Relive the thrilling 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, where endurance, speed, and strategy pushed drivers and machines to their limits. From intense battles on the Mulsanne Straight to dramatic moments that defined the race, this edition remains a legendary chapter in motorsport history. Experience the full action of one of the most iconic endurance races ever.
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:02:30What was so strange was he should have been visual in the Porsche's vision.
00:02:35So I'm surprised that the Porsche actually insisted and even if he did, maybe that's a slow-mo, but maybe that's unfair.
00:02:41But, you know, the radiators are at the front of these.
00:02:44And they're listening to you, Mark.
00:02:46And immediately called him.
00:02:47So the AF course has been called.
00:02:49Yeah.
00:02:50Team manager's been called into the pits.
00:02:51It was Tony Belander's car that was released into the part of that Porsche.
00:02:55It was released too late, you know.
00:02:57Just looking at the racing car, that had a very, very late stop into the, during the safety car, trying to get released cleverly.
00:03:09Didn't quite work out for them though.
00:03:10They got held up on pit lane, but they're not doing too badly, Mark.
00:03:12No, indeed.
00:03:14And, yeah, they're coming back up the order now.
00:03:16The two pro GT leaders have just made their first stop.
00:03:20And Darren Turner's coming out ahead of Mark Leib.
00:03:23How good is that?
00:03:24That's Martin.
00:03:25Good for us, Mark.
00:03:26Quicker than Porsche.
00:03:27That's Manti Porsche.
00:03:28Their first time here as a factory team.
00:03:31For a long number of years, I think they did it before, did they?
00:03:35As a factory team?
00:03:37Or no.
00:03:37Oh, Porsche has, obviously.
00:03:39No, Manti, first time as a factory team here at Le Mans.
00:03:42Well, a drying track.
00:03:44If this is going to be the major proportion, weather-wise, of this year's Le Mans,
00:03:49then the speeds that they're going to start gathering and the laps that they're going to start posting now should start to quicken.
00:03:54So, it's the, although there is rain, you don't, you plan for it, you take account of it,
00:04:01but basically you want your car to be as fast as it possibly can be.
00:04:04And so your main drive and your main thought is for the dry.
00:04:08That's what we've got right now.
00:04:09Cars up to speed, brains basically engaged.
00:04:13We are properly racing at Le Mans at last.
00:04:17Darren Turner then rejoins from his stop, having jumped Mark Leib in the pit.
00:04:21So, we understand.
00:04:22We're just waiting for confirmation of that.
00:04:24But here we go.
00:04:25The chrome car being passed by Oak.
00:04:27Oliver Plar, still our LMP2 leader, having a very, very good race in Jack Nicolay's Morgan, Oak Ron, Nissan.
00:04:36And that Nissan, of course, is one of the Zytec-prepared ones as opposed to the Eureka cars.
00:04:41Eureka are now preparing their own Nissan engines, which is a big move this year.
00:04:45So, I'm just looking down the GT ranks, you know, and I'm looking a long, long, long, long way before I see Corvette.
00:04:52Olly Gavin's on board the 74 car.
00:04:55He's on an outlap at the moment.
00:04:56They've had a couple of changes, a couple of stops, incidentally.
00:04:59One, oh, no, I beg your pardon.
00:05:01The 74 has just done the one right now.
00:05:04But nonetheless, so has everyone else around them.
00:05:08And if they have been saying, look, it's not about qualifying, it's not about the warm-up, it's not about the practice, it's about the race.
00:05:15They need to start racing.
00:05:17Yeah, well, I heard from, or I think we heard from Oliver Gavin at some point throughout the weekend.
00:05:23I think it was a round of a qualifying time.
00:05:25And they were just sort of confused as to why they didn't have the pace of what they should have had or what they thought they would have had.
00:05:33And, you know, he said that the team had some ideas as to what it was and that they couldn't share that with the public right then, right there.
00:05:40But it looks like they didn't, you know, that didn't materialise and obviously their pace isn't quite there.
00:05:48Their PR men are kind of talking them up for the race, as you would.
00:05:51You want people to start watching.
00:05:52What's this?
00:05:53Oh, that looks like contact and more than just a little bit of rubbing.
00:05:58Well, they say if it ain't rubbing, it ain't racing, but that looked a bit rude.
00:06:01That's level five motorsport and, yeah, and KPC, KPMC motorsport is having a little tangle there.
00:06:09Yeah, unfortunately, Damien, the slowest corner on the circuit, unhushed.
00:06:13Yeah, well, I mean, it looked like he was sort of halfway along.
00:06:17It looked like it was his corner, but, yeah, I was just talking to David Stone, who runs the level five outfit for Scott Tucker.
00:06:25Fabulous team and one that I'm well used to in America.
00:06:28How about that?
00:06:29He said that they definitely weren't the quickest car, but they just hoped to have a clean race.
00:06:34So he's not going to want to see too much of that, is he?
00:06:37That was a fabulous piece of driving there, just using the Corvette as a foil.
00:06:42Change of position, and he is a bit of a hook in the bottle.
00:06:45There's four cars behind him at the moment.
00:06:47P2 is absolutely enthralling.
00:06:49It's toe-to-toe stuff.
00:06:50And, yes, the blue cars here providing some royal entertainment on board with the Zytec Z11 SN.
00:06:58Right now, there's the 42 car, just looking for position of it at the moment, where they're battling for.
00:07:04It's in-class, it's P8, as we speak, that that fight is all about.
00:07:08So, just confirmation that Darren Turner is now at the top of the pro class again, having jump mark, leaving the pits.
00:07:17I don't know what, we didn't see the pit stop, did we?
00:07:18So, unfortunately, I think maybe the Manti team weren't quite as quick.
00:07:22Maybe they changed tyres, Carlton.
00:07:24And that would obviously cost that, and he's actually come out some, what, 11 seconds behind Darren Turner after that.
00:07:33Well, Oli Gavin at the moment is in his own class, is down in, what, seventh place as we speak.
00:07:41And Jan Magnussen is a further two places behind, and indeed is trailing Coochie on board his Ferrari, who's leading the amateur class as we speak.
00:07:52What have we got here, Mark?
00:07:53Oh, this is Audi's swapping position again.
00:07:56This is the continuing battle between McNish and Grassi.
00:07:59I don't know if this is the one we saw a little bit earlier, but we're on board with McNish then.
00:08:03And it's happened again.
00:08:04Yes, here we are.
00:08:05There it is, confirmation.
00:08:06McNish is back ahead of de Grassi for the second time in this race.
00:08:09Well, he said he was not afraid to race his teammates, and, in fact, he named them as those he wanted to beat ahead of the Toyotas 7 and 8.
00:08:20Not, perhaps, necessarily in that order.
00:08:22It's amazing how Toyotas have blown hot and cold here as well, though, with the seven cars sometimes far exceeding the eight.
00:08:29Right now it's Anthony Davidson leading LaPierre in positions four and five.
00:08:33But it's Audi one, two and three, and they've got those numbers now.
00:08:37There's a certain sense of purity about that as they look like they're going at such a pedestrian pace here.
00:08:43But believe me, the speeds are unbelievable.
00:08:45Yeah, and we're looking at 200 miles an hour plus, aren't we, from these Audis as they break for each chicane.
00:08:52And look, this great shot of the Mulsanne used to be flat out.
00:08:55And that, do you remember, Peugeot 1988 managed to record 253 miles an hour WM Peugeot.
00:09:03And I was going to, was it a Furner racing car, a WR that was...
00:09:06It was a WR Peugeot, yeah?
00:09:07Yeah, amazing.
00:09:08Or was that a plane?
00:09:10Basically, it was a bit of...
00:09:11They taped up all the air ducts, all the radiator ducts, put the wing flat, and they knew the car blew itself to bits within a few laps.
00:09:17It did, but they got the all-time record for speed, 253 miles per hour.
00:09:23Oh, that was so close.
00:09:25Well, you know what?
00:09:26He did a naughty motorway overtaking manoeuvre there and left it extraordinary late before the turn.
00:09:31But he just about got there.
00:09:33I won't be surprised if he didn't collect any paint along the way.
00:09:36That was very tough.
00:09:37Well, that would have taken out the GT Pro leader, of course, and that would have been very, very popular, wouldn't it?
00:09:42Yeah, Darren obviously had that one well measured, didn't he?
00:09:45I hope he saw him.
00:09:46Oh, and there we have him on.
00:09:47There's a spinner number 47.
00:09:48That's the 47 car.
00:09:49That's KPC Motorsport.
00:09:51We just saw having that collision a moment to get onage, didn't we?
00:09:54That's the same car.
00:09:56Who's on board that at the moment, Carlton?
00:09:58Imperatori, is it?
00:09:59Let's have a look.
00:10:0047.
00:10:01Yeah, Imperatori in the Morgan.
00:10:03Yeah.
00:10:03Yeah.
00:10:05It is Alex Imperatori.
00:10:08Has he run out of talent there, or has he had a collision with someone?
00:10:11I think it may be a mix of both.
00:10:12I don't know whether it spins out from the incident he had.
00:10:15Let's have a look.
00:10:15Oh, no.
00:10:16Got together with the MacBook Porsche by the looks of it.
00:10:18I think he was probably trying to avoid it.
00:10:20Yeah.
00:10:20Yeah, that was it.
00:10:22MacBook looks more than comfortable.
00:10:23He's beached.
00:10:24He's toddling on.
00:10:24And, of course, one of the MacBook Porsches got involved with Tom Christensen this morning
00:10:29in the warm-up and spun both of them out.
00:10:31And Alex, sorry, Tom Christensen, apparently given a talking to by the clerk of the course
00:10:36afterwards, just being reminded the onus is on the faster P cars, prototype cars, to keep
00:10:43clear of GT cars.
00:10:44If you cause an incident, you face disqualification.
00:10:4736 car just coming on to Pit Road.
00:10:51This is Nelson Panciatici.
00:10:54To my mind, that's their second stop.
00:10:5826.
00:10:58Absolutely right, Carlton.
00:11:01Yeah.
00:11:02So that's...
00:11:03That's the Alpine.
00:11:04Yeah, exactly.
00:11:04Just out of sequence, I'll be bound, but we'll see.
00:11:07Just over 22 minutes, 22 hours, I should say, of racing.
00:11:13We have had already plenty of incident.
00:11:16Unfortunately, some of it not great at the top.
00:11:18One of the Aston Martins in the hands of Simonson into the barriers, the 95 car very early on,
00:11:24brought out a red flag.
00:11:26And indeed, we had that for over 50, that's 50 minutes, right at the top of the race here.
00:11:32Thankfully, everything else since then has been salvable.
00:11:36Let's put it that way.
00:11:37And certainly in terms of keeping the racing going.
00:11:41And we've had some great racing as well.
00:11:43Toyota animating the top of the show.
00:11:45And what a show it was.
00:11:47320 kilometers per hour, five speed, live on Eurosport.
00:11:52Bang on 200.
00:11:53There you go.
00:11:54Yeah, there we go.
00:11:55Incidentally, that Werner Racing car that they taped up and sent down that straight,
00:12:00they also put thin tires on it, and it could barely get around the corner at the end.
00:12:04That was something of a nightmare.
00:12:08They could well easily have lost it just for their fun.
00:12:10Damien, you might have a bit of news for us on the earlier accident, the Aston Martin.
00:12:13Yeah, I just got a glimpse.
00:12:15Martin just showed me a glimpse of an onboard from the car behind Alan Simonson.
00:12:21So it looks like there was no contact with any other car.
00:12:25But there was, in fact, something happening ahead of Alan Simonson that may have distracted him.
00:12:30There seemed to be three cars abreast, and somebody touched up ahead of Alan.
00:12:35And so that may have...
00:12:37So he hit the brakes and turned a sharp lift?
00:12:39I don't know that he hit the brakes, but I think it may have affected his vision or something like that.
00:12:43And it looked like he's got on the kerb, which was, I think, wet.
00:12:47And then, obviously, the ASO turf, and then just he speared actually left because he corrected the slide, and that's why he went left.
00:12:53Darren Turner, you just saw him in the Aston Martin number 97 car, class leading as the stops go on here.
00:12:59And there's the Irish flag.
00:13:01Yeah.
00:13:01It's the second time in.
00:13:02It's nice to see the Irish flag there, Murphy prototypes.
00:13:06Just speaking to Greg earlier there, really unfortunate because of their electrical problems earlier.
00:13:11But Greg was actually very, very confident that they could win this P2 class, and that would be something else.
00:13:17It was certainly running very, very well, and it looks like a routine pit stop there.
00:13:21Yeah, core box was changed, the electrical core box, but it was the signal that was being read by the ECU that was the issue.
00:13:30Presumably they're ignoring that, and they will hopefully be out fairly shortly.
00:13:35Still in there, though.
00:13:36It's a long stop.
00:13:37It's a long stop.
00:14:07It's a long stop.
00:14:37It's a long stop.
00:15:07It's a long stop.
00:15:37Welcome back to Le Mans, just engaging in a quick view of the GTs in action.
00:15:55This is the 99 car. This is Belle on board right now, just trailing Mark Leib.
00:16:02This is the battle for second place in class of the GT Pros, and it's this sort of battle
00:16:08that's going on right through the field. Still very, very close together, most of the classes
00:16:13here within view of each other, mainly because of a huge hiatus we had. Red flag at, which
00:16:20locked out 50 minutes of the first hour, almost. I think we just went over the hour, but nonetheless,
00:16:25we only had about 12, 15 minutes of racing before that flag flew. So the field very much
00:16:30compressed. Lots of fuel strategies all over the place. Some stopped during the red flag,
00:16:36others drove through it. But, well, if you look at the timing screens at the moment, certainly
00:16:42for P1 as he makes the move, does he? Just coming over the top. No, he doesn't. Not quite.
00:16:46Great racing, though, nonetheless. Looks like he's faster, all right. Very much so. At
00:16:50the top of the P1, it's Lotto, McNish and Degrassi. Cars 1, 2 and 3. Addy, you'd expect that.
00:16:57Anthony Davison leads Lapierre, car 8, ahead of car 7 for Toyota. And then the Lolas,
00:17:0312 and 13, Heidfeld and Bellici. They are our leaders in P1. It's Platt, Oli Platt in the
00:17:09Morgan. In fact, it's Morgan's 1 and 2 in P2 as we speak. And we just hook up at the moment
00:17:14with our leader, Martin. Yep. Carlton, let's just make it clear. It wasn't a red flag. It was
00:17:18safety car period. We've never had red flag during racing at Le Mans. And in fact, you've got a
00:17:23Twitter feed there. Well, I did. But when I scrolled up to the top of it, no, I didn't lose it. But
00:17:30Martin had already replied. Oh, he'd already done that one. Yeah. Okay. Just if you're just joining us,
00:17:35there has never been a red flag during racing at Le Mans, including the 1955 accident and the
00:17:41double Aston Martin crash and other crashes we've had since. They will always try and continue the
00:17:47race. Even when the barriers are down, they will just put the safety cars out. Well, brain back in
00:17:51gear and back out in front right now. We're looking at GT Am. It's being led by Chocci. There is his
00:17:57Ferrari. We have Hensler in second place. He's got the pro car, the GT pro car of Magnussen in between.
00:18:06And Gussens is also down there amongst the pro, amongst the Ams, I should say, the amateurs.
00:18:12It's not a full amateur affair by any means, by the way. But it does have a gentleman driver on
00:18:17board for the GT Ams, basically speaking. We'll have more on that and the two, in fact.
00:18:24There we are.
00:18:25Marco Chocci's doing a fantastic job. That's someone that I raced with many, many years ago,
00:18:29actually. And his teammate is Matt Griffin, the only other Irish professional racing driver.
00:18:37So I hope those guys go well. And Marco's doing fantastic lap times at the moment.
00:18:42And he's obviously out in the lead. So that's good news.
00:18:45Yeah, Matt Griffin coming here from Jerez last weekend, where his teammate Duncan Cameron managed
00:18:50to destroy the AF Course Ferrari. So Matt never got the drive. And so he's able to have a few beers
00:18:55on the balcony in Spain and then come here to Le Mans. The other driver in the car, Jack Gerber,
00:19:00which is why the South African flag, of course, is on the side of that AF Corsa car. Jack pays for the drive.
00:19:09Mark Lieb then. Rob Bell. Rob Bell, the man we're normally used to seeing in the Dunlop Ferraris,
00:19:15making the big changes here. Aston Marston snapped him up into the gulf team.
00:19:19And John Gore, very, very impressed with Rob's performances over the last couple of years.
00:19:25And went to David Richards, he said, yeah, take him on board. And here he is.
00:19:28So Rob Bell hunting down the factory driver. Mark Lieb for second place.
00:19:33You know what, Mark? As they come towards this Corvette, and they're starting just to close in
00:19:37as we speak. And Corvette, they just haven't lit the fuse at the moment, unfortunately. Or maybe
00:19:45that's all they've lit. And it just hasn't engaged quite yet. And this really speaks volumes about the
00:19:50difference in pace between the Corvettes and those who are really at the top of their game at the
00:19:54moment. Yeah, about to be lapped, Corvette. And we're not yet two hours into the race.
00:19:58Exactly. That's not great. In fact, we were rather jokingly saying maybe there should be
00:20:03an American category here for the Corvettes and the Vipers, because it seems that the European
00:20:08marks really have the march on them. Well, we said it may well prove to be a foil, and that is
00:20:13exactly what's happening right now. Leap first to arrive in the Porsche, and Bell waiting to take
00:20:18advantage. What can he do here? Let's have a look. Well, it's all down the straight line speed,
00:20:23Damien. The Corvettes have just not shown that straight line pace this week.
00:20:27No, no, they haven't. They're in trouble, aren't they? But I think Porsche is going to be very
00:20:34happy, aren't they, with this pace? I mean, it doesn't look like they've got the pace of the
00:20:37Astons, but to be up there in second with this new car that we launched not so long ago that
00:20:42hasn't really been, you know, set the world on fire. So I think they're going to be quite happy.
00:20:48And with a Porsche, it's going to be bulletproof, isn't it? Well, what is essentially a 911 development
00:20:55that's just gone on and on and on and on and on? It just seems such a comfortable car. And we were
00:21:00talking about the problem of having the engine towards the rear. They've just mapped it out,
00:21:05it seems. And they just have... These days, I can't really see them having any problem at all,
00:21:10even on the technical stuff. It's amazing. Yeah, well, you know, I know quite a few of the
00:21:15the factory drivers, and they just said that, you know, each year or each new model of car,
00:21:20it just becomes more like a racing car. And it's fantastic what they've done with this car,
00:21:25where it has the engine out over the back axle. You would imagine the front of it to be very light
00:21:29and have a lot of understeer, but the handling is, you know, superb. And I think they've done,
00:21:33the Porsche engineers have done a fantastic job. Yeah, what they've done, they've thrown away the
00:21:37first and struts that are on all the rest of the Porsches, the ones you raced in all the Carrera Cup
00:21:41racing, and they've gone to front wishbone suspension. They've lowered the car by six
00:21:46centimetres, and that's made a huge, huge difference. But it's still only an interim car,
00:21:54and they want to get the engine further forward in the 911, and they want also to have direct
00:22:00injection engines. Why did they cut away from that? I'd love to see that battle. It looked like the
00:22:05customer's about to take the spot. But in we come for our number two in the hands of Alan
00:22:12Nish at the moment. And it looks like it's, is it going to be a driver change? Let's have a look.
00:22:16Doors open. Just bottles. Stays put. Water bottles, I think it is. Absolutely. I'd love to get,
00:22:25and here we are at long last. Well, it's an awfully long straight. Thank goodness.
00:22:30Able to catch back up with it. No change. My goodness, this is a tight one, Mark.
00:22:36Yeah, and we just picked up on the pit stops, by the way. We didn't see the Porsche stop, but we are
00:22:41told it had to change tyres. Neither of the Aston Martins did. They just took fuel, which, oh dear,
00:22:46is that Darren? No, that's a 96 car. Oh, that's a relief. That is Jamie Campbell. Water, I think,
00:22:52still on board that car. Well, he's going cross country through a splash of water, which just
00:22:58shows you how much moisture has fallen here. Let's have a look at it. Oh, he's just gone off
00:23:03the end of the caribs, hasn't he? And you know what? Wow. He's fighting. Good job. Good job. Look at
00:23:09that. Doesn't want to snatch at it. Otherwise, he'll just kiss the back end. Does scrape the front,
00:23:13the barriers, and just wondering whether a Ferrari was involved there? Let's have a look. Oh, this is
00:23:19later on. So, the seven car. Yeah. Well, we're hearing it's rain on that part of the circuit.
00:23:36That would do that, wouldn't it? That would cause you to go off.
00:23:38There is a rain risk in probably half an hour. Oh, there we are. And a full circuit
00:23:44rain risk within half an hour, we're hearing. Goodness me. Well, it's already started, at
00:23:50least in part of this course. It is so vast. This is, it does often almost have its own
00:23:56weather system, which just kind of moves across it. And so, you can be dry in one part and wet
00:24:02in another. And proof positive of that, Jamie Campbell. Water just being caught out. Yeah.
00:24:06Nick Lapierre then running in fourth place at the moment. He's now in, just ahead of
00:24:12McNish's Audi that's just made its second stop. We'll have to go through the cycle of Audi
00:24:16stops soon. And we'll be measuring how long it is that that Davidson car can run before
00:24:22they come in for fuel. And then we'll know if it's going to be 11, 12, or 13 laps. Carlton
00:24:27suspects it's going to be 13. Well, that's the talk. And indeed, it's people at Toyota
00:24:32are actually saying it may well be possible. And I've got to tell you, at the entrance into
00:24:37pit lane, it is raining. We've got a light drizzle at the moment. Apparently, the Irish have 30
00:24:44different words for rain. And we'll decide what this one is in a few moments' time. But
00:24:50in comes Lotta. Is it going to be a soft day today, Damien? I don't know. I'd need to have
00:24:56a look at these clouds and see what... Is it a Galway sort of rain? Or a Donegal sort of
00:25:00rain? I don't know. Yeah, I think it's a Le Mans type of rain at the moment. In comes
00:25:06Andre Lotta, our overall leader. Is he going to triple stint those tyres? Damien, talk us
00:25:10through the stop. Yeah, well, he just, you know, with a bit of rain that's falling, he'll just
00:25:15be a little bit more careful and keeping the speed down before he comes and he doesn't
00:25:18want to overrun and pit it out of sort of sequence, having anybody to knock anyone over
00:25:26or anything like that. So he's done a good job of that. And they've just sort of, I think
00:25:30they're just refueling and refueling his water bottle or his fluid bottle as well. So these
00:25:35Audi drivers are keeping well hydrated, aren't they? Obviously, these guys at this level are
00:25:42extremely fit and they're top athletes, so they're looking after themselves as well.
00:25:45Got to tell you that earlier on today, there was eyebrows raised at the warm-up and believe
00:25:51me, when this race started as well, it wasn't a happy camp at Audi, but they'll feel a little
00:25:57bit more settled now. But just to tell you that after these stops, Davidson and Lotta are moving
00:26:05up, of course, here. Lapierre is running fourth at the moment. Davidson is having a great day so far.
00:26:11This is Luca de Grassi being serviced. He stays on board. No change to the tyres, despite the rain
00:26:16falling in the pits. Their meteo is so good, they can tell if they're going to need to go out on
00:26:22wets or not. They know they don't at the moment, but hopefully they can make this last for next hour.
00:26:26But we heard Toyota saying heavy rain expected in the next 30 minutes.
00:26:30Oh, it's raining. Yes, it's still not heavy, though. It's another type of rain.
00:26:38Yes, little droplets, but does rain anything else? But microscopic, a bit like a mist as we speak.
00:26:44So Anthony Davidson and the Toyota is our leader at the moment. Lotta in second place in the Audi
00:26:50number one car. Lapierre running in third ahead of Alan McNish, who's been battling his teammate,
00:26:55particularly de Grassi, who is now behind Heidfeld on board the Lola number 12 car.
00:27:03Damien, every car out there is on slicks at the moment. At what point do you start to realise
00:27:10that your slicks aren't going to work in the rain? Well, you know, it's just instinctive
00:27:15feel for grip and for grip levels at all time. And, you know, they'll all be able to do that. And that's
00:27:21that's the feeling you have to have to. That's the, you know, the difference between the quick
00:27:25and the slow, the people who spin and the people who don't. But so they'll just be able to judge that
00:27:30level of grip. And, you know, you can see them being very, very careful, even on the exits on
00:27:35kerbs at the moment, because, you know, there is a bit of rain. We're going for the interview.
00:27:39And what's really a very good start to the Le Mans 24 hours 2013 for the number one car. It would
00:27:47look very, very difficult out there. What do you know so far about how the track conditions are now?
00:27:51I think that track condition is very tricky and we have a good chance that Landry love that kind of
00:27:56conditions. He's very capable to do good things in that condition. He proved it in 2001 at the end of a
00:28:04race and he proved it again at the beginning of 2013. And I think, I hope it will end up very well
00:28:11too. But for the moment, it's just the beginning. It's a very good start, but keep going cool and we'll
00:28:18see in a few hours how it's going on. So when you get into the car, is the plan to push as hard as you
00:28:24can as the fight against Toyota is very difficult or is it best to keep it that little bit smart?
00:28:30We always have to go find a very good pace and push as push as much as you can, you know, without
00:28:36taking any risk. So that's difficult things to do. Well, we wish you lots of luck. Thank you.
00:28:42Seemingly nice and relaxed, Mark. A blast. Just starting to settle into the day. Liz or Benoit?
00:28:48Benoit. Well, Liz is always very nice. So thank you very much, Liz Haldé, down in the pit for us. She'll be back
00:28:54here in the cabin in two or three hours' time as she does her doubles today. Toyota Ant Davison leading
00:29:01from Andre Lotter from Nick Lapierre. But they're just in the middle of their pit cycle at the moment
00:29:06and both Toyotas yet have to make their second stop. We're going to be working out how long they
00:29:10went. Damien's got his pen poised. It was lap 15, I believe, when Ant Davison fuelled up. Have we got that right?
00:29:16Yes, it was. Yeah. And we're now on lap 24. So we're expecting him to go to at least 27,
00:29:23maybe 28, Carlton. It's going to be a big one. And the result could hinge on it back in the moment.
00:29:39So, what a big thing is going to do.
00:29:42I'm going to go to London.
00:30:00I'm going to be thinking about chain but for you.
00:30:03I'm going to go to the store.
00:30:04I'm going to go to the store.
00:30:05So, I'm going to come to the store.
00:30:05I'm going to go to the store.
00:33:04As Mark alluded to earlier, you know, it's a mental thing where you can't let it distract you.
00:33:10You can't let it annoy you or perturb you.
00:33:13You just have to deal with it.
00:33:15Everyone goes through it, whether you're in the slower car or the faster car.
00:33:18Someone has to give up unless they overtake you on a straight, of course.
00:33:22But if it's into a corner, then both cars, both drivers have to compromise.
00:33:27As we see the number eight Toyota finally pitting on the lap number 26.
00:33:32Anthony Davidson staying in, as you can see, cleanup operation going on.
00:33:38More important than you might think.
00:33:40Actually, today, possibly not that serious.
00:33:45When the sun starts to get a little bit lower around about twilight, but we can't see it now anyway.
00:33:51The glare and particularly if you've got insect debris upon the windscreen, it really counts against you visibility wise.
00:34:00Not such a bad situation.
00:34:02It's probably one of the only benefits of having this sort of light drizzle, that you have a clean screen.
00:34:07Yeah, eventually the windscreen wiper will wash it clean, but it'll take a few laps, I'm sure.
00:34:11But these cars do have rip-offs, I think up to a maximum.
00:34:15Is it four or five?
00:34:16I think they're not allowed to have any more than that, from what I read somewhere, I think, in a rule book.
00:34:20Yeah, they do have a collective effect, excuse me, as well, just of diminishing returns.
00:34:30They get thicker and thicker, but yeah, I think it is five, if I remember rightly.
00:34:33Yeah, obviously the driver, you know, if they're swapping drivers or something, then the driver who's coming out will report back and say,
00:34:40listen, you know, give the next guy a new screen or whatever, he'll need some vision or whatever.
00:34:46So there's a lot of feedback, there's a lot of strategy involved in this.
00:34:49It's effectively a battle for the lead, Lapierre's an awful lighter, he's only, this car's only made one stop,
00:34:55so it's at the end of its run in terms of fuel.
00:34:59How much advantage he can take of Lotto right now?
00:35:01Well, he should do it, but he has to stop, and so he might make the pass.
00:35:05Can't quite do it this time.
00:35:07It was, as he got the power down, I'm not sure whether it was the hybrid just kicking in,
00:35:10but you can see it's much, much heavier rain there than it is from our commentary position as we speak.
00:35:17And he really lost out on trying to get the drive down there.
00:35:20Yeah, it looked like, you know, the number one Audi there, Lotto, was being really, really, really careful,
00:35:26and you can see him being really careful again.
00:35:28In fact, he's missed his apex a little bit and got on the exit car.
00:35:31That's not what you want to do.
00:35:32Now, both these guys are on slicks, don't forget.
00:35:34This plays into the hands of the Toyota man here, Lapierre, because he's got to make his stop,
00:35:41and presumably, I'm guessing for the time being,
00:35:45that Otter has stayed on slicks out there.
00:35:48We'll have Jeremy Shaw in with us in just a few moments' time,
00:35:50and maybe he'll be able to clear that up,
00:35:52but both cars looking distinctly uncomfortable.
00:35:55One at the beginning of a run, the one at the end.
00:35:58Yeah, I would say so.
00:36:00It looks like he's still on slicks, because he's going very careful.
00:36:02Very much out of shape.
00:36:06Listen to the chatter as they just try and get the delivery in place.
00:36:12Well, he's on a lighter fuel load, as we said,
00:36:13and he'll be making his stop perhaps next time by.
00:36:16We're keeping tabs on them, by the way, just to see how long they can go,
00:36:19but he may well come in out of sequence just because he wants more grip,
00:36:23but it's not wet enough, surely, to go for wets.
00:36:25I wonder if they can push another lap out of this because of the conditions,
00:36:31but, you know, because obviously they're not close to us.
00:36:38Well, was that a question?
00:36:43Anthony stayed in slicks.
00:36:45Anthony stayed in slicks.
00:36:47There we are.
00:36:48He's asking what others are doing.
00:36:50What his teammate was doing.
00:36:51Anthony Davidson stayed on slicks in these conditions,
00:36:54so essentially they're asking Lapierre what he wants to do.
00:36:58Davidson stayed on slicks, but Lapierre,
00:37:00even at the end of his run with a light fuel load here,
00:37:02the car getting very, very much out of shape.
00:37:05They're playing the long game as well.
00:37:09Lottere quite comfortable, and in he comes,
00:37:10so we'll see what he takes.
00:37:13Davidson's gone for slicks.
00:37:14I'm just wondering whether he might well go for some intermediates here.
00:37:17It is greasy on the surface due to the light rain that we have.
00:37:22Well, we're about to find out, I suspect.
00:37:24I don't know how much information we're going to be able to glean from the pictures.
00:37:27What I can tell you, though,
00:37:28is the lights are absolutely flaring right now as it gets darker and darker.
00:37:32It's only 5, 10, approaching 10 past 5 in the evening.
00:37:37It should not be this dark, and the lights should not be that bright,
00:37:40but the weather has not graced, as I'm afraid.
00:37:43Gracing us with his presence is Jeremy Shaw.
00:37:46And it's great to be in here, I can tell you.
00:37:49Fantastic, interesting first couple of hours of the race,
00:37:54and, wow, what a brilliant first couple of laps it was.
00:37:56Amazing.
00:37:57Interesting then how the No. 7 Toyota in particular fell back.
00:38:01They had some sort of, I think, electrical issue on that car,
00:38:04or some systems problem of some sort.
00:38:07I spoke to Alex Berts.
00:38:08He claimed not to know exactly what it was.
00:38:10Didn't have a chance to go see the technical director,
00:38:11but there was some sort of problem during that state
00:38:13which caused him to fall back.
00:38:16But he was clearly getting very good fuel consumption
00:38:19because on the first round of pit stops,
00:38:21it was the No. 7 car that came in ahead of the No. 8 car.
00:38:25This time around, I presume that was because of the issue,
00:38:28but this time around, it's the other way around.
00:38:31The No. 7 car goes an extra lap compared to the No. 8.
00:38:36Can they make 13 laps? That's the big question.
00:38:38Well, they've made... What lap are we on now?
00:38:40This is lap 27.
00:38:43The number... That was the No. 7 car that came in.
00:38:46It came in last time on lap 15.
00:38:50So, no, 12 laps they managed.
00:38:52That's... I was talking to the guys before the start of the race.
00:38:54They thought it was going to be 12 laps,
00:38:57so that's what it was for this car.
00:38:58But the No. 8 car was in the last lap.
00:39:00Was that in the last lap?
00:39:03Yes, it was. It was lap 26, and you're right.
00:39:05Lap 26. Well, that was only 10 laps, therefore,
00:39:07for the No. 8 car.
00:39:09I was just...
00:39:10Here we go, into the gravel.
00:39:11And it just shows you that slicks aren't helping at the moment,
00:39:14and that is de Grazie in the 3 car.
00:39:16Indianapolis.
00:39:18Straight on.
00:39:23Well, Martin reminding us that Michelin has no grooves
00:39:26on its intermediates,
00:39:27and so it looks pretty similar to a slick, well, we'll see.
00:39:31Yeah, I've spoken to several drivers about that...
00:39:34that they're calling an intermediate tyre.
00:39:37I'm not.
00:39:37I'm calling it a very soft slick.
00:39:39To me, an intermediate tyre has grooves in it.
00:39:42I mean, that's the definition of an intermediate tyre.
00:39:44It's a dry tyre with grooves in it.
00:39:46That makes it intermediate conditions.
00:39:48I, in particular, spoke to Neil Jarny.
00:39:51Very few drivers have experience, really,
00:39:53of this super soft slick, or whatever they're calling it.
00:39:57But Neil Jarny doesn't like it at all.
00:40:00He was on those tyres on Wednesday night
00:40:03during the qualifying session,
00:40:04and everything was fine,
00:40:06but he got up to the Dunlop curve,
00:40:08and all of a sudden, the car just snapped on him.
00:40:10So it's very susceptible.
00:40:12It handles pretty much like a slick,
00:40:15but when it goes wrong, as you would expect,
00:40:16you know, when you get on a slippery bit of track,
00:40:18then it's going to swap ends before you even know it.
00:40:20So he doesn't like them at all,
00:40:22and Neil Jarny has no intention of using those tyres
00:40:24during this race.
00:40:25He'll go for either the softest of the slick tyres
00:40:29or the grooves or the regular wet tyre.
00:40:35Trick slicks, I think they were calling them.
00:40:38That's right.
00:40:38There is Rita just towards the barriers here.
00:40:42I'm not sure what the incident involved,
00:40:45because I didn't see it,
00:40:46but Lotus have had their issues this weekend,
00:40:50and it's frankly just nice to see them running
00:40:52after all the court cases
00:40:53that surrounded their component suppliers.
00:40:57But anyway, just getting pulled out of an opening
00:41:00in the barriers and clear as we speak.
00:41:04So we'll see how they get on.
00:41:06Right now, looking at the 12 car,
00:41:08and still doing great work, incidentally, 12 and 13,
00:41:11possibly where you'd expect them to be
00:41:13after the Audis and the Toyotas,
00:41:15who are locking out the top five.
00:41:17And you might think it's as you were,
00:41:20the gaps, well, they're reasonable.
00:41:22They're all made two stops
00:41:24between the five of the leading cars
00:41:27of our main concern and P1.
00:41:30But you know what?
00:41:31If this is a long game,
00:41:32don't rule out seeing Alola on the podium.
00:41:35It could well happen,
00:41:36especially with the grisly conditions
00:41:38that we've got right here.
00:41:39Just looking at the Michelin Green X Challenge.
00:41:49Sorry about that.
00:41:51I've got more than a frog in my throat as we spoke.
00:41:53Darren Turner, incidentally,
00:41:54leading in the GT Pro at the moment in the 97 car
00:41:57and doing so by a decent margin as well.
00:42:00Mark Lieben here have been kind of locked together,
00:42:02but a little bit of space
00:42:04between the pair of them on track as we speak.
00:42:08Bell running in third place in the 99 Aston.
00:42:12So Aston one and three with a Porsche
00:42:13in the middle at the moment on track.
00:42:16Damien?
00:42:17Yeah, I was just actually,
00:42:18you took the words out of my mouth.
00:42:19I was just going to say
00:42:20that battle is still going on there.
00:42:23Obviously, Mark Lieb is doing a stellar job for Porsche
00:42:26and Rob Bell is trying to get past in the quicker Aston.
00:42:30Obviously, they've had to be a little tentative
00:42:32with the incoming weather,
00:42:35the weather with the Caribbean and stuff like that.
00:42:37Very much so.
00:42:38A fantastic battle going on as well
00:42:39between Henssela and Jochi in the amateur class.
00:42:43They are 33 and 34 on track,
00:42:47but leaders of the GT AM class as we speak.
00:42:51Yes, the retinas on the cameras are wide open here,
00:42:55which is why you're seeing all this flaring.
00:42:56It is dark, it is grisly,
00:42:58but the battles are absolutely fabulous.
00:43:00We're going to have to take ourselves
00:43:02a short commercial break
00:43:03and we'll be back with you live here at Le Mans
00:43:07shortly afterwards.
00:43:09Don't forget, we do have Twitter.
00:43:11It is Damien Faulkner or Carlton Kirby
00:43:16or Martin Haven or Jeremy Shaw Racer.
00:43:19Is that right?
00:43:20There we are.
00:43:21Or Liz Halliday, in fact.
00:43:23Forget Mark Cole, he's still on Pigeons.
00:43:25This is Damien Faulkner,, in conclusion.
00:43:41There we go.
00:43:42This is Damien Faulkner.
00:43:43This is Damien Faulkner.
00:43:48Oh, my God.
00:44:18Oh, my God.
00:44:48Oh, my God.
00:45:18Oh, my God.
00:45:48Oh, my God.
00:46:18Oh, my God.
00:46:48Oh, my God.
00:47:18Oh, my God.
00:47:20Oh, my God.
00:47:22Oh, my God.
00:47:24Oh, my God.
00:47:26Oh, my God.
00:47:28Oh, my God.
00:47:30Oh, my God.
00:47:32Oh, my God.
00:47:34Oh, my God.
00:47:36Oh, my God.
00:47:38Oh, my God.
00:47:44Oh, my God.
00:47:46Oh, my God.
00:47:48Oh, my God.
00:47:50Oh, my God.
00:47:52Oh, my God.
00:47:54Oh, my God.
00:47:56Oh, my God.
00:47:58is leading the gt category by about 54 seconds over mark lieb and then rob bell is close behind
00:48:05him so the uh the porsche number 92 of mark lieb the aston martin of rob bell economy 99
00:48:12and mark lieb's done a heck of a job because the deficit when they went back to green after that
00:48:18very long safety car interruption was well over a minute and a half i think they've got that down
00:48:24to about 54 seconds so the porsche uh is clearly closing and uh judging by the lap times last time
00:48:30around rob bell in the third place aston martin who's about a half a second quicker as well so
00:48:34that uh maybe we're going to get a battle there fairly soon do you know what jeremy at the top
00:48:38of this season i was wondering whether the uh the porsches would be um as competitive as uh they
00:48:43have been in the past with their new car it was a big step forward it was almost i thought like a
00:48:47final roll of the dice and they're brilliant yeah super looking car isn't it and i do i love the look
00:48:53of this uh this aston martin the arc car there and i like the fact it's probably blue on one side and
00:48:58primarily white on the other side well i'm a blackburn rover supporter i've been pretty much
00:49:01all my life so i love it what a bird on the right hand side of the car is primarily white that's the
00:49:08left hand side of the car is primarily blue guys apparently the artist uh was trying to reflect day
00:49:14and night no he's a robot fan as well exactly i think that's deep down that's that's the plan
00:49:20so these two uh just uh edging by the 30 car just uh trying to see where the 30 car is in p2 at the
00:49:27moment because they just sailed by him is he on an outlet goodness me uh it's uh hershey incidentally
00:49:33and uh they just sailed by and uh nothing to say that hershey is uh is anything but racing out there
00:49:40so looking like he's going very slowly yeah he changed they came in to change tires while i was
00:49:44down the pit lane about 10 minutes ago uh and uh i think he made a stop there shortly thereafter as
00:49:49well that hvm status car made two stops i think in pretty close succession i don't know why that was
00:49:55uh but uh yeah he's got a bit of a problem it was john johnny mollum did a good first hint in
00:49:59that car got himself up into contention but now the car is slipping back and also slipping back
00:50:04are the uh the two toyotas anthony davidson's last lap was a three minutes 41 andre lotterer in the
00:50:12lead three minutes 31 10 seconds quicker did we see what what uh what tires the toyotas went out on
00:50:21when they after that pit stop it looked like the number seven uh went out on slicks but it could be
00:50:27these new um well unidentifiable let's go call them super soft shall we super softs or whatever
00:50:35yeah uh yes the the we actually were on board when uh lapierre was uh coming in to make his
00:50:40second stop and he was asking what davidson had been on i was told slicks and then had a long long
00:50:45think yeah well it wasn't that long actually because it was just from the the uh before pit lane
00:50:52shortly before pit lane the entrance of pit lane where he asked that question it may well
00:50:55the team told him it may well have been jeremy that that explains his tardy stop uh because it
00:51:00may well have been that the tires that he selected weren't in fact the ones he was about to be
00:51:04presented with that's a great shot there slow motion shot of the number seven car bounding over the
00:51:08curb on the uh on the inside and look how far it throws the car offline damien uh yeah this might
00:51:15explain maybe this is uh the 10 second a lap slower because it's just understeered i think he's just
00:51:21launched the car too too uh too much on the exit apex curb and just had no when he landed he had
00:51:27just no traction it was amazing actually see the tire walls just chattering there struggling for grip
00:51:32and just popping clean amazing those uh hyper slow-mos uh they'll be gracing our coverage live
00:51:39throughout the night and uh into tomorrow incidentally to the conclusion of this great race
00:51:44uh you're live on eurosport with the 90th running of the uh le mans 24 hours and look at the pace
00:51:51through these curves the audi r18 e-tron um just to explain to people jeremy when this vehicle can
00:51:59deliver its power um we know it's at the 120 kilometers per hour marker but um just explain the
00:52:07significance of that well the audi yeah that that can that it regenerates uh power through through its
00:52:14braking system the audi then has a uh some some electric motors that drive the front wheels but
00:52:19they don't activate until the car is going more than 120 kilometers now on the exit of the corners
00:52:24the toyota also has a a hybrid system but a very different hybrid system that stores the power instead
00:52:30of an electric motor in a super capacitor which is effectively a battery and then it drives it that can
00:52:35because it's just a uh a petrol engine car uh that can and not a four-wheel drive car it can
00:52:43um it can use that that extra power which drives through the rear wheels on the exit of the corner
00:52:51of whatever it likes yeah yeah the fact of matter is though it's at its most useful when you are up to
00:52:56around about 120 kilometers per hour so um they kind of save it for that i can't imagine them wanting
00:53:02to juice it out of the corner when they're exiting rather at the speed that they're quite happy with
00:53:06but well traction yeah true enough yeah uh but what they're saying is that um the the disparity
00:53:12between the two systems is not as pronounced as perhaps it might have been no they're certainly
00:53:17quite different systems but they do uh react in different ways that's that's uh absolutely right
00:53:22but certainly in the uh it's working very well very nicely now for the audis a uh 27 second lead
00:53:29for andre lotter in car number one over alan mcnish in car number two um and uh luca de grassy is about
00:53:35five six seconds behind alan mcnish running in third place and then a long gap 25 seconds back
00:53:42to uh to auntie davidson in a number eight toyota uh this is about to talk somebody as the three car
00:53:50and the number 91 gte pro porsche patrick it's really difficult conditions out there and you've
00:53:56just had your teammate has just had to make an early pit stop for a puncture i understand
00:54:00yeah exactly it's really hard because there's some drizzles on track and uh some laps they lose
00:54:06just 20 seconds per lap uh but it's better than pit for to change the tire because we expect more dry
00:54:13in the future we hope um we are a bit lucky because uh you'll get a big puncture on the tires
00:54:18but that happened just before the pit entry and you have the good reflex just to turn on the pit
00:54:23entry and uh the guy already also so it was a good move for sure we lose some laps but it's not a big
00:54:30deal because if you have to make one full lap with the puncture this is this can be the end of the
00:54:35race for us no absolutely that's very lucky now we've watched some of the tire choices through the
00:54:41teams a lot of people are on wets right now you're currently choosing to be on intermediate tires
00:54:45tell us about those there are these new uncut intermediate tires yeah with the intermediate
00:54:50it's really hard for us because with the gt car we have a lot more uh temperature on the tire than on
00:54:57a lmp uh so we keep the choice to keep the slicks and all the other team also keep the slicks so we
00:55:03also uh follow the strategy for the others so maybe later in the race we will take more risk in this
00:55:10situation but for the moment everybody stay on track and just try to stay without the travel not
00:55:16like in the past but uh yeah we will keep going and we will hope we will catch the time we lost
00:55:23all right good luck thanks to this uh tell you something um ollie gavin is doing an amazing job
00:55:31in that 74 corvette staying in touch with uh and indeed challenging pedro lami on occasion
00:55:37whoa and there's the answer well that's how hard he was pushing all of a sudden just uh breaks and
00:55:43away he goes just uh contact break and into uh the gravel well that's how hard he was pushing jeremy
00:55:50uh drama right here live on eurosport yeah conditions are really tricky out there i mean it's been
00:55:57drizzling for the last 10 15 20 minutes or so uh we heard a radio call about it's about half an hour
00:56:04ago to say they were expecting the possibility of rain in about 30 minutes but um but you know
00:56:12clearly it's it's not right full rain now but it is a pretty steady light drizzle yeah uh strangely it
00:56:18actually had abated about uh five minutes ago and it's back and i think uh it just caught them out
00:56:24by surprise as we saw earlier on as well damien it's such a uh it's such a big venue this that
00:56:29um it can be raining in one part of the course dry on another and in fact sunshine elsewhere
00:56:34no sun today just yet no but um there's another uh corvette going off beg your pardon no same one
00:56:41that's the same one number 74 well that was just up at the dunlop curves where uh we just saw uh lucas
00:56:47de grassy run straight straight across so obviously um with the windscreen wipers i just saw the windscreen
00:56:53wipers coming on the lap before that so um it looks like it's a little bit slippery up there and of
00:56:59course with this track being eight and a half miles long and spread all over the place and it could
00:57:03be you know obviously more wet as the 99 comes into the pits well it shows you how hard uh ollie
00:57:10gavin was pushing uh pedro lammy up the road as we speak we're going to take ourselves a commercial
00:57:15break we'll keep an eye on this and we'll be back to you in just a few moments time stay with us
00:57:19uh
00:57:20uh
00:57:32uh
00:57:36uh
00:57:37Wow.
00:57:41Wow.
00:57:45Wow.
00:57:49Wow.
00:57:53Wow.
00:57:57Wow.
00:58:01Wow.
00:58:05Wow.
00:58:09Wow.
00:58:11Wow.
00:58:13Wow.
00:58:15Wow.
00:58:17Wow.
00:58:19Wow.
00:58:21Wow.
00:58:23Wow.
00:58:25Wow.
00:58:27Wow.
00:58:29Wow.
00:58:31Wow.
00:58:33All right.
00:59:03All right.
00:59:33All right.
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