24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 – Full Race Part 22

Name: 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 – Full Race Part 22
Uploaded: 2025-10-10T01:42:04+00:00
Duration: 1 h 3 s
Channel: Grand Prix

Grand Prix

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.

#LeMans2023
#24hLeMans
#EnduranceRacing
#MotorsportHistory
#HypercarEra
#FerrariVsToyota
#LegendaryRace

Category

🥇

Sports

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00:00After that hybrid battery change leaves pit lane, and its next target will be the car that's in trouble three laps ahead of it, next to the express car.

00:00:13Andre Lotra reach on to 25th position overall at the wrong end of the LMP2 battle.

00:00:21There's still the 51 Ferrari being chased, and here is the view from Brendan Hartley's windscreen of James Collard, who is now aboard the 51 car ahead.

00:00:34The number two Cadillac, meanwhile, back in the hands of Alex Lynn, currently shown as being a lap down. I don't think it is.

00:00:44We'll see that change again when we see a timing sector change.

00:00:51So Ferrari, Toyota, Cadillac, and a slow zone for the recovery of the 311 Cadillac, in the hands of Jack Aitken.

00:01:03A bit of a whoopsie at the first Mulzane chicane.

00:01:07It's been the graveyard of all sorts of ambition and fortune there today and yesterday.

00:01:12See the safety monitors inside each of the cars there.

00:01:17Showing Brendan Hartley it's a slow zone, reminding him of the speed, though they will all have an automatic speed limiter button on their steering to press.

00:01:24Four hours to go at Le Mans, Martin Haven, Le Mans winner Guy Smith and Graham Goodwin in the booth watching the action with you.

00:01:36We're in a slow zone down to the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight after Jack Aitken got caught out in the action express Cadillac on his out lap from the pits and dropped the car off the road and lightly into the barriers.

00:01:49Not a big impact Guy Smith, but at this stage just another frustration.

00:01:54He had a crash early on. He will be really beating himself up for that.

00:01:59Yeah, he's had a tough race. I mean, those guys have been incredibly strong in the US, but at this point they've just got to put it down to experience.

00:02:08I think it's probably Jack's first time here at Le Mans, so he's having a bit of a tough baptism of fire.

00:02:13But, you know, he's a great, great driver and I'm sure he will learn from this and I'm sure they'll be back next year.

00:02:19Yeah, I'm sure he's exposed one of the stalwarts of the IMSA programme, the IMSA WeatherTech series.

00:02:28And the ability to run the same car in both has not been lost on them.

00:02:34Full course green, full course green.

00:02:37I've got the car over my shoulder, that's exactly right. Both slow zones have been removed at the same time.

00:02:44That's a nice little bit of synchronicity that was not necessarily intended, just the work has been tidied up.

00:02:50So we have a green racetrack, four hours to go.

00:02:53That is a European Le Mans series race, as Graham Goodwin said.

00:02:57And we have 1.2 seconds in our lead battle.

00:03:01Third place, we have got Cadillac. Fourth place, Cadillac. Fifth place, the remaining healthy Peugeot.

00:03:07Car number 93 is creeping back up the order. Jean-Erik Verne in the car.

00:03:12He crashed it heavily in the rain early on Saturday evening.

00:03:17And that car is now back up to fifth overall.

00:03:20And in sixth place is the number five Porsche Penske Motorsport car of Dane Cameron.

00:03:26That's here from the number eight Toyota team.

00:03:31OK, Brendan. Plenty of energy available for override or no cuts. Plenty of energy available.

00:03:42The energy deployment in these cars has a maximum value and it is constantly monitored in real time.

00:03:51Now, there is no rule as to where the energy can come from.

00:03:55It can come from squirrels on a treadmill or internal combustion engines or electricity or anything else.

00:04:02But there is a maximum.

00:04:04But what that is saying is that you can now deploy the energy.

00:04:08We heard that happening with Ferrari when we were on board during the night.

00:04:11At times like when you're in the flat shift and the engine, although the engine, the internal combustion engine keeps revving.

00:04:19As the clutches change gear, you're not transmitting that power.

00:04:24What the clever electronics can do is instantly and very briefly transmit the electric power.

00:04:30So your maximum power remains exactly as it was, even for the fractions of a second you're changing gear.

00:04:37And when you change gear, I don't know how many thousand times in a race, all of those fractions, those add up.

00:04:44And that's the kind of freedom he's been giving.

00:04:46OK, they had a problem with their charging system.

00:04:48Clearly, they've worked around that and they no longer have a problem with their charging system.

00:04:53So what's been going on while we're going through those slow zones?

00:04:56311 car, by the way, has been recovered to the pits and is now back on track.

00:05:00Again, in the hands of Jack Aitken.

00:05:02We were questioning why there's a bit of a bobble over the curbs there coming through Ted Rouge from the number eight car.

00:05:09Why the early stop?

00:05:11It was to take advantage of the slow zone to effectively grab back to track position.

00:05:16Boy, that has worked.

00:05:17And from 20 seconds down, they turn to now two seconds down.

00:05:21We're going to have to do some hard sums to see whether that's going to count back later in the race,

00:05:26because that's what they've done.

00:05:27They've traded track position for their fuel window.

00:05:30The other factor that's worth keeping an eye on here, gentlemen, there is the leader.

00:05:34There is a second place car.

00:05:36And there is the number 50 car, which is sitting seventh, but could be a factor here in Ferrari's strategy.

00:05:42Sector one even, gap 2.0.

00:05:44So what's James Glada, I'm sure, is hoping for is the cavalry, the former big girl with leader in the 50 car, can be a, how can we put this, a confounding factor for Toyota's attempted attack here.

00:06:01Any pressure from behind to unlap from the second Toyota is going to take some of the brain power that's going to be required for on its front an attack on the leading car for this race.

00:06:12And there's under four hours to go.

00:06:13And the other thing is, there's no guarantee it's going to remain dry.

00:06:16We might get a massive cloud burst, the leaders might all end up in the wall, there might be a safety car.

00:06:22If the 50 Ferrari can unlap itself from the leaders, then it's got a much better chance, if it's on the lead lap, of being back in the frame all of a sudden.

00:06:32And this race has taken one or two weird twists already.

00:06:37It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the scriptwriters haven't finished with us.

00:06:42Yeah, if that number 50 car can get in front of the Toyota, it will just be a thorn in the side, because they just want the straight fight.

00:06:50And if you're going to get the 50 car in there, it will just be a buffer between two cars.

00:06:55Excellent sector two, Brendan, excellent sector two. Gap 1.3.

00:07:03Almost within DRS range, isn't it, if we had such a thing.

00:07:07But again, gives a great indication.

00:07:09I think, really, my biggest takeaway, apart from the quality and actually the survivability so far of these hypercars,

00:07:18because almost every issue has been predominantly human-inflicted or scenery-inflicted by the humans,

00:07:25my takeaway here is actually, this is a little bit like a spec formula race, in that the driver seems to make a bigger difference to the total equation than I can remember in a number of years.

00:07:38You get somebody who's really on top of the car, and suddenly it's just a different car, and that is changing with which driver is racing against which in their rotors.

00:07:47And it's also great to see them tweaking the strategy. You know, maybe there's a slow zone, so we'll pit the lap early.

00:07:54Small little things there just to try and gain some time here, gain some time there, and it all collectively adds up.

00:07:59And clever thinking that Toyota have not had to do in recent years, because they've not been under the cudgel like they are here.

00:08:05This is an absolutely knock-down, drag-out knife-fight of a race.

00:08:10No one's got an advantage. Everybody's got a foot on everybody else's throat.

00:08:14And yeah, this is, they absolutely haven't to really think that they haven't done since the Audi, Porsche, Toyota, LMP1 hybrid days.

00:08:24They've not had this level of, sustained level of intense competition.

00:08:28Yes, the Alpine hypercar was quick, but it never had the fuel capacity to match them on endurance.

00:08:35So it would be quick, but we always knew it was going to fade.

00:08:38And so they didn't have to match it in the same way that they have to match Toyota and Porsche Cadillac.

00:08:45If they let them go by sticking too rigidly to plan A, they may know they're coming back.

00:08:51Yeah, you've got to be flexible and thinking on your feet, and that's what these guys are doing.

00:08:55And it's great to see Toyota having this battle.

00:08:57We know they're a brilliant team. We know they've got great drivers and well-organized.

00:09:02But this is them, you know, backs against the wall. This is really seeing what they're made of.

00:09:07And, you know, they're really stepping up to the player here, showing why they are, you know, multiple Le Mans winners and wet champions.

00:09:14And yet, for all their experience of this race, and their third year now here with their car,

00:09:21the new bugs, the new kids that are on the block, Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche, and Peugeot,

00:09:26because Peugeot, although they know the car, have never raced it here, they're all right there.

00:09:32They are all right there. And again, Graham, that's, that's an indication of just what a good rule set this is.

00:09:39By giving you targets to attain, rather than a box to be constrained by, it's allowed some free thinking.

00:09:45We've got a lot of very different concepts, but the end result is, they've all hit the, they've all hit the goals.

00:09:53All their darts are in the bull.

00:09:55Let's have a listen, what's going on with Toyota?

00:10:00I'm begging it, I'm begging it.

00:10:03You're doing well, man, you're doing well. Keep pushing.

00:10:08It is a battle now. The other point I was going to make here, gentlemen, is, we're lucky.

00:10:13We're sitting here and watching fantastic pictures of a fantastic motor race.

00:10:17But what's better still is there's never been more ways to follow this racing.

00:10:22Oh, who's that gone off? And where have they gone? Somebody got away with that.

00:10:26I think that might have been the TOTA just catching the, was that the TOTA?

00:10:31Something like smoke, wasn't it?

00:10:32It looked, maybe the car, whoever is in front on the road.

00:10:36Oh, no, it's a 57 car, it's off the road.

00:10:38Oh, he suddenly had gone off, that's...

00:10:40It is, it is Daniel Serra.

00:10:42Yeah, he must have been getting right towards the end of a monster stint in that Kessel Racing Ferrari.

00:10:47He was absolutely flying and lapped himself off all the class leaders.

00:10:51We'll hold for a moment to see whether or not we get another view of that.

00:10:54We saw the dust cloud.

00:10:56Oh, thought for a moment it was just one of the leading cars that caught the edge of the track.

00:10:59And I'll come back to the point I was about to make about.

00:11:01Dust was in the air before they got there, but I couldn't see anybody ahead of them on the road.

00:11:05And we didn't see initially anybody in the gravel.

00:11:08So...

00:11:10That's Team Jota.

00:11:11That's 38 car.

00:11:12Looking white battle worn.

00:11:14It has been a difficult one.

00:11:16It is double yellow at Marshalls post 24-25 to protect that incident site for Daniel.

00:11:21Looks like they're preparing to get the car back on track, but obviously any chance of a good result is going, other than a finish, which would still be a good result.

00:11:31Yeah.

00:11:32Point I was about to make there was there's never been an easier way, easier or rather more choice in following endurance racing.

00:11:39It is a complex sport and to do what we do, to do what the fans I know at home love to do.

00:11:45You can't do it without timing screens and data and different ways of crunching it and the way in which the geniuses in our production facilities manage to translate that into graphics that are useful for us and for other people to follow.

00:11:59We talk a lot, don't we, about the manufacturer partners here and about, you know, about Michelin and about TotalEnergies.

00:12:06We don't talk very often about Alcomel Systems, who've provided us with solid service as part of the history of this world championship.

00:12:17Well, it's more than that, you know, it's a 20 year old company.

00:12:20They've got a lot of experience.

00:12:21Not only does everybody rely on this, this is not just us.

00:12:24This is the teams and the drivers on all, you know, looking for all the sector data for every driver on every lap.

00:12:30But their willingness, in fact, their enthusiasm for constantly evolving the graphics package to include more information, more for the fans to learn.

00:12:38Because if it's written there on the screen or written on our timing screen, the information is the same, but getting it to the fans is easier.

00:12:46And they've been such a part of keeping the information straight.

00:12:50OK, Brandon, you're doing great. The slow zone will be active from turn 14 to turn 17 this lap.

00:12:56We'll remind you when you're closer, slow zone from turn 14.

00:13:00Yeah, copy. I'm switching hard, buddy.

00:13:02That's who's left off the train. I'm ready to switch it out.

00:13:06So the basic stuff from who's on the radio, the slow zone or full course yellow or red flags or whatever logos at the top.

00:13:14All of the, you know, the timing information, the new energy level indicated for this season.

00:13:20That's been a lifesaver.

00:13:21And what we'll talk to the guys about when we finish the race is working on a way in introducing the tyre information as well.

00:13:31You know, we know basically what's going on in LNMP2.

00:13:34If it's raining, it'll be the wet. If it's not, it'll be the slick.

00:13:37But in GTE and especially in hypercar, that's really where the focus is going to be over the years.

00:13:42Knowing who's on the soft or the medium or the hard at the beginning of the race, for instance, would have told us all sorts of great information.

00:13:51The Toyotas have started on the soft. It's 40 degree track temperature.

00:13:56Wow. No wonder they're going away.

00:13:58You know, those sorts of things, when you learn about them later, explain a lot.

00:14:02But having the ability, and I'm sure somehow the guys at Alcamel will make that happen.

00:14:08That's the kind of thing that the fans will see.

00:14:11The same as the manufacturer's logo and the car number and the car or the driver.

00:14:16That tyre information will be, you know, when it's on screen all the time, it's just a constant drip, drip, drip of information to the fans.

00:14:26And, you know, those guys have been great for pushing that along within our on-screen package.

00:14:32There is that phrase, isn't there?

00:14:34A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

00:14:36But having a lot of knowledge is absolutely brilliant.

00:14:38A little knowledge is dangerous to us.

00:14:40And thank you to the guys and the girls at Alcamel Systems.

00:14:43They've been working hard, again, through the whole week.

00:14:46In fact, two weeks here.

00:14:47So listen again into what's going on at TOTA.

00:14:50Well, actually, what's the plan?

00:14:51What have we done?

00:14:53Yeah, we'll talk outside of the slow zone.

00:14:56Look at how close the second Ferrari is to the back of the TOTA.

00:15:02Yeah.

00:15:03That says caught up going into or in the slow zone.

00:15:06That could be an interesting moment.

00:15:08But that is Brendan Hart, you know, under the pressure we predicted he might be a lap or so ago.

00:15:13He's looking to get eyes forward onto the first of those Ferraris.

00:15:17But the 50 car in the hands of Miguel Molina is right there with him.

00:15:22It is six laps off the lead lap, the number 50 Ferrari.

00:15:26So he needs to get a few more back.

00:15:28And that's not going to be possible in four hours of racing, three hours 45 of racing.

00:15:33So there's not a chance he's going to end up on the lead lap.

00:15:37But again, that constant distraction.

00:15:41The last thing that Brendan Hartley wants now is a Ferrari in his mirrors when he's trying to look forward and chase down James Gallardo.

00:15:47He wants to be eyes forward and trying to close that gap.

00:15:52And it looks like the 50 is behind him.

00:15:54He's flashing his lights, making his intent that he's right behind him and wants to force Brendan into a mistake.

00:16:02Well, wherever you've been for the last 21, 20 and a quarter hours, if you've got the opportunity to stay with us for three hours and 42 minutes to see who wins this three hours 45 minutes.

00:16:15It's only an American Le Mans series race.

00:16:17It's a great opportunity to see who may end up with the trophy at the end of the centenary Le Mans and how that's going to work.

00:16:24Because again, we've got no indication.

00:16:27The chances are it might be the 51 Ferrari or the number eight Toyota.

00:16:33Chances are equally easy that it could be neither of the above.

00:16:37OK, Brendan, so the plan is to keep you in for a third stint.

00:16:42We are wondering if we can keep the tire.

00:16:44Do you think the tire can go three stints?

00:16:46Question.

00:16:47Honestly, guys, did you see how much you gained in the slow zone?

00:16:51I'm fed up with that.

00:16:54OK, he's complaining that the 50 Ferrari is gaining too much in the slow zone.

00:16:58I'm fed up with that.

00:16:59And probably actually the 51 Ferrari is gaining too much in the slow zone.

00:17:01I think he's right.

00:17:02I think he's right.

00:17:03That car is significantly closer.

00:17:06Now, what we didn't see is where the gain was.

00:17:09Well, now, there's a couple of things going on here.

00:17:13Obviously, all three cars are being driven by extremely professional drivers under extreme pressure.

00:17:20The deal with the slow zone is you must be doing no more than 80 kilometres an hour like the pit entry line as you hit the line.

00:17:30Except there is a very slight leeway.

00:17:36It is a very slight leeway, but there is a very slight leeway.

00:17:41It was a little moment early in the morning where two cars were nose to tail in LMP2 in a slow zone.

00:17:48And the car behind was closing on the car in front.

00:17:51And they were so close you could actually see them almost touching.

00:17:54Is it going for a pass?

00:17:55Yes, he is going for a pass.

00:17:56This is exactly what we said might happen.

00:17:58He's trying to unlap himself.

00:18:00This is pressure for Brendan Hartley.

00:18:02Yeah, he's got his own race to run.

00:18:04Well, it's more than that, isn't it?

00:18:06Because the pace we're seeing now from the Ferrari to unlap himself for one of how many six laps might not be replicated if he gets by.

00:18:17Well, it will have to be because he'll get blue flags and they'll have to move aside if he is in front and holding up the Toyota.

00:18:24Track is back to green, man. Track is back to green. Everything is green.

00:18:30Now, the deal here is actually in the short term, this could not work particularly well for Ferrari.

00:18:38Because if Molina gets by and is just a tick faster than Hartley, what happens then, Guy?

00:18:44Hartley sits in the slipstream. It helps the Toyota speed up.

00:18:48Yeah, I mean, I think it's just...

00:18:51Two cars will be faster than one.

00:18:53Two cars are faster than one, for sure.

00:18:54But I think the Ferrari has the speed to brake.

00:18:56If he gets past the Toyota, he can brake the tow and just basically sit there between the two of them.

00:19:04Probably get close to the 51 car and just kind of play rear gunner, as it were.

00:19:08Well, and again, then those two would work quicker than the Toyota on its own.

00:19:11And so, yes, there is definitely that element to it.

00:19:13Drama in an MP2.

00:19:15He said that the team manager of Car 34 had been called to raise control.

00:19:20It is Car 34 reported to the stewards for a safety car infringement.

00:19:25The lead at the moment, 49 seconds.

00:19:27That is going to be at least, Martin, at least a drive-through penalty.

00:19:31Yeah, at least. So, into Europol's Fabio Scherer has got enough on his plate, but a tiny safety car infringement.

00:19:38And it won't be a monster thing like passing a whole line of cars, because these cars are far too good for that.

00:19:44It will be something fairly small, but still a significant rule for the brake.

00:19:49And by the way, when we're talking about school and breaking the rules, Ted, you need to put on sunscreen before you go to the beach.

00:19:59Just say hello to the family back home.

00:20:01And to Matt and Morgan, enjoy your day on the beach.

00:20:05And Ted, put the sunscreen on.

00:20:08And then Gaga will talk a bit more about racing cars.

00:20:11So, a couple of...

00:20:13A jump to the afternoon!

00:20:18Confirmed 911, as we thought. The 911 911 is a retirement.

00:20:23The other one is a bit of a drama for the Hendrix Motorsport Camaro new gearbox aboard that car.

00:20:30Oh, okay.

00:20:31That is the first significant delay for that effort.

00:20:34But they're fitting the new big gearbox, and we will see that car again by the luck of things.

00:20:39That little bit of pressure and the traffic has played into the hands of James Collado,

00:20:45because what was 2.0 seconds as the gap is now close to five.

00:20:52And don't forget, Collado's on fresher tyres.

00:20:55This is his first stint in the car.

00:20:57Brendan Hartley coming towards the end of a second stint, or deep into a second stint.

00:21:02Now, whether they're going to triple those tyres or not, we didn't quite get the answer to that.

00:21:07The engineer was saying, we'd like to do a triple, do you think the tyres can take it?

00:21:12Stop talking to me in the slow zone.

00:21:14I don't know.

00:21:15Okay.

00:21:16Is that a yes or a no?

00:21:18We never quite got the bottom back, but I guess we will find out.

00:21:23I think he's, I mean, if I was Brendan, I mean, he's trying all he can to keep Collado close by.

00:21:30He's also got Molina right behind him, and they're asking him to stay in, and to do it on used tyres.

00:21:40He's been chasing the track in this car all the way through, had a number of messages from Sebastian Blemi during the night.

00:22:09He's chasing the track, and front roll bar, it's the front end of the car that's seemingly more of an issue than the rest.

00:22:18They seem to be making more changes to that car.

00:22:21It's almost like on the oval with the weight jacker.

00:22:23Yeah.

00:22:24They're constantly tweaking and playing around with that car, whereas we've heard nothing from the Ferrari guys about any kind of changes.

00:22:30The track's obviously quite quick.

00:22:32You've got Phil Hansen there, set the fastest lap in the United car 22, and likewise for Sean-Eric Verne.

00:22:40Yeah.

00:22:41Just did a quick time, so the track's still quite quick.

00:22:44Well, track temperature's nearly doubled.

00:22:46It's now up to 38 and above.

00:22:49Air temperature's up to 23.

00:22:53It's a much warmer day.

00:22:56We're sitting in our area.

00:22:59It is quite hot out there.

00:23:00Okay, Brendan.

00:23:01Quicker in sector one and sector two this lap.

00:23:03Great job, mate.

00:23:04Let's not forget the guy in front is on new tyres.

00:23:07The guy in front is on younger tyres than you.

00:23:09I just remember him.

00:23:12I'm sure that he'll see the gaps.

00:23:14There will be frustration.

00:23:15And off the track, briefly for Brendan Hartley.

00:23:18He took a little bit of an advantage in doing that by avoiding...

00:23:23Rexy.

00:23:24Yeah, avoiding Rexy.

00:23:26Well, at least he avoided Rexy and that's what he'll want to have done.

00:23:30Gonna Jeanette in the green Porsche coming out of the pits.

00:23:33The Project 1 AO car.

00:23:35That down in fifth place in its class.

00:23:38That's his outlamp.

00:23:39So he's trying to build up speed out of the pit lane.

00:23:42The Toyota coming in fully lit and battling for victory.

00:23:46The...

00:23:47I suspect the worst that will happen there is an addition to the list of track limits violations.

00:23:52Absolutely.

00:23:53That was...

00:23:55Let's put it this way.

00:23:56From the book of Kenny and Foxy.

00:23:59Cunning.

00:24:00That I'm sure whatever happened with the second Ferrari closing in on him came from.

00:24:06No.

00:24:07That was...

00:24:08That was accident avoidance.

00:24:09That was taking to the hard standing to get by.

00:24:11Because the alternative was hitting him hard from...

00:24:13And it would have been a hard hit from behind.

00:24:15And that would have put them both out of the race.

00:24:17So...

00:24:18There was...

00:24:19There was no option there, was there, Guy?

00:24:20That's one of those twitches as a racing driver you've gone by.

00:24:23Pure reaction.

00:24:24It's just a pure avoidance.

00:24:26It will be an investigation.

00:24:27Indeed, that's confirmed.

00:24:28It was an overtake off the track.

00:24:30So it will be interesting to see exactly what comes out from...

00:24:33From that.

00:24:34Well, they will look at the data and see how much more slowly the Project One car was going

00:24:41on the previous lap.

00:24:42And the team may have told Brendan, car leaving the pits right in front of you, watch out,

00:24:47he's going to be slow.

00:24:48But even so, you're not sure how slow he's going to be.

00:24:51I think Nielsen getting ready to get aboard the number 50 car.

00:24:54So this is going to be interesting, because we haven't really had eyes on the 50 cars' fuel strategy.

00:24:59Where they are if they're in the same pit stop rotation.

00:25:03I'm not sure that 51 and 8 are due in just yet.

00:25:10They've got different strategies for number now.

00:25:12Only a lap out.

00:25:13Because the total stops.

00:25:14Err...

00:25:15Nothing more.

00:25:16Oh no.

00:25:17I think you're right, yes.

00:25:18The Ferrari was at something like 30% energy when the tow just stopped.

00:25:24Let's take a look at the energy graphics, boys and girls in a truck, and see what it looks like.

00:25:30It's not like your fuel gauge in your car.

00:25:33If you drive a...

00:25:36If you drive a mild hybrid, then it's much more like that.

00:25:40You've got an ICE and an electrical power source.

00:25:45And it's that total energy that is the maximum for the car.

00:25:49That is what we represent in what percentage of their power for the stints they've got left.

00:25:58And back in the LMP1 hybrid rules, you used to have a maximum that you could deploy per lap.

00:26:05That's no longer the case.

00:26:07Okay, Brendan, doing a great job.

00:26:08Gap is 5.9.

00:26:09Last time around, car ahead 28.2.

00:26:13You were at 28.5.

00:26:14You were at 28.5.

00:26:15You're doing awesome, man.

00:26:19They're really encouraging him.

00:26:20They're really kind of...

00:26:21Not coaching him, but they're really supporting him and giving him some positive feedback, keeping his positive vibe.

00:26:28That's exactly right.

00:26:30And keeping him in the right mind, friend.

00:26:32Keep attacking.

00:26:33He's getting away from me.

00:26:34It's okay.

00:26:35He's not getting away.

00:26:37He's just creeping away.

00:26:39And he's got fresher rubber.

00:26:40It'll come back to us.

00:26:41And it's all those things that stop you as a driver doubting yourself.

00:26:45And what's wrong with my car?

00:26:47Why is he getting away?

00:26:48I was quicker than him last time.

00:26:50It's all of that.

00:26:51It's all part of the psychology of the sport.

00:26:57And a lot of the time, the best relationship between the driver and the engineer is all about that.

00:27:03Yeah, we know it sucks to save fuel, but you're doing exactly what you need to do, and this will pay off for you.

00:27:09Just...

00:27:10You know it will.

00:27:11We know it will.

00:27:12We discussed it.

00:27:13We just know it hurts a lot right now.

00:27:16You know, there's that sympathy level.

00:27:18And you can see the 50 car caught up to the back of the number eight.

00:27:22But because it didn't get the pass done, it's kind of lost momentum.

00:27:25You get to that point where if you don't get it done within the first couple of laps,

00:27:28you find you're in that dirty air, and you start to lose a little bit of downforce,

00:27:33maybe working front tyres a little bit harder, and it then becomes harder to make that pass.

00:27:37Brendan Hartley, purple first sector on this lap.

00:27:41Wow.

00:27:42Fastest lap of the entire race, potentially.

00:27:45That's now held by Antonio Fuoco in the 50 car.

00:27:48For a long time, it was Sebastian Vaudet in the number three Cadillac that was set on lap three of the race.

00:27:53Fuoco set his fastest lap 227 laps later.

00:27:58Significant penalty, by the way, coming for the 709 Glickenhaus.

00:28:02That's the car running in eighth position.

00:28:04That puts on aboard the car, speeding in the pit lane.

00:28:07A stop and 30-second hold for that car.

00:28:10And that will lose a position to its sister car.

00:28:13Yeah.

00:28:14Drop it back down to ninth place.

00:28:15Yeah.

00:28:16Seems unlikely there'll be a repeat of last year's podium finish for Glickenhaus.

00:28:22Brendan, any further feedback on the tyre?

00:28:25How does the tyre feel?

00:28:26Question.

00:28:27Stabilised.

00:28:29A check in.

00:28:31Didn't quite get that one, I'm afraid.

00:28:35I think he said it's stabilised.

00:28:37I think it clearly feels good in the car.

00:28:40This is them trying to claw back 10 or 15 seconds without having to make that tyre change.

00:28:49Well, he's done the fastest first sector and the fastest personal sector, too.

00:28:54So, clearly, he...

00:28:56He's comfortable, wasn't he?

00:28:57Yeah.

00:28:58Well, this could be a new fastest race lap.

00:29:01His last lap was a 3.28.3.

00:29:03The fastest race lap a 3.27.4.

00:29:06He doesn't have to be an awful lot faster in sector three.

00:29:09And the road is relatively clear.

00:29:11See that Aston Martin.

00:29:12He doesn't catch this Aston Martin in the wrong place.

00:29:15This could be the fastest lap of the race for Brendan Hartley.

00:29:18Now, what that means for longevity of the tyre,

00:29:21it means it's in a good place now in the second stent.

00:29:25But will it do a third?

00:29:27The tyre's coming for the number 50 car.

00:29:29Yeah.

00:29:30It's taken out for attack.

00:29:31But for the moment, you see the Ferrari got really...

00:29:34He got bogged. Yeah, that's cost him.

00:29:37That takes the pressure off Brendan Hartley, doesn't it?

00:29:39In a big way.

00:29:41Nicholas Nielsen, we know, is standing by to get aboard this car.

00:29:44Is it going to be this lap or the next?

00:29:45Yeah.

00:29:46Looks like Box this lap.

00:29:47You wouldn't be taking the tyres out of their blankets

00:29:49and rolling them through the front of the garage

00:29:51unless he was due in imminently.

00:29:53You're not going to leave them sitting there for two or three laps.

00:29:58Did he come in? Somebody did. Yes, he did.

00:30:01The lead 27.992.

00:30:03It is Brendan Hartley in pursuit.

00:30:05Under six seconds the gap.

00:30:0650 car rolls down pit lane.

00:30:08First time under 3 minutes 28 for that car.

00:30:11Will be Nicholas Nielsen.

00:30:13With an extraordinary record of success with Ferrari,

00:30:17with AF Corsa in recent years.

00:30:19I think I said earlier in the show,

00:30:21at least one major race win or title every year since 2018.

00:30:25And right in front of him was the AF Corsa 54 Ferrari,

00:30:29the silver car.

00:30:30That is currently in fourth place in GTE Am.

00:30:34Davide Rigon, I think, getting towards the end of his stint.

00:30:37We saw Thomas Floor sitting in the garage.

00:30:39I wouldn't mind betting that he's about to get back into the car.

00:30:42Just double-check as if he has to.

00:30:45The Corvex worked his way to the top of the GTE as well now.

00:30:51Yeah.

00:30:52That's a run over any rival drivers recently.

00:30:55Yeah, Thomas does need a further 54 minutes.

00:30:58Yeah, so it will be another stint for Thomas Floor.

00:31:01I kind of imagine this might be the right time to put him in.

00:31:04Track is clean-ish, weather is good-ish, he's rested-ish.

00:31:09And by the way, we saw the orange Aston Martin that the Toyota managed to clear.

00:31:14That is with the pit stop for the 54.

00:31:18That means both the 25 and the 56 move ahead as the 93.

00:31:22The Peugeot.

00:31:23This is the fifth place car.

00:31:25Into the garage.

00:31:26Back in the garage.

00:31:28That's bad news.

00:31:29It's not always really bad news.

00:31:32Essentially, when the car is on the pit apron,

00:31:34you're allowed a limited number of people to work on it.

00:31:37If you need to do anything other than routine service, back in.

00:31:41Change the nose, change the tail.

00:31:43That comes under, you know, the stuff you do on the petrol forecourt.

00:31:47Anything else, back into the garage.

00:31:49Then you can throw unlimited number of people at it.

00:31:52The nose is off.

00:31:54Hoses blowing stuff out of air holes.

00:31:57Is this power steering issue?

00:31:59Working at the back of the car as well.

00:32:02There we go.

00:32:04Warning flag for car number eight for overtaking beyond the track limits.

00:32:07Okay.

00:32:08So it was a warning.

00:32:09We know why you did it, but it is illegal.

00:32:12Just don't do it again.

00:32:13Okay.

00:32:14Fair enough.

00:32:15That's pragmatic to me.

00:32:16You know, it was either that or risk a very big accident.

00:32:19Because he had the 50 car right behind.

00:32:21If he got sideways, the 50 car would have been right in there as well.

00:32:25Meantime, Nika Ferroni is putting the hammer down.

00:32:28And has been in the fastest lap of the race so far for the 33 car.

00:32:31350.439.

00:32:33Now, 78 seconds to the good over Sara Bovee.

00:32:37Still working her.

00:32:38Ron's driver time in the 85 Iron Dames car.

00:32:41Now, when she finishes this stint, will she be done?

00:32:44I think she might be.

00:32:45Yes.

00:32:46They've rotated through and then we'll go to Michelle Gatting, the silver-raced, silver-graded

00:32:54driver and then the gold.

00:32:55Louise Began is at Peugeot.

00:32:56Good morning, Louise.

00:32:57I'm on my way to Peugeot, but the 93 is back out and on its way to track now.

00:33:03Okay.

00:33:04So whatever it was, it was swift.

00:33:06If you could ask what it might have been, I know obviously that would be in your remit.

00:33:12It was a fairly quick in and out.

00:33:15It can't have been much more than about 90 seconds.

00:33:18Sara Bovee, four minutes from the end of her required minimum of six hours.

00:33:23Okay.

00:33:24It's a drive-through penalty for the LMP2 leading car.

00:33:28Kroger taking on the safety car.

00:33:30So Fabio Scherer, 47 seconds to the good.

00:33:33That is going to leave it mighty tight for the lead of LMP2 with under three and a half hours to go.

00:33:39And that's why he's been rocking on like a man possessed.

00:33:42I mean, he has anyway, but even more so.

00:33:45Miguel Molina looked like he'd been working hard for a living there.

00:33:48It's pretty warm in the cars.

00:33:50Cadillac number three.

00:33:53And Zarenga van der Zander when it came in, but it's a driver change there.

00:33:56And that would be Earl Bamba, I think, the white helmet.

00:34:01I know he's the number two car.

00:34:03Okay, Brendan, box this lap pit confirm.

00:34:08Box this lap for fuel.

00:34:10Copy box this lap.

00:34:12Scott Dixon.

00:34:14Yes, Scott Dixon.

00:34:16So that would be Scott Dixon taking over that car.

00:34:18Boxing slap for Brendan Hartley.

00:34:20There's the 34 car.

00:34:21Fabio Scherer has another two laps to comply.

00:34:24With the drive-through penalty.

00:34:27Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

00:34:28Fully twitched up.

00:34:29And of course, what you can't do is combine it with a routine pit stop.

00:34:32So if they need one, when they need one, they'll have to do that separately.

00:34:36Meanwhile, by the way, as Miguel Molina gets late, exclusive,

00:34:42abuse of Franklin's warning flag, but he's out of the car now.

00:34:45Yeah.

00:34:46But there is a battle firmly underway for third place in LMP2,

00:34:50because Neil Jani is being caught by a flying Paul Loupschatan pole sitter.

00:34:56Last time around, two seconds taken out to that advantage,

00:35:00and it is a two second gap.

00:35:02New nose going on to the front number three Caddy.

00:35:06Don't know if it's Nunu, or just a replacement nose.

00:35:09Seems to have gone through a few body panels.

00:35:11Most of the Caddies have.

00:35:13Seven and I Glickenhaus in the pit lane with Nathaniel Berton at the wheel.

00:35:17They'll be serving lap penalty.

00:35:19There is 41.

00:35:22The remaining healthy LMP2 WRT car, Louis Delatraz, comes in and hits his marks.

00:35:28He comes in from second place.

00:35:30You said, Graeme, the gap was very small, and Louise Beckett is there.

00:35:36I'm at Peugeot 93.

00:35:38They had a lack in hydraulic pressure,

00:35:40so they just needed to bring it in, get it resorted, and back out again.

00:35:45And as the team have just said to me, they did a fantastic job to do it so quickly.

00:35:50They did indeed.

00:35:51Thank you very much, Lou.

00:35:52And that's a change to their transmission system selection.

00:35:55They went from electronics to hydraulic.

00:35:58It is a transmission that Peugeot build themselves.

00:36:01They didn't do what Audi did, go to Riccardo.

00:36:04They haven't gone to X-Track.

00:36:05They may have had some input from X-Track.

00:36:08We saw X-Track guys in the garage with the team,

00:36:11but it is a predominantly self-constructed transmission.

00:36:16That's been really the Achilles heel of the car in terms of reliability

00:36:20since its debut at Monza last summer.

00:36:24Into the pits is our GTE-AM leader.

00:36:27Nico Veroni stays in.

00:36:29See his knees tucked up right behind the steering wheel there.

00:36:32He's a considerably different height to Ben Keating.

00:36:35He and Nicky Katzberg both are a bit taller than their bronze-rated team-mate.

00:36:42So they have to tuck themselves in into the convoluted space.

00:36:45Out goes Robert Kubica in the 41 WRT car.

00:36:50And Kubica passed the team of the car that failed on the last lap of Le Mans two years ago.

00:36:57The Giffy Yee then at the wheel.

00:37:00They went from being briefed by the ACO officials in the garage.

00:37:04OK, now what happens now is when the car passes the chequered flag,

00:37:07we'll go with you and we'll stand by underneath the podium.

00:37:10Then the driver coming in the car.

00:37:12Then we're like, oh, hang on a minute.

00:37:13And they walked over to the other side of the garage.

00:37:16I mean, that's how close they were to winning Le Mans.

00:37:19That's tough, isn't it?

00:37:20And you can imagine that the same was probably happening with Toyota back in 2016 as well.

00:37:25I mean, yeah, everything was in place ready to go.

00:37:31In the pits and receiving service number eight Toyota.

00:37:34Brendan Hartley stays in.

00:37:35No change of tyres.

00:37:36It's on the medium.

00:37:37They'll be good for three stints, maybe even four.

00:37:41We heard his race engineer saying they wanted to triple them.

00:37:45Looks like that's exactly what they're going to do.

00:37:48And actually, Guy Smith, his pace has been pretty good all the way through the stint, hasn't it?

00:37:53So that might well work.

00:37:56Let's catch up with Louise Beckett in the pit lane.

00:37:58I know it's probably old news, but the 9.11 Proton Competition of Michael Fassbender, the door has just gone down.

00:38:08Such a shame.

00:38:09When I came back this morning and saw they were still in the running, I was really happy for them, but their race is over.

00:38:18Yeah, 9.11, confirmation of its retirement.

00:38:21All the body language, I'm afraid, when the car came in was, that ain't going anywhere.

00:38:25It had a big, hard slap on the wall in the first part of the Porsche Curves, as many cars have.

00:38:31There's been some parts of this track that have claimed more than their fair number of victims this year.

00:38:36I mean, the race of attrition in that particular element of the Porsche Curves and the first chicane on the Mulsat.

00:38:42Boy, the number of people who've not had an incident there is probably smaller than the number that have.

00:38:47And Indianapolis as well, as the exit of Indianapolis has also claimed.

00:38:50Just going back to the tyres, we said about Brendan Hartley now on his, would it be his second stint on these tyres or third stint?

00:38:56Third on his stint.

00:38:57Third on his stint.

00:38:58So, the car can feel pretty good by the end of the stint when you're on low fuel, but now you fuel the car up, you've got a lot more weight.

00:39:04The tyres are obviously getting older, so it becomes more and more difficult as the stint goes on, obviously.

00:39:12But his pace has been good and, you know, absolutely no reason to be changing tyres at this point.

00:39:17Fabio Sherratt in the pits. That was a fuel stop. He will be in again next lap. He still has not served his penalty.

00:39:24That's the drive-through, isn't it?

00:39:25That was not the drive-through, so he's going to have to do it, yeah, because he's already passed by once.

00:39:30That's the second time past the line. It will need to be this lap.

00:39:34In fact, it won't be Fabio, because there is Fabio, you can tell, not just because it looks like Fabio, but also because he's limping like John Wayne on a bad day.

00:39:42So, he is out of the car and he's being driven again by Albert Costa.

00:39:46And, yeah, look, he can barely even stand on the foot when he's been running around the car, Jim, for the pit stops.

00:39:51He hasn't been running. He's been hopping.

00:39:53Hopping. That's right.

00:39:54I missed it. What actually happened?

00:39:56He was run over by his foot. His left foot was run over by the Corvette.

00:39:59Oh, my God.

00:40:00Yeah.

00:40:01Yesterday evening.

00:40:02Is this drive-through just, I'm catching up?

00:40:04No, that's just the driver change. That's full service driver change.

00:40:07They still have a drive-through penalty for passing another car under the safety car.

00:40:11Okay, that's right. I wanted to find out.

00:40:13Have we still had anybody get a penalty yet for track limits?

00:40:18Don't go there.

00:40:21Well, actually, that led to the demise of Michael Fassbender's car, because he was coming into that first left, a really fast entry into the Porsche curves,

00:40:29and knew he was going to run out wide, and tightened the line, and spun the car, and he, on the radio, Peter was saying,

00:40:38Yeah.

00:40:39He was trying to avoid track limits, and on the radio, he said, Sorry, guys. I'll hit the wall. Damn it. Track limits.

00:40:44Yeah.

00:40:45That's what he was trying to avoid, so.

00:40:47And it's a combination if you put the lock on, because you want to tighten the corner, and then you think, Okay, I'll need to lift as well, so you lift off.

00:40:53Yeah. And suddenly the car...

00:40:54Especially with the Porsche.

00:40:55Absolutely, yeah.

00:40:56All that unsprung weight in the back, even though that engine's still been moved way up.

00:41:00He was really lucky. He was just trying to do the right thing, and it, unfortunately, caught him out.

00:41:04And he almost climbed the wall there, too. That was the other thing that...

00:41:07Yeah.

00:41:08Nicholas Nielsen in the Ferrari, the number 50, just on the fastest lap of the race on a 327.3, so...

00:41:14They are pushing hard still.

00:41:20They are six laps down to our leader.

00:41:32There is the number eight Toyota.

00:41:36Just fresh off a fuel stop. There goes the 51 back out.

00:41:43And the irritant, the grain of sand in the shoe of Brendan Hartley, that was the 50 Ferrari.

00:41:53Because that stopped slightly out of sync, and it dropped back a little,

00:41:56Nick Nielsen's no longer in the position right behind that second-place Toyota than Miguel Molina was.

00:42:02So that annoyance for Hartley is gone.

00:42:05He was able to just distance himself a little bit, got a couple of breaks in traffic, and then he was gone.

00:42:10And then that sort of... that magnetic attraction was broken, wasn't it?

00:42:15Yeah.

00:42:16Yeah, yeah.

00:42:17And the 50 car never got back up to him.

00:42:19And again, I think, every time Hartley has been in the car, he has made quite a difference to the way that the balance of power is swinging.

00:42:31And it's... it's like a... it's like Newton's cradle.

00:42:35It's like going from one side to another.

00:42:37Yeah.

00:42:38It's just constant motion.

00:42:39But right now, hard to tell which is actually in the better place.

00:42:44The Ferrari, which has got a cycle fresher tyres, from Brendan Hartley in the Toyota.

00:42:53What's the gap? Let's see him.

00:42:55The gap is 10 seconds. The gap is 10 seconds.

00:42:59What's the gap? I don't see him.

00:43:01Yeah, three hours to go, and we're... I don't see him. That's fantastic.

00:43:06But I mean, they're close enough. He thinks he should be able to see him.

00:43:11He could before they both stopped.

00:43:14So, let's hear from the Porsche team, see what's going on with them.

00:43:21All right. We're not going to hear from the Porsche team. That's been waived off.

00:43:26Well, there's the 56 Porsche, the Iron Dames car, but still remains in second place.

00:43:3285, beg your pardon, in the GTE AM class.

00:43:35It's still the Corvette leading, Nico Veroni, Sarah Bovee.

00:43:38At the end of this, it will have done her drive time.

00:43:41So, her silver and gold rated teammates, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey,

00:43:46can finish the race, remaining three and a quarter hours or three hours or so,

00:43:50as it will be then.

00:43:51And Ahmad El-Harty, ORT by TF.

00:43:53Now, he claimed the first ever world championship pole position for an Omani driver

00:44:00when he put the car on an amazing pole at Spa.

00:44:04We were watching the battle, as we often do, between Ben Keats and the Sarah Bovee.

00:44:09And then, boom!

00:44:10Yeah, out of nowhere.

00:44:11The most astonishing lap from Al-Harty.

00:44:14Now, he's got plenty of experience as Spa from his British GT racing days, but that was a proper run.

00:44:21And he might be in a position now where he becomes the first Omani driver to stand on the podium at Le Mans.

00:44:28They are in third place and very much in contention.

00:44:30In comes the number two caddy, Alex Lin at the wheel.

00:44:33And this car, well, it's in the all-Cadillac battle for the final podium spot.

00:44:37And that's going to have to be a tough one.

00:44:38They're actually a few laps apart, but it doesn't take much to happen to the number two car to swing the balance to number three.

00:44:45Well, I guess, either way, it would be a caddy on the podium, which would be, I think, all things considered, a great result.

00:44:52I'm sure they would have liked to have been fighting for the win, but I think they just not quite got the pace of the leading two cars.

00:44:59But still, third place would be no end.

00:45:03And they've not had the luck either.

00:45:06Both, in fact, all of the Cadillacs have had an incident or two or three or four.

00:45:13So that's taken them out of the hunt.

00:45:16We saw the number two car open.

00:45:19For viewers of a certain age, no, that is not Derrick Bell.

00:45:24It's a Derrick Bell replica helmet, including down to where he had the Union Jack on the top of the forehead.

00:45:31And that is Alex Lin.

00:45:33He wanted a helmet.

00:45:34So many drivers have got different helmets, specifically for Le Mans.

00:45:39See, Miguel Molina's got his regular pattern, but where it would normally be white,

00:45:43it's got monochrome representations of Ferrari's racing history here.

00:45:47Alex Lin has gone for this.

00:45:50Who was it who in the Panis car?

00:45:53Job van Oetert.

00:45:54Yes.

00:45:55Instead of having his own regular helmet, secretly had had his helmet painted in the livery of team owner,

00:46:00Olivier Panis, in the helmet he wore when he won the Monaco Grand Prix in Oligier.

00:46:04So that was a little touch.

00:46:06So some of it is Le Mans relevant.

00:46:08The guys in the 50 car have all got red and yellow Ferrari livery like on the car and a 50 on it as well.

00:46:15They've sort of taken their own livery off for this race.

00:46:19So there's a lot of that going on.

00:46:21A nice little touch from Alex Lin.

00:46:23Clearly, Dinger is a bit of a boyhood hero for him as he is for many of us.

00:46:27I try not to remind him too often of the fact that he was in his pride when we were still young, but he's still very much in his pride.

00:46:39And clearly, Alex, yeah, reflecting that.

00:46:42So number two car rejoined, still in third place.

00:46:45It is a lap behind the leaders.

00:46:48A safety car could change that in a heartbeat.

00:46:53With the new safety car regulations, if he ends up in a queue in the safety car with the leaders behind him,

00:46:59and there's a two thirds chance that that would be the case because we have three safety cars and the way they fall is kind of arbitrary.

00:47:06And he could end up on the back of the hyper car field and on the lead lap.

00:47:12And suddenly that could change the dimensions of this race and the dynamics of this race.

00:47:18And Guy, that's kept the race more alive even maybe than it might have been in all three classes.

00:47:25Yeah, I mean, all the way through the grid, there's action.

00:47:30Obviously, at the front we've got a great battle.

00:47:32We've got the Inter Europol car.

00:47:35I believe it's now done its drive through.

00:47:38So we'll see exactly where that shakes out, whether it stays in the lead or not.

00:47:45Yeah, it should have done, shouldn't it, by now.

00:47:47And its last pit stop was 32 seconds.

00:47:49Well, there you go, that's where the pit lane delta is.

00:47:5132 seconds.

00:47:52So, yeah, drive through, 32 seconds.

00:47:55Anything beyond that, there's been work done at a standstill.

00:47:59And he holds at 15, 16 second lead still.

00:48:03Yeah, so that 50 seconds that he had in hand after the pit stop was very, very important.

00:48:11On board with Andre Lotterer.

00:48:13Just the 10 wins in World Endurance Championship Racing.

00:48:17Interesting that the chassis number of the 963, 963 number 111.

00:48:22It's not that they didn't start at 001 and have built 110 before they got to this one.

00:48:29But that will be great for chassis number geeks in many years to come.

00:48:35Because he won't just have it written down on a piece of paper in scrutineering.

00:48:39There will actually be video evidence of the car.

00:48:41That's right.

00:48:42And normally you can go around the outside here.

00:48:49But you see, you have to keep it more in the middle of the road because of all the marbles.

00:48:53At the beginning of the race, it would have been a no-brainer, but...

00:48:56And what a great demonstration of what happens when you hit traffic at the exact wrong spot.

00:49:03You can hear him back off.

00:49:05You can see that...

00:49:06Changing down the gears.

00:49:07Yeah, exactly.

00:49:08Totally changed the way he took that part of the racetrack.

00:49:11It's like being a, you know, in your Golf GT on the country road,

00:49:14and you come up behind somebody enjoying a, you know, Sunday drive with granny.

00:49:17You know, you change down a couple of gears, ready for the gap to come.

00:49:20And then, yeah, it definitely affects the speed of the car.

00:49:24Of course, this Sunday drive is a little quicker than most.

00:49:27Hopefully.

00:49:28Hopefully.

00:49:29Not that it's quicker than most, hopefully.

00:49:32Hopefully most Sunday drives are slower than this.

00:49:37And you can see how recently he has been in the pit lane.

00:49:39The Alchemel graphics there on the right-hand side of your screen,

00:49:42showing brake and throttle application and also the energy state of the car.

00:49:47So that will be its mild hybrid system and also its internal combustion engine.

00:49:52And on the left-hand side, the gear selector position.

00:49:55Five, up to six, goes up to seven.

00:49:57And on the left, watch the speed.

00:49:59321 is the magic number that takes you to 200 miles an hour.

00:50:05Anything north of that is into slightly scary territory.

00:50:11Margin right up to the limiter.

00:50:13Not quite to the limiter guy.

00:50:15What is actually the fastest point on the circuit?

00:50:17And the reason for that is because if you get into the slipstream of the car at those speeds,

00:50:23you want to have a little margin so that you can take advantage.

00:50:27Yeah.

00:50:28Because as soon as you hit that limiter, the car just stops accelerating,

00:50:30which is obviously not what you want when you're trying to make a pass.

00:50:34So that will be set at sort of 77, 7800 RPM with another 250, 300 RPM in hand.

00:50:40Because when you're in the turbulent air behind a car, close behind it,

00:50:44it's less hard, if you like, for the car to push its way through than standing air.

00:50:51And so you get that little advantage.

00:50:53You will have felt it yourself in a road car behind a big truck.

00:50:57I mean, especially when you go past a truck, you feel the bow wave, you feel the wash.

00:51:01You know, you can see it with a boat.

00:51:03It's no different with a truck.

00:51:05That's why aerodynamics is called fluid dynamics,

00:51:08because air acts the same way as very thin water.

00:51:12Very, very thin water.

00:51:13But it's got that, you know, you see cars side by side on the straight,

00:51:16and they're bobbling around.

00:51:18Well, that's why, because if you imagine two boats,

00:51:21they both be bouncing off each other's bow waves.

00:51:23So that wake, that air wake is very much a...

00:51:27Even though it's tidied up in boats,

00:51:29it's tidied up even more in racing cars to help generate grip

00:51:32and to help take hot air out of the car and all of that.

00:51:36It's still, you're still bouncing around on these cushions of air.

00:51:41And that must be, when you first get into this,

00:51:44when you first get into high aerodependency cars,

00:51:47that must be an absolutely mind-warping experience

00:51:51to get to grips with why these weird things happen that are invisible.

00:51:56And again, it's, you know, with these cars, in theory,

00:51:59the faster you go through the corner, the more downforce you have,

00:52:02so the more the car has been pushed into the ground.

00:52:04And it's getting your head around that.

00:52:06Louise Beckett?

00:52:07I don't know if you've seen on the pictures yet,

00:52:09but the 38 Hertz Team Jota is in the garage.

00:52:13The driver's out of the car. They're not going anywhere.

00:52:15They're cleaning the car up.

00:52:17And what they're doing is waiting for the car...

00:52:20waiting towards the end and aiming for the car to be classified.

00:52:25Okay. And can you ask Sam how close to the end of the race does he need to go

00:52:31to actually make sure the car is classified?

00:52:36Because that will be the main thing.

00:52:38I'll come back to you on that when they're expecting to go back out.

00:52:42And enjoy the tea while you're there.

00:52:43So, Louise at Hertz Team Jota.

00:52:44Yeah, the 38 car has had a trying time, it is fair to say, that hybrid.

00:53:00The first car in private hands.

00:53:02Next time out for the World Endurance Championship, Monza in July.

00:53:06If you quite fancy a bit of watching this stuff trackside,

00:53:10and particularly, actually, there were fans in Portimao

00:53:13who could not get, who could not get tickets for Le Mans.

00:53:18There may well be other fans from Europe who couldn't get tickets for Le Mans

00:53:21who decide to go to Monza instead.

00:53:23That's, yeah, you can, you can watch these cars trackside

00:53:27and you'll be able to see all of that going on.

00:53:29You'll also be able to see Proton racing their customer Porsche as well.

00:53:34Into the garage again, problems for Porsche.

00:53:37Last time it was 93, this time it's 94.

00:53:40Now, the 94 car was crashed earlier on as well by Gustavo Menezes.

00:53:46So, both cars have been in the barriers.

00:53:4993 was crashed by John Eric Verne and had a brief trip into the garage.

00:53:54They had a hydraulic pressure problem.

00:53:56And their hydraulic gear selector shifter, I would think, would be the problem there.

00:54:01And I wonder if that is the same deal with the 94 car.

00:54:07John Eric Verne going through the Porsche curves.

00:54:09You see that the wear and tear that these cars go through.

00:54:13The wrap coming off the right front fender.

00:54:16Yeah.

00:54:17It's lived a life, this car.

00:54:19A box V slap, box, box, driver chain.

00:54:24Okay, so he will come as good.

00:54:26Never mind that.

00:54:27Look at the pitot tube on the left-hand side there.

00:54:29Barely even attached.

00:54:31It's bending right back.

00:54:32Now, that measures airspeed.

00:54:34Why do you need that?

00:54:35Well, you correlate it with the wheel speed, but wheel speed can be affected by weather.

00:54:40So, aircraft have a pitot tube to measure their speed over the ground.

00:54:45Whether there's a headwind or not, they correlate their airspeed with actual ground speed.

00:54:51And that's exactly what you're doing here.

00:54:53Whoa, ho, ho.

00:54:54Is that Valentino Rossi backing the Toyota in?

00:54:58Brendan Hartley taking some tips from the doctor.

00:55:01He needs to stay on the other side of that white line,

00:55:04because it's not just the marbles, it's the gravel as well, Guy Smith,

00:55:08that is such a big factor late in the race.

00:55:11Every gravel trap has been visited by everybody.

00:55:19He's on tires.

00:55:20They're in their third stint, but that's down at Mulsang Corner.

00:55:26That's a handful.

00:55:28Yep.

00:55:29Okay, Brendan, you need to control brake pressure.

00:55:32You need to control brake pressure in those places.

00:55:34I know it's difficult.

00:55:35The tires are getting old.

00:55:37Yeah, copy.

00:55:40You have your apprentices there at TGR.

00:55:43What did you take?

00:55:44As a driver, what did you take from that?

00:55:46Controlling brake pressure, so he can't play with the balance anymore or the harvesting anymore.

00:55:52That all seems to be optimised.

00:55:54And these things take a lot of stopping.

00:55:56There's a lot of pedal pressure.

00:55:57Yeah, you can actually modulate the pedal.

00:55:59So usually with a downforce car, the first hit is normally a hard hit of pressure when you've got the downforce on the car.

00:56:06And then you actually bleed off the brake pedal as you go into the corner.

00:56:09And as you roll off the pedal, you carry momentum and roll speed through the corner.

00:56:13But that first input is so important.

00:56:15And it just seems that while the grip of the tyres are going away, perhaps that first input, a bit aggressive, is just on balance in the car.

00:56:23So it just needs to be a little bit more, possibly make a fraction earlier and just a little bit lighter.

00:56:27John Elkin, the CEO of Automobili Ferrari, has changed out of his Hawaiian shirt of yesterday.

00:56:34He's a little bit more dressed up Sunday.

00:56:36I don't know if he's off to church later.

00:56:38Certainly has that look about him looking very sharp this morning.

00:56:41He was looking very chill.

00:56:43I didn't quite, we didn't really quite get a look at the shirt close enough to see what all the various different coloured patterns on it were.

00:56:50I'm sure it was very Ferrari Le Mans related.

00:56:53Let's hear again from the eight Toyota crew.

00:56:56Okay, Brendan, we have a question for you.

00:56:59Is four stints possible for you physically?

00:57:01Is four stints possible for you?

00:57:03Question.

00:57:06Yes.

00:57:09The cortisol to which is, as long as I don't stay on these doggy old tyres, if you give me fresh rubber, I'll do it.

00:57:15Louise Beckett.

00:57:16Well, if you remember, that's exactly the same call that we heard earlier in the race, right at the beginning.

00:57:21Exactly the same answer.

00:57:23He said, yes, I can soon and I'm not sure if the tyres will last.

00:57:26Yeah, put me in, coach.

00:57:28Definitely he's up for the fight.

00:57:29And, you know, he knows what it means to win Le Mans.

00:57:32He's won it with Porsche.

00:57:33He's won it with Peugeot.

00:57:35And he wants to win it again.

00:57:36And he wants to win as tough a Le Mans as there's been in a decade and more and probably certainly in his knowledge of Le Mans.

00:57:44I'm struggling now to think of another one where it's been so cutthroat and so cut and thrust all the way through.

00:57:5193 Porsche, oh no, 93 Peugeot has been gone.

00:57:5694 Peugeot still in the garage.

00:57:58Let's hear from Louise again.

00:58:00Yes, I don't know if you saw what happened on track.

00:58:03I didn't.

00:58:04The 93 Peugeot came in and had a nose change.

00:58:08Now, that's the one that had the hydraulics issue as well, which was a quick turnaround.

00:58:12But I don't know if you've heard anything or seen anything other than that on that one.

00:58:17I haven't seen anything else.

00:58:19I wonder why 94 is in again.

00:58:21That may well be an issue with hydraulics.

00:58:24By the way, the reason that Peugeot, that Peugeot, Toyota stopped out of sync a little earlier was to come in while there were two long slow zones on the track,

00:58:34which reduces the speed of everybody else on the track, which then means that your pit stop quote takes less time.

00:58:41Yes.

00:58:42So it was a shorter stop, topped themselves up.

00:58:44But again, you know, fuel and track position both in that equation.

00:58:47That's the Battle Cat's car throwing off a bit of line.

00:58:50The Peugeot nose.

00:58:51Nose of the Peugeot.

00:58:52So that was where it lost bits of its nose.

00:58:55And that the replacement is on.

00:58:58But the onboard we saw a little earlier still had the 93 car with bits peeling off.

00:59:04So there's Carlos Tavares, himself a racing driver.

00:59:08I think I'm right in remembering that he's raced here at Le Mans.