They have had a great Le Mans this year any way you slice it. Toyota #8 in the lane for fuel, tires and a driver change. Kazuki Nakajima will drive it. The #1 Rebellion has stalled. Hopefully there's no heat soak. Stoffel Vandoorne has run really well in the SMP BR01. Just over an hour and a half left in this race. Driver's are sweaty and tired, and their heart rates are way up there. The #26 G-Drive car has just pitted and Jean Eric Vergne I think took over the car. No. Job van Uitert stays at the wheel.
We have a Formula 1 Grand Prix length on our hands, with better cars, and better racing, honestly. Porsche #92 in the pit lane, languishing at the bottom of the deck. #85 Ford GT under investigation by the stewards. Oh dear. Ben Keating and company could be in trouble. Julien Andlauer and company make a pit stop. This is the car that got fined at Fuji. Mike Conway has set fastest lap. Sector times, best sector times, have gone to other cars besides Toyota. Rebellion has the straightline speed down the Mulsanne straight. Toyota is all around quickest, but not in a straight line.
The pace is amazing, 22 and a half hours into the race. Rebellion #3 in the pit lane. A driver change ios ahppening. Gideo van der Garde is having issues with the Jiumbo car again, and we saw Van der Garde's earlier shunt. Porsche #93 in the pit lane. A druver change, bt it is unclear who has gotten into the car. Patrick Pilet has handed the car to one of his team mates. Ditto for Gabriel Aubry, and Stoffel Vandoorne will take the SMP car to the flag in the next hour and 28 minutes. 99% of drivers hate slow corners. They like fast sweepers. Tje ;eft rear tire on the Racing Team Nederland car is going to tear that tire apart. Matt Campbell runs fourth in LM GTE Am.
Ben Keating still leads the class. Porsche has been telling their drivers to save fuel. Giedo van der Garde gets theRacing Team Nederland car to the pit lane without the tire delaminating. The future of Le Mans will be something other than petrol. Carbon burning is too much, perhaps. Ben Keating continues to lead LM GTE Am. Jorg Bergmeister is hunting down Ben Keating, though. We have just over an hour and 15 minutes left in the race. Nobody is resting on their laurels. Signatech Alpine comes in to make their final stop for the LMP2 class. The lead Ferrari has also pitted for the final time. Alessandro Pier Guidi takes the car home.
Does Jorg Bergmeister have to stop? I would say, yes. The weather was wet early in the weekn, but it's been perfect weather for the rest of the weekend. The #7 Toyota makes their next to last stop. They will need one more before the race ends. A penalty for Ben Keating for spinning the wheels at the end of the pit lane! Oh no! This means Jorg Bergmeister and Project 1 look like they will win LM GTE Am. TDS Racing is in the pit lane. Ben Keating's penalty was self inflicted. Antonio Garcia and Olivier Pla are still battling each other. Corvette vs. Ford GT. Ben Keating cannot take his stop/go penalty and a pit stop for service at the same time.
Jorg Bergmiester is catching Ben Keating for the LM GTE Am lead, and Bergmiestier is going to fly past the Ford GT and he spun the wheels again! Good grief! These cars have race bred clutches, and it's hard to get the car off the line without spinning the wheels. A puncture for the #7 Toyota! Oh dear. They got lucky on this one. That was a big break for Toyota. Kazuki Nakajima will be the next car in. Both Toyota's have to make one more pit stop. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads LM GTE Pro. Jesse Krohn in the #82 BMW M8 GTE is last in GTE Pro.
Problems for the #7 Toyota. He has lost his nhybrid drive with an hour to go! Wow! It is all happening. He's saying nnow that everything is fine, or he's keeping nthe car in third gear. Make that second gar. Jose Maria Lopez has an electronics issue! Wow! The system and/or the tirte needs to be changed.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 22
The GTE Pro cars are blocked by one of the Toyota's. Two hours and 50 minutes still to go. That crash for the Jumbo car was really scary. That was a head on impact with the wall. Nyck de Vries had a tire or suspension failture. Head on into the wall, and no deceleration. The tire wall did absorb the impact. Kamui Kobayashi just took a scheduled pit stop, and Fernando Alonso is chasing. Both of them are on the same lap. They are on the same lap, just barely, separated by 3:11. The track seems really greasy at certain places, especially Arnage. Fernando Alonso has clear track ahead of him here, at Le Mans. Kamui Kobayashi's lead is big, but Alonso is taking time out of Kobayashi or so it appears. The Jumbo Supermarkets Dallara is being repaired in the garage after having three wheels on ye olde wagon. The team wnats to get to the end as we almost have the length of a full IMSA sprint race left to run.
Satoshi Hoshino after his accident with Marcel Fassler, he decided to retire from the race. Pit stop time for the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car, and Stephane Richelmi hands the car over. Andre Negrao continues to lead LMP2 in the Signatech Alpine. Two Ferrari's battle and one of the Am class ones goes all the way off onto the dirt on the hard shoulder! Yikes! That was the Carguy Racing machine. Porsche #91 pits. An interesting battle in GTE Am between Ben Keating and Patrick Lindsey, two of the top Am drivers. Ford vs. Porsche as well. Personal best sector times are being put in, as the track is really quick. We have had no rain. The racing line is quick and grippy, but off line, there's a lot of junk, a lot of clag. It's cool and cloidy. No sun around. Great lap times are possible. Today, because of the cool temperature and the low ceiling of cloud cover, the track conditions are pretty good.
The clouds are giving a lot of shade. Teams can be more flexible on tire/tire compound choice. The driver's enjoy this even though their cockpits will still be warm. You are not sweating as much as on a hotter day. Alonso gets balked and he chops across one of his competitors. Will Alonso be headed for the sin bin? Alonso is a pro, but he is also somewhat hotheaded. Alonso has to think about the World Championship. Porsche #92 in pit lane. Maybe there was debris on the road. I apologize, Fernando, for what I just said. Can Fernando Alonso close in on Kamui Kobayashi?
The Signatech Alphine pits. Le Mans is not as much of a physucally demanding circuit excep-t in terms of G loading. Matt Griffin runs his fastest lap and the fastest lap for the Clearwater Ferrari 488 GTE, passing the JMW Ferrari. Porsche #93 pits for a routine stop from third in GTE Pro to leapfrog team mate Nick Tandy. Pro drivers will carry more speed off a corner in GTE Pro and the GTE Am cars also have a smaller air restrictor on the engine. The gap between Kobayashi and Alonso has dropped by two seconds. Alonso is faster than Kamui Kobayashi as Andy Priaulx has clear track in GTE Pro.
Jan Magnussen is back on track. He is eighth in LM GTE Pro. We have seen pit stops for Andre Negrao, Fernando Alonso, and others in the pit lane. Alex Brundle is down in 14th overall in the Uniuted Autosport #32 Ligier. We are coming up on the final two hours of this motor race as Thomas Laurent, one of the biggest sports car racing stars, he has a contract with Toyota as test and reserve driver. He has also found an idea to race in LMP2 as well. You can test as much as you want, but being in competition, will keep you sharp as a driver. Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer says the power downgrade worked the tires harder and we saw more tire degradation. Marco Sorenson is thankfully OK. Kamui Kobayashi pits for another stop.
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Fernando Alonso has actually been lapping quicker by 1.5 seconds. It could be Kobayashi's 32nd pit stop in the race. 32 stops it is. That's the same as the sister car, and the AF Corse aFerrari has also pitted. New boots for James Calado, who is the class leader in the #51 Ferrari. The gap is down to 2:10 between Kobayashi and Alonso. Kobayashi is one stop ahead.; Alonso has just run a 3:21. In GTE Pro, James Calado leads by over a minute to Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet in two of the Porsche's followed by Dirk Mueller in the #66 Ford GT. Ben Keating is finishing the race in the #85 Wynn's Ford GT.
The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca has pitted. Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi, and Gabriel Aubry. Ben Keating is in the pit lane with the #85 Ford GT. There is a double yellow at marshal post 24 and 25. The GTE Pro cars have run really reliably all race so far. The three safety cars have split the field up. The Full Course Yellow is still there, but the safety cars just split the field up. That's what happens.
Satoshi Hoshino after his accident with Marcel Fassler, he decided to retire from the race. Pit stop time for the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car, and Stephane Richelmi hands the car over. Andre Negrao continues to lead LMP2 in the Signatech Alpine. Two Ferrari's battle and one of the Am class ones goes all the way off onto the dirt on the hard shoulder! Yikes! That was the Carguy Racing machine. Porsche #91 pits. An interesting battle in GTE Am between Ben Keating and Patrick Lindsey, two of the top Am drivers. Ford vs. Porsche as well. Personal best sector times are being put in, as the track is really quick. We have had no rain. The racing line is quick and grippy, but off line, there's a lot of junk, a lot of clag. It's cool and cloidy. No sun around. Great lap times are possible. Today, because of the cool temperature and the low ceiling of cloud cover, the track conditions are pretty good.
The clouds are giving a lot of shade. Teams can be more flexible on tire/tire compound choice. The driver's enjoy this even though their cockpits will still be warm. You are not sweating as much as on a hotter day. Alonso gets balked and he chops across one of his competitors. Will Alonso be headed for the sin bin? Alonso is a pro, but he is also somewhat hotheaded. Alonso has to think about the World Championship. Porsche #92 in pit lane. Maybe there was debris on the road. I apologize, Fernando, for what I just said. Can Fernando Alonso close in on Kamui Kobayashi?
The Signatech Alphine pits. Le Mans is not as much of a physucally demanding circuit excep-t in terms of G loading. Matt Griffin runs his fastest lap and the fastest lap for the Clearwater Ferrari 488 GTE, passing the JMW Ferrari. Porsche #93 pits for a routine stop from third in GTE Pro to leapfrog team mate Nick Tandy. Pro drivers will carry more speed off a corner in GTE Pro and the GTE Am cars also have a smaller air restrictor on the engine. The gap between Kobayashi and Alonso has dropped by two seconds. Alonso is faster than Kamui Kobayashi as Andy Priaulx has clear track in GTE Pro.
Jan Magnussen is back on track. He is eighth in LM GTE Pro. We have seen pit stops for Andre Negrao, Fernando Alonso, and others in the pit lane. Alex Brundle is down in 14th overall in the Uniuted Autosport #32 Ligier. We are coming up on the final two hours of this motor race as Thomas Laurent, one of the biggest sports car racing stars, he has a contract with Toyota as test and reserve driver. He has also found an idea to race in LMP2 as well. You can test as much as you want, but being in competition, will keep you sharp as a driver. Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer says the power downgrade worked the tires harder and we saw more tire degradation. Marco Sorenson is thankfully OK. Kamui Kobayashi pits for another stop.
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Fernando Alonso has actually been lapping quicker by 1.5 seconds. It could be Kobayashi's 32nd pit stop in the race. 32 stops it is. That's the same as the sister car, and the AF Corse aFerrari has also pitted. New boots for James Calado, who is the class leader in the #51 Ferrari. The gap is down to 2:10 between Kobayashi and Alonso. Kobayashi is one stop ahead.; Alonso has just run a 3:21. In GTE Pro, James Calado leads by over a minute to Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet in two of the Porsche's followed by Dirk Mueller in the #66 Ford GT. Ben Keating is finishing the race in the #85 Wynn's Ford GT.
The #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca has pitted. Ho-Pin Tung, Stephane Richelmi, and Gabriel Aubry. Ben Keating is in the pit lane with the #85 Ford GT. There is a double yellow at marshal post 24 and 25. The GTE Pro cars have run really reliably all race so far. The three safety cars have split the field up. The Full Course Yellow is still there, but the safety cars just split the field up. That's what happens.
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 21
Aston Martin is still struggling. Signatech Alpine has just taken a pit stop again. There was a problem with the starter motor on one of the cars. Will there be rain in these final 3+ hours? There are clouds rolling in over the carnival it seems. Sebastien Buemi is searching for team mate Kamui Kobayashi, as Fernando Alonso is ready to take over. The #8 car has the finish at least seventh to clinch the title, but he wants to win. This is a family feud at Toyota. We shall have to see what happens in this last three hours and 50 minutes. Jean Eric Vergne has been overheating. Fernando Alonso has not been too happy throughout this race. The #8 car has just not had the pace of the #7 machine, honestly. The Alonso/Buemi/Nakajima car won Spa, and hasn't been changed one iota since then. There was something about floor damage, but has that come up for some parts of this race? If it has, it doesn't seem to be so. Yet, they have not had the pace.
The #69 Ford GT has been dinged by the stewards for being too fast through a slow zone. Gianmaria Bruni, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Garcia are the three protagonists in LM GTE Pro. This is the last time we will see the C-7-R- Corvette here at Le Mans. The quality of the drivers in LM GTE Pro is incredible. Absolutely superb. Pit stop time for the #92 Porsche 911 RSR. That's the Christensen/Vanthoor/Estre car. CORE Autosport with Nick Tandy might inherit the spot over the Porsche GT Team. Kamui Kobayashi pits the #7 Toyota and Andre Lotterer has a rsgged pit entry in the #1 Rebellion car. Bruni and Ryan Briscoe both get ten second penalties they'll have to take at their next pit stops. Nick Tandy joins behind Richard Lietz.
BMW MTEK is tenth with Antonio Felix Da Costa in the sole surviving BMW M8 GTE. Da Costa sharing with Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn, the Portuguese, the Brazilian, and the Finn. There's a yellow flag and the Jumbo Supermarkets car of Nyck de Vries slides through the gravel at Indianapolis, and he crashes it! It had to be a mechanical failure. Nyck de Vries, leader in the Formula 2 championship, he is a good driver. This is our fourth safety car of the race, as we've mostly had Full Course Yellow's or Slow Zones. The material holding the tires is conveyor belt material from the candy making industry.
The Dempsey Proton Porsche #88 has driven into the pit lane. We have three safety cars here at Le Mans because of the length of the track, and two safety cars are used at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, even though Spa is half the distance, half the length, of Le Mans. Corvette are taking the risk of pitting. Corvette fills the car to the brim with petrol. AF Corse and James Calado take the lead in LM GTE Pro. Frits van Eerd, the owner of Jumbo Supermarkets, the biggest supermarket chain in Holland, is making the most of his sponsorship investment, he'll have to, to try and repair the car. He's fine. The Corvette has lost the lead in GTE Pro, having to be held in the crocodile in the pit lane.
They are now a lap down to the Ferrari in LM GTE Pro. AF Corse still owes us a stop. The Jumbo car is destroying itself. Knives and forks in the tumble dryer, and carbon fiber scraping the pavement 3-4 miles away from home. That front wheel is pointing at Paris, not at Le Mans. #7 is leading the #8 Toyota at the moment. Jan Magnussen is losing time to James Calado, but is still on the lead lap. Calado is now at the head of GTE Pro, and he wants a Le Mans win on his CV. That Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217 Gibson is compromised. The car is not steering at all. The damage is too great. We've got two full length Formula 1 races left to run.
The windscreen will have to be completely re-bonded. That's going to be tough. Job van Uitert is 20 years old, and ended up leading his first Le Mans. Just like Nyck de Vries and Renger van der Zande. Some real up and coming Dutch drivers. Ford GT #67 is in the pit lane. The FIA and the ACO tried to not use the safety car, and tried to use the Full Course Yellow's, but the safety car periods were used. The safety car travels faster than the cars do in slow zones. Nathaniel Berthon brings the #3 Rebellion into the lane. Rebellion will have to get back out into the safety car crocodile.
But, the safety car lights are off, so, we will be going back to green. Nick Tandy has a ten second penalty, for speeding out of the pit lane. We are back to green, the field, stacked. GTE Pro war is on! Hang on to your hollyhocks here, boys. Porsche Weissach vs. Porsche North America. Andrea Pizzitola escapes from the Porsche GTE Pro battle.; This is an angry battle between the Porsche's. Toyota #8 tries to pass another LMP1 car and this frightens Felipe Fraga into going off the road and Jan Magnussen also goes off the track. Things are going from bad to worse for Corvette. No chance for Magnussen to warm up the tires and he hits the wall, look. Check the safety of the steering. Ferrari are in the pound seats now.
Nick Tandy tries to beat the light out of the lane and crosses the blend line. So, he will be dinged for that. Richard Lietz might lose second spot if he has trouble with track limits. The #86 Gulf Porsche overshoots the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Porsche is getting eaten up now by Ferrari and Corvette are in panic mode to get their sole remaining car, fixed. James Calado is back into the pit lane. Ferrari are in the driver's seat in GTE Pro it appears. Stay calm. Corvette #63 comes back out of the pit lane. Here comes Ferrari, too. Jan Magnussen rejoins but he is almost two laps behind.
Yoiu can pick up tons of debris at a track like Le Mans. Jan Magnussen will be kicking himself, losing his 21st Le Mans. Andre Negrao has run extremely well and if they win the race, they will almost certainly win the championship. James Calado and Daniel Serra are running really well. What a shame for BMW. They have not had good luck at Le Mans at all even though they won last time out at Spa Francorchamps. This is their final race. BMW is headed to Formula E, but it is a loss to endurance racing.
The racing has been incredible. There's a battle for ninth and tenth in LM GTE Pro. BMW is fending off Porsche for bragging rights and more. Matthieu Jaminet makes the pass on the BMW into the chicane on the Mulsanne.
The #69 Ford GT has been dinged by the stewards for being too fast through a slow zone. Gianmaria Bruni, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Garcia are the three protagonists in LM GTE Pro. This is the last time we will see the C-7-R- Corvette here at Le Mans. The quality of the drivers in LM GTE Pro is incredible. Absolutely superb. Pit stop time for the #92 Porsche 911 RSR. That's the Christensen/Vanthoor/Estre car. CORE Autosport with Nick Tandy might inherit the spot over the Porsche GT Team. Kamui Kobayashi pits the #7 Toyota and Andre Lotterer has a rsgged pit entry in the #1 Rebellion car. Bruni and Ryan Briscoe both get ten second penalties they'll have to take at their next pit stops. Nick Tandy joins behind Richard Lietz.
BMW MTEK is tenth with Antonio Felix Da Costa in the sole surviving BMW M8 GTE. Da Costa sharing with Augusto Farfus and Jesse Krohn, the Portuguese, the Brazilian, and the Finn. There's a yellow flag and the Jumbo Supermarkets car of Nyck de Vries slides through the gravel at Indianapolis, and he crashes it! It had to be a mechanical failure. Nyck de Vries, leader in the Formula 2 championship, he is a good driver. This is our fourth safety car of the race, as we've mostly had Full Course Yellow's or Slow Zones. The material holding the tires is conveyor belt material from the candy making industry.
The Dempsey Proton Porsche #88 has driven into the pit lane. We have three safety cars here at Le Mans because of the length of the track, and two safety cars are used at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium, even though Spa is half the distance, half the length, of Le Mans. Corvette are taking the risk of pitting. Corvette fills the car to the brim with petrol. AF Corse and James Calado take the lead in LM GTE Pro. Frits van Eerd, the owner of Jumbo Supermarkets, the biggest supermarket chain in Holland, is making the most of his sponsorship investment, he'll have to, to try and repair the car. He's fine. The Corvette has lost the lead in GTE Pro, having to be held in the crocodile in the pit lane.
They are now a lap down to the Ferrari in LM GTE Pro. AF Corse still owes us a stop. The Jumbo car is destroying itself. Knives and forks in the tumble dryer, and carbon fiber scraping the pavement 3-4 miles away from home. That front wheel is pointing at Paris, not at Le Mans. #7 is leading the #8 Toyota at the moment. Jan Magnussen is losing time to James Calado, but is still on the lead lap. Calado is now at the head of GTE Pro, and he wants a Le Mans win on his CV. That Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217 Gibson is compromised. The car is not steering at all. The damage is too great. We've got two full length Formula 1 races left to run.
The windscreen will have to be completely re-bonded. That's going to be tough. Job van Uitert is 20 years old, and ended up leading his first Le Mans. Just like Nyck de Vries and Renger van der Zande. Some real up and coming Dutch drivers. Ford GT #67 is in the pit lane. The FIA and the ACO tried to not use the safety car, and tried to use the Full Course Yellow's, but the safety car periods were used. The safety car travels faster than the cars do in slow zones. Nathaniel Berthon brings the #3 Rebellion into the lane. Rebellion will have to get back out into the safety car crocodile.
But, the safety car lights are off, so, we will be going back to green. Nick Tandy has a ten second penalty, for speeding out of the pit lane. We are back to green, the field, stacked. GTE Pro war is on! Hang on to your hollyhocks here, boys. Porsche Weissach vs. Porsche North America. Andrea Pizzitola escapes from the Porsche GTE Pro battle.; This is an angry battle between the Porsche's. Toyota #8 tries to pass another LMP1 car and this frightens Felipe Fraga into going off the road and Jan Magnussen also goes off the track. Things are going from bad to worse for Corvette. No chance for Magnussen to warm up the tires and he hits the wall, look. Check the safety of the steering. Ferrari are in the pound seats now.
Nick Tandy tries to beat the light out of the lane and crosses the blend line. So, he will be dinged for that. Richard Lietz might lose second spot if he has trouble with track limits. The #86 Gulf Porsche overshoots the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Porsche is getting eaten up now by Ferrari and Corvette are in panic mode to get their sole remaining car, fixed. James Calado is back into the pit lane. Ferrari are in the driver's seat in GTE Pro it appears. Stay calm. Corvette #63 comes back out of the pit lane. Here comes Ferrari, too. Jan Magnussen rejoins but he is almost two laps behind.
Yoiu can pick up tons of debris at a track like Le Mans. Jan Magnussen will be kicking himself, losing his 21st Le Mans. Andre Negrao has run extremely well and if they win the race, they will almost certainly win the championship. James Calado and Daniel Serra are running really well. What a shame for BMW. They have not had good luck at Le Mans at all even though they won last time out at Spa Francorchamps. This is their final race. BMW is headed to Formula E, but it is a loss to endurance racing.
The racing has been incredible. There's a battle for ninth and tenth in LM GTE Pro. BMW is fending off Porsche for bragging rights and more. Matthieu Jaminet makes the pass on the BMW into the chicane on the Mulsanne.
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 20
Problems for the #7 Toyota, perhaps. What could the matter be? Pit stop time for the #32 United Autosports car, the Brundle/Cullen/Owen machine. That car had lost it's rear deck lid which flew off the car, and was retrieved by a marshal. Will Stevens is being chased by Jean-Eric Vergne. Not everything is set in stone in this motor race just yet. We are down to four hours and 45 minutes remaining as Will Stevens is still being harried by Jean Eric Vergne, both of these blokes used to race in Formula 1. Vergne had a heat soak incident on the car and it wouldn't start. Ho-Pin Tung hits the lane for service. There is a driver change. There is a nose change happening on the #38 car as well to adjust the balance on the car.
Again, we had a relatively low attrition rate, of 11 cars. 50 cars still remain in the motor race./ Jean Eric Vergne is throwing caution to the wind, as the #3 Rebellion car is boxed in the garage with Nathaniel Berthon at the wheel of it. Sebastien Buemi is just a minute and 48 seconds down on Mike Conway. The gap is narrowing. Fatigue is really beginning to set in at this point in the race. These next four hours will also tell us if the cars are going to last in terms of mechanical things, or crash avoidance. Stephane Richelmi is 15 laps down to the leaders. FAernando Alonso has been for the espressos and too bad they can't put espresso in the petrol tank of Toyota #8. They're not easing off, but, if you change your rhythm, it fcan be disastrous. Muscle memory, and driving flat out, those ideas go hand in hand. Adjusting into cruise mode, you get distracted. It's all about muscle memory to avoid mistakes. Now, the #3 Rebellion is back on track, but they've been demoted by the leading LMP2 car or so it seems.
SignaTech Alpine are ready for Ncio Lapierre and pit stop time for the #63 Corvette, so the #51 AF Corse Ferrari will inherit the lead in LM GTE Pro, and the #77 Porsche 911 RSR is back into the lead in LM GTE Am. Julien Andlauer, the Frenchman, is in the car. LMP2 cars are mixing it with LMP1's,. Charlie Eastwood is fastest in GTE Am in 13th in class. Good onya' TF Sport! GTE Pro sees many cars all on the same lap. Four and a half hours left. Loic Duval has Filipe Albuquerque following, but Albuquerque is down the order. Nicolas Lapierre is a lap up on Stephane Richelmi, who, in turn is being pressed by Loic Duval and the #3 Rebellion dives inside and goes wide as the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, is going to go in full attack mode against the team car.
The attendance numbers are well down, because of the gloomy weather forecast. Sebastien Buemi is running three or so minutes behind Mike Conway. Car #54 has had 3:08 added and a load of laps deleted from it's lap count. That's the Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE with Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel of it. Car #57 has had 1:38 added for exceeding the driving time. That's the Car Guy Racing Ferrari 488 GTE. Toyota #7 has been running absolutely flawlessly. Within the regulations, there are limits for how long drivers can spend at the wheel. Two cars dinged for this, the Giancarlo Fisichella Spirit of Race Ferrari, having four laps deleted from it's total; lap count, and problems for Inter Europol and Nigel Moore at the wheel of it. That Ligier is being torn up. He's got four miles to go.
Toyota #7 in the lane, fellas. What's the plan? Brand new tires for the #7 Toyota. Nigel Moore is making sure to get the Inter Europol car back slowly to the pit lane. Mikhail Aleshin has the #11 SMP Racing machine in the pit lane as well. Sebastien Buemi is kicking down the door and inviting himself to the party. The mechanic as the #85 Ford GT came in for service, lost a wheel nut off of a cable tie that is fastened to his overalls. Felipe Fraga is one lap up on Wei Lu in the JMW Ferrari. The #68 Ford GT runs wide, kicking up those sharp, stone like pebbles, the gravel in the gravel trap on the side of the road.
1:54 separates the two Toyota's. Alessandro Pier Guidi brings the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to pit lane, and here comes Antonio Garcia in the #63 Corvette which vaults to the lead in GTE Pro. Ferrari was moderately anonymous in qualifying. The Ferrari is a very balanced car. Porsche's used to be very specialized. It is a technique you develop with a Porsche, but the balance of the Ferrari is better, and it's easierr to take a car like that, to the limit. We are almost through 20 hours of the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. Coming up on four hours to go.
Nico Lapierre leads Stephane Richelmi by a lap. The maximum permitted driving time, no driver can race for more than four hours in a period of six hours, and you cannot drive more than 14 hours in total. In LM GTE Pro, there is no regulated drive time, but there is for the LM GTE Am class. Four hours and five minutes left. We will be coming up to the end of the current hour and preparing to close in on the final hours of the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans before the "Super Season" ends. Rebellion have gotten noticed, but, they have had a real bad race. The drivers continue to recycle their rotation. A quick nap can really rejuvenate a driver.
Felipe Fraga is finding two seconds on the rest of the GTE Am field. That Keating car is quick, but Ben Keating still has three hours of drive time to accomplish. He will have to take the reins, soon.
Keating is very capable.
Again, we had a relatively low attrition rate, of 11 cars. 50 cars still remain in the motor race./ Jean Eric Vergne is throwing caution to the wind, as the #3 Rebellion car is boxed in the garage with Nathaniel Berthon at the wheel of it. Sebastien Buemi is just a minute and 48 seconds down on Mike Conway. The gap is narrowing. Fatigue is really beginning to set in at this point in the race. These next four hours will also tell us if the cars are going to last in terms of mechanical things, or crash avoidance. Stephane Richelmi is 15 laps down to the leaders. FAernando Alonso has been for the espressos and too bad they can't put espresso in the petrol tank of Toyota #8. They're not easing off, but, if you change your rhythm, it fcan be disastrous. Muscle memory, and driving flat out, those ideas go hand in hand. Adjusting into cruise mode, you get distracted. It's all about muscle memory to avoid mistakes. Now, the #3 Rebellion is back on track, but they've been demoted by the leading LMP2 car or so it seems.
SignaTech Alpine are ready for Ncio Lapierre and pit stop time for the #63 Corvette, so the #51 AF Corse Ferrari will inherit the lead in LM GTE Pro, and the #77 Porsche 911 RSR is back into the lead in LM GTE Am. Julien Andlauer, the Frenchman, is in the car. LMP2 cars are mixing it with LMP1's,. Charlie Eastwood is fastest in GTE Am in 13th in class. Good onya' TF Sport! GTE Pro sees many cars all on the same lap. Four and a half hours left. Loic Duval has Filipe Albuquerque following, but Albuquerque is down the order. Nicolas Lapierre is a lap up on Stephane Richelmi, who, in turn is being pressed by Loic Duval and the #3 Rebellion dives inside and goes wide as the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, is going to go in full attack mode against the team car.
The attendance numbers are well down, because of the gloomy weather forecast. Sebastien Buemi is running three or so minutes behind Mike Conway. Car #54 has had 3:08 added and a load of laps deleted from it's lap count. That's the Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE with Giancarlo Fisichella at the wheel of it. Car #57 has had 1:38 added for exceeding the driving time. That's the Car Guy Racing Ferrari 488 GTE. Toyota #7 has been running absolutely flawlessly. Within the regulations, there are limits for how long drivers can spend at the wheel. Two cars dinged for this, the Giancarlo Fisichella Spirit of Race Ferrari, having four laps deleted from it's total; lap count, and problems for Inter Europol and Nigel Moore at the wheel of it. That Ligier is being torn up. He's got four miles to go.
Toyota #7 in the lane, fellas. What's the plan? Brand new tires for the #7 Toyota. Nigel Moore is making sure to get the Inter Europol car back slowly to the pit lane. Mikhail Aleshin has the #11 SMP Racing machine in the pit lane as well. Sebastien Buemi is kicking down the door and inviting himself to the party. The mechanic as the #85 Ford GT came in for service, lost a wheel nut off of a cable tie that is fastened to his overalls. Felipe Fraga is one lap up on Wei Lu in the JMW Ferrari. The #68 Ford GT runs wide, kicking up those sharp, stone like pebbles, the gravel in the gravel trap on the side of the road.
1:54 separates the two Toyota's. Alessandro Pier Guidi brings the #51 AF Corse Ferrari to pit lane, and here comes Antonio Garcia in the #63 Corvette which vaults to the lead in GTE Pro. Ferrari was moderately anonymous in qualifying. The Ferrari is a very balanced car. Porsche's used to be very specialized. It is a technique you develop with a Porsche, but the balance of the Ferrari is better, and it's easierr to take a car like that, to the limit. We are almost through 20 hours of the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. Coming up on four hours to go.
Nico Lapierre leads Stephane Richelmi by a lap. The maximum permitted driving time, no driver can race for more than four hours in a period of six hours, and you cannot drive more than 14 hours in total. In LM GTE Pro, there is no regulated drive time, but there is for the LM GTE Am class. Four hours and five minutes left. We will be coming up to the end of the current hour and preparing to close in on the final hours of the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans before the "Super Season" ends. Rebellion have gotten noticed, but, they have had a real bad race. The drivers continue to recycle their rotation. A quick nap can really rejuvenate a driver.
Felipe Fraga is finding two seconds on the rest of the GTE Am field. That Keating car is quick, but Ben Keating still has three hours of drive time to accomplish. He will have to take the reins, soon.
Keating is very capable.
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 19
Mike Conway still leads this race. You've not missed much at the sharp end. The sun has come up and the racing remains hot and heavy. Rebellion and SMP have continued to battle. Nothing in it in GTE Pro as well. The battle has been thundering on all night and into the daylight hours. Patrick Lindsey knows there is a lot of racing left but he wants to stay in it for the championship. Romain Rusinov brings the Auris LMP2 car into the pit for G-Drive. We had a couple spritzes of rain at night, but it's been pretty dry, it's been perfect conditions. The G-Drive car has been rotated into the garage, for a brake pad change, possibly. But no, it's more than that! It's the leading LMP2 car now hitting trouble! Oh dear! There's trouble at the back end of the automobile, look. Corvette still leads AF Corse Ferrari and Porsche in LM GTE Pro.
Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga have covered a lot of the driving for Keating Motorsports. The Alpine pitted for routine service. Pierre Thiriet leads LMP2. G-Drive are going to lost a lap here. Debris on the road at the Ford chicane, marshals post 35. We have the rest of the length of a WEC race to go, and four Formula 1 races, more or less. G-Drive could be having electrical troubles. Big lockup there by the Alpine! Yikes! All hands on deck at G-Drive. Romain Rusinov is staying at the wheel of the car. The car failed to start after it's routine stop. The car has to fire up under it's own power. You can't bump start the car.
Toyota #7 is in the pit lane. Conway has been leading this race for 16 hours. Will it be his year here at Le Mans? He deserves it. The flip side is the car #8 has just not handled or had the top speed. Car #7 has had the performance edge all race so far. G-Drive is still having troubles. The starter motor isn't working it appears. Corvette, AF Corse, Porsche, Ford, are still in contention in LM GTE Pro. It is Father's Day today. Happy Father's Day, once again, to all the dad's out there. DragonSpeed, Jackie Chan Racing, Arc Bratislava, Aston Martin, AF Corse, Dempsey Proton, and others have retired. We've had 11 retirements total.
Rebellion in the lane, and Porsche in the lane. This is no longer endurance racing. It is sprint racing, in a series of sprint races during an endurance contest. G-Drive are back on track, hopefully fixed, but they've lost buckets of time. Corvette #63 in the lane for service and a driver changr as Antonio Garcia gets into the car. Alessandro Pier Guidi now leads LM GTE Pro. The Corvette is really quick in a straight line. The wind speed, wind direction, and geart ratios will affect the situation, and we see trouble for the Rebellion, with no drive for the #3, in limp it home mode. It has no juice at the moment. Nathaniel Berthon at the wheel of it. It is a lap up on the sister Rebellion #1, Andre Lotterer at the wheel of it.
Menezes might have a braking issue. The pit crew has brake fluid ready to go. Maybe they will change the brake pads. The pads, the rotors, or both. If you have a problem on the final lap of the race at Le Mans and don't cross the line, you won't be classified. Rebellion again in the pits, fueling the car and putting the dollies under the car to get it into the garage. They're definitely lookng at the brakes, and it's perhpas the pedal box. Is the linkage broken? Andre Lotterer in the sister Rebellion will make a pass. Bart Hayden and company are going for it. They have to stay in contention. Rebellion #1 has moved up a position.
Will Stevens pits the Panis Barthez car. Cooper MacNeil is getting a warning from the stewards for driving standards. Again, the #8 Toyota is a minute and a half behind the sister car in the sister #7 car. Paul Newman, Patrick Dempsey, James Garner, Steve McQueen, and others wanted to race. The #84 JMW Motorsports Ferrari has run well. Same for Keating Motorsports as we look at replays. Everything has sadly gone wrong for Aston Martin. Maxime Martin and company have been really behind the eight ball. They lost nine brake horsepowert, 0.3 bar of turbo boost. By putting the car on pole, they made a mistake.
BoP is very difficult, because you have to balance a normally aspirated engine vs. a turbocharged engine, and turbo boost can be messed with on a turbo car. The #3 Rebellion is headed back on track adfter a pit stop. They've dropped to last in the LMP1 class, with their team mate, Andre Lotterer, passing them. Mike Conway leads Sebastien Buemi by 1:53, and Buemi is a full second behind Conway. The #8 can do a one lap sprint, but the balance on the car is just not on. Toyota #8 is in the pit lane. The track surface evolves each day that the cars are on track before and during the race. Jusrt over five hours remain in Le Mans 2019.
Loic Duval has the TDS Racing car in the pit lane, sharing with Loic Duval, Francois Perrodo, and Matthieu Vaxiviere, all three Frenchmen. 1,300 marshals working here at Le Mans, and there's a yrllow flag as the back bonnet has come off the United Autosports LMP2 car. We have a Full Course Yellow. That is the #32 machine with Will Owen at the wheel sharing with Alex Brundle and Ryan Cullen. The marshal retrieves the bonnet. Now, we are back to green once again. Toyota #7 and more, have opportunities to do a splash and dash.
The marshals are such a huge element to this race and they come to work for free. They love racing and they get the best seat in the house at Le Mans, but the danger is still there for the marshals. The energy of a crash ricochets through the barrier.
Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga have covered a lot of the driving for Keating Motorsports. The Alpine pitted for routine service. Pierre Thiriet leads LMP2. G-Drive are going to lost a lap here. Debris on the road at the Ford chicane, marshals post 35. We have the rest of the length of a WEC race to go, and four Formula 1 races, more or less. G-Drive could be having electrical troubles. Big lockup there by the Alpine! Yikes! All hands on deck at G-Drive. Romain Rusinov is staying at the wheel of the car. The car failed to start after it's routine stop. The car has to fire up under it's own power. You can't bump start the car.
Toyota #7 is in the pit lane. Conway has been leading this race for 16 hours. Will it be his year here at Le Mans? He deserves it. The flip side is the car #8 has just not handled or had the top speed. Car #7 has had the performance edge all race so far. G-Drive is still having troubles. The starter motor isn't working it appears. Corvette, AF Corse, Porsche, Ford, are still in contention in LM GTE Pro. It is Father's Day today. Happy Father's Day, once again, to all the dad's out there. DragonSpeed, Jackie Chan Racing, Arc Bratislava, Aston Martin, AF Corse, Dempsey Proton, and others have retired. We've had 11 retirements total.
Rebellion in the lane, and Porsche in the lane. This is no longer endurance racing. It is sprint racing, in a series of sprint races during an endurance contest. G-Drive are back on track, hopefully fixed, but they've lost buckets of time. Corvette #63 in the lane for service and a driver changr as Antonio Garcia gets into the car. Alessandro Pier Guidi now leads LM GTE Pro. The Corvette is really quick in a straight line. The wind speed, wind direction, and geart ratios will affect the situation, and we see trouble for the Rebellion, with no drive for the #3, in limp it home mode. It has no juice at the moment. Nathaniel Berthon at the wheel of it. It is a lap up on the sister Rebellion #1, Andre Lotterer at the wheel of it.
Menezes might have a braking issue. The pit crew has brake fluid ready to go. Maybe they will change the brake pads. The pads, the rotors, or both. If you have a problem on the final lap of the race at Le Mans and don't cross the line, you won't be classified. Rebellion again in the pits, fueling the car and putting the dollies under the car to get it into the garage. They're definitely lookng at the brakes, and it's perhpas the pedal box. Is the linkage broken? Andre Lotterer in the sister Rebellion will make a pass. Bart Hayden and company are going for it. They have to stay in contention. Rebellion #1 has moved up a position.
Will Stevens pits the Panis Barthez car. Cooper MacNeil is getting a warning from the stewards for driving standards. Again, the #8 Toyota is a minute and a half behind the sister car in the sister #7 car. Paul Newman, Patrick Dempsey, James Garner, Steve McQueen, and others wanted to race. The #84 JMW Motorsports Ferrari has run well. Same for Keating Motorsports as we look at replays. Everything has sadly gone wrong for Aston Martin. Maxime Martin and company have been really behind the eight ball. They lost nine brake horsepowert, 0.3 bar of turbo boost. By putting the car on pole, they made a mistake.
BoP is very difficult, because you have to balance a normally aspirated engine vs. a turbocharged engine, and turbo boost can be messed with on a turbo car. The #3 Rebellion is headed back on track adfter a pit stop. They've dropped to last in the LMP1 class, with their team mate, Andre Lotterer, passing them. Mike Conway leads Sebastien Buemi by 1:53, and Buemi is a full second behind Conway. The #8 can do a one lap sprint, but the balance on the car is just not on. Toyota #8 is in the pit lane. The track surface evolves each day that the cars are on track before and during the race. Jusrt over five hours remain in Le Mans 2019.
Loic Duval has the TDS Racing car in the pit lane, sharing with Loic Duval, Francois Perrodo, and Matthieu Vaxiviere, all three Frenchmen. 1,300 marshals working here at Le Mans, and there's a yrllow flag as the back bonnet has come off the United Autosports LMP2 car. We have a Full Course Yellow. That is the #32 machine with Will Owen at the wheel sharing with Alex Brundle and Ryan Cullen. The marshal retrieves the bonnet. Now, we are back to green once again. Toyota #7 and more, have opportunities to do a splash and dash.
The marshals are such a huge element to this race and they come to work for free. They love racing and they get the best seat in the house at Le Mans, but the danger is still there for the marshals. The energy of a crash ricochets through the barrier.
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 18
Toyota #7 pits. Mike Conway is back into the car, and he wants his first Le Mans win. We saw the MR Racing Ferrari, car #70 out on track racing someplace. Olivier Berretta, Eddie Cheever III., and Motoaki Ishikawa, on the driver's strength. Use your tires in a strict sequence or get spanked by the stewards. Porsche #94 is in the pits, in the garage. Fernando Alonso will still win the championship if he finishes seventh or better. Le Mans = points and a half instead of double points like it used to. Matthieu Jaminet, Sven Muller, and Dennis Olsen is the trio of drivers in that car. Rain could roll in towards the end of this race. Yikes! That'll change things. Romain Rusinov is a lap up on Pierre Thiriet in LMP2, scything through the field. It's hot knife through butter stuff.
Gustavo Menezes is off the road in the gravel trap, again! Menezes has spun off the road, and he's beached it, look. Wow. There is a local yellow there as the #1 Rebellion is seven laps in-arrears. Menezes just had the rear end snap around very suddenly. Was that a driver induced spin, ramming the curbs? It could very well have been that. That's a hugely fast turn. Something very well could have broken on the car. Jeepers creepers! Pierre Thiret tries to pass the #48 IDEC Sport car, Memo Rojas at the wheel of it. We have a slow zone as the cranes are going to winch away a couple of cars. Menezes was flying, running a 31.625 sector time. He was 8/10ths of a second faster through the sector... that's the fastest sector one time of anyone, from the start/finish, just about into Tertre Rouge.
He was on the limit, and he clearly stepped over it. Sven Muller is back onto the track after having engine problems fixed on the car. Muller has handed over to Dennis Olsen. Saved by the Re-bell-ion, as Menezes is off the road once more, chaps. Menezes is in the lane to check the car. The Slow Zone has been taken away as Mike Conway continues leading the motor race. 50 cars still running of rhe 61 cars that started. Just 11 retirements. That's amazing. It's a far cry from 5-10 years ago when Prototypes went out of the race pretty regularly if they were privateer cars. Bruno Senna will be a lap up onn Menezes as the #3 car is back on the track, look. The advantage over the team car has been expunged. Clouds are gathering, and there might be a tiny shower, but hopefully not a deluge.
Stoffel Vandoorne pits from third spot, three laps up on Menezes. Stoffel Vandoorne has a cushion, as the sister car retired. Egor Orudzhev had a major shunt. Matteo Cressoni has pitted and Cooper MacNeil has gone by sharing the WeatherTech #62 Ferrari with Toni Vilander and Englishman Robert Smith. We have 42 active cars on track right now. Mike Conway has made a purposeful drive, and he wnats to win. Gabriel Aubry is having a problem with the #38 car, absolutely crawling. Is this mechanical, or is it fuel starvation going into Mulsanne corner? No worries for the Ford GT running over one of the floppies.
Gabriel Aubry is still having issues with the #38 car. Maybe he can only drive slow to avoid running out of petrol, or maybe he's stuck in gear. Watch out for mechanical issues, as we still have about the same distance as a regular six hour WEC race to go. This is a very confined pit lane and adjoining pit boxes, based on yellows, can be really crowded. Patrick Pilet is now the driver in the #93 Porsche 911 RSR. The TF Sport Aston Martin overcooks it in the chicane on the Mulsanne straight, going down the escape road, and fortunately he could escape. Pop rivets and aluminum hold the hood on one of the GT cars, and no Bear Bond tape.
Pierre Thiriet is running really well. Ho-Pin Tung was thought to have a comfortable advantage in third, but he is being harried by Francois Perrodo for TDS Racing. More and more debris is littering the circuit. There are shards of carbon, and plastic shards from the floppies as well. Mike Conway pits the #7 Toyota, and he is in the zone at the moment. A spin for Spirit of Race sponsored by Vista Jet. Thomas Flohr is at the wheel of it. Fatigue setting in at the moment for many it appears. Contact there, betwqeen the Ford, the BMW, and a P2 car with a Toyota keeping a watching brief! That was wild!
No harm, no foul there. The tire wars are raging between Michelin and Dunlop. LMP2 cars have become much better looking than they used to be, rather than looking like a policeman's helmet on casters. G-Drive might just get a class win in LMP2. They are angry in a way, and they want a win. Ben Keating in the lane from the LM GTE Am class lead. They've dominated right from the start and Jeroen Bleekemolen will take over the car. Ben Keating is a very accomplished amateur driver. 87 years of this great race.
Ho-Pin Tung overcooks the chicane on the Mulsanne straight. The circuit is always changing. Gustavo Menezs has recorded the fastest overall sector time as we watch Mike Rockenfeller in the #63 Corvette. Toyota is lapping betwen 3:20 and 3:22, but they are five seconds off their overall qualifying pace. Pit stop time for AF Corse. Ben Keating has driven just about everything in sports car racing. Ben is a very straightforward driver. He takes motorsports really seriously. Keating is a really quick driver.
AF Corse still leads the #93 Porsche GT Team car but the Corvette leads GTE Pro. 253 laps run by Corvette, 2,142 miles.
Gustavo Menezes is off the road in the gravel trap, again! Menezes has spun off the road, and he's beached it, look. Wow. There is a local yellow there as the #1 Rebellion is seven laps in-arrears. Menezes just had the rear end snap around very suddenly. Was that a driver induced spin, ramming the curbs? It could very well have been that. That's a hugely fast turn. Something very well could have broken on the car. Jeepers creepers! Pierre Thiret tries to pass the #48 IDEC Sport car, Memo Rojas at the wheel of it. We have a slow zone as the cranes are going to winch away a couple of cars. Menezes was flying, running a 31.625 sector time. He was 8/10ths of a second faster through the sector... that's the fastest sector one time of anyone, from the start/finish, just about into Tertre Rouge.
He was on the limit, and he clearly stepped over it. Sven Muller is back onto the track after having engine problems fixed on the car. Muller has handed over to Dennis Olsen. Saved by the Re-bell-ion, as Menezes is off the road once more, chaps. Menezes is in the lane to check the car. The Slow Zone has been taken away as Mike Conway continues leading the motor race. 50 cars still running of rhe 61 cars that started. Just 11 retirements. That's amazing. It's a far cry from 5-10 years ago when Prototypes went out of the race pretty regularly if they were privateer cars. Bruno Senna will be a lap up onn Menezes as the #3 car is back on the track, look. The advantage over the team car has been expunged. Clouds are gathering, and there might be a tiny shower, but hopefully not a deluge.
Stoffel Vandoorne pits from third spot, three laps up on Menezes. Stoffel Vandoorne has a cushion, as the sister car retired. Egor Orudzhev had a major shunt. Matteo Cressoni has pitted and Cooper MacNeil has gone by sharing the WeatherTech #62 Ferrari with Toni Vilander and Englishman Robert Smith. We have 42 active cars on track right now. Mike Conway has made a purposeful drive, and he wnats to win. Gabriel Aubry is having a problem with the #38 car, absolutely crawling. Is this mechanical, or is it fuel starvation going into Mulsanne corner? No worries for the Ford GT running over one of the floppies.
Gabriel Aubry is still having issues with the #38 car. Maybe he can only drive slow to avoid running out of petrol, or maybe he's stuck in gear. Watch out for mechanical issues, as we still have about the same distance as a regular six hour WEC race to go. This is a very confined pit lane and adjoining pit boxes, based on yellows, can be really crowded. Patrick Pilet is now the driver in the #93 Porsche 911 RSR. The TF Sport Aston Martin overcooks it in the chicane on the Mulsanne straight, going down the escape road, and fortunately he could escape. Pop rivets and aluminum hold the hood on one of the GT cars, and no Bear Bond tape.
Pierre Thiriet is running really well. Ho-Pin Tung was thought to have a comfortable advantage in third, but he is being harried by Francois Perrodo for TDS Racing. More and more debris is littering the circuit. There are shards of carbon, and plastic shards from the floppies as well. Mike Conway pits the #7 Toyota, and he is in the zone at the moment. A spin for Spirit of Race sponsored by Vista Jet. Thomas Flohr is at the wheel of it. Fatigue setting in at the moment for many it appears. Contact there, betwqeen the Ford, the BMW, and a P2 car with a Toyota keeping a watching brief! That was wild!
No harm, no foul there. The tire wars are raging between Michelin and Dunlop. LMP2 cars have become much better looking than they used to be, rather than looking like a policeman's helmet on casters. G-Drive might just get a class win in LMP2. They are angry in a way, and they want a win. Ben Keating in the lane from the LM GTE Am class lead. They've dominated right from the start and Jeroen Bleekemolen will take over the car. Ben Keating is a very accomplished amateur driver. 87 years of this great race.
Ho-Pin Tung overcooks the chicane on the Mulsanne straight. The circuit is always changing. Gustavo Menezs has recorded the fastest overall sector time as we watch Mike Rockenfeller in the #63 Corvette. Toyota is lapping betwen 3:20 and 3:22, but they are five seconds off their overall qualifying pace. Pit stop time for AF Corse. Ben Keating has driven just about everything in sports car racing. Ben is a very straightforward driver. He takes motorsports really seriously. Keating is a really quick driver.
AF Corse still leads the #93 Porsche GT Team car but the Corvette leads GTE Pro. 253 laps run by Corvette, 2,142 miles.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
24 Hours of Le Mans: Hour 17
Jackie Chan Racing will run with only one car. Chan's budget is restricted, but they will race a second car under Jota, with David Clark (formerly with McLaren), and former driver, Sam Hignett. Only six cars will run in LM GTE Pro. Two Ferrari's, two Porsche's, and two Aston Martin's, but there will be many more GTE Am cars. Daniel Serra has taken over from James Calado in the AF Corse Ferrari #51 car. Let's see where we are. The #36 Alpine is in the lane. Ford, Porsche, and Ferrari are the top three in LM GTE Am. Jose Maria Lopez brings the #7 Toyota into the pit lane. There's still 1/3rd of this race left to run. The action is extremely close, still. If you look away for a minute it is really easy to lose track of what is going on. The #31 DragonSpeed car opf Passtor Maldonado has smashed the wall! The front end of that automobile is destroyed! Ugh! We have a safety car quite rightly.
The paint is really slick. He's obviously moving around. Tertre Rouge starts earlier, is more open, and faster, to create a deeper, faster runoff area, for the motorcycles, for MotoGP and the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto. Porsche #91 in the lane. This is the leading car in LM GTE Pro. Pastor Maldonado will be OK. He can't walk away more than ten meters from the car. There are some more aggressive French baguette curbs. I know, you're hungry, I'm hungry, in the middle of the night... so don't mention food... ugh. Porsche #77 is in the lane, not sure who i9s driving. We have seven hours and 40 minutes to go. It's still an eternity, and more than a typical 6 hour WEC race. When you go wide, you hit the clag on the outside of the circuit is like running ojn marbles. They are giant chunks of black rubber from the tires.
The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin is in the pit lanr. Once you get the tires dirty, it is harder to clean them. Clean the tires and reheat them in the tire ovens. Going this slow will still allow clag to get onto the tires. We've seen pit work for a couple of the LMP2 cars under the safety car. Stoffel Vandoorne has found his feet in sports car racing. Patrick Pilet questioning the length of this safety car. Erwin Creed of France has been driving the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier LMP2 car, one of the drivers, Erwin Creed, is part of a company that makes perfume. He is sharing with fellow Frenchman Romano Ricci and American driver Nick Boulle.
Drivers weave to get more grip in their tires as the yellow flag is about to be lifted. Jan Magnussen is a tad sideways, and the Porsche is right behind now. Yellow flags at marshal post four, now lifted. Porsche and Corvette are pitting as Pilet nearly tags Magnussen into the lane, look. Pilet has asked for clean tires, not necessarily new ones. Rockenfeller will get new tires it seems. We assume CORE Autosport has changed the tires, and both are back out of the lane at the same time. Daniel Serra and Ferrari are still leading LM GTE Pro. One of the Ford GT's has spun, and it's Ben Keating in the Wynn's Am Ford GT! Deary me! That'll delay the car. Three minutes stop and go for the #3 Rebellion with Gustavo Menezes at the wheel of it, for a tire use infringement! That's a whopping penalty!
SMP was fastest at 217 miles an hour in qualifying and at the test day. The SMP and the Rebellion are leaving the Toyota for dead in the Porsche Curves, but now, the Toyota's hybrid punch can give it a chance to catch the BR01 coming up to Tertre Rouge. Pit stop for Rebellion. Or so it appears. Normally you cannot work on the car during a penalty. Rebellion is just barely a lap up on SMP, and Rebellion may be demoted off the podium overall. Vitaly Petrov is at the wheel of the SMP car. The door is slammed in Petrov's face by the #86 Porsche 911 RSR of Mike Wainwright. Vitaly Petrov is giving way to a drifferent drivr, I think.
Drivers have their own seat inserts that are molded to their bodies individually. Bruno Senna in fifth overall, hits the pit lane. Check what I said earlier. Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian is now at the wheel of the #11 SMP machine. Gustavo Menezes will have to serve a three minute penalty, but when will it be served? The two Toyota's are split by a minute and a half. Daniel Serra, Mike Rockenfeller, Patrick Pilet, and Fred Makowiecki are the top four in LM GTE Pro. Ben Keating spun in the Dunlop chicane, but remains the leader in the class. Gustavo Menezes is serving his three minute penalty foir a tire rule.
Rebellion Racing have this tire penalty for using too many, which has just ruined their race it seems. The car does not have much heat going through it sitting there. Lightweight, high horsepower cars on cold tires, can be a recipe for disaster. You get heat soak on the components in the lump (the engine) as well. Vandoorne has moved into third spot for SMP Racing. Vandoorne is now on the podium. It is provisional, as we have just over seven hours left to race. Menezes will be chasing down Vandoorne. SMP seems to be better on the more technical parts of this circuit, here at Le Mans. We do not know exactly what this penalty is for Rebellion. It all has to do with tire allocations.
Vandoorne is flying, passing a GTE Am car with his lights flashing like a dodgy disco, look. Toyota #8 in the pit lane, and he's staying in the car. It's endurance racing at Le Mans, and you just never know what is going to happen. Toyota are in a league of their own right now. Hypercars are coming, as the hybrid and standard P1 cars, are coming to an end. Daniel Serra is in the pit lane in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Mike Rockenfeller steals the lead in GTE Pro from Serra! Wow! It's a 4.5 second gap that will extend itself out. We've been racing for 17 hours and the racing is still remarkably close! The Rebellion is coming, and soon. No DRS in sports car racing. You have to work for your passes.
The paint is really slick. He's obviously moving around. Tertre Rouge starts earlier, is more open, and faster, to create a deeper, faster runoff area, for the motorcycles, for MotoGP and the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto. Porsche #91 in the lane. This is the leading car in LM GTE Pro. Pastor Maldonado will be OK. He can't walk away more than ten meters from the car. There are some more aggressive French baguette curbs. I know, you're hungry, I'm hungry, in the middle of the night... so don't mention food... ugh. Porsche #77 is in the lane, not sure who i9s driving. We have seven hours and 40 minutes to go. It's still an eternity, and more than a typical 6 hour WEC race. When you go wide, you hit the clag on the outside of the circuit is like running ojn marbles. They are giant chunks of black rubber from the tires.
The #90 TF Sport Aston Martin is in the pit lanr. Once you get the tires dirty, it is harder to clean them. Clean the tires and reheat them in the tire ovens. Going this slow will still allow clag to get onto the tires. We've seen pit work for a couple of the LMP2 cars under the safety car. Stoffel Vandoorne has found his feet in sports car racing. Patrick Pilet questioning the length of this safety car. Erwin Creed of France has been driving the #50 Larbre Competition Ligier LMP2 car, one of the drivers, Erwin Creed, is part of a company that makes perfume. He is sharing with fellow Frenchman Romano Ricci and American driver Nick Boulle.
Drivers weave to get more grip in their tires as the yellow flag is about to be lifted. Jan Magnussen is a tad sideways, and the Porsche is right behind now. Yellow flags at marshal post four, now lifted. Porsche and Corvette are pitting as Pilet nearly tags Magnussen into the lane, look. Pilet has asked for clean tires, not necessarily new ones. Rockenfeller will get new tires it seems. We assume CORE Autosport has changed the tires, and both are back out of the lane at the same time. Daniel Serra and Ferrari are still leading LM GTE Pro. One of the Ford GT's has spun, and it's Ben Keating in the Wynn's Am Ford GT! Deary me! That'll delay the car. Three minutes stop and go for the #3 Rebellion with Gustavo Menezes at the wheel of it, for a tire use infringement! That's a whopping penalty!
SMP was fastest at 217 miles an hour in qualifying and at the test day. The SMP and the Rebellion are leaving the Toyota for dead in the Porsche Curves, but now, the Toyota's hybrid punch can give it a chance to catch the BR01 coming up to Tertre Rouge. Pit stop for Rebellion. Or so it appears. Normally you cannot work on the car during a penalty. Rebellion is just barely a lap up on SMP, and Rebellion may be demoted off the podium overall. Vitaly Petrov is at the wheel of the SMP car. The door is slammed in Petrov's face by the #86 Porsche 911 RSR of Mike Wainwright. Vitaly Petrov is giving way to a drifferent drivr, I think.
Drivers have their own seat inserts that are molded to their bodies individually. Bruno Senna in fifth overall, hits the pit lane. Check what I said earlier. Stoffel Vandoorne, the Belgian is now at the wheel of the #11 SMP machine. Gustavo Menezes will have to serve a three minute penalty, but when will it be served? The two Toyota's are split by a minute and a half. Daniel Serra, Mike Rockenfeller, Patrick Pilet, and Fred Makowiecki are the top four in LM GTE Pro. Ben Keating spun in the Dunlop chicane, but remains the leader in the class. Gustavo Menezes is serving his three minute penalty foir a tire rule.
Rebellion Racing have this tire penalty for using too many, which has just ruined their race it seems. The car does not have much heat going through it sitting there. Lightweight, high horsepower cars on cold tires, can be a recipe for disaster. You get heat soak on the components in the lump (the engine) as well. Vandoorne has moved into third spot for SMP Racing. Vandoorne is now on the podium. It is provisional, as we have just over seven hours left to race. Menezes will be chasing down Vandoorne. SMP seems to be better on the more technical parts of this circuit, here at Le Mans. We do not know exactly what this penalty is for Rebellion. It all has to do with tire allocations.
Vandoorne is flying, passing a GTE Am car with his lights flashing like a dodgy disco, look. Toyota #8 in the pit lane, and he's staying in the car. It's endurance racing at Le Mans, and you just never know what is going to happen. Toyota are in a league of their own right now. Hypercars are coming, as the hybrid and standard P1 cars, are coming to an end. Daniel Serra is in the pit lane in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. Mike Rockenfeller steals the lead in GTE Pro from Serra! Wow! It's a 4.5 second gap that will extend itself out. We've been racing for 17 hours and the racing is still remarkably close! The Rebellion is coming, and soon. No DRS in sports car racing. You have to work for your passes.
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