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00:00what a fabulous day of motorsport here on speed channel coming up a little later this afternoon
00:081 30 eastern it is live coverage from the indianapolis motor speedway the united states
00:14formula one grand prix with jano truly for toyota starting on pole we'll see if he can convert that
00:20to a win it will be exciting nonetheless there's been plenty happening on happening there too the
00:25michelin runners are in some trouble they're talking about even putting in an additional
00:29chicane at the brickyard we'll see what happens exciting stuff coming up at 1 30 eastern this
00:34afternoon live here on speed the u.s formula one grand prix we're back at lomo live and exclusive
00:40our coverage continues and we are counting down just a little over three hours to go
00:45it's nail-biting stuff particularly if you're an audi supporter and we are joined now by the
00:51executive vice president of audi of america mr johan denaischen hi mr denaischen uh this is tense
00:58stuff tell me about it running in the front it's been a long long night the cars have done
01:06outstandingly well but it's getting tense and it's going to go right down to the close well everybody
01:11said when they read the rules and we came here to them all that they said oh the aco is doing
01:16everything they can to stop the audis from winning but i tell you what it's a it's a mighty vehicle and
01:21it is very hard to stop this audi r8 has just been awesome and uh yes it's true the guys kind of uneven
01:28the playing field this year with the power restriction the extra weight and particularly the
01:34restriction on the fuel tank capacity which has made it impossible for us to optimize one of the
01:40great strengths of the fsi engine which is its great fuel consumption but uh the r8 is such a reliable
01:48car and uh with the restriction keeping us off the pace of course our only hope is that it's reliability
01:55that will take us through and uh it's done well for us during the night but the competition is moving
02:01and as i say it's going to be close well of course this is the last year for the great r8 the all-conference
02:07sports car but uh great news is the future uh should be quite exciting for you at audi we've got
02:14obviously a lot of equity built up with motorsport in particular in lamar and uh while no firm decision
02:24certainly not at the official level yet has been taken as to what comes next it's clearly not something
02:29that we're going to be walking away from and uh as to precisely what we'll be doing we'll have to wait
02:36but howdy will continue to be certainly a force in motorsport well it's very interesting that
02:43peugeot has made an announcement to come on board not this year but uh you're coming uh with a diesel
02:48entry um that should be very competitive for you guys very interesting um the the way that the rules
02:56are set up really has uh opened up some interesting opportunities and possibilities for diesel obviously
03:03also with the advancement of technologies um it's going to be interesting to see how that vehicle performs
03:10there obviously is always a marketing and business angle involved with motorsport mr donation can you
03:16can you correlate is there a direct correlation between the incredible success of this r8 and actual sales
03:22in dealerships for outing of course the marketing guys would like to believe that we can uh make
03:28this correlation i suppose there's an element of truth also that most of the executives who are in
03:34the car business are in this business because we have motor cars and feel or whether it's petrol or diesel
03:41nowadays i guess it doesn't matter we have that in your veins and uh we we are not as good enthusiasts and then
03:46we try to rationalize away we are here but there are a lot of technologies which have found their way
03:53into the the road cars fsi is one and in that stance race proven and engineering developments do give
04:03ultimately the consumer a benefit and if the technologies find their way into the cars it does give you a
04:08competitive advantage and therefore indirectly should support sales i noticed you said petrol and diesel
04:15they're not giving anything away about the future are you no not at all i think uh we've raised the
04:20the pleasure issue and uh it's interesting all right of course it's no secret that rd does seem to have
04:26a particularly high degree of confidence in diesel technology all right we'll read between the
04:30lines thank you very much mr johann de nation and good luck hopefully your boys can bring it home need a bit of that
04:39and tom christensen you can see there in the background while we were talking to johann de nation
04:44struggling to get by that ray malik limited lol or mg dorsey talk us through these lmp1 class rules here
04:51at le mans we're really kind of in a transitional type of year as the p1 cars of uh are changing
04:57we were talking about hybrid cars the pescarello being the hybrid is able to run in a rule kind of
05:03between 2005 and what 2006 will become it's lighter in its overall weight it has a larger restrictor so it
05:10makes good horsepower good straightaway speed and that's what we've been seeing all along ultimately
05:15you know when we come into 2006 we're going to have a new format all of these chassis will be then
05:20put away in a museum or sold off to uh investor or whatever and all brand new class of car will come
05:27out and uh it should be a safer car and they should be back then on the level playing field well this is
05:33your overall race leader in gt2 we've got all three american le mans series teams for one two and three
05:42couldn't ask for better than that christensen now has a clear run up front and he still has that one
05:47lap margin over christoph bullion in the pescarollo
05:53well that car is on the lead lap it's the sole remaining pescarollo it is carrying the hopes of france
06:00and le mans with it so much build up for omri pescarollo and his men to win this event
06:09look at the speed you're riding on board the corvette which is really quick but not near as fast
06:13that pescarollo just blasts on my watch the corvette though on top end numbers it's going to be good it's
06:18going to probably get a little of that back at the end of this long straight well while there is a lot
06:24on the line in the prototype category there is so much on the line for a variety of reasons
06:29in gt1 and a man who is right in the middle of that is with calvin indeed the director of aston
06:35martin racing is of course dave richards and dave what a sensational race we're having here this
06:40afternoon just over three hours left i know the boys are pushing really hard and there's
06:45high temperatures that we're seeing very difficult for the drivers in the cockpit today i would imagine
06:49i think that's the most demanding bit i think we're going to see who the fittest crews are towards
06:52the end of today and fair news the corvette lads they've kept an incredible steady pace and nothing
06:59appears to have gone wrong and we've had our ups and downs and uh pushing very hard now so it's going
07:04to be a real fight to the wire i saw on brab's last pit stop you're literally pouring ice down his bag and
07:09inside the cockpit to give him some kind of relief i guess the one good thing is when you're focused and
07:14you're chasing the lead car down is one thing but it also takes a lot out of a drive you've sat beside a
07:18lot of great drivers over the years when you're driving flat out it's really a different story
07:22it's very hard on them now and keeping their concentration at this time the temperature is
07:26soaring here it's midday here now the track temperature will be 45 degrees air temperature
07:31is up at 35 or something like that and um we've dropped uh i think uh darren's gonna stay maybe do
07:37one stint he's hurt his leg last night burnt his foot on the pedal got a blister there so we'll see how
07:44they get on starzan's feeling very fit though so we'll put him in towards the end do you have
07:49enough pace to chase down the corvette or do you need them a blip a little bit no i think we can
07:54chase them down it's uh obviously we've got to take risks to do that but we're here to try and win
07:59and you know i think it'll be down to just inching away another three hours to go it can be anyone's
08:06race yet but it's all about boys we can't look wait to see the finish of this one gt1 has been a battle all
08:11day long let me address this issue about the ice being poured down the back for a minute now one
08:16thing you can do is get like ice into a bag into a little baggie put it in your driver's suit and let
08:21it melt but what happens when you take ice and you put it over the top of the driver a yes he is very
08:26hot it melts obviously cools him off temporarily on the outside anyway but all that water then collects
08:31in the in his britches uh in the long underwear that you wear under these driver suits now that that
08:36will get to be a puddle down on the seat and the seat is so hot that it will actually boil or steam
08:42that water i know this from a fact uh and you'll get quite badly burned from it's a steam burn all
08:48around your rear side as well as you heard him talking about um the burn on the foot that of course
08:53from the transmission tunnel and the and the gas brake puddles which are all well over 200 degrees
08:58temperature and that's what these guys have to endure in that the pescarolo is only 33 seconds away
09:05from being on the same lap as tom christensen and we have three hours seven minutes left to run
09:12and of course if it gets on that same lap which obviously if nothing goes wrong it's going to soon
09:17then a caution comes out and you're going to have a real shootout the pressure is intense not only for
09:24the overall lead in the overall win but for these guys in gt1 you just heard from the boss of pro
09:30drive engineering dave richards and inside this car is david brabham a man who has driven for great
09:37british marks jaguar bentley and now for aston martin and he is pushing as hard as he possibly can
09:45he also drove for the painos organization and after the break we will talk to the founder of the american
09:50le mans series dr don painos and get his thoughts on the 73rd running of the 24 hours of le mans stick
09:58around you're live on speed we'll have so much more coming up
10:04the clock clicks on time counts down well into our final three hours here at the 73rd running
10:21of the michelin 24 hours of le mans at the circuit de la sarthe i'm greg creamer giving lee diffie a
10:26little bit of a spell and as we get closer to the end within that three hour window it is getting more and
10:32more exciting one of the big stories is weather temperature 92 degrees fahrenheit and predicted
10:38to go up yet a bit humidity feels a lot more than that 45 percent calm winds and just hot hot hot just
10:44like the song says for the next couple of hours and we are seeing we've already been talking about how
10:49that has been playing a role with some of the teams and certainly some of the drivers and one of the
10:56drivers that might be able to give us some insight is with calvin fitch indeed the lead corvette currently
11:01has young magnus and behind ollie gavin getting ready to take your turn it's been a tough day for
11:05you boys in these cockpit temperatures how's the 65 car going can you hang on to this lead today
11:12yeah well you know it's a it's been tough it's it's hot but uh this is a mighty team here at corvette
11:19racing and they're uh you've got strength and depth and they know this car inside out and we've uh
11:25uh we think that we can do it you know it's it's it's it's been close all race and i don't see it
11:32changing right now so uh you know aston aston martin are running a very very hot pace that last pit stop
11:40that they just had was unscheduled so we're not sure whether there's something up with their car what's
11:44going on but there's not so many people on the pit wall now i think they might all be inside having a bit of a
11:47conflap so uh you never really know what uh george has got up his sleeve at pro drive but uh you know
11:56we're just going to keep stick to our game plan i'm in next i'm going to do a double and then i think
12:00yeah and it's going to be into the finish but uh i just want to say hi to tom mccabe i know he's
12:05watching back in rhode island hope you're well uh cheering for us and uh yeah we're gunning for the
12:12victory we understand with the brad uh brabham uh situation there on the pit stop looked like it
12:16cracked up that was the unscheduled start there so maybe the car is okay but olivier beretta one of
12:21your teammates has had problems during the race is he going to be seeing any action today how's he
12:25feeling olivier's back uh back at the hospitality getting uh getting a drip and he's having some
12:30massage on his foot his socks foot's been very sore but um we both uh yeah olivier and myself have all
12:37been struggling with uh stomach upset i'm not sure what we picked up but uh olivier seems to have got
12:44it the worst out of the three of us so uh olivier's not gonna be getting back in the car now that's it
12:49he's done he's done a great job all race he's i mean one point in the race he had a punch coming
12:54through the porsche curves and it exploded right the left rear exploded on him i he just performed
12:59miracles in the car to keep it out of the out of the wall and uh i don't know how he did it but
13:04he keeps doing it when you're driving a hundred percent you have to give it ten tenths oliver
13:11does that take more out of you or does it allow you to just keep focused not think about how hot
13:15it is inside the car well i find that when i get out of the car i feel like absolute rubbish and i just
13:20just feel awful but when i'm in the car i can think about nothing else other than driving and just getting
13:25on with it and uh driving this wonderful c6r which is just a brilliant machine it's a pleasure to drive and be
13:32far this corvette racing team well they're going to try and do again they're the defending champs
13:36here of course greg absolutely and uh you saw the shots as well folks of david brabham and that is
13:42one knackered looking driver and that is what uh this day is doing to the drivers of these closed
13:47cockpit cars and of course especially in gt1 now let's check in with brian tell greg it's hard on all
13:53these guys the heat the competition the track rick sutherland going for two in a row in p2 class first of
13:59all to win a second one i mean the first one had to be great but now looking potentially at victory
14:04a few hours away how does that feel well you know i can't really feel anything right now we're we're
14:11still uh you know well over two hours to go and you know it's just uh you know you can't you can't
14:17count uh you can't count the lull out right now it's uh it's only six laps behind us uh you know
14:22probably less than a half an hour so uh you know we're just uh we're not we're counting we're not
14:28counting any chickens at this point well i know the car has been in and out of the garage all night long
14:33it has not been easy for you guys to lead what have the problems been well you know we we had a couple
14:40of problems relatively minor but uh you know just just little things that uh were sort of nagging away
14:46and yeah we had to push the car in and out quite a few times but uh the the mondo racing mechanics
14:53have done an amazing job uh they've kept the uh the gulf board uh going all night uh these guys have
14:59just uh i mean they're they're the real endurance guys here uh they're they're up the entire time
15:06they've fixed every little problem that's come along and uh you know i might have really off to this team
15:11they've done a great job well they have done a great job and as we said about p2 before it seems to be the
15:15class that nobody wants to win all you got to do is work on these cars calvin well indeed they have
15:20to work on the cars they have to work on the drivers in these conditions david brabham you look
15:25absolutely white mate i know you got your feet in a bucket there look like you cramped up there on
15:28that last stint yeah i've never experienced anything like this in my life it's just so incredibly hot in
15:34that car at the moment and um my right leg just cramped up seized up i couldn't do anything with it
15:41so i just had to come in and change driver it's just it's just way too hot out there at the moment
15:47when you're in the car though i mean i mean the adrenaline is flowing you've got a big race on your
15:51hands here i mean you all want to be in this position final couple hours of lamar must be very
15:57frustrating to have to get out of the car yeah it is i mean we've obviously got quite a battle on
16:03and there's not that much left to go on the race so um you know that part of it's really enjoyable
16:09what's not enjoyable is suffering in this heat it's terrible dorsey you've been there before front
16:15engine cars they just get that heat soak and it makes for a long day for these drivers all these
16:20people that want to be race car drivers i i can't stress what you're looking at right there how
16:24uncomfortable how horrible you feel when you're in that position i mean his feet are burnt that's in an
16:29ice bucket right now to do that he's uh he's just completely worn out and accurate if you will
16:34that's the way it is and this is such a tough race it's unlike daytona you look at daytona 24 hours
16:39versus le mans at daytona the race starts at 10 in the morning okay you're in 13 hours of daylight
16:44you're up on the high banks and you're really not doing much here at le mans 18 hours of the sun 94
16:50degrees inside that cockpit 140 degrees and this is this site right here is what it does to a man it just
16:56breaks you right down and time and again we see these images uh we think about the people that
17:01say well our race car drivers truly athletes answered end of story we are watching one of the great
17:07athletes right now that is number three tom christensen on his way perhaps to a record here at le mans
17:13seven wins we will find out but it is the pursuit of the pescarolo coming after him in gt1 the battle
17:20continues as it does in gt2 with the porsches lots to come here at le mans
17:30we are watching something very very special uh developing here we're watching right here this is
17:35the pescarolo judd uh the drunk christophe bouillon and is throwing down laps depending upon traffic
17:41uh anywhere from three to seven seconds quicker than christensen in the audi who's finding it as well
17:46on a clear track and i think we have something interesting here obviously bouillon is just flat
17:50out going all the way but when they put christensen in the car with three and a half hours to go it was
17:56reminiscent to me of the old cliche in uh in stick and ball sports when they always say if you're a
18:01champion you want the ball when it gets down to the end of the game seems to me that is exactly what
18:06christensen uh has uh going for him right now he wants it at this point and this point is exactly now
18:14two and a half hours remaining here at the circuit de la sarthe for the bancador dumas and here is
18:21where we sit top three in each of our classes in lmp1 tom christensen leads in the audi but bouillon is
18:27flying and coming in the number 16 pescarolo judd in third a few laps back the team car and it is in
18:33the hands right now of alan mcnish in the number two audi in lmp2 well rick sullivan we talked to him
18:39along with belmondo and didier andre in the number 37 courage for leads over the low amg and the team
18:46courage for number 36 in the gt1 division the gavin barretta magnuson corvette and now down really to
18:53gavin and magnuson leads but it is not that much of a margin the two afton martins coming on strong
18:59obviously david bravo telling us about just the horrible time inside the car in terms of heat this is
19:05when uh it all comes to bear here and in gt2 very interesting story developing number 71 out front
19:12to leave hindry rockenfeller entry over the number 90 bergmeister long bernhardt porsche a couple of
19:17ticks back is the number 80 van overbeck pichnick racing flying lizard entry and it is in that class
19:24perhaps where one of the more interesting stories is starting to develop for more on that let's check in
19:28with brian till it's all going to come down to maybe just one extra pit stop for the boys on the
19:3471 team the alex job team just spoke to mike rockenfeller a few minutes ago he's getting ready
19:40to get back in the car mark lieb will bring the car back in in one lap for another pit stop they believe
19:46they're going to have to do one extra stop over the 90 the the peterson white lightning boys so they've
19:52got one extra stop they also don't know whether leo hendry is going to get back in the car and leo
19:57a long time supporter of racing been to le mans several times he's a great guy but obviously does
20:03not have the pace of the two porsche factory drivers with the one extra stop that the 71 car will have
20:08to do that will should put them nose to tail with the 90 car on the last lap if they continue to run
20:14the pace that they're running right now if leo gets in the car and the pace falls a little bit it could
20:19hand the victory to the 90 car so a lot of strategy a lot of thinking going on down here with alex job
20:25trying to decide what they're going to do we'll have to wait it'll all come down to just one more
20:29pit stop andrew yes indeed and strategy here in the champion pit i understand that tom christensen will
20:35make three more pit stops he is going to stay in the car until the end the third of those pit stops
20:42will be a short fueling pit stop so that will be a very very quick one and they will not change tires
20:49at all at any of these pit stops that's the strategy at the moment the tires hang on and that means
20:54they will save 20 seconds because it takes about 20 seconds to put the actual tires on so let's go
21:00back to the boot it's going to be close we have trouble with the 58 car and that's a big trouble
21:04flat left rear tire and he's going to be limping around trying to get to the pit lane this is a big
21:09development this late in the race this car giving chase to the uh overall leader corvette and that car
21:16that tire is not going to make it at that speed the driver's going to have to slow down if he
21:20does it he risks the delamination of the tire that will take the rear body work and just shred it to
21:24bits peter cox behind the wheel of that car right now sitting third in class and they had had their
21:30problems had a longest stop that had dropped them back just a lap but they were definitely making up
21:35some time and perhaps getting ready to rejoin the battle on the same lap that is coming up this is
21:40devastating for this car and an eight mile circuit to have a flat tire you can't believe how there
21:45goes harder the tire right there it's ripped in half that part's no longer a problem but now the
21:50inner part of the tire that's still left on the rim is it going to shred apart and kill the bodyhood
21:55right now that was over the mozzon hump so there's a long long way to go that's the mozzon corner so
22:01a long time for him yet to be able to get that car around and of course losing precious time
22:07at every tick here as he comes through the mozzon corner long long run
22:15first page of the leaderboard up into the sixth position we haven't heard a lot about but that
22:20zytek has after an early problem has been running very smoothly very quickly and sits right there in
22:26the top five now we take a look at seven through twelve the uh 59 the 58 now in trouble beautifully uh
22:34falling into place perhaps for the 63 corvette to have a shot at the podium another couple of p1
22:39cars and then our gt2 class leader 12th overall
22:42welcome back once again everybody and uh while we were in break the number 58 made it into the pits
22:56they changed it out uh they had a driver's change it is away once again and uh go back and uh show you
23:04a moment uh now remember uh that uh tire was cut down as what we believe a lot of gravel was falling
23:10off the car in some of the shots and look at the michelin tire technicians uh they they want to make
23:15sure that that's uh proprietary yeah you don't want he doesn't want anybody to see the michelin on the
23:19sidewall went flat there you know what though i mean you know to me what we've seen from these
23:23michelin tires i think is actually a tremendous testament to them obviously no matter how well you build
23:29the tire when it hits gravel when it hits carbon fiber and shards it's going to cut these tires
23:34whenever we've seen them fail they have not come apart and destroyed the car they have stayed pretty
23:40much intact they may have lost some of the uh of the uh of the rubber and it has fallen off the car
23:45but we've never seen these cars come in with damage look at all the gravel on the track right there
23:49that's what you're talking about nobody can do anything about punctures i mean punctures uh are a part
23:54of the beast and there's a lot of debris out on this racetrack after 23 hours that's for sure 22
23:58hours so a puncture happens but you're right when these tires go down they really hold their integrity
24:04integrity pretty well we haven't seen flashing around too bad well and during the stop peter cox is
24:09out of the car and andrew marriott has found him well peter that was a blow wasn't it yeah specifically
24:16because it was just after the start finish and i had to carry all the way around you know and we know what
24:22kind of speed we can do not to damage the car but as you can imagine here it's a long way so the
24:28time seems to stay up i mean didn't do too much damage and that's partly you isn't it well yes because
24:34i i i uh i did it on fasten but i loosened my belt so i could look where the tire was and we know that if
24:43the tire is outside it's not so bad so i've upped up the speed a little bit but uh the aston martin was
24:50running great in the end of the day i mean i had good grip but is that all that sharp gravel that
24:55gets thrown on is it what causes the punches the sharp gravel sorry can you say again what causes
25:01the punches the sharp gravel thrown off yeah i don't know there's now quite some gravel on the track you
25:06know i already tried to stay away of the pink bits anyway and normally we the last three years thomas and
25:10me were doing fine and now it seems to call us out as well you know so uh just shame not over yet peter
25:20no i know thank you chris neville thanks andrew here with alex job alex your car has been running
25:28picture perfect you've led pretty much the entire race in gt2 the car was just in for a pit stop you've
25:34got two more stops to go and the car looks like it's in fantastic condition what's the strategy to
25:40close that close this out and get the win well we want to just try to keep the pressure on the uh the
25:4590 car and you know try to run a pace a little better than them pick up as much opportunity as
25:50possible but not overwork the two guys you know they've been uh driving really hard and long stints and
25:57the two young boys are really tired talking about just trying to keep these two drivers motivated they're
26:02young they're pretty tired they've done pretty much the lion's share of this race i was talking to
26:06rocky before he got in and he looks pretty whooped out there how do you keep them motivated well you
26:12know they're they want to win and that's great motivation the porsche you know works drivers and
26:19they go through a very strict uh training program uh diet so they're in great physical shape and uh
26:27they're in very good mental shape so i don't really have to do that much to motivate them they're
26:31they're very motivated motivated themselves well right now they're in the best position to get
26:35this win and on that last stop just a couple pits up the peterson white lightning boys were all out
26:41front watching the stop just making sure everything was going just fine with this car nothing illegal
26:46was going on so they're paying close attention to what's going on with this with this 71 team just
26:51to make sure we got we got about two hours left in this thing and they want to get back in the fight
26:55hey chris you know what used to motivate me what's that door money
27:01i asked rocky you know are you going to get a bonus if you win this thing said you know i don't know
27:05maybe maybe uh maybe a fruit basket or something oh we got some yellows on the racetrack we got some
27:10action here folks we got debris flag that's our 16 uh second and spot but uh i don't know what that
27:18was i think they're cleaning the nuggets off the track where that car went off there is what i'm thinking
27:22because uh but you saw a debris flag you saw a bunch of corner workers out there
27:26covering themselves with waving yellows i didn't see a car look right i didn't either and i think
27:30you're right and of course the misfortune in racing let's take a look here you see all the corner
27:36workers pushing into the inside of the racetrack go over that way and be cautious slow down we're
27:40working here and track looks pretty clean right there there's the debris flag the yellow and red it's
27:45going to be sweeping they're certainly sweeping in that area yeah you can see the junk right out there
27:50there so we talk about our knowledge all the time there's no room for air to go off there well and
27:55you know one thing we're the misfortune for one team in racing is often the good fortune for another
28:00and certainly for the number 58 aston martin uh picking up a cut from one of those uh uh is a bad news
28:06but for the number 63 corvette those boys may be thinking hey there's velocity yellow in them there
28:11nuggets so uh maybe a shot for the podium here's our mobile one a race recap uh here at le mans the
28:17audi's running first third and fourth christensen going for the outright overall wins record what a
28:22story if he gets it number 16 pescarolo from pole back to 16 now second and hunting coming on strong
28:29the 17 pescarolo is out 21 cars out of the 50 that started are out of the race here at the 73rd running of
28:36a 95 degree heat haze shirts off umbrellas out might well be a look at the coat d'azure down on the
28:52mediterranean coast here in the south of france ah but no and you pull back just a little bit then you
28:57reveal the catch fencing on the outside of the ford chicane approaching the front straight this is one of
29:03the greatest crowds that this event or any other motoring event has seen here at le mans and they
29:09are enjoying an absolutely fabulous show here uh welcome back everybody to the circuit dennis art
29:15and i'll tell you what what a race we have unfolding and uh two of the three of the four classes it has
29:21been absolutely fabulous and andrew marriott there's one team we haven't spoken much of we have seen a lot
29:26of it on the host french feed but they have been running extremely well for some time and you're with a
29:30a couple of their drivers that's team jota and they are in an incredible sixth place there rook is here
29:36sam hicknett uh the youngest of the drivers here sam this is a dream debut for you at le mans yeah
29:43absolutely i think we uh we're just proving what a little team with a big heart can do around here
29:49what's your first impression of the circuit this is a magnificent circuit you obviously dreamed about it
29:54it's a boy it's an amazing place the most amazing thing is how often the conditions change every lap
30:02somebody else is off or something's happened so it really does change a lot now your team owner
30:07man has supported your career of course john stack john this is just a dream for you i suppose you come
30:15from a little team you're based on a little farm and here you are running in sixth place overall battling
30:20with the corvette amazing yeah i mean it's perhaps a bit beyond our wildest imagination but we just
30:26want to hold it together and get to the end now really and the car has gone very well you've had
30:31one problem with the exhaust and that's been it now we've had our odd teething problems like everybody
30:36else but we seem to get through them and as i say we just want to make sure it stays together now to
30:40the end now of course you have got three drivers and a word for your japanese kurosari he's done a great job
30:45yeah he has he's done a right well fantastic job as is sam and i've sort of filled in as and when
30:50i'm called in really well for a gentleman driver i think you win the prize of the best gentleman
30:54driver you've done some great lap times that would make a change
31:00sam what will this mean to you if you can get it to the finish
31:03oh it's just great it gives us a good standing to come back and do better next year
31:07well that's it well the little team that really can down here team jota and uh yeah we had a few nuggets
31:13of information from them all right thank you very much andrew and while that interview was going on
31:19you saw the number 58 aston martin pump through the four chicane onto the front straight and then in the
31:23back of the shot you saw this car the number 63 corvette that is the margin in the battle for the final
31:29podium spot third in the gt1 division the margin officially 7.6 seconds as a result of the problems for
31:37the 58 aston martin that final podium spot well and truly up four grabs and when we
31:43come back the battle for the overall podium the top step between the uh pescarolo and the audi we'll
31:50be visiting with emmanuelle collar
32:00welcome back to lemar you know to win one endurance race one of the great endurance races in the year
32:05is special enough to win two and especially daytona and lemar the two 24-hour ones incredibly rare early
32:11heywood did it in 1977 derrick bell along with al holbert in 86 and jan lammers in 1988 that's it
32:19four there is a fifth who has the possibility to make that happen today and he's standing by with chris neville
32:27you you boys uh had some problems early on and i'm sure you didn't anticipate that you were gonna
32:32have to run this type of pace what kind of stress does that put on the car yeah it's quite difficult
32:37at the moment for the car because of the weather also it's very hot and uh at the moment the engine
32:44temperature is too high that's why they cleaned all the the things and we don't know what we are going
32:51to do the last two hours it's difficult to say at the moment just a few months ago you were running in
32:57daytona much the same situation you were running in the sun trust car and you spent most of the race
33:02chasing after one of the crawfords and in the last two hours of the race that crawford broke this is
33:07starting to look a little bit deja vu or at least setting up that type of situation yeah it will be
33:12great if it happens again but uh the od is really relatable so we never know everything can happen in
33:20the last few minutes well like emmanuel was saying that last stop they came in and they spent quite
33:27a bit of time cleaning the radiators because the car is starting overheating a bit well and we often
33:32see uh that that can mean a loss of power and rick sutherland alluded to the fact that it's the crews
33:38that are the true endurance champs they put in yeoman duty they are the true heroes of any endurance race
33:44and we salute them it's extraordinary to think where this event started and how far it has come
33:58but one thing remains the same since 1923 french country roads become one of the world's best race
34:05tracks every year the traditional sprint to the car le mans style start may no longer be a part of the
34:15event but the same spirit passion and emotion to be the best on this eight and a half mile track for
34:2124 hours is still the driving force the view for the drivers remains the same exhilarating the clock still
34:31ticks for the same duration the faces names and cars may have changed but the motivation to be etched in
34:38le mans history is unparalleled to win the french classic is simply a driver's dream
34:54and how far this event has come today is 22 hours one minute and 30 seconds we are into
35:00the final two hours of this legendary event in its 73rd running and once again the artists here the
35:07drivers and the teams have painted another masterpiece we are right in the middle of
35:11let's take a look at our class leaders and each of the four divisions the top three it is tom christensen
35:17we'll be talking more about him in just a minute a great story that's unfolding the pescarolo judd in
35:21full pursuit mode lapping so quick but do they have time on their side the third car in the lmp1
35:28division the teammate to the number three audi but a few laps back in lmp2 it is the belmondo courage
35:34fords first and third right in the middle of them is the number 25 ray malik limited lola mg
35:41that is the class right now where the margin is at its biggest then we go to gt divisions in gt1
35:46it is the gavin brett of magnus in number 64 corvette leading but it is hanging on right now over the 59
35:52bradden sarazen and turner aston martin the number 58 entry having a little bit of a problem in the
35:58battle for third now with the 63 corvette very close indeed and in the gt2 division we continue
36:04to see the number 71 alex joe racing bam entry uh hanging on with rockenfeller leave doing the
36:10majority of the work and leo hindry just running a great program the number 90 porsche close and then
36:15back a little bit the number 80 flying lizard porsche sits in the third division now we talked a little
36:21bit about what is unfolding uh with tom christensen he is on board the number three champion adt audi he
36:28has been on board now since the last driver change with jj leto they anticipate he will go to the finish
36:34which would be about three and a half hours and it would be a seventh win if he hangs on his first one
36:39came in 1997 with the yos porsche the twr open cockpit spider then in 2000 with the advent of the audi r8 he
36:47was part of an amazing race teamed with frank bila and emmanuelle pierrot that was a repeat in 2001
36:54again with bila and pierrot that was a race that uh had its moments for sure but for the audi and their
37:00drivers absolutely phenomenal and a three-peat in 2002 his fourth win again teamed with bila and pierrot in
37:08the audi r8 in 2003 he won again in in a bentley he has been in the right car at the right moment
37:15every time in that magic moment for the bentley team again christensen in the seat when it was to
37:22be the right one to achieve victory here and now his last win last year back in the venerable audi r8
37:29team with cj ara dindo capello and christensen himself that one may be the biggest surprise of the
37:35bunch that was uh not the uh team delog sort of factory entry if you will and uh it came through
37:41for the win and gave christensen his six his fifth in a row and uh just an absolutely stunning that
37:46fifth in a row alan decadney as you joined us here in the booth most all time uh and he has a chance to
37:52go after ricks and those six wins though in eight in eight attempts an unbelievable win percentage it is
37:57just stunning what he has achieved well that's true the uh strangely enough way way back wolf benato
38:02you know he only started this race three times and uh 1928 29 and 30 and he won it on every occasion
38:10did the hat trick uh had a beer and retired but what tom christensen has achieved uh no one will
38:15ever ever be able to take away from him the guy's phenomenal not just for being the driver that he is
38:20but it does help when you can sort of influence where you might drive to right as you said earlier
38:25he's in the right place at the right time in that car at this track and well it looks like he may
38:31well be headed for something else i'll keep my fingers crossed and christensen continues to lap and
38:39uh doing so on a clear track he's usually down in the 342s and traffics 344 345 the pescarolo entry is
38:46running in the mid to high one 330s when things are happening now the guy that christensen is going
38:53after is the legend himself jackie x and jackie x has a tremendous amount of respect for what he calls
38:59the younger drivers and he counts the dane among them
39:06i think it's more difficult today than it was maybe it's not as physique as it was in all times
39:17but it's very demanding because there are so many great talents in motor racing
39:22but there are still very few places to take that's mean today really you have to be better than the
39:31others 30 years ago 40 years ago great cars or sophisticated car or works car or fast car
39:40were only given to experienced people at the age of whatever 26 7 8 30 32 nobody would consider to give
39:51uh fast car to somebody of 18 or 19 or 20
39:59today it's full of people of 20 21 22 talented or are real pure candidates for winning uh races
40:10they are unbeatable and they are unbeatable because they have the talent and they have no fear
40:16and in this business having no fear it's mean nothing it's impossible
40:28yeah he's absolutely right of course in jackie's early days mine too for that matter he was born in 1945
40:33in january uh he's just turned 60 and the go-kart wasn't really invented i think the invention of the go-kart
40:40has been one of the most uh phenomenal things to affect major racing because the age of about what
40:44three or four or five years old you can start racing i mean there's kids out there with more
40:49racing experience than i've had in uh you know 40 years it's unbelievable and our leader is in andrew
40:55yes indeed he is and the big thing to watch for here is whether they throw another set of tires at it
41:00they're hoping they're not going to they're just taking the tires now and i rather suspect they won't
41:05remember this is going to save them some 20 seconds you have to say these last few laps tom has
41:11absolutely driven his socks off and he's been able to keep that pescarola behind and it could make
41:17all the difference and off he goes and he is back for another just two stints now
41:22well the thing that is going to help him along with that fast stop and not doing the tire change
41:29on the last lap uh bouillon could only pull a 344 three minutes 44 seconds obviously well hung up in
41:36traffic and that is the kind of break that the audi wants right now to help ensure that it has the
41:42margin at the finish and christensen it's in his lap it's in his hands quite truly and doing a fabulous
41:49job here's a look at our top six overall once again two gt1 cars reside there
41:59after the donuts after the champagne nascar victory lane brings you exclusive post-race interviews
42:05highlights and recaps directly from the winner's circle you can join the post-race party on nascar
42:09victory lane tonight eight eastern only on speed
42:12welcome back to lamar everybody and we continue to watch the progress of uh tom christensen alan as
42:22we were going to break we were talking about you talked about the go-kart and the advent of what that
42:28has done for the young driver and the experience but also there's another element as well in terms of
42:33technology it's called data yeah precisely you see because today a young driver who may have natural
42:37skills and ability he's been a go-kartist he doesn't have the experience now how to set a car
42:42up necessarily because on the go-kart there's nothing to set up all the wonderful uh electronic gizmos
42:48that are available to him and his engineer help him get the most out of his car now someone like jackie
42:54icks was a natural at setting up a car that's why he was so brilliant and he could get the very very
43:00best out of his car what you see in his day you didn't early on in his career you didn't have all these
43:05wonderful things we have today which is why we get younger people coming up with such a fantastic
43:09performance one of whom by the way i think is ready down there to talk to us timo bernhardt who's
43:13driving a gt3 porsche here i know you won the class here in 02 timo are you down there very much
43:19like to speak to you yes i hear you good now uh you look pretty cool and calm and collected there i mean
43:24you've obviously been enjoying yourself uh how's it been for you out there uh it's obviously very hot out
43:31there and it's not that's not so easy in the night was not as cool as it was in the previous year so
43:36no cool out for us and i did double sins and uh yeah to get to get our stints done and uh actually
43:44we're still we're still fighting with the bam car for the victory and i think we're now three minutes
43:48three minutes behind it's not as close and it could be to still get close to them and to fight for the
43:55victory but i guess we should stay in touch and maybe if they have a problem we'll be right there
43:59i think that's about all you can do isn't it just keep hanging in there and if anything goes wrong
44:04the slightest hiccup from them you'll be there exactly that's that's the plan that's why uh
44:10jörg is now in the car and he tried to push a little bit more and i will go in
44:14in the last 10 to do to again to put some pressure on them and maybe they do mistake whatever we
44:20you can never know you're dealing with a little bit of a handicap still aren't you
44:23or you have to be a little careful with the engine at this point don't you um
44:29actually i think we're running flat out now like the whole race um we had pretty much uh
44:35pretty much pushing we had to push because the bam car was was really fast in here the whole week
44:41and uh there was no other chance for us to stay in touch with them well you guys have done a fabulous
44:46job obviously from the recovery from the incident early in uh in qualifying and just staying in the hunt
44:51and then being very very quick overcoming the the obstacle congratulations to you certainly and
44:57we look forward to a great run to the finish wherever you end up congratulations uh you guys
45:01have really proven to be something special here at le mans uh nicely done sir thank you all right
45:06we appreciate you taking the time to come by and visit with us that's young timo baron
45:09now one of those drivers mr x was alluding to the young uh tremendously talented up and coming
45:14superstars sitting third in the category right now is the flying lizard entry that is the number 80
45:20uh porsche and i believe chris neville has one of the three drivers another american
45:25greg here with team principal and driver seth niman seth this is your first time and the team's first
45:31time to le mans you've got to be pretty happy right now trying to hold on to this third place in gt2
45:35oh yeah we're very excited obviously coming to the law le mans for the first time our only real
45:41objective was to get here and try and run well and hopefully finish and uh we're still working on that
45:47plan and to be in third place though is an added bonus for sure you had a couple problems early
45:52on which puts you a couple laps back but you're you're right in this hunt for the podium and this
45:56is a team that doesn't have any porsche factory drivers you've got two cars in front of you that
46:00are full porsche factory drivers and a car behind you right now do you think that kind of puts you at
46:03a disadvantage well i think um no i don't think it does i mean obviously the cars in front of us
46:10timo mike rocker bella mark lee york etc they're great drivers but i think uh johannes man overbeck
46:18and lonnie petchnik have shown that they can match their pace under the right circumstances and so far
46:23that's what's been happening here great showing for this rookie team very well-funded team great
46:28equipment great drivers looking strong all race long all right thanks quish three porsches one two three
46:34and gt2 we get news that we're looking forward to seeing a porsche program in the prototype back in
46:40lmp2 and when you think about porsche or lamont yeah 16 overall wins but in terms of class victory
46:46island academy back even in 1955 i don't know that calculators can count that high for the success that
46:52porsche's had well yeah you're absolutely right i mean they they kicked off uh in the early 1950s
46:58there with their little coups little three five six a's and then these 550a spiders came in and they
47:04completely revolutionized the light prototype the way of racing cars because these things way
47:10nothing and they were super reliable and you knew they'd finish and the bigger cars only had to
47:15just take a bit of a hiccup and those little porsches would be in there and back in this era one of the
47:19real prize trophies at this event was something called the index of performance while the porsches
47:24regularly won correct that they did absolutely it was a it was a weight versus horsepower and engine
47:30capacity and they regularly won it they were absolutely brilliant at it their engineering has always been
47:34superb that's mike hawthorne by the way in the middle there just a remarkable history for porsche
47:42here at lemont of course the their wonderful 16 overall victories but as alan said long before the
47:48glorious 917er in their first overall win porsche was already well on the way to revolutionizing
47:54prototype racing and making a very special mark on this legendary event uh at lemont and then some of the
48:01crews that found a little bit of open garage space and a little shade to watch the last hour and 42
48:07minutes your day is done now you got out of the car for last time how do you feel it looks if you're
48:12going to finish third i mean you feel disappointed what do you feel well third at lemont is a fantastic
48:17result in anyone's book there's no question about that um there's a tinge of disappointment i would have
48:25to say if we do end up finishing in that position because i think we had the capability uh for
48:31something a little bit better however that's the way lemont sort of shuffles the dice sometimes it
48:35runs with you sometimes sometimes it doesn't part of the reason for that is when you went off we don't
48:40really know we didn't have the mystery so what happened when you went off early on uh it was at the
48:45end of a triple stint on the tire and it was actually my in-lap and coming into the second chicane it
48:51locked the right front just momentarily but then on the straight afterwards what i thought was pickup
48:57of the tire came through the louvers and the body work but in reality it was actually the whole tread
49:02of the tire that came off and uh so but next time i turned into a left-hand corner which was in
49:08indianapolis i was driving on a steel belt instead of some rubber you'll be back here to try and win
49:14this next year for your second time yeah yeah i've been one two three in the podium if we manage to
49:20finish third here today and uh i like to get that center one that's the nicest part of it all thank
49:25you what a great guy isn't he yeah magic little man and i think he also had some stints there that
49:30he can feel very very proud of what a what a contribution to any professional team that guy is
49:36we had a bit just a little while ago this was the car that was running second in the lmp2 division
49:41the ray malloc limited that is the lola uh mg and had been having a very good run and then it just got
49:48away coming into the ford chicane and then this is the sad one this is that dynamite little zytek
49:54uh from team yoda that had been running so well pretty substantial off over in one of the chicanes
49:59they were able to get the car out of the gravel and bring it in and actually the damage there looks
50:03a lot less than i would have imagined alan as we were watching that uh when it happened during the
50:08break yeah it looked like a biggie to me i mean you can see it's pretty well smashed up but again that
50:13five carbon fiber type body work it can absorb oh they're taking it back into the garage now so
50:18obviously they've got a lot more work on that than they can just handle out in the pit straight on the
50:22pit front there but they will turn it around and they will get it back out and then they will be
50:27still looking for a good strong finish and i think that team has done absolutely wonderfully here for a
50:32private team privately funded uh they they've got the thing this far and they will get it to the end of the
50:39race and a very emotional finish for them too well here into the pits comes our second place car of
50:45jean-crystal bouillon and that car we've been alluding to it going to be the driver change here
50:49they have been running some unbelievably fast laps uh usually any you know somewhere either side of
50:55five seconds a lap faster than the number three audi and keep in mind this car also gets to carry an
51:01extra 10 liters of fuel compared to the audi but it has been making uh really a little bit shorter
51:08stints between uh fueling and it's a little bit confounding obviously that five liter judd when
51:14it's a full song a thirsty little one i think probably that's the case and i don't know whether
51:18the engine management system that goes with it is oh oh huge development the car going into the garage
51:26the pescarolo sport entry that was in pursuit as we were watching just a moment ago you saw the number
51:31three go by in the hands of christians and putting that car a lap down uh this is it this could be the
51:37defining moment in the overall battle of this race the pescarolo sport judd is in the garage
51:44you know somebody spotted something and they said oh we better attend to that a lot of activity and
51:51looking going on in that right front corner yeah it's pretty instant wasn't it look at that wheel
51:54wobbling around it was pretty instant too whatever it was well i was wobbling around because you have the
52:02wheel not off okay well they looked i mean they are cleaning out the radiator ducting with those
52:10brushes they've been getting a lot in there we earlier saw them take off a whole chunks of screen
52:15and the like that was down in there trying to get that car to breathe just a little bit better but uh
52:19this looks a bit more severe than that but the drive is still sitting in it which is meant to be a good
52:27sign at least he hasn't climbed out as a no-hoper so they'll really they'll be fixing it and it'll be
52:32back out there they'll probably then just try to keep ahead of the number three car the uh sorry the
52:37number two car which is third with frank beeler in it the audi and just maybe go for second because
52:42they're just running out of time now to continually hump down christensen in his audi well the engine
52:47cover went up but it was up very briefly it is back down once again chris neville you've arrived on
52:52scene anything you can tell us yeah greg is exactly what we were talking about earlier just this motor
52:58overheating some representatives from judd are down here just trying to clean everything out and get
53:03this car back out there and uh they're going to drop their they're pulling it back out right now so
53:07they just wanted to get it into the garage really try and clean all the ducting out clean the radiators
53:11out and try and get them back in the fight about 95 degrees fahrenheit and uh lapping at absolutely 110
53:19percent of this car and its pursuit is going to take its toll in these conditions on uh the mechanics
53:25and uh quickly get that started up and that car uh is back out it has lost hugely valuable time alan
53:32but at least it is running well you see we were talking about alan munich is talking about pickup on
53:36his tar you can pick up all everybody else's rubber and stones and grit and nonsense on your tires
53:42causing you a lot of problems out of balance tires and maybe bodywork failure when it flies off but if all
53:47that rubbery stuff and grit gets back into the radiator area well it can crop that up you can end
53:52up with a radiator that's maybe only working at two-thirds efficiency and today in these temperatures
53:58well they need all the air through those radiators they can get let's face it well they weren't in
54:02there with just hands pulling that stuff out they had scrub brushes so obviously of great concern let's
54:08take a look at the top three in each of our four divisions running here still christiansen out front
54:12now with even more time a lap plus in hand great news for them still in second place is the pescarolo
54:19judd then the third place car remains the team champion adt audi in the lmp2 division with the
54:25spin from the number 25 lola mg from ray malloc we now have the two belmondeau courage fords running
54:31one two so some great french pride still possible there and of course rick sutherland the american
54:36in the lead car in that division we move now to the gt classes in gt1 no change it is still
54:42the number 64 entry over 59 and 58 aston martins that 59 stopped a little longer they were just
54:47making sure the driver was cooled off that is turner and in gt2 at 71 and 90 the battle continues
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