24 Hours of Le Mans 2009 - Race part 13 - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00:00Welcome back to the Le Mans 24 Hours, live here on Eurosport.

00:00:04The big news here right now is that this track is still getting quicker.

00:00:08We've just seen from the Risi Ferrari team who is leading GT2,

00:00:11they've just done their quickest time of the race so far, a 4.03, which is a blinding time.

00:00:18And we've also just seen some of the other cars doing their quickest race,

00:00:21Casper Elgar doing a 3.40, which is also a very quick time for LMP2.

00:00:26So at the moment, we're only seeing this track get quicker.

00:00:30All big news here, the number 92 car, that is a second-place car.

00:00:33Rob Bell has been pushing so hard, 100% fast as he can around this track.

00:00:38Maybe that's just caught him out.

00:00:40Yeah, looks like it. Rob Bell battling with not Matteo Malicelli,

00:00:43but somebody else in the 92, Scuderia Italia Ferrari, who does not have that.

00:00:50That looks like the old Maison Blanche. Is that the entry to the Porsche Curves?

00:00:54And there's a campsite right beside it.

00:00:56That car looks stuck in gear, possibly.

00:00:58They can't seem to move it.

00:01:00Now, he's shot up an escape road, hasn't he?

00:01:02Where is he?

00:01:03Well, because you don't normally get to a roundabout sign like that.

00:01:06He has shot up an escape road.

00:01:07He's gone a very long way.

00:01:08Now, where is that?

00:01:09That is...

00:01:10Post 150.

00:01:14He has overshot trying to turn right into the Porsche Curves.

00:01:18He's gone up the main road, because that is the old road down towards Maison Blanche to the White House.

00:01:22So he has not gone right on towards where the modern circuit is, the Porsche Curves.

00:01:27That's the bit that you would normally drive on on public highway to come back up to the ACO building.

00:01:32So he's overshot 11 and a half kilometres onto the lap.

00:01:35And as you say, looks like it's either jammed in gear or the brakes have jammed on.

00:01:39Either way, he's had a big moment there, Rob Bell.

00:01:42Well, it looks like something must have broken in that car for him to go that far down that escape road.

00:01:47I mean, there's actually quite a lot of room there before you even reach that road that he's down at the Porsche Curves.

00:01:53So...

00:01:53Let's have a look.

00:01:54There we go.

00:01:54A replay here.

00:01:55Not much of a replay.

00:01:57Not really.

00:01:58This is the Ford Chicane.

00:02:01Well, that wasn't the Ford Chicane, so just getting various pictures here.

00:02:03This was David Brabham getting in about 40 minutes ago, I guess, a little less, into the lead car, car number nine.

00:02:11Now, David Brabham already a race winner for Tom Walkinshaw, Jaguar in an XJ220.

00:02:17That was later stripped from them because they didn't run the car with catalysts, as they weren't needed to under IMSA regs.

00:02:24But the ACO had decided that maybe they should have done.

00:02:26But all the drivers, David Coulthard, David Brabham, Alexander Vortz was a winner then, of course.

00:02:31That was his first ever Le Mans.

00:02:32All still have their trophies.

00:02:34And Tom Walkinshaw probably doesn't care much either for history.

00:02:36And Brabham trying to join brother Gary as an outright winner.

00:02:43Gary winning for Peugeot, of course, back in their last glory days.

00:02:46So that would be a nice bit of synchronicity.

00:02:49Oh, should we turn the mics on?

00:02:50David's got a couple of class wins, of course, the last two years, hasn't he?

00:02:53For Aston Martin in GT1.

00:02:55And many outright wins in the American Le Mans here as well for the front engine, Penoz.

00:03:00So he's had lots of sports car experience in all sorts of different categories.

00:03:06And very nearly became associated with the Formula One team that bears his father's name again.

00:03:13But, oh, everybody's trying hard not to win.

00:03:16In GT2, that is the third place car in GT2.

00:03:19It's Paolo Ruperti at the wheel having a big lock-up and running out of road, but just getting it back on track.

00:03:28Yeah, that Pirelli shod car, of course.

00:03:31You can see the Pirelli colours clearly on the side of that Scuderia Italia car.

00:03:36Just locking up the race.

00:03:37Well, it's interesting, this GT2 category is really becoming a fever hotbed, like LMP2 is, of different manufacturers trying to appeal to customers.

00:03:47Look at the top three cars.

00:03:48We've got Michelin shod car first, Pirelli shod car second, Dunlop shod car third.

00:03:54We've also got a hand-cooked tyre car as well.

00:03:57So four different tyre manufacturers in that battle.

00:03:59Yeah, and that hand-cooked car was running very impressive, wasn't it, in the early stages of the race, the Farnbacher Racing Ferrari.

00:04:06So, as you said, there's lots of technical interests there in that class, even though there might be only two marks.

00:04:11Ferrari and Porsche are really battling for the outright honours.

00:04:14And then, of course, there's the Spiker that is still running pretty solidly, I believe.

00:04:18And the Aston Martin is still going as well.

00:04:20And, of course, Chevrolet developing a car.

00:04:22And those are the ones that are on track at the moment.

00:04:25Of course, one of the teams that was expected to be here with an Aston Martin is not because it's developing a car for Nismo, for Nissan to come in.

00:04:33The Skyline or the GT-R, whatever it is we're calling it this week.

00:04:37And, again, quick Nick Manassi on.

00:04:38Fastest lap of the race for that car.

00:04:40Three minutes, 24.3.

00:04:43Fastest lap of the race of any car.

00:04:45And now on another quicker lap.

00:04:47So, quick Nick in ninth place in the number seven, Peugeot.

00:04:51Really?

00:04:52Well, he's got 6,053 minutes to catch the leaders.

00:04:57Unfortunately, he's got 13 laps to make up on them.

00:05:00So, he needs hail, frogs, plague of lice, all sorts of things to afflict his teammates.

00:05:06And I'm sure even he wouldn't be wanting that on them.

00:05:09But he is now back in the top ten.

00:05:10Sorry, Liz.

00:05:11He is now back in the top ten as a result of the problems suffered by the 008 car.

00:05:17We'll trample all over you.

00:05:18Go.

00:05:18Why don't you guys just carry on?

00:05:19I'll just, you know, hang out, have a cup of coffee.

00:05:21Cue Liz.

00:05:22Is it my turn now?

00:05:23Go.

00:05:24Oh, excellent.

00:05:25Oh, would you like me to say that first?

00:05:27Okay.

00:05:27Well, first we'll talk about Jamie Mello, who's just done a 401 absolutely blinding in GT2.

00:05:34That's an incredible time for GT2.

00:05:36So, it just goes to prove that this track is still getting quicker and quicker as we go into the day.

00:05:41The other news is that the number 92 car, that is the car of Rob Bell, has just had a warning issued to it.

00:05:46The car that's basically tried to go down to the town of Le Mans for a little detour and come back again off the backside of the Porsche curbs.

00:05:53We still don't know what's happened with that car.

00:05:55We haven't seen it back on circuit again.

00:05:57Not really sure what's happened there, but they've been issued a warning as well as being off the circuit.

00:06:01Maybe that's for arguing with the marshals and demanding that he gets turned around.

00:06:05But just picking up on that Jamie Mello lap, Jeremy, put that into perspective.

00:06:10401.608, that is a quick lap, but how quick is it?

00:06:14Well, the next car in the class, Paolo Roberti, fastest lap for that class, for that car.

00:06:19Not a 401 point anything, a 406.1.

00:06:24405, the fastest lap for Rob Bell's car.

00:06:27404, the fastest lap for Roman Mnarrac and Patrick Poulet in that Imsa Matmour car.

00:06:32It's not just quick.

00:06:34That's actually in a different class of car at the moment.

00:06:36The fastest lap in qualifying in GT2 was also set by Jamie Mello at a 4 minutes 0.04, so he's a couple of seconds inside there.

00:06:49As Fiona Miller was saying to us earlier, it's not just the prototypes, it's everybody who is finding this track is just getting faster and faster with every single lap.

00:06:58And let's just put that into perspective, not that many years ago, 4 minutes was a time that, you know, maybe a less experienced prototype driver was doing at night.

00:07:07And it was considered, you know, okay.

00:07:09It was considered respectable enough.

00:07:10It wasn't a quick time, but, you know, that would be okay.

00:07:13And now we're seeing that in GT2.

00:07:15So it just goes to show how much times have changed, how much quicker everything's gotten.

00:07:19And Rob Bell is in the pits.

00:07:20He's made it back in.

00:07:21We've not seen what happened, but he's just pulled into pit lane.

00:07:24So that is good news.

00:07:26He's here.

00:07:26He's got a warning, but he's made it back from the miles he'd gone off the circuit.

00:07:30We still don't know what happened there, but the car looks intact and he's been able to drive it in.

00:07:35So hopefully we'll have some news there soon.

00:07:37Maybe we can get Justine down there in the pits.

00:07:39Okay.

00:07:39Well, clearly fuel will be the first thing they do.

00:07:42Get it up, get it onto trolley jacks, get it back in.

00:07:44As you can see, three lights down the side of the car means it is third in that class.

00:07:48The yellow lights denoting GT2.

00:07:50So Rob Bell in the pit lane.

00:07:54And the good news for him is that they've got one lap between him and Roman Narrag.

00:07:58That means three and a half minutes or four minutes, I suppose.

00:08:03Now we've been asking to find out what's going on with Aston Martin 008, which is now slumped to 12th place.

00:08:09It's lost four or five laps already.

00:08:12And Justine is down with Jos Verstappen.

00:08:16He came up to chat to us yesterday evening to keep the Aston Martin fans happy.

00:08:22Lola Aston Martin 007 still in fourth place.

00:08:25And I tell you what, the Aston Martin racing crew would be very, very happy if they could complete that result.

00:08:33But let's hear from Jos Verstappen, find out what's happening with 008.

00:08:37Jos, you were running on the 10th position.

00:08:40What happened exactly?

00:08:42What happened exactly, we don't know.

00:08:44But there's something wrong inside the gearbox, so we're changing a lot of parts and we tried to go out again.

00:08:52So we'll see what happens next.

00:08:54But something went wrong inside the gearbox.

00:08:57You said Aston Martin still have a car which is very fast.

00:09:01Your car seems very fast for all of 24 hours.

00:09:04No, the other car is running fine.

00:09:07He's on fourth position, so hopefully he will stay there.

00:09:10And we can finish in that position, I think.

00:09:12That would be good.

00:09:14Well, of course, before night fell, both cars were running in fourth and fifth place and 008 has had its fair share of the bad luck.

00:09:23And let's hope, without wishing to do Jos Verstappen in any way, that it doesn't now creep up the garage from 009 through 008 to 007.

00:09:32Because Lola Aston Martin Project, Aston Martin Racing, funding the project themselves.

00:09:38And Aston Martin Racing is basically an offshoot approach.

00:09:40If it's not Aston Martin, the car manufacturer that's paying for it, Aston Martin Racing have raised the funding.

00:09:46And hence the gulf livery, reunited with the Aston Martin name.

00:09:50Both of them, of course, prestigious Le Mans names.

00:09:52Yes, dare I say that the Lola Aston team has been shaken but not stirred.

00:09:57I think you could probably share that to money, buddy.

00:09:59007 car still there in fourth place.

00:10:02It holds a two-lap lead now in the petrol engine subdivision over Sahel Ollari,

00:10:08who's the gap ahead of the Christophe Townsend now at the wheel of car number 16, the Pescarolo Judd.

00:10:16Just less than 10 seconds.

00:10:18Those two numbers, 11 and 16, still matching times with each other.

00:10:24It's been up to 10, down to 7, and it goes with who catches traffic wear.

00:10:29Last lap each, Sahel Ollari, 338.7.

00:10:33Christophe Tanso, 337.2.

00:10:36The next time, it could easily be a second in Ollari's favour as opposed to Tanso's, depending on who catches what and where.

00:10:41Or who is caught by what and where, because, Jeremy, quite often that can be just as detrimental to your lap time.

00:10:47If somebody whistles past your rear hold in a quick prototype, it can make you slow down and go offline and pick up rubbish.

00:10:53It can ruin an entire, you know, 12-kilometre lap before you even get the tyres back to being grippy enough.

00:10:58Yeah, very good point indeed.

00:11:00So, you don't take anything for granted, do you?

00:11:03In this race, there is Frank Montagnier, our race second place car.

00:11:081 minute 19, the deficit now to the overall leader.

00:11:13So, this is on lap 274.

00:11:16Last lap around, the deficit was 123, actually.

00:11:19So, he's pulled back four seconds on that lap.

00:11:21And back on lap 270, which is just four laps ago, the gap was about one minute and a half.

00:11:28So, he's pulled back ten seconds now in the last four laps.

00:11:31That's Frank Montagnier.

00:11:32Liz, it's not hard to see why, is it?

00:11:34That car was the quickest earlier on.

00:11:36And, I mean, look at the lap times.

00:11:38I mean, it's just incredible.

00:11:40I mean, we're just seeing faster lap time after faster lap time.

00:11:43We've just seen Olly Gavin do the fastest lap time that that car has done all day.

00:11:47And that is a 3 minutes 53 for the Corvette, which is a very quick time for GT1.

00:11:52And they significantly back on the same lap as 63, their teammate, Johnny O'Connell.

00:11:57But Johnny has just had a fuel stop, and Gav will need that, so they will go a full lap back.

00:12:02But looking at the lead battle, 3 minutes 32 for Brabham, 3 minutes 27 for Montagnier.

00:12:09He was four and a half seconds quicker than Brabham's on that lap.

00:12:12But there is, I'm pretty sure, some unfettered racing going on between 9 and 8.

00:12:18Now, what happens when 8 catches 9, as he will at this rate, that then is for Peugeot to decide and not to allow Fait to play a hand.

00:12:28More in a second.

00:12:29Welcome, we're live to Eurosports coverage of the Le Mans 24 hours 2009.

00:12:36David Brabham leads.

00:12:37He's being run down in his Peugeot, literally as well as metaphorically, I think, fairly shortly, by Frank Montagnier,

00:12:43who's in second place in Peugeot number 8, Peugeot number 9 leads.

00:12:46Looking at our Navi Team Go Porsche, this is the car that is in second place in the LMP2 category.

00:12:54Sasha Masson, I think you'd probably have to agree, the fastest of the three drivers in the car currently lapping,

00:13:01or has just gone out of the pits.

00:13:03In fact, this is his first flying lap, and the pit stop included going exactly a full minute slower than Kasper Elgaard,

00:13:11who's in the 31 Essex Porsche that leads that category.

00:13:15But still just about two laps between them, so it's going to need the fickle finger of fate to intervene, I think, Jeremy.

00:13:24You're not going to do that even in 6 hours 40 minutes on pace alone.

00:13:28No, I mean, they've got three very quick drivers in that car number 5.

00:13:31Sasha Masson, as you said, set the fastest lap for that car within the last half an hour or so,

00:13:36but Seiji Ara and Keisuke Kunimoto are very quick drivers in their own right,

00:13:41so they've got a good pace amongst all three drivers.

00:13:44That is always a bonus here.

00:13:46I think probably the overall strength of that team in terms of the driver line-up

00:13:49is perhaps just a little bit better than the number 31 car of Team Essex,

00:13:54but it is the Essex car that is out in front.

00:13:57There's two Porsche RS Spyder that completely dominated the LMP2 class all week long.

00:14:04And now we're just looking here at the number 33 car.

00:14:06That is the third-place LMP2 car of Xavier Pompidou at the wheel, very experienced driver.

00:14:12I think, again, they're going to really struggle to catch those dominant Porsches

00:14:16that have just charged forward in this race and basically been in 1-2 the entire race,

00:14:21which is what we all predicted, to be honest, and it's what happened last year.

00:14:24It's just showing the absolute domination of the Porsche Spyder in LMP2.

00:14:29What surprises me, though, guys, is that that car has had two stops

00:14:34for an alternator change and, I think, another alternator change

00:14:36or a drive belt put back on or whatever it was,

00:14:39and yet it still seems to be three laps in front of Chris Dyson,

00:14:43who has been rattling around without any dramas most recently.

00:14:49So I'm not quite sure how it is it stayed that gap in front,

00:14:52having made two extended pit stops,

00:14:54because it started its problems three laps in front

00:14:57and still seems to have that margin.

00:14:59I think part of what's done that is just the fast times they've been doing.

00:15:03I mean, those two cars have done much quicker times for the most part

00:15:06than all of the other LMP2 cars.

00:15:08Very, very good drivers behind the wheel,

00:15:09and I'm sure they were told to push,

00:15:11and as we've seen in a lot of the other cars

00:15:13that we thought had dropped so far down the list,

00:15:15you know, the Persia No. 7, cars like that,

00:15:17have made their way back up even into the top ten,

00:15:19so I think that's where we've seen the Porsche claw their way back up.

00:15:22So Rob Dyson stays in that RML car after making a pit stop.

00:15:30Chris Dyson indeed.

00:15:32Stuart Mosley comes in, the Barazzi Epsilon team now.

00:15:35Their race started with all sorts of woes and maladies,

00:15:37with again a car that wasn't really that keen on being on track,

00:15:40frankly, thank you very much.

00:15:41But they seem to have persuaded it

00:15:44that the error of its ways is to be seen.

00:15:47They are 25th, and that puts them for 5th in the LMP2 category.

00:15:54And there is the car that is 4th in LMP2,

00:15:57still 4th, still not able to really get that big break

00:16:00to catch Xavier Pompidou.

00:16:03Chris Dyson, 3 minutes 50 on his last lap.

00:16:07Xavier Pompidou, 4.45, so that was his pit stop lap.

00:16:10Yeah, and Dyson, he's going to consistently 3 minutes 50, 3.52, thereabouts.

00:16:17The car, it seems to be running just fine.

00:16:19I don't think it's got any particular problems.

00:16:21I think they've just been really conservatively.

00:16:23They know RML, Ray Malek, and all the boys there

00:16:26know exactly what this race is all about.

00:16:29They've been here a lot of times.

00:16:30Ray himself, both as a driver and as a team owner.

00:16:33And their focus, they know they've got no chance

00:16:35of catching the Porsche RS Spyder.

00:16:37They're 4 or 5 seconds a lap quicker

00:16:38than the rest of the LMP2 field.

00:16:40And I'm still surprised at the margin

00:16:42when I think to the American Le Mans series,

00:16:45the Porsche RS Spyder certainly were the class

00:16:47of the field there in North America,

00:16:49but not by anything like that much.

00:16:52But still, they've got no chance of catching the Porsche.

00:16:56So they just want to finish the race, run their own pace,

00:16:59and run their own race effectively.

00:17:00I think what they're doing as well is hoping that maybe

00:17:03this podium spot might come to them.

00:17:05Thinking if they keep it clean and they keep ticking around,

00:17:07you know, they've got a big enough gap between them

00:17:09and the next LMP2 car.

00:17:11I think they're maybe hoping that if they keep it clean

00:17:13that something might happen to Xavier Pompidou.

00:17:15And we've got a car in the walls.

00:17:16The number 14 Audi R10.

00:17:19Yep.

00:17:20André Lotter at Arnage has just outbraked himself a little bit.

00:17:23To go back to the Dyson thing,

00:17:24one final thing, of course, is we spoke to the AAR people

00:17:27and because of the fuel designation problems

00:17:29that have blown engines for them

00:17:30in both the opening races and the Le Mans series,

00:17:33they are running significantly retarded ignition,

00:17:36less boost, less power than they would otherwise do.

00:17:38So they haven't got front-running pace to battle with.

00:17:42So, yes, they're playing the long game

00:17:44and they have been on the podium here reliably several times.

00:17:47And so they will hope that, as you said, Liz, it comes to them.

00:17:50Now, a bit of a question, Jeremy, actually, this raises.

00:17:53Somebody emailed in a while ago,

00:17:55lemond.eurosport at yahoo.com, saying,

00:17:57why are the LMP2 cars so far behind the P1 cars here?

00:18:01In the American Le Mans series race,

00:18:03not only do we see the P2 cars much closer to P1,

00:18:06but we actually see them winning outright

00:18:08and taking outright polls as well.

00:18:10Obviously, Le Mans is very different, but in what way?

00:18:13No, that was last year.

00:18:16Last year, in the American Le Mans series,

00:18:18the LMP2 cars were running slightly different regulations

00:18:22than they were over here.

00:18:23The reason for that, as in North American racing in general,

00:18:26they're trying to spice up the show a little bit.

00:18:28Last year, the ACO tried to slow down the P2 cars

00:18:32to make sure there was a substantial differential

00:18:35between the P1s and the P2s.

00:18:37The ALMS, the American Le Mans series,

00:18:39elected not to go with those changes,

00:18:41so they were relatively closely matched,

00:18:43well, they were very closely matched on some courses,

00:18:46less so on others.

00:18:47But here, in 2009,

00:18:50the American Le Mans series has adopted

00:18:52the ACO rules in entirety,

00:18:55so not only have they incorporated the rules from last year,

00:18:58but also the rules from this year as well.

00:19:00So, in North America this year,

00:19:03the P2 cars are running something like 100 pounds heavier,

00:19:0750 kilos, I think, heavier than they were last year,

00:19:10plus they have a smaller restrictor as well.

00:19:12So, they've heavily restricted the P2 cars in North America.

00:19:16Another reason why that's happening

00:19:18is because we've got Le Mans with such a long straight,

00:19:21there's such a huge differential in speed

00:19:23when you have a long straightaway like that

00:19:24between the LMP1 cars and the P2 cars.

00:19:27Whereas in America,

00:19:28a lot of the circuits are a lot tighter,

00:19:29it gives the nimble, lighter LMP2 car

00:19:32a better fighting chance to beat those LMP1 cars.

00:19:34So, huge reason for that here

00:19:36is the very, very long straights we have

00:19:38giving a chance for the LMP1 cars

00:19:40to really stretch their legs.

00:19:41Absolutely.

00:19:42Now then, the battle for, what is this now,

00:19:45sixth place we're looking at,

00:19:46there, Soyal Iari,

00:19:48and there, Christophe Tanso.

00:19:51Tanso has just said his car's fastest lap of the race,

00:19:553 minutes 33.27,

00:19:57and the car in front of him's fastest lap,

00:20:003 minutes 33.73.

00:20:03So, 0.5 a second quicker

00:20:05than the car in front of him has ever gone,

00:20:07and on that lap,

00:20:09five seconds quicker than Soyal Iari.

00:20:14That, Liz, is a huge slice of real estate.

00:20:17Five seconds is the,

00:20:19I mean, that's getting on for half the distance

00:20:21between chicane one and chicane two.

00:20:23And what does that do to a driver

00:20:24when suddenly you're,

00:20:25whoa,

00:20:26you've like half the distance

00:20:28between you and the car in front

00:20:29when you've got a battle going.

00:20:30It must give you some real buzz.

00:20:32Oh, absolutely,

00:20:32and he will be hunting down Soyal Iari now,

00:20:35and especially at this point in the race,

00:20:37you know, everybody's a bit tired.

00:20:38You've just come through the night.

00:20:39That's really going to boost him forwards

00:20:41and give him sort of a mission.

00:20:42I mean, drivers like that.

00:20:43You like to have a goal.

00:20:44You like to see the person

00:20:45that you're trying to chase down,

00:20:47especially in a long race like this.

00:20:48You know,

00:20:49it gets very repetitive.

00:20:50You get very settled into just doing your own race

00:20:52and doing your own lap times

00:20:53and doing what you're told by the team.

00:20:54You're always pushing,

00:20:56but you can't always have the next position in grasp.

00:20:59And at the moment,

00:21:00you can see him in his sights,

00:21:01and he's definitely going to be pushing

00:21:03for that next place.

00:21:03The team will be telling him to push,

00:21:05and this is a chance for Pascarello

00:21:07to get much closer to a podium shot today.

00:21:09It must be an awful lot easier

00:21:10when the car is that close

00:21:12than when you're like Chris Dyson.

00:21:13You know you've got three laps

00:21:14to make up in six hours,

00:21:16and it's invisible.

00:21:18David Brabham stops.

00:21:20Now then,

00:21:21will this hand the lead

00:21:23even temporarily to Franck Montagny?

00:21:25Franck was within two minutes of Brab's.

00:21:29Brab stays in.

00:21:30Fuel,

00:21:31no tires to reset

00:21:33as car three comes down pit road as well

00:21:36from umpteenth still.

00:21:3831,

00:21:39attrition helping them

00:21:40as well as their speed.

00:21:41Timo Bernhardt bails out.

00:21:45Don't stand on your headphones set

00:21:47when you're moving

00:21:48because it rips your head off.

00:21:50Brabham leaves the pit road.

00:21:52We've had several big accidents today,

00:21:54haven't we?

00:21:54That was nearly my big accident.

00:21:56Nearly another one right there.

00:21:58Christophe Tanso on pit road.

00:22:00So the battle is abated for a moment.

00:22:03That was Tanso's fastest lap of the race

00:22:05previous to his in-lap.

00:22:08Yes, guys.

00:22:08So low fuel tanks there

00:22:09for Christophe Tanso

00:22:10and taking full advantage.

00:22:11That's exactly what you have to do,

00:22:13particularly when you're involved

00:22:14in a close battle

00:22:15like those two are.

00:22:16So routine stop there

00:22:17for David Brabham.

00:22:18Did you guys see

00:22:19whether he changed tires on that car?

00:22:20I don't think he did, no.

00:22:21It was too quick.

00:22:22I think at the moment

00:22:23Persia's keeping the tires

00:22:25with the drivers

00:22:25and keeping it on board.

00:22:27In that case,

00:22:27they are, again,

00:22:28triple stinting.

00:22:29In the garage.

00:22:30Well, now, no, no, no, no.

00:22:32This is very likely to be

00:22:34just hoovering the muck out the ducts.

00:22:36We've seen it

00:22:37on almost every car in the race.

00:22:39I mean, even the RML cars,

00:22:40when they've stopped,

00:22:41they've had guys in

00:22:41scooping things out

00:22:42because where air goes,

00:22:44debris goes.

00:22:45But the airflow continues

00:22:47and as it slows down

00:22:48inside the car,

00:22:49the debris drops out

00:22:50and that's exactly

00:22:51what you're seeing here.

00:22:52It's blocking up

00:22:52every cooling duct on the car

00:22:54and, Liz, you know,

00:22:55we've still got six hours to go.

00:22:57If the temperature's

00:22:58even starting to climb,

00:22:59you can't be messing around.

00:23:01Better to spend a minute now

00:23:03than three hours

00:23:04regretting it later.

00:23:05Well, and, of course,

00:23:06most, well,

00:23:06all of these cars now

00:23:07will have live telemetry going.

00:23:09So basically,

00:23:09the crew is going to have

00:23:10computer screens

00:23:11running all of the levels

00:23:13of the car,

00:23:14temperatures,

00:23:15the gearbox pressure,

00:23:16everything going

00:23:17while the driver's going.

00:23:18So they're watching that

00:23:19constantly,

00:23:20the entire race

00:23:20and usually it's about

00:23:22this point in the race

00:23:22where you start to see

00:23:23some of the temperatures

00:23:24going up a bit.

00:23:25The engine gets a bit warm

00:23:26because the radiator ducts

00:23:27get full of rubber

00:23:28and debris.

00:23:29So it is around about

00:23:30this time,

00:23:31as you said,

00:23:31that it becomes time

00:23:33to sort of give things

00:23:33a bit of a better clean

00:23:35and a bit of a look over

00:23:36and maybe a fluid,

00:23:37you know,

00:23:37top up into various places.

00:23:39So it's not time

00:23:40to take any risks.

00:23:41Well, they will have

00:23:41kept it going, Jeremy,

00:23:42until they had a driver

00:23:43change that needed doing.

00:23:45Then it's tyres,

00:23:46then it's brake ducts.

00:23:47Rear brake ducts as well

00:23:48apparently have been causing

00:23:49lots of problems.

00:23:50That's certainly been a problem

00:23:50with the Audi.

00:23:51It's getting the air

00:23:52through to the brakes

00:23:53to stop their

00:23:531,000 degree operating temperatures

00:23:55just remaining at 1,000 degrees

00:23:58when you actually want

00:23:59the brakes to cool down

00:24:00a little bit.

00:24:00so the number one Audi

00:24:02in fact is now

00:24:03on pit road

00:24:04as that car

00:24:05Christoph Tanso

00:24:06handing over

00:24:07the 14,

00:24:08I beg your pardon,

00:24:10not the 14 car,

00:24:1116 car

00:24:12to I thought

00:24:14Bruce Chuanich

00:24:15Rob Arbosa did a triple stint

00:24:16before Christoph got in

00:24:18and so that battle

00:24:19for fifth position

00:24:20remains very much

00:24:21in the balance.

00:24:22So Tom Christensen

00:24:23does stay aboard

00:24:24the car number one

00:24:25in third place.

00:24:27Apparently they will not

00:24:28be changing tyres

00:24:28this time around

00:24:29so I think that leads me

00:24:31to believe they'll probably

00:24:31be doing a triple stint

00:24:32for Tom.

00:24:33They changed the tyres

00:24:34after his first stint

00:24:36and now send it back out

00:24:37again for another

00:24:3712 lap run.

00:24:39Also in the pits

00:24:40moments ago

00:24:41was Thomas Enger

00:24:42in kind of a 007.

00:24:43He too is triple stinting

00:24:46and he took over

00:24:48that car on that 248.

00:24:50He's just done

00:24:51two complete stints

00:24:52once again though

00:24:52they did not change tyres

00:24:54on that 007

00:24:56load that Aston Martin.

00:24:57And with a full Aston update

00:24:59008 is still in the garage

00:25:00now dropped down

00:25:01to 13th place.

00:25:02Jos Verstappen told us

00:25:03they've got problems

00:25:04rebuilding the gearbox.

00:25:0628 car

00:25:06at 28th place rather

00:25:08for 009.

00:25:09Peter Cox is at the wheel

00:25:10of that still lapping

00:25:11but a very long way behind.

00:25:16Welcome back live

00:25:16to Eurosports coverage

00:25:17of Le Mans.

00:25:19We have six and a half

00:25:20hours remaining.

00:25:21It is half past eight

00:25:23in the morning

00:25:23so let's take a look

00:25:25back at what happened

00:25:26during the darkness hours

00:25:27for those of you

00:25:28that are just rousing

00:25:29your lazy bones.

00:25:31We've all had

00:25:32a little bit of a break

00:25:33so I suppose we can't

00:25:34hold it too much

00:25:34against you

00:25:35but let's take a look

00:25:36at one of the major

00:25:37dramas just around

00:25:39the midnight hour

00:25:40befell Bruno Senna

00:25:42crashing the Orica car,

00:25:44the Orica AIM

00:25:45and bringing it back

00:25:47into the pit lane.

00:25:48Damaged at the rear wing.

00:25:49Rear wing was broken.

00:25:51Wasn't a major wreck

00:25:52it didn't seem

00:25:53at the time

00:25:54but it was certainly

00:25:56the center

00:25:57of quite a lot

00:25:58of activity.

00:26:01Huda Chema saying

00:26:02it simply went off

00:26:03the track

00:26:03but it's done a lot

00:26:04of damage to the body

00:26:05work, the complete

00:26:05rear suspension,

00:26:06the flat floor

00:26:07is also damaged

00:26:08so really quite a lot

00:26:09to replace.

00:26:10We've got to change

00:26:11the front and rear

00:26:12body work

00:26:12and the whole

00:26:14of the rear suspension

00:26:15and that's going

00:26:16to take a while

00:26:17and in fact it did.

00:26:18More than 30 minutes.

00:26:19Meanwhile

00:26:21the battle out front

00:26:24continued between

00:26:26the Audi and Peugeot

00:26:29teams.

00:26:30At this stage

00:26:31it was uncertain

00:26:31quite what Audi

00:26:33might have to offer

00:26:34Peugeot.

00:26:36The delayed

00:26:36number 10 Orica car

00:26:38handing over

00:26:38its top spot

00:26:39in the Orica

00:26:41running order

00:26:41to car number 11

00:26:43and it was to be

00:26:45the start of

00:26:46a series of problems

00:26:47for the number 10 car.

00:26:49Well, meanwhile

00:26:53live you can see

00:26:54the Jason Aston Martin

00:26:57is in the pit lane

00:26:58GT2 car

00:27:01Alexander Wurz

00:27:04getting ready

00:27:05to go out

00:27:06on track

00:27:07Team A.

00:27:09The leader

00:27:10Drive fast

00:27:12but don't crash.

00:27:14That's what I'm doing

00:27:15you know

00:27:15you can't really

00:27:16take too much

00:27:17speed away

00:27:18because you have

00:27:19to keep pushing

00:27:20could be still

00:27:23very close

00:27:24at the end

00:27:24of the race

00:27:24so I prefer

00:27:26not to

00:27:26take it too easy.

00:27:27And at 10 past 2

00:27:30in the morning

00:27:31Alex got in

00:27:32for a quadruple

00:27:34stint

00:27:34in the number 9

00:27:36Peugeot

00:27:36and

00:27:38keeping it

00:27:40clean

00:27:41keeping it clear

00:27:42through the darkness

00:27:42and through the traffic

00:27:43while still keeping

00:27:45the pace up

00:27:45a very tricky combination

00:27:48a very tricky combination

00:27:48but one that's

00:27:48essential to master

00:27:50if the team

00:27:51is to win

00:27:52at Le Mans

00:27:52Peugeot's third year

00:27:56here with the 908

00:27:57and this certainly

00:27:59by a long way

00:28:00their best shot

00:28:01Brab's out

00:28:02after a long stint

00:28:03and he is the man

00:28:04who in fact

00:28:04is currently

00:28:05in that car

00:28:07close battle

00:28:14for second place

00:28:16with the number one

00:28:16Audi

00:28:17unfortunately

00:28:18there is only one

00:28:19Audi

00:28:20which can

00:28:21fight with Peugeot

00:28:22yeah

00:28:24it was not

00:28:25a very good race

00:28:27till now

00:28:27but

00:28:29our speed

00:28:30is getting better

00:28:31compared to the beginning

00:28:32of the race

00:28:33but I think

00:28:34it will be

00:28:36hard fight

00:28:37but at the moment

00:28:38it looks like

00:28:39anyway

00:28:39our competitors

00:28:40are still a little bit

00:28:42faster than us

00:28:43and

00:28:43but anyway

00:28:45we have to push

00:28:46till the end

00:28:47and we will see

00:28:47what's happened

00:28:48so Dindo Capello

00:28:51spoke to us then

00:28:52getting ready

00:28:52to take over

00:28:53from Alan McNish

00:28:544 minute stop

00:28:57changing

00:28:57well not changing

00:28:58but clearing out

00:28:59the rear of the car

00:29:01lots of debris

00:29:02building up

00:29:02causing problems

00:29:03with intercoolers

00:29:04overheating

00:29:05and with brake ducts

00:29:07being blocked

00:29:07and the brakes

00:29:08overheating

00:29:09and of course

00:29:14as ever

00:29:14the Audi crew

00:29:16fast and efficient

00:29:17sending Dindo

00:29:19on his way

00:29:20after just

00:29:214 minutes

00:29:22meanwhile

00:29:23for those

00:29:24with less work

00:29:25to do

00:29:25all those

00:29:26watching

00:29:27from trackside

00:29:28or fireside

00:29:29in the oncoming

00:29:31of the middle

00:29:32of the night

00:29:33it's about time

00:29:34for a brief

00:29:35moment's sleep

00:29:36and what's going to happened

00:29:42to 2 swing

00:29:4410 and

00:29:51until

00:29:511

00:29:52yup

00:29:52in the

00:29:53mouth

00:29:53in the

00:29:54mouth

00:29:54at

00:29:54the

00:29:54arm

00:29:56in the

00:29:56line

00:29:56and

00:29:57flip

00:29:57Meanwhile, for the drivers, while out on track, the adrenaline keeps them alert, but particularly

00:30:22for the rookies and the gentlemen drivers, the amateurs, it is the physical fitness that

00:30:29really takes a batting in this Le Mans 24 hours.

00:30:32Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey looking pretty shot in the middle of the night as he stepped

00:30:37out of his Ferrari.

00:30:38Now, replenish, get some food, take a shower, relax for a little bit, try to take a nap

00:30:43if you can, it's very hard to sleep, and then get ready for another double later this morning.

00:30:50Did you manage already to sleep before?

00:30:52I tried to.

00:30:53I don't think anybody's sleeping right now.

00:30:56Well, still on a huge high, over $120,000 already raised for their children's hospital

00:31:03charity.

00:31:04Meanwhile, Brabham still leading.

00:31:07Well, we've done this an hour before I have to go out, so it gives me time to have something

00:31:15to eat and try and wake up.

00:31:20And the major drama during the night, a huge crash somewhere down in the Dunlop-Esses

00:31:26in Terre Terre Rouge, Benoit Trelloyer's car being destroyed.

00:31:31Henri Piscarillo saying, I just went to see him in the medical center.

00:31:35He's going to stay there a little bit to rest.

00:31:37He's had a bit of a trauma, but he is OK.

00:31:40Nothing broken.

00:31:41He's talking.

00:31:42Everything is fine.

00:31:43Of course, he's very disappointed.

00:31:45He doesn't know what happened, just that it was very fast and a huge crash.

00:31:51The 33-13 speedy Sabah Lola Aston Martin being towed away in the live pictures on the right.

00:32:00That's gone off at the Dunlop curve.

00:32:01There is hard standing back there.

00:32:03Not sure if there's a clear route around the gravel trap to the track.

00:32:08During the night, the number nine Peugeot, Marc Genet, Alexander Wurz and David Brabham held

00:32:15the lead in LMP2.

00:32:16The number 31 Porsche of the Essex team, Kasper Elgard, Manu Kollar and Christian Polson led.

00:32:2363 Corvette leading GT1 and a ferocious battle at the top of GT2.

00:32:29Stefano Telly having a small crash in that Orica number 10 car towards the end of the evening

00:32:38and into the early morning.

00:32:39But they have run out of spares and could not repair that car.

00:32:43So Uglisjonex team down to just the number 11 car.

00:32:47Sayaliari in fifth place battling with the number 13 Lola Aston Martin.

00:32:54Neil Yarny at the wheel.

00:32:56That's what it is now as we just saw in the gravel trap up at the Dunlop chicane.

00:33:02And Jeremy Shaw very, very fast approach.

00:33:05Blind uphill right-hander.

00:33:07In fact, let's get Liz's viewpoint on that.

00:33:10Liz, the Dunlop curve into that chicane.

00:33:14Probably one of the harder braking areas on the track because of the way the car is loaded

00:33:18up as you have to get on the brakes.

00:33:20It's also very slippery in the brake zone there as well.

00:33:23There also is some undulations in the track that you can't really see just as a spectator.

00:33:28So directly in the brake zone, there's an undulation that upsets the car a bit.

00:33:32So if you wait that little bit too long on the brakes, mixed with a slippery surface, you will lose it very, very quickly.

00:33:38You know, I've had a few moments there myself.

00:33:40Thankfully, nothing quite to that level.

00:33:41But definitely, it's one of the more precarious brake zones on the circuit.

00:33:45Yeah, and Neil Jarny was running in sixth place.

00:33:48He'd be doing a very nice job, actually.

00:33:50Running sixth place and just third place in the petrol engine division.

00:33:56Uh-oh.

00:33:57Not looking good.

00:33:58That had better be 008 and not 007.

00:34:00It is 008, yes.

00:34:01Don't want to curse Jos Verstappen any more than he got cursed coming up here, but he is crawling in.

00:34:06We're going to try and catch up.

00:34:07He's just gone out.

00:34:08Yes, I know.

00:34:09And he's crawling back in again.

00:34:10We're going to try and catch up with front 110.

00:34:12He's just got out of car number eight, handed it over to Stefan Super Shoe Sarrazan.

00:34:17So still the race for the chase, for the cup, for the thing, for the lead is on between the Peugeots.

00:34:22And interestingly, that car just come into the pits, as you were saying there, Martin Haven.

00:34:27And they did change tires as well for Stefan Sarrazan to take over the car.

00:34:31But the gap had come down to 18.4 seconds a lap before that pit stop.

00:34:37Well, Franck Montaigne was flying.

00:34:38He was four, five, six seconds a lap quicker than Brabham, the race leader.

00:34:42Let's catch up with him now.

00:34:47How did the night go, Franck?

00:34:52Yeah, it was good.

00:34:55A little problem on the car.

00:34:58One of the wheels.

00:35:01Lost a little bit of time, unfortunately.

00:35:06I think it was 12 minutes that we lost during the night.

00:35:11And then we had another small problem, which cost us another five minutes.

00:35:19Now we're driving hard, trying to close and hoping to avoid any mechanical problems.

00:35:25It's frustrating.

00:35:28You had a good stint.

00:35:30It's not about me or us, it's about the team.

00:35:35And we are still close to the front of the race.

00:35:42And in fact, I'm not sure he was quite aware how close he was.

00:35:46Is this the lead two?

00:35:47Or is one of these cars number seven of Nick Minacion?

00:35:51Or Minacion's about to un-lap himself or just has done then.

00:35:54But Jeremy, just going back quickly to the Lola Aston Martin thing.

00:35:58We talked earlier during the night about the creation car and that centre damper that really controls the ride height of the car.

00:36:04Look to me as though that might have been what they were looking at there.

00:36:07It was smoking at the back and yet they were working on the front suspension.

00:36:11So this goes back in the garage.

00:36:13I wonder if the car was just bottling around.

00:36:15That was the plate underneath that was smoking a lot.

00:36:18Yeah, it's hard for us to suggest from up here.

00:36:21You can see the front cover off that car as well.

00:36:24So clearly it's going to be another stop there.

00:36:26Been in the pits that car for a long, long time, hadn't it?

00:36:30It came in about 7.20.

00:36:32So well over an hour that the double eight car was in the garage and out there very briefly on board again now here with Nick Minacion trying to track down.

00:36:41I think that's the race leading car.

00:36:45Kind of hard to tell because they haven't made any effort at all to distinguish the cars from each other realistically.

00:36:51The Black Mirror is a number nine car.

00:36:53So that is David Brabham at the wheel of that car.

00:36:57Last time around 3 minutes 33 for David Brabham just running to his own pace.

00:37:02He's not going to be worried about anything going on behind him even if it is a Peugeot.

00:37:05Other than just to keep out of the way of course if indeed Nick Minacion decides to go past it.

00:37:10But I think that is Minacion on a mission that we're seeing there because he is definitely closing in on David Brabham.

00:37:15David Brabham himself such a quick driver but Nick Minacion as we all know when he gets in a mode to go fast not much can pass him up.

00:37:23Now we've just seen car number 12 has had a stop and go penalty for 80 kilometres in the pit lane.

00:37:28That's really fast.

00:37:30That's 20 k's over the pit speed.

00:37:33Now we've had a lot of problems here with this and you know whether or not that's down to releasing it too early or coming in too hot to pit lane or what have you.

00:37:42There's certainly been more stop and go penalties for speeding in pit lane than I've seen for a while.

00:37:47Yeah, no I agree with you and it's just all part of the pressure of the race.

00:37:51We've seen Danny Watts there still stationary Jeremy.

00:37:54He's sat there for a few minutes now in that car.

00:37:57This track of entry.

00:37:59Another car that was stationary in the garage for quite a while was the number 16 car of who brought the car in.

00:38:08It was Sohail Ayari.

00:38:12Yeah.

00:38:13You're right, sorry.

00:38:14After setting that car's fastest lap he brought it in.

00:38:17They had about a 12 minute pit stop.

00:38:20It is now back in the race again but he's lost about three laps, two laps plus to Sohail Ayari with whom he had been dicing.

00:38:32Now I question if they're having some sort of engine problems in this car now.

00:38:36They're looking at sort of everything, all the levels, everything they can think of based on sort of where the smoke was and how slow it was moving.

00:38:42I'm questioning if maybe now that is the problem, maybe they're having a bit of a misfire.

00:38:46It's very hard for us to speculate what's happening there.

00:38:49Well I'm not sure why they'd be fiddling around with the master cylinders.

00:38:52They're fiddling around with everything at the moment it looks like.

00:38:54Well do you know what, if my engine's not running properly I don't go straight to the brake cylinders to find that one.

00:39:00I wonder whether that smoke was maybe from a locking wheel or the ride height dropping or something.

00:39:06It may just be actually just as detrimental to a driver's confidence as having no engine is having no, in fact even more so.

00:39:13With an engine at least that's misfiring at least you're not going to worry about it not stopping, you worry about it not going.

00:39:18They're certainly looking at front and back of that car right now so they have not figured out what the problem is yet I think.

00:39:23No.

00:39:24There is Neil Jarny in car number 13, a view of him coming out of Arnage isn't it, into the Porsche curve.

00:39:31So they did get that car back into the freight, he was dragged out of the gravel trap up at the Dunlop curve.

00:39:36Yeah.

00:39:37But Neil Jarny has got going again.

00:39:38And actually he's picked up a place as well because of that Pescarolo number 16 car still being in the garage.

00:39:44He is now up into seventh rather than being in eighth where he was before.

00:39:48Gained one and lost one I think because he's lost a place I think to Charles Walshman hasn't he?

00:39:53That's very fair comment yes Walshman has gone up three in fact and Charles Walshman is now in sixth position.

00:39:59So yeah Ayari still in fifth three laps between them so Ayari who was under real pressure what 10 minutes 15 minutes ago is now three laps clear of his nearest rival.

00:40:12Looking a lot better for him.

00:40:29Good boy.

00:40:30dalam

00:40:32I really haven't suffered a lot of my grief in passing.

00:40:47I believe that he is dead.

00:40:48I don't know that he is Kisaren has stopped laughing but when he was kicked hit by a man dos who had no longer but after he was killed.

00:41:27I left the family, but he and Frank Bieler sort of stepping away from actual racing duties.

00:41:48At least in LNP competition, yes, I think they both did the 24 hours at Nürburgring a couple of weeks ago.

00:41:57And I spoke to Piro about that.

00:41:58He had a great time there driving that car.

00:42:00Didn't win it, unfortunately, as he had done in his only other appearance, I believe, in that race.

00:42:05But he had a good run and, as I said, had a great time.

00:42:08And this weekend he's down there helping out with the Team Colas drivers.

00:42:12Of course, Piro drove the Audi R10 TDI for many, many years.

00:42:16Well, for four or five years now, how long that car was running.

00:42:19And he's helping out with Team Colas and their rookie drivers this season.

00:42:23And, of course, that customer car program, the GT2 car, bad to the future, really, because he started his Audi career in an R8.

00:42:29And he's back in an R8.

00:42:30But this time a road car R8 turned into a race car.

00:42:34So, yeah, they're still racing.

00:42:35They're still very much part of the family.

00:42:37And Emmanuel, as ever, just bouncing with excitement and enthusiasm here.

00:42:40He's just like a jackrabbit.

00:42:42You cannot keep a good man down.

00:42:44And that's the answer to that.

00:42:45Piro and Bieler.

00:42:47Well, Bieler's up here with our German colleagues.

00:42:48He talked to us last night as well.

00:42:50But both of them still very much part of the Audi racing family, even though they're not in the headline P-cars.

00:42:57Well, I think you would struggle to keep Emmanuel away from things like the Le Mans 24 Hours, having won it, I believe, four times himself.

00:43:04So, just a fantastic driver and always been so good with the press and with the fans and really knew how to give everybody their dues.

00:43:12Because, you know, that's really what motorsport is.

00:43:14It's not all about the drivers or even just the team.

00:43:16It's the fans that make motorsport happen.

00:43:18And he's always been so, so fantastic with that.

00:43:21And so much of that, I'm sure the Audi drivers really benefited from racing in North America.

00:43:27The American Le Mans Series, the motto for the fans, it's really lived there.

00:43:31You know, they make so much effort to have an open paddock to allow the teams or to give, to make sure that the teams allow open access to the fans.

00:43:39And I remember when Audi first arrived in the American Le Mans Series, like BMW before them, they were fairly European, you know, doors down.

00:43:45They had their own little enclave and they all kept themselves themselves.

00:43:49And after about six months, you'd find them BSing in the garage with all the other drivers, just like everybody else.

00:43:55It's a very open atmosphere there.

00:43:56The weather helps, of course, but all the trailers have open sides, open fronts.

00:44:01Nobody has garages in the pit lane.

00:44:03You can't pull the door down.

00:44:04And so it's such a welcoming and friendly atmosphere.

00:44:07I think it really had a huge effect on how that Audi team operates as a unit.

00:44:12Well, I've always really loved the American Le Mans Series.

00:44:14It was my, it's been my, well, still is my favorite championship, if I'm honest, alongside Le Mans.

00:44:19But, you know, that's a really big part of it is that it just really is for the fans.

00:44:23And there's always such a huge following.

00:44:25We have these huge crowds.

00:44:26Even at places like Lime Rock, you get close to 60,000 people, which you rarely ever see in an LMS race.

00:44:32And I think that's just a testament to what the American Le Mans Series preaches to their fans.

00:44:36Yeah, absolutely so.

00:44:37They certainly are living the dream racing out there.

00:44:40And they know it, just like the drivers here know that they're in a really privileged position.

00:44:45Now, another question that Jorge Tortu wanted to know was, what do we think of Antonio Garcia's progress?

00:44:52Well, I'll tell you what, we'll have a slightly better way of answering that question.

00:44:56We'll ask Antonio Garcia what he thinks of his progress in just a second.

00:45:00Because Justine is going to catch up with him in a moment or two.

00:45:04So, Antonio Garcia racing, again, well known to the American fans.

00:45:10But racing in a Corvette rather than an Aston Martin at this timeout.

00:45:15Antonio, everything is going quite good.

00:45:1613 at the overall and leading the GT1.

00:45:19Yeah, everything looks fine.

00:45:20So, everything, I mean, running okay.

00:45:25Both cars are running smooth.

00:45:27Even if we are pushing hard, both of us.

00:45:30So, now I'm back in the car again in two laps' time.

00:45:33So, hopefully everything is good.

00:45:35How many stints are you going to do?

00:45:38I've done three, I don't know.

00:45:39Maybe, I'll probably go for five doubles.

00:45:43So, I don't know.

00:45:44Oh, it's good.

00:45:44Thank you very much.

00:45:47Antonio Garcia, really one of the finest GT drivers and one of the finest drivers full stop

00:45:52that I've ever had the pleasure to drive with.

00:45:54I did share that Aston Martin DBR9 with Antonio.

00:45:57Just a fantastic helper as well.

00:45:59Really, really good at sort of explaining, you know, just how to pedal the car a bit quicker.

00:46:04And, you know, there's a lot of drivers that are great drivers but are unable to relay that back to other people

00:46:09and to help their fellow drivers.

00:46:11And Antonio was someone who was very, very good at that.

00:46:13Also, just so relaxed.

00:46:15You know, such a chilled out guy in general.

00:46:17A very nice person.

00:46:18Put him behind the wheel.

00:46:19An absolute demon.

00:46:20And, you know, I've got a lot of time for Antonio.

00:46:22And I'm very, very pleased to see him racing with Corvette Racing.

00:46:25But he also knows which way is up.

00:46:27We were at the Nürburgring last year for the 1,000 kilometres

00:46:29and everybody was up there on Friday night, Saturday night,

00:46:32taking their tickets and driving around the Nordschleife.

00:46:34And Antonio was there in a pristine, pearlescent white Aston Martin convertible.

00:46:39And just as he was pulling up to the barrier, Thomas Engel was there going,

00:46:42hey, come on, come on, give me a go, give me a go.

00:46:44And Antonio just looked at him with the expression that said quite clearly,

00:46:48are you mental?

00:46:50Me give this to you around here?

00:46:53And just waved as he left completely safe in his own car.

00:46:57He's not as green as he is cabbage looking, that's for sure.

00:47:00But, yeah.

00:47:01So he's happy with his progress.

00:47:02And I think, yeah, he's doing a great job getting into that team.

00:47:05Indeed.

00:47:06And, of course, Antonio Garcia was part of the winning team in GT1 last year,

00:47:10was he not, with Aston Martin.

00:47:11So looking to get two consecutive GT1 victories,

00:47:15first of all with Aston Martin and now with arch-rival Chevrolet.

00:47:18Uh-oh.

00:47:19I sense a lucky charm appearing here.

00:47:22Yeah.

00:47:22You know, everybody that gets paired with Tom Christensen goes,

00:47:26oh, please, God, don't be this the year that breaks history.

00:47:28Please, God, don't let it be the year.

00:47:30And Antonio Garcia, if he can get there as well

00:47:32and get to the top step of the podium in the GT class,

00:47:35again with a different manufacturer,

00:47:37well, that again proves, A, versatility,

00:47:39but B, how in demand he is.

00:47:41And I think, Toti, that tells you everything that you need to know.

00:47:45And he's, you know, that car that the lead of the 63 Corvette has over the 64,

00:47:52it's around about a lap, but, you know, that race is, the gap has extended a little bit.

00:47:58But effectively, it was a minute and a half that the number 63 car pulled out at that very first safety car period of the day,

00:48:06within the first hour of the race.

00:48:08And the 64 machine never been able to claw that advantage back.

00:48:12And it's lost a little bit more ground since then,

00:48:14but once again, the two Chevy Corvettes from GM Racing and Pratt & Miller are very, very closely matched.

00:48:21I have to say, I think, again, they got snake bit by the second safety car as well.

00:48:24Patrick Dempsey in the inset is in the pit lane, regular service for him.

00:48:28No, it's been a bit of a longer stop, actually.

00:48:31Yeah, they seem to be looking at the rear engine cover, or inside the rear engine cover.

00:48:36And meanwhile, the second-place car in GT1 is on pit lane.

00:48:40That appears to be routine services for given by Oliver Gavin.

00:48:48So, Gav, who's really made a career for himself racing in the States,

00:48:52he's probably far better known in the States now than he is as a race driver in the UK,

00:48:56which is always a bit of a crying shame, but certainly a very integral part of that Corvette crew.

00:49:04And he'll be looking forward with interest, I think, to seeing what it is that the GT2 car can do next,

00:49:10because, of course, it has got some pretty ferocious opposition.

00:49:13You don't go into a head-to-head, slug-it-out match with Porsche expecting it to be a breeze.

00:49:18But, you know, the American Le Mans guys, the Corvette crew, have been wearing T-shirts saying,

00:49:24please come race us, anyone, they're just, they want to race.

00:49:29And the thing that's wonderful is that even though there's been so few GT1 cars in America,

00:49:33Corvette still has a huge following there.

00:49:36You go to the autograph sessions in the American Le Mans series,

00:49:39the biggest line is the Corvette racing line.

00:49:41Not Audis, but Corvettes.

00:49:43And I think Jeremy Shaw could agree with me on that one when you see it.

00:49:45They have to actually have proper taping up for the queues, just for the autograph session.

00:49:50So, you know, it really is an American brand, and they love that over there.

00:49:55And I think it's going to be fantastic when they join GT2.

00:49:57The crowds will love it.

00:49:58Well, that's the tagline, isn't it?

00:50:00Corvette, America's sports car.

00:50:02And that's exactly what the Pratt & Miller boys are helping to nurture.

00:50:05And Corvette's still one of General Motors' strongest brands in the U.S. market and everywhere else.

00:50:11And it's really critical, especially now, that they keep waving the flag.

00:50:16Well, there are mechanical issues on that 81.

00:50:20Oh, no, it's not.

00:50:21We're gathering it is only a bodywork problem.

00:50:23So, new engine cover being fitted to Patrick Dempsey's 81 Ferrari,

00:50:27which is good news for them because, you know, now we're starting, Jeremy,

00:50:30to get into the difficult hour.

00:50:32That difficult, well, six hours between now and the end of the race.

00:50:364,000-kilometer race to go still.

00:50:38Well, and cars, drivers, crew getting tired.

00:50:41Don't tell some of these guys that.

00:50:43They're feeling pretty tired already.

00:50:45But the engine cover came off.

00:50:47It's probably been in the pits for the best part of 10 minutes, I think.

00:50:50That car number 81, Patrick Dempsey and Don Kitts, Jr. and Joe Foster driving that car.

00:50:56And this is the time in the race when it starts to get very difficult as well

00:51:00because a lot of the cars are starting to be a bit worse for wear,

00:51:02which is really the time that you need your drivers to be as sharp as they can

00:51:06to help nurse the car home

00:51:07when it's actually the time when the drivers are the most tired as well.

00:51:11You know, certainly I've had that in an LMP2 car

00:51:13where we've had to move to manual transmission.

00:51:15You've had lots of changes through the night.

00:51:17You're very tired and you're trying to be as switched on as you can to bring it home

00:51:20but also needing to keep yourself on top of the ball.

00:51:23So it is a difficult time, especially, like we've said, for these rookie drivers

00:51:27doing their first Le Mans 24 hours.

00:51:28Some of them may be even their first 24 hours at all.

00:51:32It's definitely got to be hard.

00:51:34Well, there aren't too many other places they'll have done a 24-hour race,

00:51:37these rookies, unless they're insane enough to do the Nürburgring 24

00:51:41or may be lucky enough to go to Daytona.

00:51:43So, yeah, and either of those.

00:51:46Actually, I have to say, maybe the Nürburgring 24

00:51:47is pretty good preparation for Le Mans

00:51:50because it is far more mental and far more dangerous, it would seem.

00:51:54Coming here to Le Mans would be like a motorway in comparison,

00:51:57but there's, you know, everybody says it first time here.

00:51:59There's just nothing that prepares you for this.

00:52:02Well, there's only 55 cars here in the Le Mans 24-hour race

00:52:06that the Nürburgring 24 hours can get as many as 270 cars.

00:52:10Yeah, they normally have at least 55 retirements.

00:52:13In the first couple of hours.

00:52:15And even in the Spa 24 hours, you usually have more entries than this.

00:52:18That's a very, very hard race.

00:52:20You know, a lot of drivers have found that a fantastic preparation.

00:52:23I did that 24-hour race before I came to Le Mans,

00:52:25found Le Mans a lot nicer after that.

00:52:27But certainly it is the fact of being at Le Mans, though,

00:52:30is the big stress for everybody.

00:52:32It is the history.

00:52:33It is the Le Mans 24 hours,

00:52:35and absolutely nothing else can ever compare to it.

00:52:37No, absolutely.

00:52:37Win, lose, or draw, it is still the greatest motor race.

00:52:40And that's what attracts manufacturers and privateers alike year in and year out.

00:52:45And there are so many faces in the paddock.

00:52:48You'll recognize, Liz, from where you've been racing different places,

00:52:51turning up in different teams with different overalls every single year.

00:52:54where Jeremy and I are bumping into people that have been coming here for 20, 30, 40.

00:52:58I mean, like Neville, who was on earlier on, you know, 40, 50 years coming here.

00:53:03And I hope I'm still coming here in my dotage,

00:53:06because it's just such a wonderful weekend.

00:53:09Let's take a quick commercial break.

00:53:11Peugeot leading the race outright here in Le Mans.

00:53:14Welcome back live to Le Mans.

00:53:18Here is the classification.

00:53:19Peugeot first and second Audi in third place.

00:53:21The sole healthy Audi Aston Martin, Lola Aston in fourth place.

00:53:25The Orica AIM in fifth,

00:53:27ahead of the first of the Audi R10 TDIs run by the Collis team.

00:53:30They are in sixth and tenth,

00:53:32with the older Lola chassis with the Aston Martin engine.

00:53:36Speedy Racing Sabah in seventh.

00:53:38And those are all LMP1 cars.

00:53:41The P2 class is the battle for 11th place overall as well.

00:53:45The two laps separating now Team Essex from the Navi Go team.

00:53:50And the two Corvettes, first and second in the GT1 class.

00:53:53GT2 is a Ferrari benefit at the moment.

00:53:56They are first, second,

00:53:57and now a Porsche up into third place

00:54:00as the IMSA Matma performance car

00:54:02as the JMW Motorsport Ferrari that was battling for the lead

00:54:06has dropped down to fourth position.

00:54:08Window on the weather with Jeremy Shaw.

00:54:11Jeremy, what's the forecast looking today?

00:54:14Well, yesterday we were talking about maybe 60% chance of showers

00:54:18any time after noon today.

00:54:21But the latest forecast that I can find

00:54:22shows that at noon we should be overcast

00:54:27but zero probability of precipitation.

00:54:29And even at two o'clock,

00:54:31zero percent chance of participation.

00:54:34Although it has been partly cloudy now.

00:54:38It's mainly sunny, I would say.

00:54:41The humidity is dropping.

00:54:42It was 94% humidity just, what, three or four hours ago.

00:54:47And that was dropping supposedly down to about 17% humidity

00:54:50by two o'clock this afternoon.

00:54:51So I think, judging from that

00:54:53and my limited meteorological snowflakes is zero.

00:54:56So you can't even say it, can you?

00:54:57You never mind exactly right.

00:55:00I would say we're going to be dry to the end of the race.

00:55:03So it's been an interesting week

00:55:05having had so much wet weather early on.

00:55:07So a little dry running

00:55:08and then to come into an all dry and very warm race.

00:55:11So certainly that's what everybody's settled into now.

00:55:14And it's going to make it a lot easier,

00:55:15especially when everybody's tired

00:55:16and things are going wrong.

00:55:18It will certainly make it easier to have it stay dry.

00:55:20There you go.

00:55:21There you go.

00:55:22We've answered Ross Fripp's email question

00:55:24before it even arrived in the inbox.

00:55:26He wanted to know about the weather.

00:55:28Right, Liz, answer somebody else's question

00:55:30before they email it to anyone's.

00:55:32Just choose anyone's question

00:55:33and give us the answer before they finish their email.

00:55:35Rick, mine was thinking like.

00:55:37Thanks.

00:55:37Morning all, says Rob Chalmers,

00:55:39especially Liz.

00:55:41Sorry, lads, but you understand.

00:55:42Thank you very much.

00:55:42I'm a VAG employee.

00:55:44I'll probably get an email hate campaign at work tomorrow,

00:55:46but I'd like to be one of the first to say

00:55:48I think Peugeot deserves this year's win.

00:55:51They've done a cracking job

00:55:52and they finally got on top of A, the car,

00:55:55and B, Le Mans.

00:55:56And I think, guys,

00:55:57that's exactly the secret of what we're seeing at the moment.

00:55:59And C, themselves hurt, Liz.

00:56:01Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:56:02And, you know, I have to say, Rob,

00:56:04that I agree with you.

00:56:05So I think that Peugeot's worked very hard all winter

00:56:08to try and tie up the loose ends that they had last year

00:56:11and to make everything better.

00:56:13And they've definitely sharpened themselves up.

00:56:14Now, we've got a Lola in the pits.

00:56:17Speedy traffic jam.

00:56:17Number 13.

00:56:19And a major traffic jam, yeah.

00:56:21A very open pit lane

00:56:22with three cars jammed in together in one space.

00:56:25Right, Liz, while Rob Chalmers is fawning all over you,

00:56:27he wanted to know the difference between, say,

00:56:29the LMP2 engine in a speedy Sabar car

00:56:32and the LMP1 engine in a speedy Sabar car.

00:56:34So actually, or an LMP2 and an LMP1 engine.

00:56:37So actually, those would be quite good opportunity.

00:56:39Although we're looking at Peugeot on screen

00:56:41as the number seven car gets serviced.

00:56:43Quick mix staying in.

00:56:45Essentially, let's say the LMP1 car,

00:56:48well, that Aston Martin engine in the 13 car

00:56:51is the same V12 that was used in their GT1 car.

00:56:54It's a road-based engine.

00:56:56The LMP2 car, generally, they produce less power.

00:56:59They have smaller capacity

00:57:00and the cars are a little lighter.

00:57:02I mean, that's basically the difference

00:57:03between the two, I guess.

00:57:04Generally, the biggest difference

00:57:05between LMP1 and LMP2 is horsepower and weight.

00:57:09And a lot of times, restrictor size

00:57:11based on turbo engine or naturally aspirated.

00:57:13But primarily, the biggest differentiation

00:57:15we've ever had in those two classes

00:57:17is weight and horsepower.

00:57:19And obviously, there's some other little rules there,

00:57:21but that is what makes the difference.

00:57:22That's the big gap we're seeing,

00:57:24especially at Le Mans on the big, long straights that we have.

00:57:26We're seeing the LMP1 cars really show

00:57:29that they do have that much more horsepower.

00:57:31And confusingly, you're allowed a closed car in LMP1,

00:57:35as with the Bergeau and with the Aston there.

00:57:37Or in LMP2, you can have an open car

00:57:39in either category as well.

00:57:40So you can't even say,

00:57:41oh, yeah, it's got a roof on, it's a P1.

00:57:43It hasn't got a roof on, it's a P2.

00:57:45It doesn't make any difference at all.

00:57:46Primarily weight and horsepower.

00:57:48Yeah, you have to know.

00:57:49See, the ACO design rules

00:57:50that only the knowledgeable know about,

00:57:52which is why I get confused so simply

00:57:54by looking at the cars.

00:57:55Now, it used to be that the LMP1 cars

00:57:57were ever so slightly wider,

00:57:58but I don't think that's the case anymore

00:58:00because you're finding chassis that, you know,

00:58:02can be moved from the LMP2 class up to LMP1.

00:58:05We're seeing that interchangeability now.

00:58:07So it really is, in my opinion,

00:58:08it's primarily horsepower and weight

00:58:10that is the main difference.

00:58:15Right, we're just having a little shimmy around here

00:58:18with our headsets.

00:58:18We're about to welcome Mark Cole back to the booth.

00:58:21And Martin Haven taking a little bit of a break.

00:58:26Welcome back, Mark.

00:58:27After, I hope, just a little bit of a nap,

00:58:30you did a lot of the early night time hours.

00:58:32And Martin Haven's done sterling duty overnight.

00:58:35It's time for him to go get a little bit of breakfast, I think.

00:58:38So it's Jeremy Shaw with you right now.

00:58:40Liz Halliday still alongside,

00:58:41and Mark Cole just getting himself organised.

00:58:43There is the car number 13.

00:58:45It was Neil Jarny who did a long, long stint in that car.

00:58:48He has handed over to Nicola Prost.

00:58:50Also in the pit lane moments to go was Nick Manassian,

00:58:53and he did, in fact, hand over the number seven Peugeot,

00:58:57which is still running in ninth place.

00:58:59He's been up and down,

00:59:00inside the top ten, outside the top ten.

00:59:03Now running in ninth place,

00:59:04and it's Christian Cleon that has taken over

00:59:06at the wheel of the number seven car.

00:59:09Welcome back, Mark.

00:59:10What are your thoughts on the morning so far?

00:59:12Oh, it's been a great morning so far.

00:59:13I've had a Flugen Bayern Frühstück.

00:59:16That's a flying Bavarian breakfast.

00:59:17Now here I am all ready to go.

00:59:19I mean, wow.

00:59:21David Brabham leading the mile.

00:59:23I just, I cannot believe this.

00:59:25You know, for me,

00:59:25it's coming here through all the groups here

00:59:27and seeing his brother winning in 1992 for Persia.

00:59:31And, you know, how bizarre will that be?

00:59:32Another Australian winning for Persia,

00:59:34both of them sons of a world champion.

00:59:36This is just going to hit the headlines,

00:59:37if they can stay there.

00:59:39But it has been so, so tight.

00:59:40And I've been listening on Radio Le Mans

00:59:43while I've been off there.

00:59:44And I'm just absolutely thrilled.

00:59:46It's as good a race as last year, I think.

00:59:48And the news we're hearing now

00:59:49is that Patrick Dempsey is still in pit lane.

00:59:51They've not wheeled it back into the garage.

00:59:53No, he's just fired it up.

00:59:54He's going back out.

00:59:55So we're not sure.

00:59:56We thought it was just a body work change,

00:59:58but maybe there's a few other little things

01:00:00they needed to look at there.

01:00:01They were fishing around in the engine bay at the back.

01:00:03They had the engine cover off as soon as it came in,

01:00:05which had to be 12 or 15 minutes ago.

01:00:08So it's a fairly lengthy service on that car.

01:00:12And I'm not sure whether they changed...

01:00:14I'm going to turn it to screen over.

01:00:16I don't know whether they changed drivers there or not, but...

01:00:19I don't believe they did, but perhaps...

01:00:20Certainly, in that case,

01:00:22Patrick was sitting in that car for an awful long time.

01:00:25He's shown still as at the wheel,

01:00:27but it is back in a phase now.

01:00:29I thought 11 laps behind the car number 84

01:00:32that is the next car in the class

01:00:35that they would have been chasing.

01:00:37Perhaps that would be the team Moderna car

01:00:39with Pierre Herret having taken over recently

01:00:42from Roman Roussinov.

01:00:46David Graben is now into the pits

01:00:49for, we hope, routine service.

01:00:51It will change Michelin tyres this time around.

01:00:54Now, those cars have been going

01:00:55an extremely long distance on their tyres,

01:00:58quad stinting them even,

01:00:59which we've not really seen from the Audi,

01:01:01which is interesting.

01:01:02Yeah, they're primarily doing three stints now

01:01:04that it's daylight and everything,

01:01:06but certainly the Audi's been mostly doubling.

01:01:08They've done a few triples,

01:01:09but mostly doubling stints,

01:01:10so that's very interesting.

01:01:11Yes, I've noticed that Audi's still,

01:01:16obviously, overnight still struggling

01:01:18with all this rubbish they're getting

01:01:20in the intercoolers, aren't they?

01:01:21It's just been a nightmare for them.

01:01:25And it sounds like we're about to go

01:01:26to an interview with Emmanuel Collard,

01:01:29and let's go down to the pits now

01:01:31to hear from him.

01:01:31Emmanuel Collard,

01:01:34it works well for your team.

01:01:38Yes, for the moment,

01:01:39we have almost three laps.

01:01:42Going well for the team, Emmanuel.

01:01:44It's pretty good.

01:01:45We have to go down the road,

01:01:45it's still at least a few hours, I think.

01:01:49We've got a gap of...

01:01:50Three seconds.

01:01:54Three laps and a few seconds.

01:01:57We've got to be really, really careful,

01:01:59though, because we've only had two problems

01:02:01during the night.

01:02:02Yes, we've got to go down in six, seven tours,

01:02:03at least, and I'm going to go for a double

01:02:05just after, yes.

01:02:07And you're in tactique for the final course?

01:02:10Have another stop in six or seven laps,

01:02:12and after that, everything should be fine.

01:02:15We've got to be reasonable times

01:02:17without looking for the chrono.

01:02:21And then, normally, it's going to be like that.

01:02:24Well, it's good that we can keep

01:02:25lapping at a good time,

01:02:27but the important thing is not to push too hard.

01:02:30So, Manu Collard, then.

01:02:31Manu's still on top of his game.

01:02:33I mean, I've been watching Manu

01:02:34for the last 20 years,

01:02:35and this guy is just such a star.

01:02:38He's very understated.

01:02:39You know, nothing superstar-ish

01:02:41or anything about Manu,

01:02:42but he's just one of those people

01:02:44who is always there on the pace.

01:02:46Interesting to hear him say, you know,

01:02:47the important thing now

01:02:48is just not to push too hard.

01:02:50You know, coming from a man who's so quick,

01:02:51he's been on pole here at Le Mans overall,

01:02:54just that's quite...

01:02:55It goes to prove the mind of the endurance racer

01:02:57that you have to know when to be smart

01:02:59and when to just keep it consistent.

01:03:01KSM car in the pits now, number 39.

01:03:03They have had a really difficult race.

01:03:06Problems straight away from lap number one.

01:03:08Amazing to still see them running it

01:03:10this time in the morning.

01:03:11I can really sympathize with them.

01:03:12I've had a tough race here before,

01:03:14and, you know, at least they're still going.

01:03:17Yeah, just as I was coming in this morning,

01:03:18I saw a whole line of Pescarola people leaving.

01:03:21I don't know.

01:03:21I see both cars are still running.

01:03:23I thought, oh, dear,

01:03:23they've got quite a problem, haven't they?

01:03:24But obviously they've decided

01:03:26they're going to change the whole crew

01:03:27now we've come to Morley.

01:03:28Really?

01:03:29Yeah.

01:03:30Oh, OK.

01:03:31How very civilized.

01:03:32I haven't seen that before.

01:03:33I mean, of course,

01:03:34they've only got to go a few hundred yards

01:03:35down to the Technopark back home.

01:03:37Maybe they're just all going on for a shower.

01:03:38It's actually very clever, though,

01:03:39because, you know,

01:03:39they've had perhaps a very hard night

01:03:41before the race.

01:03:42You know, the crew's tired.

01:03:43Oh, we've got the number one Audi

01:03:44going into the pit garage.

01:03:46This is an absolute disaster for Audi.

01:03:48This is their best running car right now

01:03:50after so many problems

01:03:51with number two and number three,

01:03:52well, number two being out completely.

01:03:54So we're going to wait to see

01:03:55what is going on there,

01:03:56but we're doing a driver change

01:03:57in the garage.

01:03:59Yeah, which is not unusual.

01:04:00They've done this on a fairly regular basis.

01:04:02They've refilled the car as per usual,

01:04:05then pushed it back into the garage.

01:04:06Tom Christensen is out.

01:04:07He's now helping to strap Alan Wittnish

01:04:10into car number one,

01:04:12and Tom Christensen has done

01:04:13a triple stint in that car.

01:04:15He changed tyres after his first stint

01:04:17and has done two 12-lap stints

01:04:20since then.

01:04:21On the same set of Michelin tyres.

01:04:23Now, we've seen that number one Audi,

01:04:26Mark Kohl, on a regular basis,

01:04:27he pulled back into the garage,

01:04:29check out all the bodywork,

01:04:30clear out any debris

01:04:32that has been collected

01:04:33while it's been running out on track.

01:04:35Yeah, apparently.

01:04:36What we've learned

01:04:37is the number three car now

01:04:38comes in,

01:04:38that car running way down still,

01:04:4029th.

01:04:41Although when I left last night,

01:04:42it was 44th,

01:04:42so they are clawing their way back up.

01:04:44But yes, they have to do these stops

01:04:46because a lot of the intercooler access,

01:04:48you can't get to

01:04:49unless you take the bodywork off.

01:04:50This is one of the big problems.

01:04:52This is something

01:04:52they'll take on board

01:04:53for the future.

01:04:54You know,

01:04:55you've got to have accessibility

01:04:56in the pit lane to everything.

01:04:58And what we're seeing now

01:04:58is that we're getting

01:04:59much later on into this race.

01:05:01The debris quantity on the circuit

01:05:02is insane.

01:05:03And that, I think,

01:05:04is why we're seeing them

01:05:05get pushed back in,

01:05:06having to put a bit more work

01:05:07into clearing things out.

01:05:09Certainly with the shape

01:05:10of this nose on the Audi,

01:05:11they'll be sucking in

01:05:12a lot of rubber

01:05:13and a lot of debris

01:05:13off the circuit.

01:05:14Yeah, good point, Lissar.

01:05:15We've seen a couple of close-up shots

01:05:16of some of the chicanes here

01:05:17where you can see

01:05:18all the rubber build-up offline.

01:05:20And it was really surprisingly

01:05:21a little rubber build-up offline.

01:05:23It seemed,

01:05:24even into the late hours

01:05:25of last night,

01:05:27when it was just getting dark,

01:05:29I thought there would have been

01:05:29more rubber build-up.

01:05:30You know,

01:05:31the tyres that are running

01:05:32these days

01:05:33are a little bit harder

01:05:34than they have done

01:05:35in the recent past

01:05:36because they are trying

01:05:37to triple, triple,

01:05:39or even quadruple

01:05:40stint the tyres

01:05:40from time to time.

01:05:42So there is less rubber marbles

01:05:45thrown off the tyres

01:05:46during the stint.

01:05:47There goes, however,

01:05:48Tom Christensen.

01:05:49So the stop was probably

01:05:50only a minute or so longer

01:05:51if that than

01:05:53a regularly scheduled stop.

01:05:54And it is Alan McNish now

01:05:56at the wheel of car number one,

01:05:57still in third place,

01:05:59but two laps

01:05:59behind our race leader.

01:06:01The race leader now,

01:06:02Alex Wirtz,

01:06:03he's taken over from Brabben.

01:06:04Stefan Sarrazan

01:06:05in the number eight car

01:06:06in second.

01:06:07McNish now going out

01:06:08and Thomas Enger

01:06:09in the Lola Aston Martin

01:06:11there in fourth.

01:06:11So still in with the shout.

01:06:13Okay,

01:06:13there are a few laps down there,

01:06:15what, six laps down,

01:06:16but they're still there, Jeremy.

01:06:17Yeah,

01:06:17and the gap from first

01:06:18to second now

01:06:19is only 11.3 seconds.

01:06:20With that driver change

01:06:21from David Brabben

01:06:23to Alex Wirtz

01:06:24and Stefan Sarrazan

01:06:25staying in the,

01:06:26behind the wheel

01:06:27of car number eight,

01:06:29which will be due

01:06:31a pit stop

01:06:32pretty soon now,

01:06:33but that gap down

01:06:34to about 11 seconds.

01:06:35So it's interesting

01:06:36how that gap

01:06:37has fluctuated

01:06:39according to

01:06:39who changes drivers when,

01:06:41because those two cars,

01:06:42the number nine

01:06:43and the number eight,

01:06:44are on different strategies

01:06:45so far as their driver

01:06:46changes are concerned,

01:06:48but they have been running

01:06:49very similar lap times

01:06:50and what's interesting

01:06:51to me

01:06:52is that they triple stinted

01:06:53the tyres

01:06:54on car number eight

01:06:56last time around,

01:06:57but they double stinted

01:06:58the tyres

01:06:58on car number seven

01:06:59so that extra stop,

01:07:02that extra tyre change

01:07:04seems to equal itself out

01:07:06in terms of the pace

01:07:07that they can run.

01:07:08Well,

01:07:08we just saw Tom Christensen

01:07:09getting out of the car

01:07:10in the Audi garage,

01:07:11Manishi taking over,

01:07:12Sebastian's down there

01:07:13and he's about to have a chat

01:07:14with the Great Dane

01:07:15and let's hope that goes.

01:07:17But, Jeremy,

01:07:17just before we hear from him,

01:07:19I mean,

01:07:19if we get to the final hour

01:07:20and these two Peugeots

01:07:21are still like this together,

01:07:23which one's going to be

01:07:23allowed to win?

01:07:24I mean,

01:07:25Peugeot,

01:07:25surely for the La Gouin de France,

01:07:27would like to have

01:07:27the all-French crew

01:07:28on top of the podium,

01:07:29wouldn't they?

01:07:31Yeah,

01:07:31maybe,

01:07:32maybe,

01:07:33but they're just going to be

01:07:34happy to see

01:07:35anybody win.

01:07:36You know,

01:07:37it's going to be

01:07:37a French victory

01:07:38whatever happens

01:07:39and maybe there's more

01:07:40to be gained

01:07:41by having an Australian,

01:07:42a Spaniard

01:07:43and an Austrian

01:07:43behind the wheel

01:07:44of that car.

01:07:44They can cover all four,

01:07:46you know,

01:07:46four Nationals,

01:07:47above the support.

01:07:48I mean,

01:07:49to be fair,

01:07:49they've pushed so hard

01:07:51and led so much

01:07:51of this race.

01:07:52I can hardly believe now

01:07:54that it would be fair

01:07:55to swap them around

01:07:56for the sake of it.

01:07:57I know I said it myself

01:07:58earlier,

01:07:59would they want to do that?

01:08:00But I think,

01:08:01to be honest,

01:08:02if they're one,

01:08:02two,

01:08:03they're going to let the one

01:08:03that's running out front

01:08:04take over.

01:08:06And I think we're going to go

01:08:07down to the pits

01:08:08in a minute

01:08:09for an interview

01:08:10with Tom Christensen.

01:08:13Just while we're waiting

01:08:14on that,

01:08:14we're watching

01:08:15the car of Antonio

01:08:16Garcia going around

01:08:17the circuit

01:08:18and that car

01:08:21is still leading

01:08:22GT1.

01:08:24However,

01:08:24it has been closing

01:08:25the gap.

01:08:26Ollie Gavin is closing

01:08:27the gap between those

01:08:28two.

01:08:28This is more the way

01:08:29we're used to seeing

01:08:30the GT1 class run.

01:08:32One,

01:08:32two of the big

01:08:33yellow monsters

01:08:34out there,

01:08:35these Corvette C6Rs.

01:08:36this is what they like

01:08:37to do at Le Mans.

01:08:38They like to be right

01:08:38together the whole way

01:08:39through 24 hours

01:08:40so this will be making

01:08:41them happy.

01:08:41And of course,

01:08:42last night,

01:08:42they were half a lap

01:08:44apart because they've

01:08:45been split by the

01:08:45first safety car.

01:08:46Exactly.

01:08:47And still are,

01:08:48really.

01:08:48Yeah,

01:08:49but 10 seconds

01:08:50they're showing here

01:08:50at the moment.

01:08:51It's more than that.

01:08:52It stops,

01:08:53of course.

01:08:53Exactly.

01:08:54I think the number

01:08:5464 car,

01:08:55I believe,

01:08:56is due a pit stop

01:08:57fairly soon.

01:08:57Yeah,

01:08:58so perhaps that gap

01:08:59that existed when they

01:09:00got split by the

01:09:01safety cars is what it

01:09:02will still be at the

01:09:02end of the race

01:09:03because they're just

01:09:03so consistent,

01:09:04these canaries,

01:09:06aren't they?

01:09:06Yeah,

01:09:06I think once they get

01:09:08going,

01:09:08as long as they don't

01:09:09have any trouble,

01:09:09they just don't budge.

01:09:10And all the drivers

01:09:12are so quick that

01:09:12they're able to do

01:09:13virtually the exact

01:09:14same lap times.

01:09:15And what's impressive

01:09:16as well when you look

01:09:17at the pit stops

01:09:18is that the leading

01:09:19Peugeot has had

01:09:20two more stops

01:09:21than the two cars

01:09:22chasing it.

01:09:23And there it is,

01:09:24still out front.

01:09:25Well,

01:09:25I think that's just

01:09:26going to show how

01:09:27much work they put in

01:09:28in the winter and

01:09:29throughout the beginning

01:09:29of the season of

01:09:30improving their pit stop

01:09:31strategy.

01:09:32That was their

01:09:32weakness last year,

01:09:33a big reason why

01:09:34Audi beat them at

01:09:35Le Mans.

01:09:35So I think they went

01:09:36away and they said,

01:09:38this is where we can

01:09:38improve and here is

01:09:39how we can win.

01:09:40And I think they're

01:09:41proving that that is

01:09:42actually bringing them

01:09:43to the front.

01:09:43Yeah,

01:09:44that number eight car

01:09:45has had a couple

01:09:45extra stops because

01:09:46they've had a couple

01:09:47of problems,

01:09:47haven't they?

01:09:48Sebastian Bourdais

01:09:48had a couple of

01:09:50unscheduled pit stops

01:09:51yesterday evening.

01:09:52We heard Frank Montagne

01:09:53say it had those

01:09:54two problems,

01:09:55those are two

01:09:55extra pit stops.

01:09:56But that has been

01:09:57the fastest or one

01:09:59of the fastest cars

01:10:00on the track.

01:10:01It's actually number

01:10:02seven car that has

01:10:03the fastest lap

01:10:04of the race so far,

01:10:06a three minutes

01:10:0624.3 set by

01:10:08Nick Manassian,

01:10:09what,

01:10:09a couple of hours

01:10:10or so ago only.

01:10:12And compared to

01:10:15the three minutes

01:10:1524.3 that Nick

01:10:17Manassian said,

01:10:18fastest lap by

01:10:19the number eight car,

01:10:20a three minutes

01:10:2024.8.

01:10:22But certainly it

01:10:22was Frank Montagne

01:10:23in the early stage

01:10:24of this race.

01:10:25He was the hare.

01:10:26He ran out in front.

01:10:27He had those two

01:10:28problems and that

01:10:29is the primary reason

01:10:30why it's the number

01:10:31nine car of Alex

01:10:33Wurtz and David

01:10:34Braddon and Pedro

01:10:35Lamy that is leading

01:10:35this motor race.

01:10:36Yeah, I mean,

01:10:37the old saying is

01:10:38the car that's going

01:10:39to win the race is

01:10:40the one that spends

01:10:40the least time in the

01:10:41pits.

01:10:41What we don't know

01:10:42from the number of

01:10:43pit stops is the

01:10:44total amount of time

01:10:45they've spent in the

01:10:46pits.

01:10:46It could just be

01:10:47splash and dashes,

01:10:47of course,

01:10:48for the lead car.

01:10:48Well, that's what I

01:10:49think is that we're

01:10:50seeing that because

01:10:51even though they've

01:10:52had more pit stops,

01:10:52they've obviously

01:10:53been extremely efficient

01:10:54in their pit stop

01:10:55skills.

01:10:56So it's obviously

01:10:57not hurt them.

01:10:58They're leading the

01:10:58race one and two

01:10:59with Audi trailing

01:11:00in third at the

01:11:01moment.

01:11:01So certainly we've

01:11:03got to give

01:11:03Persia their dues.

01:11:04So make the most

01:11:05of these Corvettes

01:11:05the last time you're

01:11:06going to see them

01:11:07in this form at

01:11:08Le Mans.

01:11:08But Tom Christensen

01:11:09is ready to talk

01:11:10to us.

01:11:10The car was just

01:11:12in the garage.

01:11:12What happened?

01:11:13Explain us.

01:11:17It's the same

01:11:18which has happened

01:11:18since last night.

01:11:19Sometimes we have

01:11:20to get it in to

01:11:21cool the turbocharger

01:11:22and the air intake

01:11:23to keep the temperature

01:11:26on a level.

01:11:28It seems it keeps

01:11:29racing.

01:11:30Therefore, we are

01:11:32losing straight line

01:11:33speed.

01:11:33And this I think

01:11:34is quite clear

01:11:35to see that we

01:11:37don't have the

01:11:37straight line speed.

01:11:38So it's very

01:11:38frustrating for a

01:11:39driver because the

01:11:40car is actually

01:11:41handling very well

01:11:42at the moment.

01:11:43But when you start

01:11:44to lose four or five

01:11:45seconds just on the

01:11:47straights alone,

01:11:48then it's a little

01:11:48bit frustrating to

01:11:49sit behind the

01:11:50steering wheel.

01:11:51How do you see

01:11:52the situation now

01:11:52until the end of

01:11:53the race for your

01:11:54car?

01:11:55Yeah, it's a

01:11:56challenge obviously.

01:11:57We keep it under

01:11:58control.

01:11:59We keep it.

01:12:00But we are, of

01:12:01course, let's say,

01:12:03our weapon is not

01:12:04as sharp as it

01:12:05should be.

01:12:06And at the same

01:12:07time Peugeot has

01:12:08a good lead.

01:12:09So in that sense,

01:12:10it plays to them

01:12:12at the moment.

01:12:13But the race is

01:12:14still long.

01:12:15And we'll see.

01:12:16But it looks like

01:12:17Peugeot can control

01:12:18the speed they've

01:12:19taken.

01:12:19I mean, they seem

01:12:20to not run with

01:12:21100% power.

01:12:23Yeah, it looks like

01:12:24that.

01:12:24And they even have

01:12:26control enough to

01:12:29make protests about

01:12:30Alan's start and

01:12:32some stuff like that

01:12:33during the race.

01:12:34So I think they have

01:12:34control about a lot

01:12:35of things.

01:12:36Yeah, thank you

01:12:36very much.

01:12:36That's a rather

01:12:39interesting take on

01:12:41it, isn't it?

01:12:41But just as an

01:12:42analogy, I mean,

01:12:42he's talking about

01:12:43the intercoolers

01:12:44getting clogged up

01:12:45and they start to

01:12:46lose a bit of power.

01:12:47Imagine when you've

01:12:47had a really bad

01:12:48dose of flu or

01:12:49bronchitis.

01:12:50You're struggling

01:12:51for breath a little

01:12:51bit sometimes,

01:12:52aren't you?

01:12:52It's that same.

01:12:53The engine just

01:12:54cannot get the

01:12:55oxygen it needs.

01:12:56Lovely.

01:12:58So you've got to

01:12:59clear it all out.

01:12:59We're going to

01:13:00take a break.

01:13:01Mark Cole,

01:13:02Liz Halde,

01:13:02Jeremy Shaw here,

01:13:03live at Le Mans.

01:13:03Well, welcome back

01:13:10to the Le Mans 24

01:13:11Hours.

01:13:12We are live here

01:13:13on Eurosport.

01:13:14We've been live here

01:13:15through the entire

01:13:15race and you've been

01:13:16with us, I hope.

01:13:17We're still watching

01:13:18the battle of

01:13:19Peugeot versus Addy,

01:13:20but at the moment

01:13:21it is Peugeot,

01:13:22Peugeot, and it has

01:13:23been for a very,

01:13:24very long time.

01:13:26Seeing the number

01:13:27eight car coming

01:13:28into the pit lane,

01:13:29that is the second

01:13:29place car of

01:13:30Stefan Serrazin.

01:13:31Now, we did see a

01:13:32couple of lap times

01:13:32that looked a bit

01:13:33slower in that car,

01:13:34so we're wondering

01:13:35if there has been

01:13:35some issues.

01:13:36We thought maybe

01:13:37it was tyres,

01:13:37but he's taken on

01:13:38tyres on his last

01:13:39stop.

01:13:39Yeah, what's

01:13:40interesting on that,

01:13:41Liz Halde, is that

01:13:42it's done 13 laps

01:13:43since for its last

01:13:44two stints on this

01:13:45car number eight.

01:13:46All the other

01:13:46front runners are

01:13:47running 12 laps

01:13:48since right now

01:13:49at this stage in

01:13:50the race, have been

01:13:51doing for quite some

01:13:52time, even the Audi

01:13:54that was running

01:13:5513 laps since

01:13:56before the midnight

01:13:58hour.

01:13:59So it looks like

01:14:00a pretty good stop

01:14:01there for car

01:14:03number eight.

01:14:03It's running in

01:14:04second place,

01:14:05Stefan Serrazin.

01:14:06He took over at the

01:14:07wheel last time

01:14:07around, just routine

01:14:09service there.

01:14:10Don't think they

01:14:10changed tyres, did

01:14:11they?

01:14:11No, I think the last

01:14:13couple of laps have

01:14:14been down around

01:14:14three minutes 33 or so.

01:14:16He lost about four or

01:14:18five seconds a lap,

01:14:18but I fancy perhaps

01:14:20that they were trying

01:14:21to save, just save

01:14:24the fuel a little bit

01:14:25if they can run it a

01:14:26little bit leaner, get

01:14:27to one more, get one

01:14:29more lap in on their

01:14:29stint and maybe by the

01:14:31end of the race that's

01:14:31going to mean that

01:14:32they'll have one less

01:14:34pit stop than the

01:14:35number nine car which

01:14:36could be crucial in the

01:14:37closing stages.

01:14:37Yeah.

01:14:38That would be the only

01:14:38reason I could think

01:14:39that they're running

01:14:40different strategies in

01:14:41terms of the amount of

01:14:42time they're running on

01:14:43each stint.

01:14:43You could definitely

01:14:44be right, that would

01:14:45be clever, and they're

01:14:46also a fair bit ahead

01:14:48of Alan McNish, you

01:14:49know, they're on the

01:14:49lap 294, Alan McNish

01:14:52is on 292, so they've

01:14:53got a little bit of

01:14:54space.

01:14:54They're not a huge

01:14:55amount of breathing

01:14:55room with Alan at the

01:14:56wheel who will be

01:14:57definitely trying to put

01:14:58in the fastest times

01:14:59he can.

01:14:59He's just done a 328

01:15:01which is one of his

01:15:02first flying laps, so

01:15:03he's definitely going to

01:15:04be a man on a mission,

01:15:05but I definitely think

01:15:06you could have a point

01:15:07there, Jeremy, we'll

01:15:07be interested to see how

01:15:09it goes over the next

01:15:10few laps and what sort

01:15:11of times he puts in.

01:15:11And yes, of course,

01:15:12the top three now of all

01:15:13refettled, all rejoined,

01:15:15driver changes in the

01:15:16first and third cars,

01:15:17and so they'll now

01:15:18settle down into that

01:15:19rhythm, and as you

01:15:20say, Liz, that's a good

01:15:21time to see what's

01:15:21happening.

01:15:22Something, a big, big

01:15:23lock-up down at the,

01:15:24that's, oh again, it's

01:15:26that's Malls-On-Corner

01:15:27that we're sitting there.

01:15:28That track was

01:15:28breaking up last night.

01:15:29It doesn't take a lot

01:15:30to have a lock-up at

01:15:31Malls-On-Corner, I

01:15:32have to say.

01:15:33A much tighter corner

01:15:34than it looks on TV.

01:15:35You look at it and it

01:15:36seems like not much, but

01:15:37it really is almost a

01:15:38first-gear corner for a

01:15:39lot of cars.

01:15:40But Anage, I guess, is

01:15:41the slowest corner,

01:15:42isn't it, on the track?

01:15:42Yeah, but it's a fairly

01:15:44margin-lock.

01:15:44They're pretty close.

01:15:45I mean, both of them

01:15:46are very, very slow.

01:15:46Both of them in

01:15:47practice, in the cars

01:15:48I've driven, were

01:15:49first-gear.

01:15:50We obviously moved it

01:15:50to second-gear for the

01:15:51race to preserve the

01:15:52gearbox, but certainly

01:15:53they're very, very slow

01:15:54corners, and you can't

01:15:54really see that on TV.

01:15:56And that was a GT2

01:15:57class-leading car of

01:15:58Pierre Caffer at the

01:15:59wheel of the Risi

01:16:00Competizione Ferrari F430.

01:16:03They're locking up the

01:16:03brakes down there, and

01:16:04he's still pushing hard.

01:16:06Last time around, I was

01:16:07just going to tell you

01:16:08what his lap time was,

01:16:09but the screen went to

01:16:10fuzzy on me.

01:16:10He's back again now.

01:16:11He did a 4.07.040, so

01:16:14pretty good lap time for

01:16:16Pierre Caffer.

01:16:18I'm glad to see he's

01:16:18settled down a bit now

01:16:19because, of course, he

01:16:20got two warnings last

01:16:21night for corner-cutting

01:16:22and eventually had to

01:16:23take a stop-go because

01:16:24of that.

01:16:24Well, didn't that car

01:16:25show up at lap time of

01:16:274.01.0?

01:16:28It did, it did, and

01:16:29that was with Jamie

01:16:29Mello in the car.

01:16:31It was absolutely

01:16:32flying.

01:16:33Has it?

01:16:34Well, now the best lap

01:16:36showing up for that car

01:16:36is 4.05.536.

01:16:39We thought it was

01:16:40interesting, as you

01:16:41say, Liz Hallanday, that

01:16:42the lap time was more

01:16:43than two seconds faster

01:16:44than they managed in

01:16:46qualifying.

01:16:46We thought, wow, that's

01:16:47a bit of a special lap.

01:16:48Well, we'd also seen a

01:16:494.03 from them before

01:16:51and that's not up, so

01:16:52perhaps there was a bit

01:16:52of a glitch in the

01:16:53timing and scoring,

01:16:55something in their

01:16:55transponder, perhaps.

01:16:57Yeah, but Pat Long,

01:16:584.04, that still

01:16:59remains, I guess, the

01:16:59fastest time, doesn't

01:17:01it?

01:17:01There's a 4.04.1 for

01:17:05Patrick Long, you can't

01:17:05remember 76, and I'm not

01:17:06sure what the best lap

01:17:07was also for the

01:17:09Flying Lizard car

01:17:10before that went out of

01:17:11the race, looking on

01:17:13one of the old

01:17:13charts here, 4.04.3 or

01:17:16something.

01:17:17Yeah, 4.8.

01:17:18So the Porsche has

01:17:20certainly been very,

01:17:21very quick, but it's

01:17:22the Ferrari's at this

01:17:23stage that they've been

01:17:23built more reliable.

01:17:28Just looking at the

01:17:29pole time for the GT2,

01:17:31isn't the fastest time

01:17:32the Lizard, it was a

01:17:334.03 in fact, so

01:17:35they're only running

01:17:36one second off the

01:17:37pole pace.

01:17:38Yeah, that's a lot,

01:17:39doesn't it?

01:17:39Which is why we were

01:17:40kind of surprised it

01:17:41already showed up at

01:17:41the 4.01 for a while

01:17:42there.

01:17:43I think it's a fair

01:17:44time to give a bit of

01:17:45a big up to the

01:17:46Dutch fans out there

01:17:47because the Spiker has

01:17:48been running really

01:17:49well.

01:17:49I know it's not up in

01:17:50the front bit, but

01:17:51normally we see Spikers

01:17:52not being that reliable

01:17:53as we'd like them to

01:17:54be, but the Spiker has

01:17:55been plugging on, it's

01:17:56had very few problems,

01:17:58it's still running in

01:17:59seventh place, so, you

01:18:00know, I just wanted to

01:18:01say, go on guys,

01:18:03that's good, we like

01:18:03seeing the Spiker in

01:18:04there, we like our

01:18:05manufacturers, take it

01:18:06to the Ferraris and

01:18:06Porsche's.

01:18:07I agree, and that was

01:18:08a routine stop there

01:18:09for Pierre Caffer in

01:18:10that recent competition

01:18:11in the car number 82.

01:18:12They've been running

01:18:13like a train, they

01:18:13took the lead, I

01:18:15don't know, midway

01:18:15through the evening, I

01:18:16think it probably

01:18:17was, and since then

01:18:18they have controlled

01:18:19the GT2 category, of

01:18:21course, coming off a

01:18:22victory also one year

01:18:23ago.

01:18:24Yep, and just going

01:18:25back to the Spiker for

01:18:26the moment, of course

01:18:26we can consider it to

01:18:28be the sixth Audi.

01:18:29Yes, we can, you're

01:18:30right.

01:18:30You know, if it should

01:18:32by chance win a GT2,

01:18:34Audi at least will have

01:18:35bragging rights on

01:18:35that.

01:18:36But it's a great crew

01:18:37on that car, as well,

01:18:38I mean, Tommy

01:18:38Coronel and you're in

01:18:39Blake, two of the

01:18:40fastest drivers in

01:18:41Holland anyway, well

01:18:42they are.

01:18:42Some of the fastest

01:18:43and the craziest, even.

01:18:44Yes, absolutely.

01:18:45He put Jost

01:18:46Verstappen in that

01:18:46car, can you imagine

01:18:47that?

01:18:48I think it would be

01:18:49dangerous if you put

01:18:50all of them together.

01:18:51There's probably a

01:18:52ruling against it

01:18:52somewhere in Holland.

01:18:53Yes.

01:18:55295 laps now, completed

01:18:57by the race leader,

01:18:58Alex Burst, at the

01:18:59wheel of car number

01:19:00eight.

01:19:00The gap back to

01:19:01Stefan Sarrazin, now

01:19:03one minute, 29

01:19:04seconds.

01:19:05And I was just

01:19:06looking back through

01:19:07my notes here, back

01:19:08here, that's lap

01:19:09295.

01:19:1010 laps ago, the gap

01:19:13was 1 minute 40

01:19:15seconds, so in 10

01:19:17laps he's pulled back

01:19:18about 10 seconds, and

01:19:19that's only interesting

01:19:20insofar as, as we said

01:19:22a few minutes ago, the

01:19:23number eight car is

01:19:25running a little bit

01:19:25longer each stint, or it

01:19:27has been at least the

01:19:27last two stints since

01:19:28I've been back on duty

01:19:30here, than the race

01:19:32leading car number nine.

01:19:33So, slightly different

01:19:34strategies, but the

01:19:35lap time's pretty

01:19:36comparable, and the

01:19:37number eight car just

01:19:38fractionally closer than

01:19:39it was a half an hour

01:19:41ago.

01:19:41There in the Dunlop

01:19:42Ferrari, that's Rob

01:19:43Bell of Britain, course

01:19:44double LMS GT2

01:19:46champion, pulled it

01:19:47off 2007 and again

01:19:49last year, came back

01:19:50to Le Mans, so

01:19:51disappointed last

01:19:52year that they were

01:19:53leading for a long,

01:19:55long time, had car

01:19:55problems, and Rob

01:19:56was denied that

01:19:57Le Mans win.

01:19:58He's not going to get

01:19:58it this time either,

01:19:59unless they can get a

01:20:01really good run.

01:20:01They're running

01:20:02fifth in class at the

01:20:05moment, the 92 car.

01:20:06Of course, for a very

01:20:07long time they were

01:20:08running in second place

01:20:09and trying to get the

01:20:10lead, having a very,

01:20:10very strong run with

01:20:11Rob Bell in the car

01:20:12until he took a huge

01:20:14diversion off the

01:20:15entry to the Porsche

01:20:15Curves, almost to the

01:20:16point where we weren't

01:20:17sure where he was.

01:20:18We could just see a

01:20:18roundabout sign, and the

01:20:20fact that he couldn't

01:20:21seem to get it out of

01:20:22gear.

01:20:22So, thankfully they were

01:20:23able to get that car

01:20:24back to the garage, but

01:20:26certainly they've lost a

01:20:27lot of time because of

01:20:28that.

01:20:28He also received a

01:20:29penalty for that, which

01:20:30we still don't know

01:20:31why or what was

01:20:32behind that.

01:20:32I think it was just a

01:20:33warning they got, didn't

01:20:34it?

01:20:34Yes, sorry, it was.

01:20:36At the end there

01:20:37wasn't a penalty, but

01:20:38another warning and

01:20:38they would have been

01:20:39docked something or

01:20:40other.

01:20:40We don't know what the

01:20:41rules seem to be

01:20:42somewhat arbitrary,

01:20:42don't they?

01:20:43Perhaps it was for

01:20:44choosing his own

01:20:45racing line and or

01:20:46racetrack.

01:20:47Yes, exactly.

01:20:48He was well off the

01:20:49racing line.

01:20:50I feel like somewhere

01:20:51we're going, where is

01:20:52he?

01:20:52Is he still on the

01:20:53track?

01:20:53No, he's not.

01:20:54Is he still at

01:20:55Le Mans?

01:20:55He was heading towards

01:20:56the town.

01:20:56I think he was going

01:20:57back down to

01:20:58Jacobin, I believe.

01:20:59Could take the tram for

01:21:00that.

01:21:00Exactly.

01:21:02So we've seen at

01:21:03this moment 39 cars

01:21:05of the 55 still

01:21:06running, the Haino

01:21:08Porsche still sitting

01:21:09in the garage and

01:21:10that's losing more

01:21:11and more laps.

01:21:13Well, we're going to

01:21:13hear from Dr. Colin

01:21:16Collis, the flying

01:21:17dentist from Germany

01:21:19who bought these

01:21:21Saudis, the R10s, very

01:21:23reliable cars, as

01:21:24has been proven and

01:21:25still there.

01:21:30Colin Collis, a

01:21:32short word to the

01:21:33situation with Narayan

01:21:34Carpacayen.

01:21:35How's it all going?

01:21:39At the start of the

01:21:40start of the

01:21:40day, how's it going?

01:21:41Yesterday he said he

01:21:42would eventually

01:21:43start to start today.

01:21:44How's it going?

01:21:45I think it's not

01:21:46possible because he

01:21:48still has pain.

01:21:50And how's it going?

01:21:51How's it going?

01:21:52Can you tell us more

01:21:52about Narayan

01:21:53Carpacayen?

01:21:53Yes, it would be

01:21:54better if we didn't

01:21:55have the

01:21:56Zwischenfälle.

01:21:56We had to have

01:21:58broken shoulder.

01:21:59We thought for a

01:21:59long time he's

01:22:00going to be able

01:22:00to race.

01:22:02I think when he

01:22:03said that he

01:22:03means dislocated.

01:22:04But a lot of

01:22:08mechanical problems

01:22:09on these cars.

01:22:12We've really had

01:22:12bad luck.

01:22:22One point in

01:22:23the night we

01:22:24had a lead of

01:22:25two laps, but

01:22:25then the problem

01:22:26started.

01:22:28But we've

01:22:33still got to be

01:22:33proud.

01:22:34We've shown

01:22:34everybody that

01:22:36we can race for

01:22:37the others.

24 Hours of Le Mans 2009 - Race part 13

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