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00:00:00If ever there was a benchmark in sports car racing, a measuring stick by which the world's greatest race teams and drivers could compare their ingenuity, their ability, and their desire.
00:00:15If ever there was an arena to showcase moxie and machinery, persistence and passion, finesse and fortitude, it is here at Le Mans.
00:00:25Since 1923, the roads of this town in western France have been the barometer by which excellence is measured.
00:00:33Fifty cars on the cutting edge of technology, and drivers with the skill and courage to get behind the wheel will entertain over 200,000 spectators in this timeless test of endurance.
00:00:45Among those drivers bold enough to attack this eight-and-a-half-mile true road course, two have stood taller than the rest.
00:00:51Belgian Jackie X dominated the late 60s through the early 80s with six overall victories, displaying an uncanny synergy between man, machine, and road.
00:01:02His successor as the master of Le Mans is Tom Christensen, who last year became the winningest driver in Le Mans history.
00:01:09In 2006, the Great Dane will strive for an unprecedented eighth overall win and an even more astonishing seventh in a row.
00:01:16For the next 24 hours, he will help pilot the sport's most innovative race car, the V12 diesel-powered Audi R10.
00:01:27With this technological wonder, Audi hopes to make history by becoming the first diesel-powered overall winner at Le Mans and capture its sixth overall win in seven years.
00:01:37If there is a David to Audi's Goliath, it may be the eponymous team run by French racing legend Henri Pescarolo,
00:01:44who have the best chance since Peugeot in the early 90s to bring the overall title back to France.
00:01:50Only time will tell the true story of this year's race.
00:01:54Today, the Le Mans tradition continues.
00:01:56France's biggest contribution to world motorsport begins not in Paris, but 150 miles to the southwest,
00:02:11France's biggest contribution to world motorsport begins not in Paris, but 150 miles to the
00:02:24southwest in the square in Old Le Mans.
00:02:27Monday and Tuesday are devoted to scrutineering.
00:02:29Drivers such as world rally champion Sebastian Loeb and seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Christensen
00:02:33are on hand, but the real stars are the cars themselves.
00:02:37The biggest buzz has been about Audi's audacious gamble, banking their six-time winning streak
00:02:41on a pair of brand new R10s and their revolutionary V12 turbo diesels.
00:02:46But there's something for the car guy in all of us, including the bright yellow Corvette
00:02:49C6Rs, the defending GT1 champions, challenged by the 12-cylinder machines from Aston Martin.
00:02:58The crowd favorite without question are the Pescarola Judd V10s in the hands of six experienced
00:03:02French drivers.
00:03:03Early in the week, it was all fun and games.
00:03:06Take the t-shirt, take the picture, but now it's time to get down to racing at Le Mans.
00:03:13Live from the Circuit de la Sarte, Speed Channel is proud to welcome you to the greatest event
00:03:18in sports car racing.
00:03:19Welcome to the 74th running of the Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans.
00:03:25Hello everyone, I'm Bob Varsha, proud to welcome you live to Le Mans.
00:03:30On behalf of all of us at Speed Channel, we live for events just like this.
00:03:34We have 20 hours of live coverage coming your way and if you're new to Le Mans, here's what
00:03:38you're about to see.
00:03:3950 elite sports car teams, including nine from the US-based American Le Mans series.
00:03:43They will run in four classes for 24 hours.
00:03:47150 drivers, including 16 Americans and 38 Le Mans rookies.
00:03:51We have good weather conditions now, but a breeze may bring rain before the 24 hours
00:03:55are over.
00:03:56If it stays dry, the winners will complete the equivalent of a coast-to-coast run across
00:04:01the United States in 24 hours, making about one pit stop each hour across the way.
00:04:07Now we've got a lot of great stories developing through five hours of practice and qualifying,
00:04:11so let's get right to it with the first of our four classes, the big Le Mans prototype
00:04:15one machines.
00:04:16And for that, we turn to the regular voices of the American Le Mans series here on Speed,
00:04:19Greg Kramer and Dorsey Schrader.
00:04:21Guys.
00:04:22Thanks very much, Bob.
00:04:23And I really think one of the big stories that's developing already ties into last year
00:04:27when the Pescarollas were clearly the quickest, but it was legendary Audi reliability that
00:04:31was the trump card for the win.
00:04:32But Dorsey, it is the Audis that are the new cars this time, and the Pescarollas have had
00:04:36a full year of additional development.
00:04:38In qualifying, we ended up, though, with a big surprise.
00:04:41Or was it?
00:04:42Well, the buzz around the garage area all weekend long is how fast will the Audis be allowed
00:04:46to go, and will it be enough?
00:04:47I was talking with Alan McNeish just moments before qualifying when the word from the top came
00:04:52down.
00:04:53Go for the pole.
00:04:54Now, Dindo Capello went out.
00:04:55He turned the fastest race lap of the weekend.
00:04:57He is the pole sitter.
00:04:58And let's take you to some of those highlights.
00:05:01Wednesday's two sessions in the evening were very wet, but to the delight of the French
00:05:05crowd, it was a Pescarollo that led away.
00:05:07But shortly thereafter, a moment of concern as the number 17 went around.
00:05:10It was harmless.
00:05:11Didn't get into anything.
00:05:12But Sebastian Loeb showed a little bit of concern for the two-time world rally champion.
00:05:17Alan McNeish went out very early, turned the fastest time.
00:05:20But then later in that session, you see Tom Christensen with a look of concern because
00:05:24Dindo Capello went into the wall with the seven car.
00:05:28And almost at the checkered flag near midnight at the end of the second session, Frank Montagny
00:05:32took one of the Pescarollos to the provisional pole.
00:05:35However, there was another day to go.
00:05:37And on Thursday, it was very warm and humid, very different.
00:05:40The number 16 Pescarolla went quick in the early going.
00:05:43Christensen, trying to get in front of that time, ran into serious traffic.
00:05:46And you can see how hot it was by Tom Christensen right there.
00:05:49Early in that second session, Dindo Capello, he repaid those mechanics for the work.
00:05:53He went out and he grabbed the pole.
00:05:55He did indeed.
00:05:56And shortly thereafter, Marco Werner turned a time that was good for second.
00:05:59And Henri Pescarolla watched with concern.
00:06:01Neither of his cars could unseat either of the Audis.
00:06:04It was an Audi sweep of the front row.
00:06:07So as we take a look at the top five overall and in P1 qualifying,
00:06:11it's Audis 1-2, Pescarollos 3-4.
00:06:13Fifth is the factory Courage Mugen.
00:06:15But another huge story is whether Tom Christensen can continue to build on his two remarkable records.
00:06:20For more on that, here's Calvin Fish.
00:06:25He's won seven of these races now, Greg, and he's unbeaten this century.
00:06:29And Tom, as race time approaches, do you still get nervous?
00:06:32Do you have butterflies in your stomach right now?
00:06:34It's adrenaline and it's Le Mans.
00:06:36And there's so much preparation, so much energy has gone into the cars for the whole grid.
00:06:40And Le Mans, you can't beat it. The feeling is there.
00:06:43And we are ready to sort of release the cars and then hopefully only see them for refueling and tire changes.
00:06:50The last six victories that you've had have been powered by Audi.
00:06:53Today the power is different. It's diesel.
00:06:55The R10 you won at Sebring over 12 hours.
00:06:57This morning in the warm-up, Tom, what was the problem with the car?
00:07:00And is this car ready to go 24 hours today?
00:07:03We have had a 30-hour test with no fatal problems.
00:07:06This morning there was an issue with the differential and we fixed it.
00:07:10Our sister car number eight had a precaution change and now we are ready with new parts.
00:07:15And in that sense, normally if you have a problem once with an Audi, you won't have it again.
00:07:19It's fixed.
00:07:20All right, mate, good luck.
00:07:21Well, Tom Christensen says his lucky number is number seven.
00:07:24He'll start today in car number seven.
00:07:25He was born on the seventh day, the seventh, 1967.
00:07:28Is that an ominous sign?
00:07:29Can he make it seven in a row?
00:07:31Bob?
00:07:32Well, Calvin, we know racing drivers can be superstitious, but that sounds pretty good to me.
00:07:37Now, the last French mark to win here at Le Mans came back in 1993, the Peugeot Grand.
00:07:43The greatest French hopes this weekend lie with Henri Pescarolo and his lineup,
00:07:48including French-born two-time World Rally champion Sebastian Loeb and a cadre of very experienced,
00:07:55very fast French drivers, including the only active Frenchman in Formula One.
00:08:01Earlier, Brian Till caught up with him.
00:08:04If the Audi R10 is going to win here in its debut at Le Mans,
00:08:08we'll have to get past two very fast Pescarolo judge.
00:08:11One of them, the 17 car driven by this man, Franck Montagne.
00:08:14Franck Montagne, you were so fast in the pre-test, so fast here over the weekend,
00:08:19but a lot of people surprised to see the Audi on the front row.
00:08:22Did you just get balked in qualifying a little bit, or were you surprised as well?
00:08:26I'm surprised because they didn't use the qualifying tires.
00:08:29Of course, they can go a little bit quicker again, so I think we could do something without traffic.
00:08:36But, importantly, we had a lot of traffic during our run, and, well, that's the qualifying here, you know, in Le Mans.
00:08:41But it's not a big problem. I think we are looking for the race more than the qualifying anyway.
00:08:45Well, as a French driver driving for a hero like Henri Pescarolo, he himself with four victories here,
00:08:51but never as a team owner. For this team, for you, for Mr. Pescarolo,
00:08:54what would it mean to win this race in front of your countrymen?
00:08:58Come back on Sunday night, and I will tell you.
00:09:00Well, you certainly have a lot of faith in this car, and it has been very fast.
00:09:04In fact, Montani said last weekend at Silverstone at the Grand Prix,
00:09:08today, all the blue flags, the passing flags, may have waved at me today.
00:09:12Next week, at Le Mans, they will wave for everyone else.
00:09:16Ah, there's no question. This race means everything to a native Frenchman.
00:09:20And speaking of Formula One drivers, joining you now is my Formula One colleague,
00:09:23here on speed, David Hobbs, who is also a veteran of 20 appearances here at Le Mans.
00:09:28David, let's not talk about what it would mean to win. Let's talk about what it takes to win here.
00:09:32Well, of course, it takes a big budget, it takes a lot of development,
00:09:34and it takes an enormous amount of testing and practice.
00:09:37The car, the engine, the transmission, and, of course, not least the tyres.
00:09:40And, of course, it needs a bit of luck. As you heard, these Audis both had problems this morning in warm-up.
00:09:44If that problem had manifested itself just about 50 miles later,
00:09:47they'd have both been in trouble before the end of the first hour.
00:09:50It also takes a bit of luck. You've got 50 cars out here, 150 drivers.
00:09:54That's going to be, what, 35,000 miles between them all between now and this time tomorrow.
00:09:59And, of course, 37 of them have never been here at all before,
00:10:03so there's a very good chance of doing a tango with one of those guys somewhere down the road.
00:10:07Well, we expect a big battle up front in LMP1,
00:10:09but we have another good two-team scrap in the top production category,
00:10:13and that is GT1. With that story, we welcome the thunder from down under himself, Lee Diffie.
00:10:18Lee?
00:10:19Hi, Bob. Hi, David. Hi, everyone.
00:10:20Yes, GT1 will be one of the contests to watch, and what a fascinating battle it will be.
00:10:25The iconic American marking Corvette up against one of the world's greatest engineering houses in ProDrive,
00:10:30and the head-to-head over the past three years sees Corvette ahead,
00:10:34but, of course, ProDrive did get that initial victory with the 550 Marinello Ferrari.
00:10:38Let's take a look at that because it was a marvellous year, and it was really hyped up,
00:10:42the battle between these two, but in the end, the red Ferrari came home with Thomas Enger,
00:10:47Jamie Davies, and Peter Cox, but then the following year they tried to do it again with the same car
00:10:52but a different driver line-up, and shortly near the end, failure to the Ferrari,
00:10:56and the Corvette reliability shone through.
00:10:59Come to last year, and we bring a new car. ProDrive provides the Aston Martin,
00:11:04but there was an engine water overheating issue, and Doug Feehan's men stood tall once again.
00:11:09The stars and stripes flew because that Corvette reliability came on in.
00:11:14Now, running at Le Mans, you don't often have a trouble-free run,
00:11:18and we saw that with Corvette once again, but when it came time to qualify,
00:11:21the men in yellow didn't go in qualifying trim, but, boy, they were committed.
00:11:24So, too, were the Aston Martins, and in particular, Thomas Enger.
00:11:28Have a look at this for commitment. Amazing performance,
00:11:31and the Czech driver set a new record with five consecutive class poles.
00:11:37He stood on top, in fact. The Aston boys locked out the front row,
00:11:41but don't get too worried about the Corvettes. They will be there.
00:11:43But for now, Andrew Marriott with the man of the moment.
00:11:46Yes, I'm with the man who started here five times and started in pole position five times.
00:11:52You've only won once, and on that day you had a problem in the morning. What happened today?
00:11:58We had exactly the same problem. We had a problem with engine, and we have to change after warm-up the engine.
00:12:04So, I'm hoping to repeat 2003. I mean, I have repeated pole position again for five times,
00:12:09which is the record here in Le Mans, and I'm really happy for it.
00:12:13The car is very fast. We hope the car is also reliable, but after the problem this morning,
00:12:18I hope we can repeat 2003 and win the race after the problem in warm-up as well.
00:12:24Quick answer. Can you beat those Corvettes?
00:12:26We will try to beat them, obviously.
00:12:28Thanks very much, and Chris Neville is with the Corvette team.
00:12:31Well, ProDrive might be confident. In the past 12 months, it's been the number 64 in Corvette
00:12:36that has been the 800-pound gorilla in GT1.
00:12:39Jan, we always see so much speed out of the Astons, but the Corvettes always seem to win on reliability.
00:12:44Is that the case?
00:12:46I think it's the last two years for sure has been.
00:12:50Astons have been very fast. In the races, we've been able to match them and put a lot of pressure on them.
00:12:56Last year, they made some mistakes when we put pressure on them, and we won the race.
00:13:02I think this year we're closer to them, can maybe even put more pressure on them, and then we'll see how it works out.
00:13:09You and your teammates are going for three in a row. With that kind of momentum, does this race get any easier?
00:13:14This race is never easy. Not everything has to go your way, but you can't have a lot of stuff going against you.
00:13:23Last couple of years, we've been quite lucky not to have the big issues.
00:13:28I think if we can run trouble-free this time, we'll have a very good chance of winning.
00:13:33I think it's not going to be one on speed at all. If you can just run, come in here, change tires, drive some fuel, that's the way to win it.
00:13:41Last year, Corvette showed up with the new C6R. They didn't feel they were quite ready, but they still came away with the win.
00:13:47This year, they're saying they've never been more prepared.
00:13:51All right, thank you very much, gentlemen. We're going to take a short break.
00:13:54The crowd, more than 200,000 strong, are taking their places.
00:13:58Down in old Le Mans City Center, there are bronze plaques, immortalizing the recent winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
00:14:05It's a week-long festival, and it's about to come to its climax. A car weekend for every taste. We'll be back.
00:14:12Speech coverage of the Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans is presented by Michelin, a better way forward.
00:14:24By Porsche, Porsche, there is no substitute.
00:14:28And by Valvoline, tested on the track, trusted on the road.
00:14:33Welcome back, live to Le Mans. A massive crowd on hand, the biggest I've seen in years.
00:14:40Gathering for the 74th running of the Michelin 24 Hours of Le Mans, live here on Speed.
00:14:46Let's move on now to the smaller of the two production-based categories, Le Mans GT2.
00:14:54Running in that class is the Panos brand, developed by Dr. Don Panos, who also founded the American Le Mans Series.
00:15:01This week, they celebrated 10 years for Panos Sports Cars at Le Mans.
00:15:05Olivier Beretta and Johnny O'Connell sharing the cake in a rather unusual way.
00:15:09Making things even better, icing on the cake, if you will. Don Panos was also given this year's Spirit of Le Mans Award.
00:15:15He said the memories will be with him forever. Congratulations.
00:15:18Now, to GT2. That was York Bergmeister, pole sitter on Wednesday when it was wet, but in the dry.
00:15:24The Flying Lizard team ran well. There's the Canadian Multimatic Panos team.
00:15:28Tracy Crone in the white Lightning Peterson car. Problems here.
00:15:32Got it off the road, but didn't hit anything.
00:15:34But Luca Riccitelli in the car that had just been put on pole by his teammate, Romain Dumas, had a big wreck.
00:15:41Here's a look at the top five in class.
00:15:43Now, controversially, officials decided that due to force majeure,
00:15:47the Riccitelli team was able to take that car and substitute a new chassis.
00:15:52That is expressly prohibited under the rules.
00:15:55But officials said, well, due to force majeure, we're going to allow them to substitute a new chassis.
00:16:00And the fact that it's a French team, well, you can just draw your own conclusions.
00:16:05Let's get down to Calvin Fish in the pit lane.
00:16:08Well, Bob, this GT2 category has been dominated by American-based teams for the last four seasons,
00:16:13winning four in a row here.
00:16:14And the Flying Lizard team would certainly like to extend that streak.
00:16:17Johannes van Overbeek is their team leader.
00:16:19You've had a rough week, mate. You fell off your bicycle.
00:16:21You've injured yourself a little bit. How are you feeling?
00:16:23And can this team take it to victory here today?
00:16:25I feel great, Calvin. Thanks.
00:16:27The Portal player Flying Lizard Porsche has been great.
00:16:30The team's working better than ever.
00:16:32And, you know, we wouldn't be here if we didn't think we had a shot at winning.
00:16:35All right, mate. Well, best of luck.
00:16:37Another American-based team is further down pit lane.
00:16:39And they're with Brian Till.
00:16:41Thanks, Calvin. You talk about an American-based team.
00:16:43It's also an American car.
00:16:45Gunnar Jeanette, you drive the Panos.
00:16:47You've driven twice here before in a Panos entry, five times overall.
00:16:50We talked about it being the 10th anniversary for Dr. Panos here.
00:16:53How special would it be to give them a present this weekend?
00:16:56It would be amazing.
00:16:57I was part of the effort that got Panos its best finish here in 2003 when we finished fifth overall.
00:17:03And to give them their first win on the 10-year anniversary is what we're gunning for.
00:17:07Now, some issues with the motor and testing.
00:17:09Do you guys find the problem? Is it fixed?
00:17:11Yep, we found the problem.
00:17:12It was a bit of a fuel issue, a couple other small things.
00:17:15We've got it sorted out.
00:17:17The thing ran like a train all through testing this week.
00:17:20And hopefully, she'll go 25 hours.
00:17:23Well, it's an American car run by a Canadian racing outfit.
00:17:26Look for them to be strong all weekend long.
00:17:28Gunnar Jeanette, the youngest driver ever to finish here the 24 Hour of Le Mans.
00:17:33Bob?
00:17:34All right, thank you.
00:17:36Now, let's take a look at our final class.
00:17:38LMP2, the prototypes in the wet on Wednesday.
00:17:41That was the American Le Mans Series champions from Intersport.
00:17:45This is Miguel Amaral of Portugal taking the Chamberlain car,
00:17:49the reigning Le Mans Endurance champions, off track.
00:17:52But on Thursday, Le Mans veteran Andy Wallace put his car up front,
00:17:57qualifying the only all-British driving lineup in the field.
00:18:01Now, looking at these cars, three of the top four are Lola AERs,
00:18:05powered by four-cylinder AER turbos.
00:18:08The only problem there is that particular brand of engine
00:18:11has yet to go an entire 24 hours.
00:18:14LMP2 will be fun to watch.
00:18:16Calvin Fish.
00:18:17Well, our 1998 overall winner here was Andy Wallace.
00:18:20And this year, Andy is running in the LMP2 category with the RML team.
00:18:24And Andy, it was probably back before your victory
00:18:26that one of these things could be won overall without running the race flat out.
00:18:29The LMP2 category, however, seems to be survival of the fittest.
00:18:32Is that your strategy today?
00:18:34Well, it certainly has been in the past.
00:18:36The only thing is, of course, somebody's going to run flat out and make it to the end.
00:18:39So we've got to do the same.
00:18:40Obviously, we don't want to take too much out of the car early on,
00:18:43but we think we're good to go pretty hard.
00:18:45All right, mate.
00:18:46Well, they're starting with the race from the pole.
00:18:48But there's another guy further down pit lane who's had success here before,
00:18:51and he's with Brian.
00:18:52Calvin Clint Field certainly has seen success.
00:18:55He's won ALMS races at Petite.
00:18:57He's won Sebring with his co-driver, Liz Halliday.
00:19:00You've also won Le Mans.
00:19:01You've won more P2 races than anybody in the American Le Mans series.
00:19:05Clint, would you trade all those victories for another win here at Le Mans?
00:19:08You know, this is a special race.
00:19:10And just to be here, you know, is something special.
00:19:13So, you know, I'm glad to be here with Liz and Duncan,
00:19:16and hopefully we can be at the top of the end.
00:19:19You know, we have a good team, good car, and it should be good.
00:19:24The pace, what are we going to run?
00:19:26Are you going to lay back and be conservative, or are you going for the beginning?
00:19:30You know, we've talked about that all week.
00:19:32You know, we're going to see how comfortable the car feels.
00:19:35I mean, if it's fast, it's fast.
00:19:37If it's not very comfortable, then we're going to hold back.
00:19:40But the race doesn't really start until tomorrow anyway, so we'll see how it feels.
00:19:44It's wait and see at Intersport, Bob.
00:19:47That it is. It's wait and see for everyone.
00:19:49But the engines have fired, and the field of 50 have moved away.
00:19:52There are the Aston Martins following a Corvette on the racetrack.
00:19:55Will they do so for the next 24 hours?
00:19:57Just one of the stories yet to unfold.
00:19:59We are ready to race at Le Mans, live on Speed.
00:20:03Welcome back live to Le Mans.
00:20:10The field is on its final pace lap.
00:20:12When they come around, we will go loose, so let's take a look at our Aquavalva starting grid.
00:20:16The front row, two Audi V12 diesels, followed by the two Pescarola V10 Judds.
00:20:22And there's Jean-Paul going on in the first of the courages.
00:20:25Lammers and the Dutch team there in 14 car.
00:20:28And Jamie Campbell-Waltz in nine.
00:20:30Then the rest of the LMP1 cars down there.
00:20:32In the 12th spot, you see our LMP2 class pole sitter.
00:20:36The defending champions in class with an all-English driver line up.
00:20:40Mid the next five, there's the 007.
00:20:46One of two cars bearing triple car numbers for the first time ever.
00:20:50That's the Aston Martin on the GT1 class pole.
00:20:53There you see the rest of the GT1 cars.
00:20:55The other Aston Martin, then of course the Magnuson Corvette.
00:20:58Then another P2 car, then a couple more GT1 cars.
00:21:03The 29, you see the LMP2 Binney Motorsports car.
00:21:06One of the U.S.-based teams from the American Le Mans series.
00:21:09A little bit further back, more the GT1 cars and the LMP2 cars mixing in.
00:21:17Yeah, get a bit of a melange on those two or three rows there.
00:21:20Same thing here, we've got GT1, GT2.
00:21:25And then the GT2 cars start coming in.
00:21:27The 76 car was on the pole, but it has to be put to the back
00:21:30because they did those changes to it overnight,
00:21:32which everybody's wondering about.
00:21:33You see the rest of the GT2 starters there,
00:21:35including the American cars.
00:21:37A little bit further back, 41 spot.
00:21:41Last year's winner in GT2,
00:21:43the Peterson White Lightning Racing Team.
00:21:45The sponsorship from Crone Racing,
00:21:48familiar to American sports car fans.
00:21:50Let's take a look now at our Lexus track map.
00:21:548.6 miles long, it's one of the most exciting racetracks in the world to drive on.
00:21:59Very fast, the pole's about 145 miles an hour.
00:22:02Off you go through the front chicane there.
00:22:05Over the Dunlop Curve, down through the Esses.
00:22:07Tent Rouge leads on to that what was a four-mile straight.
00:22:09Now you've got those two corners in there.
00:22:12L'Arche and La Frontier down the Mulsanne.
00:22:14King to Mulsanne, a very tight right-hander.
00:22:16Very fast downhill run to Indianapolis and Arnage.
00:22:19A bit of a difference in the roads between Arnage and the Porsche Curves.
00:22:22The Porsche Curves are very, very exciting.
00:22:25Not much room.
00:22:26Well, I'll tell you one thing, David.
00:22:28Weather could be a big factor here.
00:22:29You see high temperature 84 today.
00:22:31The big news, rain on Sunday.
00:22:32Now they've repaved some of this racetrack.
00:22:34We had a wet session night.
00:22:35All the drivers said this place is lethal when it's wet.
00:22:39Well, it collects water because it is a public road.
00:22:41So it's got a bit of crowning to it.
00:22:42But on the other hand, it does pick up water.
00:22:44You see headlights on on all the cars.
00:22:46That's one of the new rules this year.
00:22:47You must use your headlights for the entire 24 hours.
00:22:50And now the moment.
00:22:52The safety car will come off.
00:22:54Audi's across the front row.
00:22:55Gambling everything on their new Tuber diesels.
00:22:57And then Pescarola Judd.
00:23:00The 74th running of the Michelin.
00:23:0224 hours is underway.
00:23:06Up to the Dunlop Curve for the first time.
00:23:08It's been reconfigured since last year slightly.
00:23:11The Pidex is different.
00:23:12And so is the first left and right corner.
00:23:16Audi's comfortably in the lead.
00:23:17Followed by the two Pescarolos.
00:23:23And one of the Audi's quickly gapping the field.
00:23:26Alan McNish started the car.
00:23:28Put there by his teammate, Ronaldo Capello.
00:23:31Talked to the Audi guys about what kind of pace they would run.
00:23:35And they said they can't.
00:23:36They have no choice.
00:23:37They feel if anything breaks on the car.
00:23:39It's going to take time to fix it.
00:23:40They're going to run flat out from the beginning.
00:23:42These cars have been tested 18,000 miles.
00:23:47Since they ran the only other race they have run.
00:23:50Which was the American Le Mans series 12 hours of Sebring.
00:23:53Which of course they won.
00:23:55Very impressive debut.
00:23:56Because everyone knows how rough Sebring is.
00:23:58It had nothing at all like Le Mans.
00:24:00Where it's nice and smooth and very fast.
00:24:02On to Le Hunandier.
00:24:03Also known as the Molson Strait.
00:24:05Broken up in 1990 by these.
00:24:07The first of two chicanes.
00:24:09A little bit of a position change going there.
00:24:11Jan Lammers in the All-Dutch Dome.
00:24:13Also with the Judd engine V10.
00:24:15They're on Dunlop tires.
00:24:18All four of the cars.
00:24:19All five of the cars in front of him are on Michelin.
00:24:21Which certainly are a very strong tire at this endurance race.
00:24:25You can see a wonderful day here.
00:24:27Absolutely perfect weather for the race today.
00:24:29Although we hear the horrible storms coming tomorrow.
00:24:32But at the moment Alan McNish.
00:24:34Has a very comfortable ease.
00:24:35He goes through the second chicane.
00:24:37On the Uno Dier Strait.
00:24:39Gonna go over the hump soon.
00:24:41Which has been also cut down.
00:24:42It was a very steep hump.
00:24:44It's now sort of gone away.
00:24:46Been muted somewhat.
00:24:47And of course going to the Molson.
00:24:48There you see the remains of it.
00:24:49There's nothing like as bad as it used to be.
00:24:51Plus if you're at home.
00:24:52You're trying to listen to the Saudi.
00:24:53Don't adjust your set.
00:24:54It doesn't make any noise.
00:24:55That's right.
00:24:56It just hums.
00:24:57The approach to Molson of course was changed a few years back.
00:25:00When they put this traffic island in.
00:25:02That's right.
00:25:03The forehand in picture.
00:25:04And here's that long run for Molson.
00:25:07That right hand sweep.
00:25:09As you can see.
00:25:10Not an awful lot of runoff area.
00:25:11And as we go over that little crest.
00:25:13And veer off to the right.
00:25:14You have another right hand apex coming up.
00:25:16And a little drop in the road.
00:25:18Which caused the aerodynamic problems in 1999.
00:25:20Of St. Peter Dunbrek flying into the trees.
00:25:23Not as you can see.
00:25:24Not very wide.
00:25:25And of course as the race progresses.
00:25:27And you start lapping people.
00:25:28Coming into the Indianapolis complex.
00:25:29Now.
00:25:30I'm kind of surprised.
00:25:31The pescarellos were tucked up underneath each other.
00:25:33Going through that rise.
00:25:34That's what the car gets like.
00:25:35You don't want to be right.
00:25:36No.
00:25:37Through the slight banking at Indianapolis.
00:25:39A brief blast.
00:25:40And then on the brakes hard.
00:25:42For a 90 degree right hander at Arnage.
00:25:44So called of course.
00:25:46Just to our left.
00:25:47Is the village of Arnage.
00:25:48With lots of nice little restaurants.
00:25:50And huge campsite down there.
00:25:52With thousands of spectators.
00:25:54All camped out down there.
00:25:55I mentioned earlier.
00:25:56This is the biggest crowd.
00:25:57I think we've seen in Le Mans.
00:25:58In years.
00:25:59Yeah.
00:26:00It's an eight mile circuit.
00:26:01So there's a lot of room to put people.
00:26:03Well.
00:26:04They're everywhere.
00:26:05worth it.
00:26:06Sleeves rolled up a la Formula 1.
00:26:11That's on board with the 17.
00:26:14as well he might.
00:26:15That was Frank Montagnin, who is a Formula 1 driver.
00:26:17Because it gives you a bit of cooling.
00:26:19But boy oh boy.
00:26:20That's a big lead that Alan McNich and Frank Bieler have got
00:26:24on this very first lap.
00:26:26Coming to the end of it now.
00:26:28Sweeping through the last remnants of the Ford chicane.
00:26:30chicane coming up this was the very first thing they ever put in to start slowing down the original
00:26:35circuit talking with the Audi camp they don't expect a trouble free run they've alluded to
00:26:40that throughout the weekend saying that they need to get as much of a gap as they can in case they
00:26:44have to repair something obviously with 20,000 somehow you know test miles and so forth they
00:26:50they know something we know lap one complete McNish leading teammate Frank Vela by a half
00:26:55second and then two and a half seconds back to the first of the Pescarilla Judds in the hand of
00:27:00Emmanuel Collar back to the mandatory runoff areas these in the old days the S's used to curve through
00:27:07there and the bank was right to the edge you use the edge of the bank as the clipping point on the
00:27:12car looking on will be second in the car after Vela gets out a lot of secrecy surrounding this Audi
00:27:24project so many resources devoted to those two cars five and a half liter all aluminum 90 degree
00:27:31v12 engine twin turbo making 650 horsepower and 800 pound feet of torque so if you give it up using
00:27:39it as a race car you can take it out in the field and use it as a damn good tractor with that sort of
00:27:43horse but that sort of torque whoa going a bit wider amazing amazing thing about that car is it you can
00:27:49tell already it doesn't smoke like we think diesels in the United States are make all this racket and
00:27:53there's they smoke and leak oil and on this thing that makes no noise it doesn't smoke it goes really
00:27:58quick we were out there Wednesday night at Arnaz watching people come through and if you turned
00:28:02your back to the racetrack walking along you'd jump right out of your shoes when the Audi came whopping
00:28:07by because you couldn't hear it coming what you do here is the wind going over the body and you can
00:28:11hear those tires slapping on the bits of that yes exactly that's about what you do here but of course
00:28:18diesel is something that's going to be in everybody's future the USA has at last after years of dragging
00:28:24their feet changed their sulfur content in diesel to where everybody else in the world is now and
00:28:29and good diesel engines can be used there and become as popular there as they are in Europe in Europe
00:28:34nearly 60 percent of the vehicles on the road now are diesel well every other car that Audi sells
00:28:39worldwide is a diesel so that gives you a pretty good idea absolutely there goes Emmanuel Collard whose
00:28:45previous attempt at a 24-hour race distance came at the Rolex 24 at Daytona earlier this year with
00:28:51Wayne Taylor's SunTrust team unfortunately it ended before day turned to dark with a collision with a
00:28:58slower car there you see the two pescarolos in formation but already dropping back a couple
00:29:04of seconds he has Lammers in the dome last year all those little blocks of sponsor names were in
00:29:09rectangles now they're in the shape of the pentagons on soccer balls a tribute to the World Cup today's
00:29:16race beginning an hour later to stay out of the way of the worldwide broadcast of World Cup competition
00:29:21and of course the Dutch are very keen on their soccer and Johan Cruyff who was the goalkeeper
00:29:28for the Dutch team I believe back 20 years ago is now the manager and owner of the team and he's here
00:29:34well for all the aficionados that like the way these cars look look at them I like the way they look
00:29:39now look at them quick because by tomorrow they're not going to look good at all can you hear it from
00:29:45those trackside microphones just this could be a boon to street racing in the United States where
00:29:52noise is often a problem the car is hitting 130 decibels or so I haven't seen a measurement but I
00:29:58gotta believe it's 90 maybe now they told me 85 85 decibels is what that so it's very very quiet
00:30:03that's legal just about everywhere now on board the number 63 Corvette Johnny O'Connell at the controls
00:30:10oh boy look at that stick shift there you're gonna make a few models Johnny between now and this time
00:30:17there are thousands of them the old skin on the right paw will be getting a little bit on the old
00:30:23uh spongy side just listen to this thing we go from that V12 diesel Audi to a big seven liter
00:30:30bumping Chevy Corvette VA that's the big thing that the Chevy's got going for it it's sheer size seven
00:30:39liter I mean if it lost every gear in the box except top it could probably still win the race by
00:30:44chugging around it also developing huge torque like the Audi the Audi course doesn't rev much I need a
00:30:51rev to what 5500 5500 rev line they actually ship the thing around five five yeah O'Connell currently
00:31:00shown 22nd in overall
00:31:02the long way Pescarola who owns these two cars and the green on the car is exactly the same as
00:31:14his helmet always was when he drove in both long distance races and in Formula One uh pretty successful
00:31:20Formula One driver but he's never won this he's won this race four times as a driver but of course never
00:31:27won it as a owner checking the GT1 battle that's the 009 the sister Aston Martin 12 cylinder
00:31:36now leading the class 16th overall but that Corvette just behind
00:31:45that's the 64 car in the hands of Englishman Oliver Gavin that is just behind and this is the closest that
00:31:51the Corvettes have ever been on time on speed to the Aston Martin if this could turn into a huge pit
00:31:58stop war between those two cars speaking of pit stops unscheduled pit stop this car like virtually all
00:32:04of the others in the field came in to top up on fuel after the first pace lap before going to the grid
00:32:09the flashers they had a problem from the very beginning the lights were flashing the passing
00:32:19lights were flashing on the pace lap they went down to the RML team and said look we're not flashing
00:32:24our lights at you they're just stuck now it seems to be something more important than just flashing
00:32:28lights I talked to Clint Field he said there is a misfire in the engine now this team has won they won
00:32:34Sebring this year and won it handily they also won in Houston but it did not come without problems
00:32:39they've had issues on this AR power plant in the past it looks like it could be an electrical gremlin
00:32:45now this is way too early in this race they have problems the good thing they've got a long time
00:32:50to fix them a long time to get back in the fight yeah but this is racing is so competitive now that if
00:32:54you get down a lap you can never make it back in the old days you could be 10 to 12 laps off and pick it
00:32:59up again but now you can't do that we should say that that that car right there the 33 is being
00:33:04piloted by the only female in the entire uh race here liz halliday doing a great job uh in the car
00:33:09unfortunately not looking too good at the moment back out to the gt1 battle on the mulsanne straight
00:33:14away there's darren turner in the 007 car film buffs will always connect aston martin products to james
00:33:21bond hence the numbers here first time that any cars have carried triple digit numbers in 007 and 009
00:33:27he started on the pole but as you can see he's now third in the class there are the two class
00:33:31leaders right in front of him and that corvette is right behind the 009 car
00:33:39there's the next corvette coming along so you mentioned johnny o'connell behind him the saline
00:33:44yeah the only example of the saline first race for that car this year another american car of course
00:33:52built in america run by americans well steve saline designed in america i believe it's built
00:33:57mostly in england it's terry borcheller driving that saline as we speak semco motorsports team
00:34:05familiar to american sports car fans one of nine cars from the american le mans series over here this
00:34:11weekend terry borcheller sharing this weekend with englishman johnny mollum and christian
00:34:17fittipaldi of open-wheeled fame making his first visit to legendary le mans there's a look at the top
00:34:24five we've got a break coming up and we'll be back with more live part of our 20 hours of coverage
00:34:29on speed
00:34:36beginning at one o'clock wednesday afternoon the seven miles or so of roads around le mans that
00:34:41are used as part of the eight and a half mile racetrack are closed to traffic and converted into
00:34:46a racing facility at midnight after practice is over they are reopened to public use only to be closed
00:34:52again the next day and so on but come saturday they are closed for good to host the greatest
00:34:58event in sports car racing worldwide hi everybody i'm bob varsha with david hobbs and dorsey schrader
00:35:03welcome back to the 74 michelin 24 hours of le mans look at this beautiful facility when i first came here
00:35:11that building and grandstand complex you're seeing was basically a a row of tiny garages topped by
00:35:18sideboards people would sit there and just dangle their legs off of them deep into the night when
00:35:22you first came here when i i mean good lord i mean something that was asphalt when you know that guard
00:35:28rail was there i'll bet no no guard rail no oh one of the astros that's that the 69 car
00:35:35suspensions knocked off looks like you've been off driver's right and came back to the left at a billiard
00:35:39your ball job carting corner that's where the 76 car be on the track yes that's not good for any of
00:35:46these guys exactly here's a replay we're going to get right here our huge impact oh that's the privately
00:35:54entered machine the number 69 oh dear that one's done that's that is exactly where the porsche number 76
00:36:05crashed crashed in qualifying it's the bms scuderia italia car fabio babini driver of that car sharing
00:36:14with fabrizio gollian and christian pescatori and all italian driver lineup and you're right dorsey
00:36:19that was a huge hit yeah it was that's you're really going quite fast over there that is where the porsche
00:36:25got written off also boy that was a nasty hit and uh oh all this uh terrible stuff that happens early in
00:36:32this race i mean you build yourself up for this race for a whole year it's sort of like the oh safety
00:36:37car coming out yeah you could have figured that was going to happen there's so much debris on the
00:36:40racetrack of course uh hopefully that driver's all right as well but uh you know with all that kind
00:36:46it's going to need to clean up and a tow truck so this will maybe change a few bits of strategy
00:36:52so let's go down to calvin fish here with christian pescatori a teammate on this machine and uh what
00:37:07was the problem any radio communication yeah fabi vitansi the oil in the car in the course car and
00:37:13they go go out this racetrack is so spectacular but when you get oil on the racetrack and you
00:37:21commit it through curves like that from a driver's perspective are you just along for the ride
00:37:26i don't know but it's very strange after six laps go out it's strange it's incredible
00:37:37great disappointment down here for this team the aston martin certainly expected to run strong this team on
00:37:42the pirelli tires of course and the factory team essentially on michelin so they didn't expect to
00:37:47really win this but certainly a podium was on the cards bob oh they must be absolutely bitterly disappointed
00:37:54safety cars gathering up the field let's take another look at what happened to fabio babini
00:38:0036 year old from italy already off track at that point no one obvious around him so we can't say
00:38:06whether it was contact but what an impact yeah that oil on the track i find a bit of the suspect
00:38:13probably i mean everybody else seems to be getting around okay um but of course maybe that's slow
00:38:18moving car that 35 car and dropped some oil or something who knows well it's hard to say because
00:38:22we didn't see where it started but he's already around backwards at a very high rate of speed over
00:38:26there the porsche curves like i say um that's oh look at this they're actually trying to get this thing
00:38:32going good lord notice all the corner workers that's another trademark of le mans lots and lots
00:38:38of help around the racetrack this is quite the prestigious event for a safety worker to be invited
00:38:44to participate in looks like labini is out of the car i ran into a couple of corner workers the other day
00:38:50from south florida region uh all the way out here from united states to workers who's going into the
00:38:55garage it's a nine car that is the uh creation a lot of pit stops about to happen that's a raynard
00:39:04based prototype running in the lmp1 category with a judd v10 engine and as you see wholesale pit stops
00:39:10beginning let's watch this unfold it's the number five all swiss lineup a garage lc70 judd v10 oh we got
00:39:21one of the corvettes coming in and lighten up the rears trying to get slowed down and the aston right
00:39:25in front of it so those are just your leaders one and two and gti gt1 alan mcnish goes by the pit
00:39:32entrance as does frank bela in the second audi there's emmanuel collard in the 16 car
00:39:41double oh nine is in the pits as is the 64. calvin ollie gavin brings the number 64 machine it looks
00:39:52like it's just to top up with fuel right behind him his teammate is waiting for fuel as well so these
00:39:58guys just topping up no tires meanwhile the aston martin's right behind are taking tires and fuel so
00:40:03strategy already planted key pot in gt1 brian till brian same deal tires and fuel for both aston martin's
00:40:13thomas ingot and michelin here came in tires fresh new michelins and a full tank of fuel they're gone
00:40:18now does that mean that they're a little too hard early on in their tires or they just want to check
00:40:23tire wear dorsey i think they're taking them off because they ran through that debris they probably
00:40:27are guys will you know we got monitors down there they saw what the guards drove through and it's
00:40:31probably the right thing to do pull them off and take a look at them use them later if they're any
00:40:34good that's a very good point because obviously there'd be no need to change the tires at this
00:40:39stage of course that has dropped them behind the corvettes now there are the race leading audi r10s
00:40:47with the garage excuse me the garage-based pescarolo jug running behind we'll take another break
00:40:53and return to go green once again at le mans
00:41:01tonight on speed after a pause in our 20 hours of live coverage of le mans the nascar bush series
00:41:09rolls into kentucky horsepower will be unleashed in a high wire rack qualifying a big heavy fast stock
00:41:15car bush pole qualifying tonight 5 30 eastern live on speed
00:41:20there is music to the ears of car guys and girls everywhere seventh liter corvette horsepower
00:41:33and of course this behind the base but i'm not behind each other that's right our order has been
00:41:37shuffled we are six laps into the michelin 24 hours of le mans live here on speed we are under caution
00:41:44after a heavy crash involving a privateer aston martin david you suggested we're back under green
00:41:50yeah we are in the green yeah there it is you're right yeah we're back on the green now okay so that
00:41:55really is a cool event going out bob so much the better yeah i thought i might be trying to catch up
00:42:00after a pit stop there's race leader alan mcnish in the audi r10 running only its second race with its 12
00:42:16cylinder diesel turbo here's a look at our race analysis a maximum of three drivers per team and
00:42:22as we have it all the teams have three drivers no driver's time in the car can exceed 14 hours or more
00:42:29than four hours in any six hour period as one of the aston martins pulls back in the big question is
00:42:35how far can you go on fuel and tires and that is the big strength as you see the question marks in
00:42:40the p1 category because those diesels will run and run and run and nobody's double 07 has got to be
00:42:46didn't they just change tires and coming there might have to be a problem with that nobody knows how far
00:42:50that audi can go and i'm sure we haven't been shown anything yet this is a problem for sure
00:42:55oh not a routine this is darren turner 32 year old englishman uh-oh oh boy look at the oil holy cow
00:43:04that's probably from the aston yep on the pit ends so they get it up and on to the jacks brian
00:43:10well the last stop was routine but there is at least a half a quart of oil out here on pit lane
00:43:16after it just stopped when he came in for that stop after that yellow flag it's a small oil leak this
00:43:21time there's a lot of oil not only in pit lane but where else is it guys it's on the racetrack well
00:43:26the world feed has shown us the creation motorsports car and they have a brake problem i can tell you
00:43:30that because the guy in the front there you see the master shoulders he's got the top soft uh those
00:43:35are the brake fluid putting some in here so he's had brake issues boy that's pretty early to be having
00:43:43things like brake problems isn't it excuse me this car being shared by felipe ortiz jamie campbell walter
00:43:56and pepe gabiani yeah they're getting ready to bleed the brakes you saw the mechanic there put the
00:44:01wrench up on top the bleeder screw um so he's trouble early like you say david to have all these kind of
00:44:07problems oh this is extraordinary
00:44:13it will fall a lap or two down while there's the corvette flying through new camera angle there
00:44:20in the porsche curves which gets you down low you can see just how fast these cars are going through
00:44:26there and how well they change direction gotta wonder where that oil is bob that the yeah that
00:44:31the aston dump we know it's coming into pit lane which is right where the corvette is right
00:44:34there we know there's a lot of oil in that vicinity but i don't know where else it might be
00:44:39hopefully the drivers were alerted oliver gavin in this case
00:44:46two corvettes now leading the 64 car in 11th overall and the uh 63 car in 15th i think it has
00:44:54something a little more high tech than that to get oil off the pit lane well that's not a that's a lot
00:44:59of oil right there that's not good sign at all you gotta wonder not a good sign
00:45:04the aston very strong and they that again is another just typical thing that just gets
00:45:10right up you they they car ran on wednesday night 30 night without missing a beat it just went round
00:45:17and round and around i'm not going to even say anything about british cars leaking oil this time
00:45:21no it does or about the headlights or the headlights king of dartmouth prince of dartmouth sweeping out through
00:45:27tert rouge onto the public roads that's a great place to watch if you're a fan go down there and
00:45:33see the speed these cars carry down that straightaway through that corner and they're building a new
00:45:36train station just outside that corner making it easier than ever to come now what are we having
00:45:41going to look at here somebody slipping a little bit i think it's just a bit of art here from the uh
00:45:46world feed director yeah he's using the curbs nicely liberally tipping the car up on its side a little bit
00:45:52that's it oliver galvin in his sixth lemaw appearance the last four of them
00:45:59with corvette racing and the last two of them have found him on the top step of the podium in class
00:46:06there's the rankings after a whole 27 minutes and seven laps of this year's 24 hours
00:46:11and already one caution in the middle of all that and several cars making unscheduled stops
00:46:21or heading into the garage those are the leaders of the gt1 corvette now running first and second and
00:46:26in gt2 alan mcnish sweeps through the porsche curves let's go to andrew marriott yeah thanks very much
00:46:35i'm down in the creation pit here and uh jamie campbell walter came in under that caution period
00:46:41because he thought a problem with the rear brakes could be sorted very quickly or as you can see
00:46:46that most certainly isn't the case so i think this car will be here a little while also uh something
00:46:52interesting down at pescarolo the 16 car came in under that caution and topped up with fuel the 17 did not
00:46:59so they are on slightly different strategies now very interestingly this year the pescarolos can
00:47:04go one lap more on a tank of fuel they did last year so they will do 13 laps they had anticipated
00:47:12that they went to 29 pit stops during the race but i think that's possibly changed but the two pescarolos
00:47:18now on different slightly different fuel strategies and andrew talking about fuel down here with the
00:47:23audi camp of course the unknown right now with the limited running with the diesel engine is what sort of
00:47:27mileage will they achieve with the old r8 and the normal fueled car it would get the magic number of 13
00:47:34when it had 90 liters last year had a smaller tanks they weren't seeing that number this year
00:47:38the magic number may be 14 maybe 15 but i think the reason they stand out under yellow is that diesel
00:47:44engine the way it operates basically doesn't use anyone with partial throttle there under the caution
00:47:49labs so really they just wanted to stay out get as many labs under the belt as they could let's go back to brian
00:47:55it's going to be a lengthy repair down here for the aston martin team i just spoke to george howard
00:48:01chapel asking me if perhaps they'd cut an oil line on the debris from the crash that we'd seen out
00:48:06there and he said no actually it was a late call to pit they came over the curbing on the way in
00:48:11and took the sump off the bottom of the motor guys oh boy oh that sump by the way for the people
00:48:17at home is the oil pan that sits underneath the engine he actually came in too hot hit the curbing and
00:48:22put a hole in the oil pan that's not an easy fix let's ride with alan mcnish see if you can hear
00:48:26the engine in this turbo diesel
00:48:33opposite the wrong soundtrack
00:48:37you hear more wind you then that motor it needs a set of those speakers to put an engine noise to it
00:48:44that's it that's just amazing
00:48:56getting that amazing poof poof poof
00:49:00it's no louder than that to the spectators either i mean it comes and goes with that
00:49:06one more note on the aston martins before we depart
00:49:10earlier today aston martin confirmed that the pro drive team will compete on the remainder of the
00:49:15american le mans series events in 2006 so that's good news for sports car fans back home as you
00:49:21watch the chrome racing peterson white lightning car you know the corvette guys and uh and the aston
00:49:28martin guys are friendly rivals you should say but boy oh boy they really battle
00:49:32whoo getting a little air here tracy chrome who has his own sports car team in the united states but
00:49:41is sponsoring the defending champions from peterson white lightning this weekend and making his first
00:49:45appearance here good luck to him well it's uh it's a long way to go it's a great learning experience but
00:49:53on the other hand you know you've just uh there's a lot to learn here and when these guys come up
00:49:59up behind you some god almighty speed you've really got to be on your toes the whole time
00:50:03especially when it gets dark which of course luckily everybody as we're coming up to the
00:50:07longest weekend of the year just a couple of days out uh the dark here is relatively short
00:50:13yeah but it stays light so long 10 30 it's still daylight right we're used to leaving the
00:50:21racetrack when the sun's going down you go have a nice dinner before you know it it's midnight
00:50:27look everybody using the curb a little bit through there i think our cameraman likes that
00:50:35a couple of lmp2 machines duking it out here
00:50:37number 39 is the chamberlain synergy motor sports car for miguel amiral miguel angel de castro and
00:50:46warren hughes portugal spain and britain respectively
00:50:5222 is the world center racing radical sr9 jug for mark short jau barbosa and stuart mosley brand new
00:50:59race car that one that radical one of a kind sort of radical right isn't it it is very radical yes
00:51:05pretty neat car though
00:51:15sweeping through indianapolis on just to the driver's left here you can see just behind the
00:51:19fence there's a big embankment thousands of fans gathered there and behind them
00:51:24a tent city unbelievable to see something you'd expect maybe atlanta or charlotte or talladega on a
00:51:30nascar weekend let's take a look at some of the class leaders as we head for break another time
00:51:39long way to go at le mans and a long way to go in our live speed coverage it's outies out front
00:51:45over the pescarolos in p1
00:51:51corvette controlling gt1 new york werkmeister nick johnson and tracy crone to the lead in gt2 stay with us
00:51:59welcome back live to le mans tonight speed continues with our 20 hours of live coverage of the great
00:52:10race the sun will go down and so sadly will some teams but the night is when this place really comes
00:52:16alive so join us the 24 hours of le mans tonight at 8 eastern live on speed
00:52:21right with johnny o'connell who's having one whale of a race against pegarami and you'll see right
00:52:30there here comes the aston martin they ran side by side for half a lap just a moment ago
00:52:37now watch how the aston draws up well i was going to say drawing up now he's falling back in the corner
00:52:45this is through the portion curves
00:52:46this is coming up to the corner where the 69 car went off right about there boom off to the
00:52:57left of our picture and bounced back and finished up on the right it's a pretty fast corner that left
00:53:01handle there it's very very tricky slightly downhill and the camber falls away a bit it's a difficult
00:53:07corner this is for second in the gt1 class and 15th overall aston martin a little bit better through
00:53:13that area we've watched two laps now these guys drove side by side for half the distance of the
00:53:21race track absolutely all the way down the main straight over side by side so a bit too evenly
00:53:27matched for these two guys i'm sure they wish they were a little bit less evenly matched climbing the
00:53:34hill and it's a fairly steep hill for the world famous dunlop bridge then flashing down the other side
00:53:41those grandstands full of people tons of tons of runoff area crowd way back there on the left big crowd up to the fence
00:53:52a lot of british fans root that car on and watch now aston martin this is coming on the fast
00:53:57on the racetrack and that's where they went side by side last time around in fact this race is often
00:54:03called a british race that just happens to be held in france tens of thousands of british fans
00:54:08come over here to watch they were never in their cups more so than in 1988 when jaguar won this race
00:54:16with stellar international driver lineup there comes the just catching up he goes down the insides it
00:54:22comes that first chicane i think it's going to be if you're going to be out no i don't know
00:54:28pedro lami with formula one experience many many years ago with the lotus team still looks young
00:54:34they've got a slower looks like one of the painos gt2 cars ahead meanwhile calvin fish can add
00:54:41you see the corvettes really running well here this weekend and last year they really see me
00:54:46struggling for speed when they first turned laps on the racetrack one of the problems was the tires
00:54:51they actually had to import the tires from the batches of tires they were using in the u.s over for race
00:54:56week this year what they've done they've actually used their lamar spec tires in the last round of the
00:55:01american lamar series winning at mid ohio the team felt very confident coming in as soon as they went
00:55:07out on the racetrack immediately the pace was right there let's go down to andrew feed car the 17 car
00:55:15came into the pits early it was a scheduled stop i think they probably short fueled it for the first
00:55:21stint so that's the situation with that car and also i believe jan lamars has been given a stop go
00:55:28penalty speeding in the pit lane so another john edu car in a problem there but no problems with the 17
00:55:34it was just a short first run well we also saw the number five car excuse me the 13 car
00:55:42driven by frenchman jean-marc guignol along with japanese drivers haruki kurosawa and shinji nakano yes the
00:55:48shinji nakano with formula one and champ car experience making his second appearance at
00:55:55le mans you see the 13 rolling back out with guignol at the controls
00:56:02late enough in the session that was probably a scheduled stop and this battle for second in gt1
00:56:08continues that's surely an early stop but that best carola wasn't it i mean super early here we are
00:56:15talking about the um the oudis may go to 14 or 15 laps and they stopped on lap 10. they may go further
00:56:25than that i don't think we're going to find that out exactly just because the oudis stopped doesn't mean
00:56:29they need to and there are the two oudis alan mcnish on the right and the red accents on the rt10 of frank
00:56:40feeler and this is where things can go wrong in the traffic particularly 37 of these drivers have
00:56:45never been here before right that's a good point 37 first-time drivers at this circuit
00:56:52the problem is when you're right behind your teammate or you're running together if something
00:56:55happens you can get both cars involved in it see the tight confines of our eyes
00:57:01in the old days right there going underneath his teammate lead change
00:57:12the old days where that guardrail is now was everybody's garden fence and they'd come down
00:57:16and they'd be doing a bit of gardening and cut the lawn and they stand at the end of the garden and
00:57:20watch it go by for a half an hour they go back and have a cup of tea there
00:57:25in the house and um i don't think i'd be working in my garden
00:57:27that's an interesting tale of two race cars between the two audi cars the number eight has
00:57:33just gone like a top all weekend in the hands of frank vila oh boy puts his right side wheels off
00:57:39there the seven on the other hand has been off track in the rain on wednesday night this morning
00:57:45in the warm-up alan mcnish limped around with smoke coming out the back they had to do a lot of
00:57:49mechanical changes and that's the car that seven-time le mans champion tom christensen will be making his
00:57:55bid for his overall eighth and seventh in a row
00:58:03but now as the eight car goes by the seven you have to wonder is that seven rt10 completely healthy
00:58:17capella was in the car when he packed it into the tire walls on wednesday night
00:58:22he came back with his head down and said i hope i can do something good for the team on thursday
00:58:26boy did he ever taking pole for the third time in the italian's career
00:58:33let's go down to calvin fish one of the big questions for the audi team this weekend is if
00:58:38they will be able to go beyond a double stint on their tires now of course the longer they can run the
00:58:43tires the less time is wasted in the pit lane with the r8 it was very easy to run a triple stint and
00:58:49occasionally even a quadruple stint during the night but this r10 package is really hammering
00:58:54the rear tires so that then becomes a second issue they only want to do a driver change when tires are
00:59:00being changed so if they can only do double stints on the tires they may have to go back to a double
00:59:05stint with the drivers where they normally like to use a triple stint on the driver change
00:59:10now mcnish pulls up behind vila
00:59:1712 laps in for these cars the question is how far will they go before they pit well they should be
00:59:22pitting in a lap or two at the most i would think based on what we've been seeing with an eight and a
00:59:28half mile lap a driver simply cannot afford to miss the signal to pit we've seen it so many times in
00:59:36the past where cars will just grind to a halt you cannot get an extra lap out if your numbers are not
00:59:42absolutely precise here's the all danish team in a british car the zytec 06x
00:59:50in the hands of john nielsen the veteran kasper elgaard and philip anderson all of denmark now you're
00:59:56going to start seeing some pit stops this is a creation back in we saw them with that brake
01:00:01trouble was jamie camelwalter thought they're going to fix pretty quickly it was in the pit for some
01:00:05time looks like it's going to go back again they're not going to those little three-wheeled
01:00:15dollies that they stick under the race car to turn it 90 degrees on a dime and slide it back into the
01:00:19garage they might not have any because i would think that you should use those it should make life easier
01:00:2633 back in brian till liz halliday brings the 33 back in i just talked to brian elder who's the
01:00:33crew chief he said they're going in the garage now they will change the wastegate on this lola aer
01:00:38package once they get it fueled it's going in the garage the other thing we talked about was tires
01:00:43and the temperature the weather may have an issue on whether these teams can double stint today 47
01:00:47degrees the track temperature was at the beginning of this event 31 degrees air temperature and that is
01:00:52is considerably warmer than it has been all week long so the setups that these teams have may not
01:00:58be proper for this warm weather tire is we may see them guys now liz halliday stays in the car
01:01:08sharing with plinfield just 22 years of age in his second le mans and the very experienced duncan dayton
01:01:15and we talked about the lmp2 class and how its survival of the fittest these cars very very light
01:01:20by construction and to get in that light unfortunately uh they're a bit brittle
01:01:26an lmp2 is usually a case of last man standing
01:01:32is a good look at the scene the carnival that used to be behind the pits has been relocated outside the final
01:01:38chicane has this whole area behind the race cars the village as it's known has been completely
01:01:44redeveloped this is a spectacular racing facility right now le mans is not going very well for that team
01:01:52we'll be back
01:01:58welcome back to le mans the two leading outis are making their first pit stop of the day it's alan mcnish
01:02:04leading frank beeler into the pit stalls mcnish's car looks like they are not going to take tires
01:02:09meanwhile the number eight squad are setting up four tires so that'll be a call by the drivers the
01:02:14tire technicians are allowed out here during refueling to check the tire wear and make a call right now
01:02:19i see new tires being ready on mcnish this diesel fuel takes a little bit longer to get into the gas
01:02:25tank it tends to foam up a little bit takes about one to two seconds longer almost like pouring a beer
01:02:30into a glass you get a little bit of foam pit stop is done alan finds it back up he's away right
01:02:35behind him there's something going on right now everything's clear though beeler away too about two
01:02:39seconds behind and no tire change we welcome you back to the michelin 24 hours of le mans here on
01:02:46speed that was galvin fish in the pit lane with brian till and andrew marriott with dorsey schrader and
01:02:51david hobbs i'm bob parsha well brian reported earlier that the uh the temperature is over 90
01:02:59degrees down there so double stinting these tires um is um i guess that's what they're going to try to
01:03:05find out if they can go that far you saw frank beeler wanted to get out as soon as possible no tire
01:03:11change so they will double stint those michelins and just before they came in those outis suffered a
01:03:19narrow escape watch this a car spinning just misses mcnish and flies across the bow of bila
01:03:27and that's what i talked about before david having both cars running nose to tail you got them both in
01:03:31jeopardy when that happened well absolutely right because as i said at the top of the show you need
01:03:36a little bit of luck if that had been like two tenths of a second later it would have nailed it
01:03:41from that onboard you saw a building going by on the left hand side that's a famous watering hole known as
01:03:48lehunendier with the name of the straightaway oops the dome is back in driver change looks like
01:03:55alex young going in andrew marriott yes indeed and alex young wasn't ready yan lam has jumped out of
01:04:01the car he went back and the pits was still no alex young and then alex has obviously not done this
01:04:05kind of uh insurance racing before he just wasn't ready finally they've got in the car lost two or three
01:04:10seconds there so uh a rookie mistake really from alex young uh and the car goes on remember this car is
01:04:17also it's just stored as you hear
01:04:23gets it off the line and he scores it again so he's running in third place and remember it's also had
01:04:31that uh penalty that stop go penalty and just currently five now yes and indeed down at pestorolo remember
01:04:38guys they are already on a different fuel strategy one car came in on the first yellow the other car
01:04:45refueled early because it started with a half full tank so don't be fooled they will do 13 laps well you
01:04:52might ask yourself why the trouble stalling the engine there is a new rule this year you cannot
01:04:56spin the wheels spin the tires leaving pit lane if you do so and you're caught doing that you'll be
01:05:02brought in for a stop and go that is three minutes long so it's very hard to get these cars without
01:05:07spinning the tires to leave their pit very easily another thing you saw is a man over there with a
01:05:12little ray gun it's a laser heat sensor he's actually taking the brake rotor temperatures off of
01:05:17that car while it was stopped in there there are some very funny rules in in uh motor racing around
01:05:23the world but if ever i've read one that just defies common sense it is this one that you can't spin
01:05:31the wheels at all leaving the pitch it's really it's really not right it's just not right there you see
01:05:3929 year old alex young from malaysia former formula one driver there's a number of those in the field
01:05:45meanwhile darren turner has brought the 007 aston martin dbr9 back into the race out of the
01:05:53garages but he is seven laps down unofficially now let's go back down to andrew marriott
01:05:59yeah i'm just 50 the other day tell your young malaysian driver to be ready when you come into
01:06:06the pit to tell the whole pit because uh we just uh need to come in early we have a multi uh fuel
01:06:15pressure sensor so i wasn't sure i just didn't want to take any risk but uh if this is all the trouble
01:06:21we have i sign for it so but you got a stop go as well yeah maybe i crossed the white leaving the pit
01:06:27i really don't know could have been the case uh but that's the first time we have that here so okay
01:06:32i've learned that thanks very much thank you so even veterans like jan lammer's got a few lessons
01:06:39you know cross the white line he's just got to watch the telly and you know that and also he did come
01:06:44in early so it wasn't alex young just entirely his fault jan lammer has turned 50 earlier this month
01:06:49which i'm sure he would be absolutely mortified for us to point out yeah he's just a young boy
01:06:54well one of our commentators who remain unnamed is uh 49 today yeah happy birthday greg you'll be
01:07:01hearing from him later you'll be hearing from him later on the running order is mcnish and collard now
01:07:09second in the pescarolo judge frank vila drops back to third eight seconds behind his teammate the
01:07:16race leader frank montagnin the second pescarolo is now fourth there you see the gap showing capello in
01:07:26the number seven that's not right it's alan mcnish running fifth is jean-marc gunion in the courage
01:07:33alex young rejoins in six they had that car up to third did jan lammer's before handing off to his young
01:07:38teammate well he lost that when he did his stop and go i think but he um and then came in early and
01:07:45had that bit of a disaster start up there
01:07:50myself fastler runs a barrage in seventh
01:07:58they've done a tremendous amount of work on these um pescarolos over the year and they've done a lot of
01:08:03it to the engine itself it's a v10 engine 72 degree v10 and it they've actually taken 40 pounds of
01:08:11material off of the cylinder heads which has reduced the center of gravity of the of the car quite a lot
01:08:15because of course cylinder heads that's right at the top of the uh of the engine switch the gearbox to
01:08:20an x-track it's lighter it's narrower and the cars are a lot quicker it's a huge amount of weight i just
01:08:25can't hardly believe 40 pounds that's just unbelievable our aluminum head already right yeah
01:08:34now there you see the top 10 and alex yoon now shown in the ninth spot and the lap down
01:08:41now he's so changed it again down to 12.
01:08:46well the pitting continues as we are now 15 laps in so the leaderboard will be rearranged
01:09:03welcome back to the end of the first hour the michelin 24 hours of leman i'm bob varsher with
01:09:10david hobbs dorsey schrader down in the pit lane calvin fish brian till and andrew marriott are covering
01:09:15things now you're watching the number 16 pescarolo v10 judd powered machine of frenchman emmanuel collard
01:09:24the great french hope this weekend and if this pescarolo team can come through and win
01:09:28a french effort in victory lane for the first time since 1993 here at leman this place will go crazy
01:09:35here's one of our american cars that have come in it's a miracle motor sports car looks probably routine
01:09:41it's about the time that you would come in brian it dorsey it is routine they'll take tires and fuel
01:09:49kumo tires we should note only car in the field with those tires that development coming along nicely
01:09:54ian james behind the wheel right now james won the 2004 american leman series prototype two category and
01:10:02also won sebring in 04 and 05 so very experienced at the wheel of this garage chassis talked to the team
01:10:08earlier and they said i don't want to use the word slow and steady but it's going to be a steady
01:10:13steady pace for this team they don't believe they have the pace to match anybody else they just want
01:10:17to make sure they have the endurance to be around at the end and in this class that's what it always
01:10:21has been about is you know just keep the car running and forget about the speed of the car just keep
01:10:26it going around if it doesn't break you almost always win well they got some sort of problem
01:10:31calvert fish well the number 90 white lightning team is in the pit lane for the first time today
01:10:39jörg bergmeister did a tremendous job in their opening stint there's going to be nick jones and
01:10:43the swede making his first visit here to le mans and this team is currently running second prior to
01:10:48this pit stop just for the team tire strategy they said during the day very difficult to double stint
01:10:54these tires so they're going to certainly be changing them here but during the night they're hopeful that
01:10:58they can then get a double stint out of these michelin tires so the jacks are a little bit
01:11:02lazy getting up the guns are immediately on just to recap the rules here refueling has to be completed
01:11:08with the engine off before any other servicing can be done other than the driver change that
01:11:13jack went down a little bit early there before that left rear was tightened up hopefully that is not a problem
01:11:23porsche has a glorious history here at the michelin 24 hours of le mans
01:11:28and that particular team has a pretty glorious history with porsche here reigning champions in
01:11:33the gt2 category they're your four class leaders we'll take a break and return live here on speed
01:11:43tonight on speed the greatest automotive endurance race in the world is back 24 hours of le mans
01:11:53you
01:12:08hours of
01:12:10Only on.
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