Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the full 2023 race in stunning HD and without cuts. This milestone edition marked the return of legendary manufacturers like Ferrari, Porsche, and Cadillac to the Hypercar class, delivering an unforgettable showdown of technology, endurance, and passion. Witness every dramatic moment, from night battles to rain-soaked strategy calls, in one of the most historic races ever held at Circuit de la Sarthe.
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#LeMans2023
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Speaking to you again soon.
00:00:01Yeah, thank you very much.
00:00:03So just under six hours remaining, we're at the three-quarter mark of the centenary Le Mans,
00:00:09the 91st running of this great event, but the 100th anniversary of the first one in May of 1923.
00:00:17And right now, Ferrari leads Le Mans.
00:00:20We haven't said that for a long, long time.
00:00:23In fact, the last time that Ferrari was able to win this great race was in 1965.
00:00:28Fifty years ago was the last time that they were here with a front-line car.
00:00:32That was the 312 PB that sat on the pole at this great race.
00:00:36Currently, Antonio Giovinazzi leads in the Ferrari, chased by Sebastian Buemi in the Toyota.
00:00:43He is almost a full minute behind at 59.8 seconds.
00:00:48And then comes two Cadillacs, the number two car with Richard Westbrook behind the wheel,
00:00:53and then Scott Dixon in the number three car.
00:00:56Let's check in with the Ferrari team.
00:00:59Hey, man, gap is steady at 61 seconds.
00:01:02Good job managing the traffic.
00:01:04So, all is seemingly going well for that car in LMP2.
00:01:14We have the Interpol, Inter-Europol, Interpol.
00:01:18I knew I was going to say that eventually.
00:01:20They're not a crime-stopping unit.
00:01:22They're a bakery concern.
00:01:24The Interpol.
00:01:26We are much better with those tires, much better.
00:01:34I just got so unlucky that I pulled up.
00:01:38Hopefully, you can see now.
00:01:39Much better.
00:01:40If you've just joined us, Sebastian Buemi has not been happy with that car throughout.
00:01:48He flat-spotted his tires the first part of his stint.
00:01:51Let's catch you up on the other classes before we do anything else.
00:01:55The Inter-Europol competition car number 34 leads in LMP2.
00:01:59Team WRT with Rui Andrade behind the wheel is second.
00:02:03And Team Duquesne is third, the number 30 car with Neil Yanni behind the wheel.
00:02:08The Hendrick Motorsports Innovative car, the NASCAR Camaro, has now climbed to 29th overall.
00:02:15They are just racing to see what kind of position they can get at the end of this race.
00:02:21And then behind them is our new GTM leader, the Charlie Eastwood in the orange Aston Martin number 25.
00:02:30He's chased by Corvette Racing's Ben Keating in the number 33.
00:02:35Then comes the Project 1 AO Porsche of PJ Hyatt.
00:02:40And then Rachel Freya in the Iron Dames number 85.
00:02:45Those look like the four cars that are probably going to fight this out here in the final six hours.
00:02:52The Iron Dames were leading until they made a pit stop.
00:02:55So that kind of catches you up with what's going on.
00:02:58And I'm Jim Roller alongside Peter Dunbrecht and Anthony Davidson.
00:03:03And gentlemen, we hope that this race would be, given that it is the centenary celebration and epic event.
00:03:11And so far, it has pretty much lived up to the hype.
00:03:15Absolutely.
00:03:15It's been a fantastic race.
00:03:17We've seen the top category again, Hypercar reignited after a few years where, you know, the numbers were not so great.
00:03:27Now we've got so many manufacturers in here and only going to get stronger from here into next year.
00:03:32But right down the field, the three different classes, it's nip and tuck between the first three cars.
00:03:41So it's great to see all these battles taking place on track.
00:03:44Yeah, it's been an enthralling Le Mans 24 hours.
00:03:52But you say for the centenary, very fitting.
00:03:55Let's hear what Gwem is going to say.
00:03:56Okay, Seb, so we did get a track warning for turn three the other lap when you're pushed out.
00:04:01We'll try and do something.
00:04:02But the offboard isn't there, isn't clear.
00:04:07I cut the chicken, I cut the chicken.
00:04:11So, yeah, I mean, here we go.
00:04:13Well, as we know, he's on his five jokers and one more.
00:04:18And he's going to get some kind of penalty.
00:04:21So he's had the warning flag.
00:04:24Okay, he has had the warning.
00:04:25That was my question.
00:04:26Thank you, man.
00:04:26That's what they're stressing about right now.
00:04:29So they're trying to get the onboard to prove if they need it, prove it to the race stewards because they could get called up.
00:04:37So we'll keep an eye on telemetry screens that we have to see if that is the case.
00:04:41So it sounds like he got pushed off in the chicane by another car.
00:04:47So that would explain it.
00:04:48If he could prove that, then, you know, fair enough.
00:04:51If you're physically pushed off the track, then, you know, that's not through any fault of Seb.
00:04:57But that's also another reason to try and keep one in the bank just in case that does happen.
00:05:02Let's go back down to pit lane.
00:05:04It's not looking good for Prema.
00:05:06They've already retired the 63, and now the 9 is in the garage.
00:05:10I haven't seen what's happened if you guys have, but I will try and speak to the team once they've finished working on this car.
00:05:17That car has gone through many trials and manipulations.
00:05:21It's been on the hook at least twice that I remember.
00:05:24It's funny, isn't it?
00:05:27When we get to the daylight, you can tell that the marshals or the stewards or whoever's looking at track limits,
00:05:33they can see a bit more, they wake up a little bit more, and suddenly it becomes more of a thing.
00:05:39In the nighttime, we didn't hear anything about track limits.
00:05:41It'd be funny enough.
00:05:42It's so hard to see.
00:05:43You would see across the bottom of the screen occasionally it would go to somebody, but not with the regularity.
00:05:49Yeah, we've seen zero penalties so far.
00:05:53That's true.
00:05:54With all the, you know, leading up to this, all the qualifying sessions, all the laps getting deleted,
00:06:00I was pretty sure by, say, hour six that we'd see the first penalties, but actually we've seen nothing so far.
00:06:07Certainly by half distance.
00:06:07Yeah.
00:06:08Certainly by half distance.
00:06:08It's always the way in WECC, you know, they go, it's Eduardo Freitas, he's the race director, it's his style.
00:06:14He goes very hard on the drivers in the beginning, FP1, FP2, calls them up into the stewards room,
00:06:19gives them five-minute stop-and-go penalties during free practice sessions, really comes down on them hard.
00:06:25And then when it comes to the race, it all kind of eases off in a hope that the lessons that he's put down,
00:06:31that he lays down the law early on, he hopes that, you know, everyone starts behaving themselves.
00:06:38What's the definition of crazy?
00:06:39Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
00:06:43So if you've been called in on the carpet in the early going, hopefully you'll learn,
00:06:49and it makes everybody's life better during the race.
00:06:52The thing that's tough for the driver as well, that FP1, FP2, you're really learning the ropes.
00:06:58And so going off the track is more commonplace.
00:07:01That was always my argument.
00:07:03You know, of course you're going to make more mistakes when the track's dusty, you're trying to get up to speed.
00:07:09You know, you have to, you make, it's natural you make mistakes and you bring it back from there.
00:07:15You didn't need necessarily like an extra punishment or reminder that it's not the right thing to do.
00:07:20And so, you know, it does come with some frustration as well.
00:07:24It's not easy to stay within those white lines at all times.
00:07:27And that's why I've seen such a lot of incidents on this track that's pretty unforgiving around certain points.
00:07:34Yeah, I don't know.
00:07:35There are some people that would believe that if you drive, if you give them an inch, they take a call off.
00:07:40Well, you will, but only when there's no immediate risk involved.
00:07:46So, as I always say, there's a psychological impact when you've got a white line or a barrier.
00:07:52It's close to the edge of track.
00:07:54It's here from Astra.
00:07:59Yeah, so he's got some tyre issues as well, some vibrations going on in that number six Porsche,
00:08:05tends to be Porsche entry, but, yeah, and some discussions down in the pits as well.
00:08:11What are we looking at here on the Cadillacs, the 3-1-1 car on the inside,
00:08:15big lock up into the Dunlop chicane, gets away with it, I think.
00:08:20I'm just going to carry a mile with the transport for that one.
00:08:23You know, Jim, you're talking about the differences, what you, you know, give a driver an inch,
00:08:29you'll take a mile.
00:08:30The job of the driver is to just work these little angles to try and, you know,
00:08:39be that little bit better than your competitors and produce a faster lap time and a safer lap time
00:08:47and think about all these factors.
00:08:49And, you know, as soon as you see one car doing something that you think is quicker,
00:08:54you'll start doing that.
00:08:56Watch the exit of karting, look at karting, watch for the white line.
00:08:58So, yeah, you go, you know, the fastest way is to go as close to that white line
00:09:03with the left-hand tyres as possible.
00:09:06So, you give yourself a little bit of margin most of the time.
00:09:10So, you saw half the car go over there.
00:09:12Now, if there's a barrier there,
00:09:14if there's a barrier there,
00:09:17very close proximity to the edge of the track,
00:09:20that, you know, will be a serious consequence if you were to go straying too far.
00:09:28Now, it's easy for someone sitting there to go,
00:09:30yeah, but why can't you do that with a white line?
00:09:32Because of the psychological impact.
00:09:36As I always say, I don't know anything about rallying.
00:09:40I would be scared to drive rallying in all those trees around.
00:09:44And the gravel over all those jumps.
00:09:46Tell you what, cut all the trees down and put white lines on the side.
00:09:50Oh, there you go.
00:09:52Deep it flat, wherever I want to go.
00:09:54If I run out a bit wider, yeah, it's only a white line.
00:09:58That's a good analogy.
00:09:58That's my analogy.
00:10:00So, that's the psychological impact.
00:10:02Whether you're staring at a gravel trap, a barrier, a bit of grass, a white line,
00:10:07it doesn't cut it.
00:10:08It never will cut it.
00:10:10So, the drivers will naturally just take a few extra liberties.
00:10:15This corner here in Porsche Corbs as well,
00:10:18that barrier, I remember the days when that wasn't there.
00:10:22You had extra space.
00:10:24So, driving through the corner, you felt that you had more space.
00:10:26So, then it came in and you're driving up to the curb and you're very close.
00:10:31And we've seen a few cars in that barrier already.
00:10:34And it compresses the track slightly and you feel, whoa, it's really tight.
00:10:40Whereas, it used to feel a lot wider through there.
00:10:42It's like walking across a beam, isn't it?
00:10:46You know, it's just walking.
00:10:48It's right.
00:10:49And the beam is quite low to the ground.
00:10:50And if you pull up, you can walk the normal speed across that beam.
00:10:54Right, now, if you were to put that beam way up high in the air,
00:10:57How slow are you going to walk across that beam?
00:11:00You're going to put it up four feet off the ground.
00:11:02Exactly.
00:11:03That's the psychological way to hack.
00:11:05So, the white line is the equivalent of that beam being super low to the ground.
00:11:09You know, you're going to get told off if you fall up that beam.
00:11:14Yeah, but, you know, it's still just, it's not the same as you being actually physically scared for your life if you fell off that beam.
00:11:24And you'll never be able to replace that.
00:11:26It's human preservation.
00:11:27Self-preservation.
00:11:28Yeah.
00:11:32So, yeah, we got there in the end.
00:11:33A lot winded answer.
00:11:34It was a lot winded race.
00:11:35There you see a couple of cars that are on the comeback trail.
00:12:00That being the number 38 Joda Porsche, the 311 Cadillac, the Action Express Entry.
00:12:11Guys that had big problems early, but have carried on for very good reasons.
00:12:19These laps are valuable.
00:12:21What you are learning with these, this is the first kind of fully subscribed year of hypercar.
00:12:27And their, their data notebooks, just their, their jump drives being filled up with ones and zeros as they try to log lap after lap after lap after lap to learn as much as they can.
00:12:42Their second place car in LMP2, the Team WRT, with Rui Andre, has come to the pits for its scheduled service.
00:12:50So, yeah.
00:12:54Buemi, at the front there, P2, has put that gap to within the minute.
00:13:0159 seconds now separates himself to Giovinazzi.
00:13:05So, he is, like he said on the rodeo, feeling much happier on those medium tyres.
00:13:10And he said to the guys, look, watch my lap times.
00:13:13I'm feeling much more comfortable.
00:13:15I know I was in traffic the last two or three laps.
00:13:17So, ignore those.
00:13:19Yeah, last lap around 329 compared to Giovinazzi's 331.
00:13:22Of course, it, it comes and goes with traffic.
00:13:25But, um, that gap has come to F58.8 seconds now.
00:13:29There you see the choreography that takes place in a world of endurance racing pit stop.
00:13:44Only allowed four guys over the mall once the fueling is done.
00:13:49Ooh, that's, uh, that's some fresh debris.
00:13:51That's new.
00:13:53That's definitely going to need to be cleared up, isn't it?
00:13:56And, uh, somebody has carried on.
00:13:59I'm not sure that would be a slow zone.
00:14:04Because, yeah, you know, you're going to need people on track to clear up that.
00:14:07People, people have wondered, uh, you know, there's been, there's been a lot of, uh, chatter,
00:14:14um, on social media about the length of the yellow flags.
00:14:18Um, I applaud the rule that Eduardo lives.
00:14:24Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
00:14:33Slow zone six is now active.
00:14:34Slow zone six is now active.
00:14:36He does not allow any Martial to go near the racing service.
00:14:42Oh, and it was the 38.
00:14:43Oh, the 38 car.
00:14:44Sorry, Jim, look.
00:14:45The 38 car was the one that, uh, is the Colt brings.
00:14:49Felix da Costa at the wheel there.
00:14:51He doesn't allow anyone on the racing service to do any cleanup unless he has the car to enjoy.
00:14:57Oh, of course.
00:14:57And I, and I, well, that isn't the way it used to be, Anthony.
00:15:01Look at this.
00:15:02It's really similar to the Glickenhaus incident, wasn't it?
00:15:05Just dipped the right rear wheel momentarily onto the gravel.
00:15:08Catches the slide one way and, uh, shoots him around the other.
00:15:12He's made it back to the pits.
00:15:14Let's go to Louise.
00:15:14Don't forget, that's the car that pretty much had all of its bodywork replaced after the incident earlier in the race.
00:15:22And I was speaking to the team earlier.
00:15:24They said, uh, after the 75 Porsche Penske retired, they gave their spare bodywork over to the Hertz team, Jota team, as a backup.
00:15:35And the team have been preparing it, trying to get their 75 livery off, put their own on.
00:15:41And, uh, looks like they might need it.
00:15:44Well, we can't see that nose.
00:15:47Is that going to have to go back in the garage?
00:15:49I think it will.
00:15:50Yeah, that's definitely because it looks like you've broken some of the structure there.
00:15:53It's a black carbon, isn't there?
00:15:54Yeah.
00:15:56That was a pretty hard hit.
00:15:59Oh, it's the structure of the nose, not the, not the chassis.
00:16:03So, yeah, it's, that's the, yeah, the crumple zone.
00:16:05It's the only thing that's left of that nose assembly.
00:16:11The crumple crumbled.
00:16:12Yeah, it did its job, didn't it?
00:16:16Well, this is the, uh, this is the, uh, looks like it's a new livery because it's got black, uh, black fenders with some, with some wrap put on with some stickers.
00:16:30Yeah, they've, uh, they've done the best they can in a short time to get that car looking, uh, well, they get the livery back on.
00:16:36That's the least of their problems right now.
00:16:38Oh, they're having a look at that front right as well.
00:16:41That's sustained some damage, I think.
00:16:43Could that be part of the brake cooling, or is it a bit of body work only?
00:16:53I see the energy graphics there on the left-hand side of the screen.
00:16:56Getting ready for, uh, where you got 20 percent.
00:16:59A round of pit stops.
00:16:59Yeah, another round coming up.
00:17:01Going through the slow zone is the, the three-car.
00:17:14Switched.
00:17:15Apart from the obvious of staying off that exit curb, I don't know what else could be done to stop these incidents.
00:17:25You know, the car snapping.
00:17:26Well, yeah, because they're, once they drop off, where that gravel ends is squared off, and it's, and it's, you have the curb, and then you have asphalt, and that just is launching the rear end of the car, and then when it catches, it's going to go whichever direction you may or may not in front wheels.
00:17:43It's just an unfortunately shaped curb, with, uh, it's like a, it's like a triangle on its side, so as soon as you go up and over that triangular edge, it just dips you straight into the stone, so it's, uh, you've got support only up to a certain point, then you drop off the other side of it.
00:18:00Information, the pit lane, information, the pit lane, this is going to take longer than we expected, because we will need to repair the guardrails on driver's left.
00:18:10On driver's left? That's interesting.
00:18:14Wonder if that is...
00:18:18Well, yeah, the, the Hertz car didn't actually contact on the left side, it, no, contacted only on the right.
00:18:26There was a bit of stunning camera work before I came on at 9 o'clock.
00:18:30It is the right, it is the driver, yeah, he's got his left and right mixed up.
00:18:33Cookie hand, Eduardo, cookie hand.
00:18:35Um, there was some stunning camera work before I came on of the, when the 9 o'clock went off, of the dropping the wheel in that gravel and then kicking it and sending it out its way.
00:18:50Let's go to Louise.
00:18:50Um, just picking up again on the Hertz Team Joja incident, Antonio Felix da Costa is out of the car and it's gone around to everybody in the team, shook their hands, saying, sorry mate.
00:19:01Uh, just goes to show the team ethos here but also, you know, how he's feeling about that.
00:19:07Yeah, he's a real team player is Antonio, we all know that and, uh, he'll be absolutely kicking himself for that mistake and, uh, you know, he had, he had survived the hardest bit all the way through the rain.
00:19:20He had watched his teammate, uh, give up the lead by crashing out in the Porsche curves and, you know, Antonio had driven a, a brilliant race up until that point, real survivor.
00:19:32It's a rare mistake for him but, uh, goes to show how unforgiving, like I said before, how unforgiving some parts of this track can be and that's one of them.
00:19:40We've seen so many drivers make that a similar mistake for Glickenhaus' just moments ago.
00:19:46Both of them.
00:19:47Yeah.
00:19:47Yeah, to me, to name both a few, yeah, so both, both of them make a mistake.
00:19:51You know, we're talking about experienced drivers here as well and that's part of the challenge of Le Mans, you know, you get to this stage at, uh, 20 past 10 in the morning, the sun's back up, you're still out there doing it, you're so tired.
00:20:05Your focus just drops slightly for a short amount of time.
00:20:08You put the car, I mean, he was literally probably three inches too wide there.
00:20:14Yeah, and, yeah, and it was enough just to drop the tire off and Ramchur goes.
00:20:18So we saw a shot of the United Autosports cars running in tandem.
00:20:25The 22 and 23, both of those cars have had, uh, eventful races.
00:20:32The 22 car is currently 11th with, uh, uh, Freddy Lubin behind the wheel and the 23 car with Ollie Jarvis is in 12th position.
00:20:41There they are, going through the second chicane.
00:20:55Separated now by the Ferrari, the race-leading Ferrari, number 51, and one of the Peugeots.
00:21:02I believe that's the, uh, 94 car at this point.
00:21:05And the crowd have been absolutely treated, haven't they, to one of, if not the best Le Mans I've ever seen.
00:21:22The biggest crowd I've ever seen has, uh, gotten their money's worth.
00:21:25Yeah, big time, big time.
00:21:28I mean, yeah, they couldn't have asked for any more action, really.
00:21:31And, uh, yeah, still five and a half hours to go with this race.
00:21:36It's, uh, under a minute between the lead car and second place in the, uh, hypercar category.
00:21:43Richard Westbrook in the Cadillac number two, still on the lead lap as well.
00:21:47Three cars on the lead lap.
00:21:49Three cars on the lead, yeah.
00:21:50I, I frankly thought we'd have at least one or two more, yeah.
00:21:55Based on, yeah, based on what we saw earlier on in the race.
00:22:00But there was a moment in the race I honestly thought, I don't know if I can keep up with this for 24 hours.
00:22:06Let's go to Louise.
00:22:08Juan Manuel Correa, you, from the number nine Prima, you've stayed in that car the whole time.
00:22:13The team have been working on it, just holding on, and I'm so sorry that you've stepped out now.
00:22:19So tell us the situation.
00:22:21Yeah, it seems like we have a broken starter.
00:22:23So our race was already, already over before that with, with the accident we had, uh, during the night.
00:22:29We were just, uh, trying to finish the race.
00:22:31I think we'll be back out at the track soon.
00:22:34But, uh, I'm gonna step out and Bent is gonna go in now and, and take it.
00:22:38Um, yeah, a shame because the pace is really, really good.
00:22:41But I was running with, uh, with the front runners through my whole stint.
00:22:45And, uh, we're competitive, but, uh, it wasn't meant to be.
00:22:48And we can see how hard and fast the team are working to get that car back out.
00:22:52Yeah, they're amazing.
00:22:53We, we had a broken crankshaft after the, the accident we had in the night.
00:22:57And they changed everything in 20 minutes.
00:22:59We thought we were done and they got the car back out there.
00:23:02So a shout out to them.
00:23:03Uh, yeah.
00:23:04Hey, it's Le Mans.
00:23:05First time here.
00:23:05I, I'm still, uh, really enjoying it.
00:23:08Well, that's my other question.
00:23:09So I think you were with us in Portugal, was that right?
00:23:13And then you're here at Le Mans.
00:23:14How are you finding endurance racing?
00:23:17It's awesome.
00:23:18Honestly, I, I love every second of it.
00:23:21It's so different, especially this race.
00:23:22You know, Portugal was already very different for me than F2 when I'm, when I'm racing.
00:23:27But this is a whole different level.
00:23:29So, uh, a lot of learning.
00:23:30Uh, I got up to speed, which I'm happy about.
00:23:32And I'm just enjoying the experience.
00:23:35And you've worked really hard to get back up to fitness anyway for, um, after your accident.
00:23:40But how much more do you have to do for this?
00:23:42I've seen some of your socials where you're training in between all of your, all of your stints.
00:23:47Well, it's tough, you know.
00:23:48I, I'm sweating.
00:23:49Uh, it's, we're doing three, almost four hour stints sometimes in, uh, here in endurance.
00:23:54And you need a lot of concentration.
00:23:56I think mainly my preparation is more cognitive and mental.
00:23:59You have to stay focused.
00:24:00You have a lot of traffic and, uh, it's very intense.
00:24:03Great to have you with us.
00:24:06I think one of the things that people don't still, even, even as much as the sport of auto
00:24:13racing has grown throughout the world in the last three, four decades.
00:24:24The, um, I don't think fans really realize how the fitness level that you guys as drivers
00:24:35have to achieve isn't so much about the physical side as it is having the stamina to use the
00:24:45mental portion because there's so much concentration.
00:24:48I know that, that even in, in, in the parts of my old job directing motors, uh, not only
00:24:57motorsports, but, uh, stick and ball sports in the United States, if I was on the air for
00:25:02two hours, it was total concentration on that event.
00:25:05And that's all I could think about.
00:25:07I had to be planning where I was going, what I was doing.
00:25:10And for you guys, like you said, three inches and that's mental.
00:25:14Yeah.
00:25:15That's mental.
00:25:16The, the thing is, I think most of the drivers, it's, I suppose it was probably Schumacher
00:25:22back in the nineties that alerted everyone to the kind of fitness level, taking it to
00:25:29that next level of fitness.
00:25:31And then bit by bit, everyone just got fitter and fitter to drive the car.
00:25:36Like Tiger Woods in golf.
00:25:37Yeah.
00:25:37So it gets to the point where your actual feelings in the car, well, there's nothing there.
00:25:43You're just strong.
00:25:43You're fit and the rest of it's all in the head.
00:25:46So, you know, one, Manuel Correa, if his name, yeah, that's his name.
00:25:52Um, he was just talking about the cognitive side.
00:25:56And yeah, he, he is very fit.
00:25:58He drives Formula 2, um, which are high downforce cars.
00:26:01He's doing two, two races per weekend on, on the Formula One weekends.
00:26:07So, um, the fitness side is obviously there, but this is a different story.
00:26:12This is about trying to keep, keep the focus up for such a long amount of time.
00:26:18And for me, with sleep deprivation and everything else, there was, I always, I kind of find
00:26:25there's two ways to go about it.
00:26:26You could say, right, I am going to be safe.
00:26:30I'm not going to drive at 10 tenths for whatever reason.
00:26:35Maybe you think your car's not quick enough to win, but you're quick enough to take a podium.
00:26:40And for me, I was like, well, at times I was like, okay, I will survive.
00:26:46Someone sang a song about that, didn't they?
00:26:48So, um, but then you, you get, you get, you get drivers, like Kevin Estra, who in his last
00:26:58stint, he was pushing like crazy, absolutely on the limit, 10 tenths, 11 tenths, and the
00:27:05result was a crash that put them, you know, cost them 40 minutes in a pit.
00:27:11So there's two ways to go about it.
00:27:13And you, you, I think you have to play the right, the right way at the right time.
00:27:17Yeah, it's risk and reward, isn't it, really?
00:27:20That's the thing.
00:27:21And, uh, you see the drivers, like we mentioned, Fuoco earlier on there in P8, P7.
00:27:27In a way, nothing to lose.
00:27:28Ferrari came here.
00:27:29They're on the front row.
00:27:30They want to have a one-two finish.
00:27:32So let's try all we can driving at 10 tenths.
00:27:35Like you say, please get yourself back up into the, into the top three, perhaps, even further
00:27:40up if you, if you can.
00:27:42And it might pay off if you can carry on driving like that.
00:27:45But there's no way you would drive like that when you're in the leads, like Antonio Giovinazzi's.
00:27:49And you can see the body language is very different between the two cars.
00:27:53But what Correa was saying is that, you know, mentally this race has been so fatiguing because,
00:28:00as we all know as drivers, driving in the rain, it takes so much more mental capacity than
00:28:06driving in the dry.
00:28:07You can't just let the car flow and do its thing.
00:28:11You're always, your, your eyes are on stalks.
00:28:14Your body goes rigid because you're just trying to feel extra, extra input from all four tires
00:28:21driving through the seat of your pants.
00:28:22And before you know it, you realize that your hands are absolutely grip, like, like, like
00:28:29your life depends on it in a steering wheel.
00:28:31If anyone's ever been in a kayak or a canoe for the first time in their life, they'll know
00:28:35exactly what we're talking about.
00:28:37Your knees suddenly get wedged into the side, your whole body goes stiff, and every little
00:28:42movement you make, you're, you're absolutely petrified that it's going to escalate further.
00:28:47And that's what it's like driving a race car in the rain when you're not confident of
00:28:51the grip, particularly a wet track on slick tires, or even walking on ice or something
00:28:56like that.
00:28:56You know, just one slip up, quite literally, and you can really hurt yourself.
00:29:01So you, what do you do?
00:29:02You tense up, and the problem gets worse.
00:29:04And for Correa, it's complicated by coming back from that crashing spot.
00:29:08Oh, absolutely.
00:29:09That's a whole other thing.
00:29:10Not only physically, but mentally, as our leader comes to the pits.
00:29:14Antonio Giovinazzi gets out.
00:29:16Looks like Pierre Guidi is going to be taking his turn behind the wheel.
00:29:23And there's a driver change here.
00:29:25Jim, I'm going to love you and leave you, and replace myself with Graham Goodwin.
00:29:30The story of my life.
00:29:36So driver change is complete.
00:29:38As soon as the fueling is done, we'll see a new set of Michelins go on to the Ferrari.
00:29:45They're, it looks like they're medium Michelins.
00:29:48Welcome back, Graham Goodwin.
00:29:50Did you have a good rest?
00:29:51A little breakfast?
00:29:52It's replacing the Ferrari of St. Davidson with a Trabant of myself.
00:29:58It's, uh, this is, this is developing into quite the world's only cardboard car.
00:30:04It's, it's, yes.
00:30:05It's, I heard what Ant said about 20 minutes ago about this is the best Le Mans that he can remember being a part of.
00:30:12And I absolutely echo that.
00:30:15This is an absolute classic.
00:30:17It isn't quitting.
00:30:18The best thing for it about, uh, for my point of view is it's not just in the top class.
00:30:24It's in all the classes.
00:30:25Yeah.
00:30:25And this three-class system has come together beautifully.
00:30:29Uh, great battles up and down the order.
00:30:31Sorry to interrupt.
00:30:32Is the Ferrari serving a penalty?
00:30:35He's being held, isn't he?
00:30:37Yeah.
00:30:39He's being held.
00:30:40No, is that being held because he's got a penalty or being held because they're working a problem?
00:30:45No, there's, there's nobody working.
00:30:48There goes the Toyota.
00:30:51Turn the mechanics switch on.
00:30:58They could turn the mechanics switch on.
00:31:00That's a problem.
00:31:01Could he not get it started?
00:31:03Could he not get it restarted?
00:31:05Well, could that be a problem that shows itself more than just once?
00:31:07Oh, my heavens.
00:31:08That is, uh, drama.
00:31:10That's huge.
00:31:10Uh, let's open it right back up.
00:31:12Five and a half hours to go.
00:31:14And hello.
00:31:16We've, we've got to race again.
00:31:1865 additional seconds on pit lane with that issue for the previously leading.
00:31:2451 Ferrari, Toyota, Kazoo Racing take the lead at Beaumont with five and a half hours to go.
00:31:32This thing has got more twists and turns than, well, this racetrack.
00:31:37Yeah.
00:31:37And that's quite a lot.
00:31:39It's absolutely astonishing from beginning to end.
00:31:42Do you ever see the race like this here, Peter?
00:31:43No.
00:31:44No, I haven't.
00:31:45I mean, I'm, I mean, I'm just looking down to the GT arms again and I'm just seeing iron dames have retaken the lead in that.
00:31:52So the lead is just changing.
00:31:54Different car, different car, different car.
00:31:56We had the Corvette fight its way back up.
00:32:02Okay, Seth, but the gap is 5.8.
00:32:05The gap is 5.8.
00:32:06Show them what you're made of.
00:32:07Well, Pierre Guigny versus Guémi, that's quite mouth-watering, isn't it?
00:32:14And then you add in Toyota, the dominant force here at Le Mans for, well, half a decade, five consecutive wins looking for their sixth Ferrari back as a factory team in the top class for the first time in half a century.
00:32:27So many potential storylines and, well, we said there'd be more drama.
00:32:32There's one of them.
00:32:34It wasn't a dramatic moment, but the outturn certainly was.
00:32:40The outcome of the moment has provided us with a whole bunch of drama.
00:32:44We've gone from the Toyota almost a full minute behind to now leading by 5.6 seconds as they head down the Molson straightaway the first time on their outlaps.
00:32:58The battle, by the way, in LMP2 still goes on between Inter-Euroball competition.
00:33:04What a famous win that would be if they make this one home.
00:33:07Astonishing.
00:33:08From Team WRT and then Duquesne team with Neil Gianni, previous overall winner here, and now in a podium position in LMP2 for the team that won the LMP2 class.
00:33:20Not the overall LMP2 win, that went to a Pro-Am team, but the overall LMP2 class in the opening round of the European Le Mans series this year in Barcelona.
00:33:29Alessandro Piraguini there you saw from the onboard camera taking advantage of the slow zone.
00:33:35Look up his drinks bottle.
00:33:37Let's hear from Eduardo.
00:33:44It seems that the repair on the guardrail is taking another 10 to 15 minutes.
00:33:49We still don't know, but the slow zone will stay there until the guardrail is properly repaired.
00:33:54That is, I presume, in Indianapolis, where we've seen both Glickenhaus and Jota.
00:34:01It's been a couple of years since I've been here.
00:34:03Have we seen this much guardrail repair in the recent past?
00:34:08I don't remember.
00:34:09I don't recall it.
00:34:11I mean, sure, when Rocky had his shunt and Alan McNish had his, you know, those kind of crashes.
00:34:18Well, they were massive crashes.
00:34:21But we've seen some guardrail repair from fairly innocuous hits.
00:34:27In fairness to the guardrail repair at that particular location.
00:34:31Oh, yeah.
00:34:31It punched it.
00:34:32We've had three cars hit the same place.
00:34:33Yes, exactly.
00:34:34And when we saw the incident after, I think it was, was it the Glickenhaus the last time?
00:34:39No, sorry, the Jota car last time.
00:34:41But don't get me wrong.
00:34:42I'm not saying we shouldn't be repairing it.
00:34:44It's unusual.
00:34:45Yeah, I just don't remember it happening.
00:34:48We had this conversation earlier this morning off air, won't we, Jim, about something quick listening before we get to that about what's going on aboard the 51 from Alessandro Pequedi.
00:34:58Hey, sorry, the radio is not working from you to me back there.
00:35:02I think you can hear me, but when I know something more about the issue, I'll tell you.
00:35:10It's on a used tire.
00:35:11He's on a used tire.
00:35:12It's blammy again.
00:35:16Interesting that we had a problem getting the car back underway.
00:35:21Now we're having problems with communications.
00:35:23Yeah, it's a common factor, right?
00:35:26And that is electrical issues.
00:35:28The gap's coming down, though.
00:35:294.3 seconds now between the two cars.
00:35:32Well, one of them's on new Michelins, the other's on used.
00:35:35That should have a little bit of a difference.
00:35:39Plus, the Ferrari has been quicker.
00:35:44Just, frankly, it's been quicker.
00:35:46Andrea Bertin, he looked on.
00:35:48A man with a proud history with Ferrari.
00:35:51And amongst the honours for Andrea, who is the nominated test driver for their competition
00:35:58class, has driven all bar one forms of Ferrari Formula One car ever.
00:36:06Absolutely astounding number.
00:36:08It's well into the hundreds, the number of Ferrari chassis he has tested and shaken down
00:36:13for his good area, including all the historic fleet, including all of the Corsa Cliente cars.
00:36:19There is one car, I think it was a short-lived car, from memory of the 80s, that no longer exists.
00:36:25It's the only Ferrari Formula One car that Andre Bertin has.
00:36:29And, by the way, even the shark nose?
00:36:31Because, I mean, there's no, to best of my knowledge, there's no shark noses, real shark noses.
00:36:35Whatever there is, he's driven, and in addition to that, does the same job with more or less all
00:36:42of the contemporary sports cars as well.
00:36:45Wow.
00:36:46So, Andrea Bertin is a super guy as well.
00:36:48Lovely outlook on life, forms a smile, but super focused.
00:36:52He drove a Maserati as well, didn't he, to the GC1 World Championship.
00:36:56That's right.
00:36:56That's right.
00:36:57That'd be a good job for you.
00:36:59You could test everything that comes out of the British car.
00:37:02Trappant factory.
00:37:04I'll go and work with Graham.
00:37:07No, no, no, you're not the tonics taster.
00:37:09What do you want to say?
00:37:13What do you want to say?
00:37:1325 car, by the way, still with that Luke's Bonnet, the rear left corner on the Aston Martin,
00:37:20but it isn't stopping them.
00:37:22ORT by TF, Charlie Eastwood, 52 seconds back from Rahel Frey.
00:37:26Ben Keating a further two seconds back, and that is a change.
00:37:31That is the ORT by TF car taking second place.
00:37:35They've actually, while you were gone, they've actually meant to the front.
00:37:38Yes.
00:37:38Oh, yeah.
00:37:39These four cars, the 85, 25, 33, and 56, have kind of been swapping positions based on,
00:37:47you know, a little bit on the racetrack, and then depending on which driver's behind the wheel,
00:37:52and then there's pit stop sequence.
00:37:53Well, Ben Keating's been very clear.
00:37:55This will be his last GT drive here.
00:37:56He loves the GTE cars.
00:37:59He's not particularly interested in moving to the GT3 Formula.
00:38:02There is Ben behind the Delarge Livrid 48.
00:38:05If we see him back, it will be an LMP2.
00:38:08That is where his future lies.
00:38:09He's at an astonishing array of machinery here in Le Mans, ranging from LMP2 cars in two different eras.
00:38:19Vipers, Ferraris, Porsche, Aston Martin, now here aboard the Corvette.
00:38:26It's been nine starts at the Mall for Ben Keating in eight completely different cars.
00:38:33The patina that these cars get at this point.
00:38:37Filth.
00:38:37And that was the other cool thing about going through the museum is many of the cars nowadays are just left to where they were.
00:38:45In fact, Audi actually lacquered one of them, so it wouldn't go the patina way.
00:38:49Just make sure the Ferrari didn't pass anyone after the next flow.
00:38:54Copy.
00:38:57No stone unturned.
00:38:59Come on, Seb.
00:39:00Never change.
00:39:01Just drive.
00:39:03That is the gap.
00:39:06That's the gap with three cars between the two battling for overall honesty.
00:39:11Man, he got an extra snowball.
00:39:14Do wonder, gentlemen, whether or not they're going to take the opportunity whilst that barrier is prepared to do something about what's a growing ditch behind the curb, which is what's causing the problem.
00:39:25Well, short of sticking a whole lot of new gravel in there, I don't think there's much they can do.
00:39:30And the guys will just abuse it and start digging another ditch.
00:39:37We've had three significant incidents for hypercars in the last couple of hours at that point.
00:39:42Back up to speed now after they clear the slow zone.
00:39:46And there is the Ferrari moving past traffic now.
00:39:51The next on the road is the Toyota just ahead of him as they go through the Porsche curves and then through karting.
00:40:00What I will do, by the way, in the next hour or so is a quick review as to where we stand in the Pro-Am standings.
00:40:07Not just where they stand on track, but more particularly as we approach kind of five hours to go, who has got non-professional driver time to burn?
00:40:16That's a very significant factor for many of these teams.
00:40:20I have to say, astounding level of attrition in GTM.
00:40:24I think we've lost half the field.
00:40:26Yeah, almost half the field.
00:40:27Ten retirements in GTM.
00:40:30That is not something we're used to seeing in a lot of incidents.
00:40:33Unfortunately, at least two of them were GT on GT incidents that saw both cars retiring, the 60 and the 16 getting together, the 55 and the 21 getting together.
00:40:43Difficult conditions earlier on in the race with the rain coming and going, slow zones.
00:40:51We've seen quite a few impacts as cars have come into slow zones.
00:40:56Car in front slowed down and caught the ones behind by surprise and they've concertinaed up.
00:41:03There you see a good shot of Pierre Guidi right out of central casting, isn't he?
00:41:08Oh, yeah.
00:41:08I need a Ferrari driver.
00:41:10You'll do.
00:41:11There you go.
00:41:11Go on.
00:41:13And the name for it as well.
00:41:14Ferrari.
00:41:14The name for it as well.
00:41:15Into the garage for the six car.
00:41:18That car was troubled early this morning after a, how do we put this, Peter?
00:41:23A spirited attack from Kevin Est.
00:41:26Yeah.
00:41:26It was good to see and he was driving hard and that's why he's there.
00:41:31Just unfortunate small mistake.
00:41:35Put him off into the barrier.
00:41:36Down in 20th place overall, 11th in the class.
00:41:40But not this man.
00:41:41Sebastian Buemi and his teammates have been right at the pointy end of the spear on this
00:41:46centenary celebration of the 100th anniversary of Le Mans.
00:41:52Well, we did the department of redundancy department there.
00:41:56Sorry about that.
00:41:56Um, and he has been at the, in the battle for the top three the entire race, as has the
00:42:0451 car behind him.
00:42:06Alessandro Paraguidi and then comes Earl Bamber in the Corvette, uh, Comerica.
00:42:11Yeah.
00:42:12Come on.
00:42:12Get what it's a GM product.
00:42:13It's a similar thing to see, see, see, Cadillac.
00:42:17Uh, black car by the way, last bit stop for investigation for the caddy.
00:42:20Uh, three minutes and 46 seconds through the slow zones behind, uh, the lead battle.
00:42:26So keep an eye on whether or not that might have.
00:42:29Thank you for saving me, because that's where I was trying to go, and that's why.
00:42:34So it's going to be, we've heard from Eduardo Freitas, it'll be something for a while with
00:42:37this low zone in place for that barrier repair.
00:42:40Driver's rights between Indianapolis and Arnage.
00:42:43That's there because the, uh, Gravel Trapper spat a couple of hypercarps at it.
00:42:50That's what it's like, Toto.
00:42:52Okay, Seb, if there are no marbles, try to minimize distance.
00:42:55If there are no marbles, try to minimize distance.
00:43:00Minimize distance.
00:43:01Minimize distance.
00:43:03To what?
00:43:05To the, if there's no marbles, so that would mean edge of the race track.
00:43:10It means going offline.
00:43:12It means taking the optimum line, doesn't it?
00:43:15It means not running wide or track limits.
00:43:19But he's on, oh, he's, he's, he's, he's.
00:43:22Don't get that one.
00:43:23That's, uh, not, that's not a message I recognize all I've heard.
00:43:27Twitter will now light up that we're being oafs and, uh, and, uh, a bit of big, so that we're
00:43:32missing something.
00:43:35So, can't work that one out.
00:43:37At the moment we're expecting.
00:43:38Oh, don't blame you, because I can't talk.
00:43:40Uh, potentially an update on whatever the issue is at Ferrari.
00:43:45Yes.
00:43:46You've just joined us, um, cars are in this order, in this slow zone, coming through the
00:43:50instance right now, where you'll see, top of the picture, that's where the barrier pair
00:43:54is going on.
00:43:56John Olkin, the president of both Stellantis Group and Ferrari, changed into Sunday morning
00:44:04clothing, uh, and a very designed, a Ferrari outfit on yesterday, John.
00:44:12And, uh, here we go, as they go through Arnaje, hard on the gas.
00:44:17Yeah, Ferrari, by the way, losing over a minute and the lead, uh, with the car seeming to be
00:44:24unwilling to re-fire after a pit stop.
00:44:26Oh, now that's going to, that's going to hurt his pace, and that's going to give the Ferrari
00:44:29a chance to get on the back of the Toyota.
00:44:32The LMP2 Pro-Am leading Algar Pro-Car was exactly where the Toyota wanted to be, and now
00:44:39we've got no-to-tail action again.
00:44:42I do think he made the right call there, though, because that is, well, we saw it with, uh,
00:44:47Kevin Estra.
00:44:48If you, if you've tried to overtake him to that corner, you might well come a cropper and
00:44:52have contact.
00:44:53So, he, he just decided to be cautious, no point to throw it away there.
00:44:57Well, the choice...
00:44:58Now, live to fight another day, because...
00:45:00Absolutely.
00:45:00...he can, maybe he can hold him off.
00:45:02Well, the choice he made means that, uh, might be, uh, slightly smaller gap by a couple of
00:45:07seconds, but he still leads the race.
00:45:09That's right.
00:45:09But a different choice.
00:45:11He's down in 20th position now, and we've got back in the garage.
00:45:14Better to have your mirrors full of Ferrari than to have your mirror in the, uh, somewhere
00:45:21over the fence.
00:45:22That's the, the, you know, when we were talking earlier with Anthony, that's the, the difference
00:45:27between leading the race and having a little bit more caution, and then full attack from
00:45:32behind, and deciding to roll the dice a little bit, and that dice sometimes comes up on the
00:45:39wrong number.
00:45:39I think, uh, Sebastian Buemi would always pick a fight with Pierre Gridi than a fight with
00:45:45a gravel trap.
00:45:46Yes.
00:45:46And that's what we've got now.
00:45:48It is the number eight Toyota in the hands of Sebastian Buemi.
00:45:51Huge success here at Le Mans.
00:45:53Come on up against, well, not the newcomers.
00:45:57They've been with us in GTE for a decade.
00:46:00Mm-hmm.
00:46:01At the pro level.
00:46:02But that effort, and a whole lot more besides, transferred with a resumption of history for
00:46:09Ferrari back at the top class.
00:46:10And side by side almost on the exit, slightly bought there upon the hold of those Ferrari.
00:46:16But when he's not had any luck in traffic, that's twice now, uh, in the space of half a lap,
00:46:22he's been blocked by traffic, and now he's going to lose the position unless he can just,
00:46:28he's got the inside position going to the chicane.
00:46:32And he's going to force it here.
00:46:33Yep.
00:46:34And he gets it done.
00:46:35Oh, my heavens.
00:46:37Alessandro Peregrini, much to the delight of his crew.
00:46:41Passion.
00:46:42Passion everywhere.
00:46:43Seb will not give this one up.
00:46:47Not passion.
00:46:48No.
00:46:4910 seconds added, by the way, as we watch this.
00:46:52Still developing.
00:46:54Lead battle.
00:46:555 hours, 12 minutes to go.
00:46:57The lead changes again.
00:47:02This is going to be an interesting turn.
00:47:06No worries, Seb.
00:47:07No worries.
00:47:08Still 5 hours to go, mate.
00:47:09Head down.
00:47:11Into the slow zone.
00:47:14He'll be seething.
00:47:15Oh, yeah.
00:47:16Yeah.
00:47:17Lost momentum, didn't he, coming through that first chicane.
00:47:19It was, wasn't quite done, but almost done there.
00:47:22Almost toughed it out here.
00:47:24Ferrari much quicker in the first phase of that straight, but the Toyota came back at him.
00:47:28Ultimately, as he did at the entry of the Porsche curves, Peter Dabrec, decided discretion was a bit of part of the funnel there.
00:47:37Again, you know, I thought for a second he might try and force it back down the inside, but he decided, nope, get out of it.
00:47:45Let's lift it fight another 5 hours, and we'll see how it goes from there.
00:47:50Boy oh boy.
00:47:51Back into the slow zone.
00:47:54And see this, the slow zone now helps Wemmy, because he's not going to, Peregrini's not going to be able to pull away.
00:48:02No.
00:48:03You know, because he's.
00:48:04The momentum is lost.
00:48:05The momentum is lost.
00:48:06He can use the entrance into the slow zone to pull up on him.
00:48:09Let's go back down to pit lane and Louise Beckett.
00:48:12I was just waiting on an interview from James Allen from the 45 Algarve Pro, and he is constantly on the radio to George Kurtz,
00:48:23who's in that car at the moment, who you saw Wemmy come up behind.
00:48:27Can you imagine how that driver must be feeling as he's, it's his first Le Mans, as he can see in his mirrors, Wemmy and Pierre Guidi behind him.
00:48:45Guys, I'm going to tell you something.
00:48:48Just try to look.
00:48:50When you think that the slow zone is going to be lifted, you anticipate the stop.
00:48:57We anticipate the stop like Guto did.
00:49:01We try to be in the garage, refueling, while they are removing the slow zone.
00:49:07Yeah, copy, Seb.
00:49:08We'll have a thing.
00:49:09We'll have a thing.
00:49:12So he doesn't want to be in the pits when they remove the slow zone,
00:49:15because then that gives the competition, yes, the chance to run flat out.
00:49:22But whatever you do, Seb, do not tell Ferrari.
00:49:37Louise has gotten that interview in the Algarve pit.
00:49:39Let's go back to her.
00:49:40I'm with James Allen from the 45 Algarve Pro.
00:49:43You've been talking on the radio.
00:49:45I thought you were talking to George, but no, you've been talking to the pit bull.
00:49:48Is that correct?
00:49:49Yeah, I've just been talking to David to make sure what the plan was going forward.
00:49:53So we've got a decent lead over the next Pro-Am.
00:49:56We're focusing on that.
00:49:58So realistically, we're just going to be relaxed, make sure we get to the end,
00:50:02and hopefully we'll take a trip around by the end of the day.
00:50:04Yeah, you're currently leading the Pro-Am in the LMP2.
00:50:07George is putting in a great run right now.
00:50:09He made a lovely move to move out of the way for the hypercast behind him just then.
00:50:14Yeah, I mean, that could have gone a bit wrong.
00:50:16I think there was a bit of confusion between Sebastian and George,
00:50:19but luckily everyone came out of it, so it was really good.
00:50:22And George has been amazing all week.
00:50:24It's his first time here, and he's really picked up everything really,
00:50:27really quickly and really well.
00:50:29I'm quite happy for him, and I hope he gets the result he deserves today.
00:50:32All right, well, hopefully we'll speak to you later. Thank you.
00:50:34Thank you so much.
00:50:35Gents, Pierre Guini's putting the hammer down.
00:50:39Two seconds to the good.
00:50:40Yeah, he's pulling away.
00:50:41Pierre Guini.
00:50:42Quick word about James Allen, by the way.
00:50:44He's looking at a second 24-hour win in LMP2 this year
00:50:49after the astonishing finish at the Relics 24 at Daytona.
00:50:52He took the win literally on the line from the car he's now driving in.
00:50:59That would have been interesting after the press conference.
00:51:02It's switched across from the winning car at Daytona
00:51:07to this campaign with CrowdStrike Racing by EPR.
00:51:11Like a Pro Racing.
00:51:14Right, four laps of the good in LMP2 Pro.
00:51:16That's another class, by the way, that's had significant attrition.
00:51:20It is a 2.2-second gap for the lead in the lead overall in Hypercar.
00:51:30Three minutes and 45 seconds for the top three.
00:51:33Transfer that to LMP2 Pro-Am.
00:51:35Just looking here, it is a better pot of ten laps for the top three.
00:51:41As an outsider, if you like, coming in once a year to come and sit beside you guys and have a chat.
00:51:51Pierre Guini has been incredible so far.
00:51:55Yep.
00:51:56This week.
00:51:57My feeling, Peter, is this is a new and extremely important program for Ferrari.
00:52:06And they've made the choice that the vast majority of the driving squad have come from their GT pool.
00:52:18Slow zone is back to green.
00:52:21And it looked to me like, if anything, Tota got the better run there.
00:52:27Sure did.
00:52:30Remember, we did hear from Ferrari that they were having trouble talking to Pierre Guini at this side of the circuit.
00:52:35No.
00:52:36And that has paid off for them.
00:52:38But you're right, Pierre Guini.
00:52:40He's had his moments where it's not gone all his way.
00:52:43Big hiccup for him at Sebring.
00:52:45With a reasonable shunt that sent that car tumbling down the order.
00:52:50I do wonder, Peter, he's absolutely came in as multiple world champion in GT Pro.
00:52:57One of their stars.
00:52:59But then young drivers in the other car.
00:53:02The pressure being exerted.
00:53:04There's been moments when I have been concerned that maybe that's getting in his head a little bit.
00:53:09Right.
00:53:10You're a driver that's had a long career.
00:53:12Must be tough when you put the top of your game and someone new comes in.
00:53:17It's always going to happen.
00:53:18You know it's going to happen sooner or later.
00:53:20So, you know, maybe, maybe this is just giving him his second wind.
00:53:24You know, he's, what, 39 years old.
00:53:26So, to be.
00:53:27It's astonishing to think.
00:53:28Getting into a hypercar at 39 for the first time.
00:53:33And doing this kind of job.
00:53:36And I want to knock on wood because I don't want to jinx him.
00:53:39But, yeah, he's doing a great job.
00:53:41There you go.
00:53:42Cheers, Jim.
00:53:43Don't, yeah, it's just right behind there.
00:53:45Isn't that?
00:53:46So, a double yellow flag's just come out just behind them at the four chicane.
00:53:57Now it's removed.
00:53:58Closing in.
00:53:59Might have been a quick spin.
00:54:00Yeah.
00:54:01Closing in on five hours to go.
00:54:02And it's .6 in a second is the lead gap.
00:54:06Oh, my goodness.
00:54:10Still the lead battle in LMP2 is the same lap.
00:54:14And in GTE M.
00:54:18Just waiting for the first team to go to circle back.
00:54:21With five cars on the lead.
00:54:24I think it is GTE M.
00:54:29Well, if you're here at Trackside, you've had a treat so far.
00:54:32Still five hours plus of this to go.
00:54:34And if you've been tuning in with us throughout this great race,
00:54:38thank you for being with us.
00:54:40I hope you're enjoying the developing storylines.
00:54:44They are legion.
00:54:47Ferrari still leads Le Mans from Toyota, but it's close, very close.
00:55:05Loving just a little way back and still on the lead lap.
00:55:08The first in the Cadillacs, number two car in the hands of Il-Bamba.
00:55:11So three different hypercar makes on the lead lap with almost 19 hours in the book.
00:55:18They run in.
00:55:24It's another Cadillac.
00:55:25It's the first of Peugeots.
00:55:26And they came in.
00:55:27There's Amato Ferrari, the AF, behind AF Corsa.
00:55:30And who would have written the script for Peugeot up until problems hit them in the middle of the night.
00:55:36They really did look very strong indeed.
00:55:38And that's what I was just going to say.
00:55:40We've got the AF Corsa.
00:55:43We've got the Ferrari, Toyota, Cadillac, Peugeot, and Porsche all in the top six.
00:55:49Yep.
00:55:50And all of them have had their moment in the sun with the lead the race.
00:55:54And all of them have had issues.
00:55:56Yep.
00:55:57So.
00:55:58Well, the great part about this era now.
00:56:01This is really the first time it's bloomed.
00:56:04With absolute respect to Toto and to Click and to Alpine for that matter.
00:56:08The great thing about this is, if you're going to win it, you're going to have to fight for it.
00:56:13And boy, have we seen some fighting here.
00:56:15We often talk about other codes of motorsport, the hope that people will discover just how good this is.
00:56:24Well, judging by what we've seen on track here, gentlemen,
00:56:28I think we could transfer that to other forms of mixed martial arts as well.
00:56:32Because it's been epic stuff.
00:56:36Peugeot flying over the kerbs there.
00:56:39The first chicane.
00:56:41The first of their cars down in fifth place.
00:56:44This bodes very well indeed for the future of this race.
00:56:53And for the future of the FI World Endurance Championship.
00:56:56And for the future of the episode of WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.
00:56:59Yeah.
00:57:00The GTP equivalent of these cars.
00:57:03Yep.
00:57:05This also, for me, in some ways, harkens back to the Audi victory where Lena Gade was the engineer.
00:57:17I believe, if memory serves, that that was the year that both Rockefeller and McNish had their crashes.
00:57:26And they were in a pitch battle with Peugeot and it was right down to the final half hour when they were making decisions about tires and that sort of stuff.
00:57:43And Lena made all the right calls that brought that car home.
00:57:46And the great conversation on the radio between her and Andre Lotterer.
00:57:50That you've got to do this.
00:57:52You've got to bring it home.
00:57:53And they did.
00:57:54And that was an outstanding victory.
00:57:56And this is what comes to mind here.
00:57:58Can Toyota carry on going for a fifth consecutive victory that will put them with the likes of Audi and Ferrari and others with the consecutive win streak?
00:58:09Or will Ferrari be victorious on its return, 50-year return, to top-class racing here at Lenore?
00:58:16Well, they both hit problems.
00:58:18Absolutely.
00:58:19Yeah.
00:58:20Or each other, I think, is the other thing.
00:58:23It's close enough.
00:58:24Oh, yeah.
00:58:25But when we get down to when it really matters.
00:58:27We did ask a little earlier whether or not anybody might have any ideas about that, what we thought was a cryptic message to separate me about the shortest possible distance.
00:58:36And delighted to say Michael Zalivari down under and around the Adelaide area.
00:58:43Michael, lovely to hear from you.
00:58:45Covered the overnight students for part of Delhi sports car, Michael.
00:58:50And a keen part of online communities that support this great area of racing.
00:58:55And I think he's nailed it.
00:58:56He thinks the message to everybody about the slow zones take the shortest possible path.
00:59:02There you go.
00:59:03If there's no marbles.
00:59:04There you go.
00:59:05Well done, Michael.
00:59:08Lily, both my intellect and my fatigue have combined to provide less good answers than you were able to do at this time of the morning.
00:59:1711 o'clock just passed by the way here in France.
00:59:21But this astounding circuit in front of an amazing crowd, what is always a great race, but this year in particular is truly an historic moment in motorsport.
00:59:355 seconds now.
00:59:365 seconds now.
00:59:375 seconds now.
00:59:385 seconds now.
00:59:395 seconds now.
00:59:40Pierre Gridi to Sebueni.
00:59:415 seconds now.
00:59:42We see this slow zone come to an end.
00:59:44I think it was about 15 – 20 minutes ago the 41 of advices was predicting 15 – 20 minutes
00:59:48ago.
00:59:49to go, Gilles de Cain there enjoying his morning croque-passeur
00:59:56and behind this team, the number 13 Duquesne team, his sister part of
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