24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 – Full Race Part 18 - video Dailymotion

Grand Prix

Relive the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, a true endurance classic that tested every limit of man and machine. Audi and Peugeot went head-to-head in a relentless battle for supremacy, with strategy, reliability, and pure speed deciding the outcome. From breathtaking night stints to heart-pounding final hours, this race captured the raw essence of Le Mans and delivered moments that would define a new era of endurance racing.  #LeMans2010 #24hLeMans #EnduranceRacing #AudiVsPeugeot #MotorsportHistory #RacingDrama #LegendaryRace

Transcript

00:00:0012-lap differential between each pit stop, which is really what they've been doing through the whole race.

00:00:04The Peugeot, on the other hand, the number one car in particular, has generally been getting 13 laps per stint.

00:00:12Clearly, they have misinformation, and I do apologise.

00:00:15Down at Audi, they're saying that their race...

00:00:18Maybe I just misunderstood, because it was a young German chap that was having a word with.

00:00:22And maybe he was talking about the amount of stops that they're going to be forced to take for tyres and things like that,

00:00:27or that they're quicker at their stops when they need them.

00:00:29Well, certainly, the pit stops have been great, isn't it?

00:00:31Yeah, no, they have been amazing.

00:00:33I mean, that's something they would be working on all the time.

00:00:36I know that, certainly in their workshop in America, they actually built their own pit wall inside the shop,

00:00:43and they have routine pit stop practice every week, I think multiple times a week, actually.

00:00:48The mechanics and the staff are meant to stay on a strict health regime and stay very fit as well,

00:00:54so they would certainly be good at that.

00:00:56And here is the number 95 car, it's into the pits with definite front-end damage.

00:00:59I think that throttle may have been stuck open.

00:01:01It certainly looked at.

00:01:02Why the throttle was stuck open, of course, we have no idea.

00:01:06Very strange-looking incident, however, really.

00:01:08It sailed down into the sort of escape road at Indianapolis Corner.

00:01:12There's a couple of flat-out kinks before that.

00:01:15In a prototype, you can almost carry the speed into that final sort of straight bit before the left-hander at Indianapolis.

00:01:22In a GT car, however, you're braking before that final kink, is that right?

00:01:26In a GT car, you'd probably be giving it a bit of a brake and then come off and turn into the right and then brake heavily.

00:01:31And where we saw him go on straight was where he would need to brake heavily and drop down at least two gears.

00:01:36So that's not really a nice place to be going straight on.

00:01:39And a very, very frightening experience to have the throttle stuck open as well.

00:01:42He was able to bring the car back to the pits without any problem.

00:01:44I mean, I don't think Fisichella had been at the wheel of that car for very long, had it?

00:01:48Because we saw a Lacey looking pretty tired getting out of the car that was only, what, maybe ten minutes ago at the very most.

00:01:54You know, it's always a problem when you've got different drivers in a car.

00:01:59Ideally, they would like different pedal setups within the foot box of these cars.

00:02:03They've only done a couple of races together this season in the Le Mans series.

00:02:08You never know whether he got his feet in the wrong place, basically.

00:02:12It's dual.

00:02:13I suppose.

00:02:14I can't imagine Fisichella would be able to do something.

00:02:16But you never know.

00:02:17You just don't know.

00:02:18What's surprising is that he was able to bring it back without any further difficulties, apparently.

00:02:21I mean, I've had a throttle stick open in a car I've driven before as well,

00:02:25and to the point where I had to shut the engine off in order to slow the vehicle down.

00:02:28But funnily enough, I was able to then get my foot under it and pull it back up,

00:02:33and I was able to get it back to the pits.

00:02:34So I think it depends on what's really happened there.

00:02:37We don't know.

00:02:37We're speculating.

00:02:38We're guessing.

00:02:39We wouldn't know until we actually ask the team, will we?

00:02:41And we've talked about already all this rubber flying around us, little bits of rubber.

00:02:44They can get everywhere.

00:02:46Absolutely.

00:02:47It's amazing where they can get.

00:02:47It's what linkages, whatever else they can get to.

00:02:51What is amazing at the moment as well is Davidson's pace here.

00:02:53He's just done a 321.6.

00:02:55He's been there or thereabouts hovering around the 21 mark, just constantly, it seems, for

00:03:00about the last, well, certainly during his last step.

00:03:03That number one car is really pushing very, very hard indeed.

00:03:07You saw the performance difference a little bit early on where he just left Alan McNish for

00:03:12dead on one of the straights here.

00:03:13And he's clearly just constantly hitting that mark, particularly through the opening sector

00:03:18here.

00:03:1831.8 is what he did last time by.

00:03:21And in every part of the racetrack here, he's got a significant advantage.

00:03:26And he sits just one lap behind the leader, don't forget.

00:03:28They can't make any mistakes, Audi, out there.

00:03:30And, yeah, apologies for that, a little bit of information.

00:03:34I clearly got their range mixed up with what they were talking about, clearly about their

00:03:39tyres.

00:03:39Well, I don't know, they've certainly been varying through the race.

00:03:44Marcel Fasler is in second place now.

00:03:45He's only 14 seconds, the number eight car, behind the race leader, Romain Dumas.

00:03:50But I fancy that Marcel Fasler is due, oh, actually, I just looked out of the booth and

00:03:54I can see the pit crew down there for car number eight are ready for that second place car

00:04:00on pit lane.

00:04:00Schedule service here.

00:04:02And, again, it's 12 laps since that car's most recent pit stop.

00:04:05I just questioned if maybe Audi was thinking of hoping to save some fuel economy, because

00:04:10we did see their times drop off just a little bit.

00:04:12It wasn't a huge amount.

00:04:13It was a couple, two, three seconds here and there, sometimes four.

00:04:16And I just wondered if maybe they were thinking they could be a bit sneaky and just save that

00:04:20little bit of fuel and maybe squeak a little bit more out of the car.

00:04:22Yeah, I'm wondering whether they were referring to the fact that they're pushing so hard on

00:04:26the number one car that they're going to essentially have to come in a little bit earlier.

00:04:31It's a big, big push going on at the moment.

00:04:33A 321.016 has just been set by Davidson.

00:04:37He roars across the line in front of us here.

00:04:40They really are on a charge.

00:04:42I just wonder how limiting that's going to be, Jeremy, if you are on a chase here.

00:04:47Just how more regularly are you going to have to come in and make your stop?

00:04:50Yeah, that's exactly right.

00:04:51Because I think it's a lap and somewhere between 40 and 50 seconds.

00:04:56It's difficult to tell with our timing system here.

00:04:58But certainly Anthony Davidson has not given up the chase.

00:05:00He's running in third place, just over a lap behind a leader.

00:05:04We're glad you're with us here on Eurosport.

00:05:05We'll be back with you momentarily.

00:05:11Welcome back.

00:05:12We're just tracking around with second in glass in GT2.

00:05:16It is the Ferrari, the Hankook Shod Ferrari here.

00:05:21We were just discussing different compounds and how, in different conditions, various tyre manufacturers seem to have the advantage.

00:05:27Hankook will have been hoping just for a little bit of moisture in the morning, maybe a shower.

00:05:31We have been blessed with a dry race.

00:05:35But despite that, plenty of drama here.

00:05:37I know some of you out there absolutely love it when it bends down, just to sort of throw into the confusion.

00:05:42But we're expecting almost certainly to have some variable weather.

00:05:46We've had cloud.

00:05:47It's not exactly bright sunshine, although the sun did nudge out earlier on today, as we just hone in on the 64 Corvettes.

00:05:53It's sadly all over their challenge at the moment.

00:05:57And they're almost directly opposite us, incidentally, in the pit box area along pit lane.

00:06:02And it's a real shame.

00:06:03And not of their making, this issue at all.

00:06:07Collected as they were by the number one car in the hands of Anthony Davidson.

00:06:11And that is that for the 64 car.

00:06:14Yeah, I think it caused some damage, some overheating there.

00:06:17And that caused terminal damage to the engine.

00:06:19The other car also went out with an engine failure.

00:06:22That was just an engine failure.

00:06:25Antonio Garcia was talking to him about an hour and a half ago.

00:06:28And he said the car was running absolutely perfectly.

00:06:30No warning whatsoever.

00:06:31All of a sudden, kaboom.

00:06:33And there's no car number 009.

00:06:35Sixth place.

00:06:36Sixth place.

00:06:37Lola Asimajin, Stuart.

00:06:38Yeah, Juan Barazzi in that car.

00:06:40That was the lead petrol car.

00:06:42And the backer is not far behind in the Audi.

00:06:44So Juan Barazzi has got to get that going very, very quickly.

00:06:48That looks to me like it's at one of the chicanes.

00:06:52I might be mistaken, but the first chicanes.

00:06:54And it's a bit of unburned fuel at the back of the exhaust.

00:06:58It doesn't want to fire, does it?

00:06:59It doesn't want to fire up again.

00:07:00Yeah, it doesn't want to fire.

00:07:02And, you know, that car has been running for the last 19 hours.

00:07:06And Juan Barazzi just looks like he just loses it on the brakes.

00:07:11Oh, dearie me.

00:07:13That's bizarre.

00:07:13That, that, that, that, that, that is, could that be the rear wheels seizing with an engine problem?

00:07:20Or, you know, it looked like he kind of, you know, realized he was going too fast.

00:07:24But maybe, maybe he was, he thought he was going to go in the gravel.

00:07:27So he tried to abort and get to the escape road.

00:07:29Would that make sense in that situation?

00:07:31It looked like he tried to bail out, didn't he?

00:07:33Yeah.

00:07:33It did look like he tried to bail out, but, yeah.

00:07:35He wouldn't want to get stuck in the gravel, of course.

00:07:37He, he, he was already turned in as well.

00:07:39So, you know, normally if you're going to bail out, you bail out early and just go straight down the escape road, through the tires and carry on your merry way.

00:07:46But it looks like Brambrax has actually turned into the corner and then encountered either, you know, an abortive problem or, you know, has had a situation.

00:07:56You know, you see the Aston Martin guys looking on in, with long faces.

00:08:01So it's not an engine problem at all.

00:08:03That car's carrying on and they'll probably see it come in the pits.

00:08:05Yeah, you can see the consternation, could you not, down there in the pit lane.

00:08:07But the good news is Barazzi has got that car going.

00:08:10It still has about a, a good lap and a half advantage over the number 15 car, the Christian Bakud Audi R15 TDI.

00:08:18And about, what, five laps over Frank Mayer in the double eight signature plus Aston Martin, that is the second of the petrol in regards to that car.

00:08:28Yes, it is.

00:08:29Saline had its issues as well.

00:08:31Also a visit to the travel, the gravel trap, but still leads GT1 class.

00:08:35It's a 21st position overall, may well actually break into the top 20, which would be a phenomenal farewell, I think, to this class.

00:08:43And I think as well, we alluded to it earlier, Saline have been great supporters as well over the last 10 years.

00:08:49They weren't here last year, but they've been given the ticket for this time by.

00:08:54And it'd be wonderful to see a car that's been with us for such a long time to actually have some success right here.

00:08:59The Golf Boys are awaiting, and we saw some very, very red eyes a few moments ago with one of our art shots, courtesy of our directors here, who's supplying us with the pictures.

00:09:11It's been a long old night, and I think Barazzi as well is just feeling that as well.

00:09:16Maybe just a little bit of brain fade because the car looks okay.

00:09:19I think he did just bail, to be honest.

00:09:21Yeah, at a very strange way, you know, you should, if you're going to bail, bail early.

00:09:25Don't turn in and then drive into the, you know, get it wrong and drive into the gravel.

00:09:31It's best just to go straight on through the tyres and carry on.

00:09:34So, but you know, you do do strange things when you've been up for over 24 hours now, these guys have, and been racing for 19 of them.

00:09:42So, mind does funny things.

00:09:44Right, we're going to make a mark here on the lap, and we will get their range under the way that they are pushing at the moment.

00:09:52Davidson's on his marks, getting the clean-up job, getting refuelled, as we see.

00:09:57They're going to have to start stretching the tyres here.

00:10:00It's a difficult thing to do as well when you're on such a pace.

00:10:03Playing catch-up as they are to Audis in positions one and two.

00:10:07If you went to bed last night and you've just had your breakfast and you're rejoining us in the UK, it's at nine in the morning, just approaching that.

00:10:15With five hours remaining here, the one car comes away here and will have a marker upon it.

00:10:22And it's suddenly got very, very busy down on pit road as the 37 car, the WR Zytec, comes into position.

00:10:29They've been great supporters as Le Mans for a long time as well.

00:10:31And the Helter Racing crew, they really, really do come with something rather bizarre on occasion.

00:10:37This year it looks reasonably standard.

00:10:41We've had some very weird-looking machines over the years from the WR outfit.

00:10:45I know that they're difficult to find if you're looking for models because I've got a little soft spot for them.

00:10:52Some of their projects have been a bit bizarre.

00:10:55We often refer to them as canoe projects because they have to lift off the entire bodywork on occasion in order to get in there.

00:11:01But they still do hold the record for the fastest straight, fastest speed on the Mulsanne straight, don't they, which is a nice little feather in their cap.

00:11:08Yeah, pre-chicane.

00:11:10They actually brought a car with virtually no downforce.

00:11:12It was having a great deal of trouble going, even getting out of the car park, I think.

00:11:16They had extra thin wheels as well.

00:11:18They just wanted that record and it is theirs for keeps.

00:11:22Just seeing the 009 car arriving at its marks.

00:11:26Yeah, Juan Brasi has got that car back.

00:11:27It doesn't seem to be any major issues, probably just fuel and tyres and sending, but we're going to find out in a very short while.

00:11:35Yeah, we saw the Peugeot of Anthony Davidson coming for that very quickly.

00:11:38So here is the look at the overall classification, as you can see.

00:11:41One minute, 23 seconds between the two Audis at the front of the field.

00:11:45Romain Dumas leads from Marcel Fesler.

00:11:48The two drivers at the wheel of number nine and number eight cars respectively.

00:11:51The team Peugeot total car.

00:11:53Anthony Davidson driving car number one after a couple of delays earlier in the night.

00:11:58Audi team Yost in fourth place.

00:11:59That's Alan McNish doing the best he can.

00:12:01He's turning laps, all three Audis, turning laps around about three minutes, 24, three minutes, 25.

00:12:07Marcel Fesler perhaps not quite matching that, the same pace set by Romain Dumas and Alan McNish farther down the order.

00:12:14There is a Lava competition car, 21st overall.

00:12:17The green signifies it's a GT1 car.

00:12:20The orange signifies it's a GT2 car.

00:12:22So it's a Lava Saline car number 50, 21st overall leading in GT1.

00:12:28And in 16th place was Richard Leakes in the Porsche.

00:12:32And again, we've seen a fabulous battle in GT2.

00:12:35But that's kind of peated out.

00:12:37It's now Richard Leakes who holds about a lap and a half advantage over Alan Simonson,

00:12:42who is driving the car number 89, that Hankook tyres Porsche.

00:12:45That particular car, Simonson shares it with Dominic Farnbacher and Lee Keane.

00:12:53And that particular car is the same car that Dominic Farnbacher drove in the American Le Mans series a couple of years ago

00:13:00when it was in Tafel Racing colours.

00:13:02And Dominic won a couple of races with that particular car.

00:13:05And it's also had a lot of success this season already, Stuart Hall.

00:13:08It has.

00:13:08It was on the podium in the Nürburgring, excuse me, long night, Nürburgring 24 hours

00:13:14with that same driving team with Dominic Farnbacher, Alan Simonson and Lee Keane.

00:13:18And now they're back here and they're in second place.

00:13:20So it's going well for them.

00:13:23It's been a beautiful run for that car.

00:13:24Sorry, I can't.

00:13:25The cars run absolutely flawlessly.

00:13:28They've been running a sensible pace.

00:13:31I think they had a game plan coming into this race.

00:13:34They knew what sort of a pace they wanted to run.

00:13:36They thought they could run it comfortably, not overextend themselves or the car.

00:13:40And that is what it takes to win this motor race.

00:13:42It does, indeed.

00:13:44And I know that the Gennetta outfit and the Fordy car have had their issues.

00:13:48But as well, we had them up in and talking to us a little bit early on.

00:13:52We were enchanted by their comments, indeed, that this is an event now that they're kind of blanketing

00:14:01almost the entire range of motorsport, the Gennetta outfit.

00:14:05It's not the biggest outfit in the world, but you can start driving their cars at the age of, I think, 14.

00:14:10And you can actually come up and contest Le Mans as well if it becomes a brand favourite of yours.

00:14:15And don't forget, they're running, what, fifth in class at the moment.

00:14:18Chalendon is on board the 41 car.

00:14:21Her 40 machine is down in 30th place.

00:14:23As you can see, there are our class leaders.

00:14:27We just pulled away from the Porsche.

00:14:29Simonson and Trissie Keller are chasing them down in that class.

00:14:33And, incidentally, that record by WR on the Mulsanne Strait, it was set.

00:14:38It was before the chicanes were put in, so that's the reason why it will never be beat.

00:14:42We'll take a break and we'll be back in a moment.

00:14:48Welcome back to Eurosport.

00:14:49My name is Jeremy Shaw.

00:14:50Alongside me is Carlton Kirby and Stuart Hall.

00:14:52We're watching here as the AF Corsa team work on the No. 95 Ferrari F430 GT.

00:14:58That is the car with which Giancarlo Fisichella had a major problem at the Indianapolis corner about 25 minutes ago.

00:15:06He sails straight on down the escape road with, apparently, the throttle fully on and the brakes certainly fully locked up.

00:15:13And Stuart, that was a very frightening moment, it must have been, for Giancarlo Fisichella.

00:15:17He's had some accidents during his career, of course, a massive amount of experience in Formula 1.

00:15:21But coming here and having that sort of crash there on a very narrow road track and a very far section of the track, scary stuff.

00:15:28Absolutely, Jeremy. Welcome to Le Mans Giancarlo Fisichella.

00:15:33Indianapolis corner is not for the faint-hearted.

00:15:34And it looks to us like he did have a bit of an issue going through there.

00:15:41And with the front brakes completely locked up and the rear wheel is still driving.

00:15:45So, you know, it's very easy to speculate, as we've said earlier.

00:15:47You know, we don't know what happened.

00:15:49But I shouldn't think it was Giancarlo's fault anyway.

00:15:52And, yeah, of course, guys, and how we're building the front end of that car and probably hoping to get it out very quickly.

00:16:00Got a few messages on our website today, eurosport.co.uk.

00:16:04Go to message boards, scroll down to motorsports.

00:16:08Then click on Le Mans and the thread is new exclamation mark, eurosport 2010 Le Mans live.

00:16:13Yes, loving the quick fix for Ferrari, says Samsonite.

00:16:18The straps and duct tape were used.

00:16:19You can always depend on it.

00:16:22Yeah, there's a note on our screen car to the bank.

00:16:25It says, car number 26, no front lights.

00:16:28If both front headlights aren't working, then you have to come in and fix them.

00:16:32But it looks absolutely fine to be, Stuart Hall.

00:16:34It does, but Merino and Frank Kitty are going very slowly on the Mulsanne straight.

00:16:38And could this be another problem for the Highcroft team?

00:16:41They've had three punctures up until about 1 o'clock in the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning.

00:16:46And I don't think they had any more through the early hours, but clearly a problem there for that 26 Highcroft racing HPD.

00:16:54They say sailors shouldn't ever paint their boats green.

00:16:58And it seems that green vehicles here have had all kinds of problems today.

00:17:02We saw the 11 car.

00:17:05I'm actually looking to see if they're still plying their trade right at the bank in 34th place.

00:17:10They've had just about everything go wrong, unfortunately, in the Lola.

00:17:14Johnny Cocker is on board at the moment.

00:17:17And they are circulating, which is very, very good news.

00:17:21Yeah, that has been probably one of the busiest pit boxes.

00:17:24And likewise, it seems, if you have a green car out there, the Ferrari as well, in its beautiful lime livery, also having its issues today.

00:17:35A big clean-up job going on the front screen here.

00:17:37And thankfully, at least one blessing of having some clouds around here is that you haven't got that flaring sunshine with all the debris, Stuart Hall, that gets kicked up.

00:17:45Insects and that kind of thing at this time of year as well.

00:17:48It can be pretty nasty looking through that kind of maze, if you like.

00:17:53It is very, very difficult, especially when you've come through the night into the morning and you've got oil, you've got insects.

00:17:58The screen's probably been a bit pebble-dashed from all the dust.

00:18:01And then, to make matters worse, you've got the sun coming up as well.

00:18:05It is very, very difficult to see.

00:18:08And hats off to these guys with the closed cockpit prototypes and the GT cars.

00:18:13There is a look at the LMP2 class, leading car number 42, the Stracker Racing HPD.

00:18:18It's an identical car to the second-place car of Highcroft Racing.

00:18:22It's a British-based team, based just down the road from Silverstone.

00:18:26And it is now at the wheel is Nick Leventis, the team owner of Stracker Racing.

00:18:30And he's now extended that lead to four laps over the Highcroft Racing car.

00:18:37And the Marina Franchini, we saw him a few moments ago, limping around the track.

00:18:40We couldn't see any visible signs of why he was limping.

00:18:44But he's had to do that several times already during this race this morning.

00:18:48Around about 1 o'clock, he had a puncture just going through the Dunlop curves

00:18:52and had to crawl all the way around to the pit lane, over 8 miles.

00:18:57And he had to go at maximum about 50km in order to make sure that he didn't cause any further damage

00:19:04from that running flailing around inside the wheel arch.

00:19:06And he did a really good job, the team was absolutely thrilled.

00:19:09And he could get that car all the way back without causing any major damage.

00:19:12However, the bad news is now, there doesn't really seem to be any indication it's a puncture this time.

00:19:17The car is, however, going very slowly.

00:19:19It doesn't look good for the Highcroft car, but it is really playing into the hands of Nick Leventis.

00:19:24You know, that Stacker Racing car, touch wood, commentator's curse, but it's going round and round and round.

00:19:30And Nick Leventis is doing a fantastic job.

00:19:32He really has not got the experience of Danny Watts and Johnny Kane.

00:19:36You know, he's holding his own.

00:19:37That car's out front.

00:19:38It's got two, three laps over the Marino Franchitti and then another two over Jan Cherouz in the Pescarello.

00:19:45So all those boys need to do now is keep out of trouble, keep going round, and they're going to get a glass win.

00:19:50Yeah, it has been the fastest car all week.

00:19:52They've had a fair amount of experience, Stacker Racing, with this low downfall setup on the HPD chassis.

00:19:57The Acura team, the Highcroft team, at which we're looking now, the Malaria No More car,

00:20:02has been running in the American Le Mans series.

00:20:04We're going to run a very different aerodynamic configuration on generally much slower tracks than here at Le Mans.

00:20:10So this was their first attempt to get used to this aerodynamic package

00:20:16and develop the chassis setup around the aerodynamics of the car.

00:20:20It's hugely different, about 30% less downforce than they used to.

00:20:24And that means you have to change everything else on the car, suspension, spring rates, dampers,

00:20:29everything on this car, to adapt it, to make sure it handles properly for the driver.

00:20:33We talked a few minutes ago about the Drayson Racing, Lola Judd,

00:20:37of Emmanuel Pirro, Johnny Cocker, and Paul Drayson.

00:20:40That's the problem that they've been having this whole race.

00:20:44They ran here for the very first time in low downforce configuration

00:20:47and they have not been able to get a balance on that chassis

00:20:50to cope with that different aerodynamic setup on the car, Stuart.

00:20:53And that's a crucial part of this event, of course,

00:20:56because this is really the only chance you get normally to run in this configuration.

00:21:00You do, you do, Jeremy, and it's such a unique circuit with such high speeds

00:21:06that you have to run the car in low downforce trim to get the maximum speed out of it.

00:21:11But then you arrive at the Porsche curbs where you need all the downforce you can get.

00:21:15So it's a catch-22 situation and it is more advantageous to run with a low downforce trim,

00:21:20but it does mean the car's very, very tricky to drive through the Porsche curbs.

00:21:22You know, the car's very skinny on wings, which makes the car very, very twitchy front and rear.

00:21:28And it's much, much easier to make a mistake.

00:21:30Yeah.

00:21:30These cars look so delicate at the back, don't they?

00:21:33In it goes.

00:21:34Second in class at the moment, the 42 car is leading LMP2.

00:21:38We've got a message shown on the site as well from Tim70.

00:21:40He says, if the Porsche does indeed catch the Audis,

00:21:43you're not going to see the same kind of dogfight as we've seen in, not in GT2,

00:21:48but of course LMP2 as well out there.

00:21:50Not quite as matched, thinks Tim70.

00:21:54The question is, Tim, will the Peugeots catch up?

00:21:57They're in and checking out the back end here, Stuart.

00:22:00Difficult to actually know what the issue is just for the time being.

00:22:03It certainly looks more terminal than a puncture, doesn't it, Carlton?

00:22:07You know, the car in the pits now,

00:22:09now losing even more time to the Stracca racing car of Nicola Ventus.

00:22:14I just hope they fix that car and get it out quick,

00:22:16because then it'll be great to see an Acura 123.

00:22:19The 009 is here and is the lead petrol,

00:22:23but he's looking like he's got a handful here

00:22:27and had to, as you can see, just take evasive action there, Stuart.

00:22:32Yeah, Juan Brazzi having another mishap in the 009 car.

00:22:37He's not comfortable, is he?

00:22:39No, is he a bit tired or is there something amiss?

00:22:42But that car was running very, very quickly before him

00:22:44in the hands of Sam Hancock.

00:22:45So Juan needs to sort of calm down

00:22:49and start knocking off the laps,

00:22:51because he's got a lead over Christian Baccaro,

00:22:53but that's not going to be a big lead if he makes any more mistakes.

00:22:56We've got Tony Vylander about to talk to us.

00:23:00We are down at the pits.

00:23:02Tony, what are the guys doing

00:23:04and how quick are they getting the car back on the track?

00:23:07Hey, it's a shame.

00:23:09There was a technical problem in the car.

00:23:12I don't know how,

00:23:13but Giancarlo managed to keep the control of the car

00:23:16and bring it back to the box.

00:23:19And as we can see, there's a lot of work.

00:23:21The guys are doing the maximum to get back on the track.

00:23:26We were fighting for second place,

00:23:28so the podium was our target

00:23:30and we were on the right road to do it.

00:23:35So it's a big disappointment,

00:23:38but obviously we want to finish the race.

00:23:40But what happened to the car?

00:23:42Was it a technical failure, you said,

00:23:44or was it a driving mistake?

00:23:45Yeah, technical failure.

00:23:47I don't want to go into detail,

00:23:48but a technical failure on the car.

00:23:50And yeah, Giancarlo anyway did a good job

00:23:53to keep the car even in one piece.

00:23:57Thank you very much.

00:23:59Do you think that could possibly be a management issue?

00:24:02No, I think it, well, I mean, it could be,

00:24:04but more likely a little bit of rubber got stuck

00:24:08somewhere where it shouldn't be.

00:24:09I would suggest to you.

00:24:10I mean, there's rubber all over the place.

00:24:11We talked about it being thrown up from the cars.

00:24:13It gets stuck in the wheel wells.

00:24:15It gets stuck even inside the rim of the tires,

00:24:18the wheels,

00:24:19and it gets into all nooks and crannies, doesn't it?

00:24:22There's rubber in the cockpit,

00:24:24even in closed cars,

00:24:26and it certainly can get into the engine bay.

00:24:30There's all sorts of speculation

00:24:31on what could have gone wrong.

00:24:33But what we do know is,

00:24:34according to Tony there,

00:24:35Giancarlo did a very good job

00:24:37to stop himself having a big old shunt.

00:24:39Now we see a lacy back in the car

00:24:41when it restarts.

00:24:43What we did see is that the car was actually being driven

00:24:45with the brakes locked up.

00:24:48The front wheels were absolutely locked

00:24:49and it was still being powered along,

00:24:50which just defies explanation at the moment.

00:24:54That's a bit of a scary situation to be in, really.

00:24:56And it's a good job that Escape Road was there

00:24:57with a small set of tires

00:25:00because if that had been an arm co,

00:25:01he certainly wouldn't have been able

00:25:03to get the car back to the garage.

00:25:05Yeah, there was a little bit of a gap there

00:25:06to get stricken cars out of the way.

00:25:08There's a close...

00:25:10You can see there is the third car in line.

00:25:11At the front of the pack there is that Céline,

00:25:14which is back out onto the track

00:25:17and still leading in GT1

00:25:18after the spin that occurred around about an hour ago.

00:25:22We see Jörg Müller there gurning for the camera.

00:25:26Thank you, Jörg.

00:25:26He'll take over in the fifth place car now in GT2.

00:25:31Coming to 78 in the MW N3 GT.

00:25:35And those guys have worked hard.

00:25:37They've done all sorts of dramas during this race.

00:25:40I was just doing a little bit of mathematics

00:25:41to try and figure out

00:25:42what sort of a chance Anthony Davidson has

00:25:45of catching the overall race leader.

00:25:47It's still Romain Jumain who leads in the Audi car number nine,

00:25:50followed by his teammate number eight, Marcel Faisler, at the wheel.

00:25:53The gap between those cars is around about 1 minute and 20 seconds or so.

00:25:57That's about the same gap as it's been for the last hour,

00:26:00despite a round of pit stops in the interim.

00:26:03Anthony Davidson is a bit more than a lap behind in third place,

00:26:08so probably about five minutes or so.

00:26:10He's lapping generally,

00:26:13although it's actually on this lap

00:26:15that he turns almost about exactly the same lap time as the leader.

00:26:18He's generally lapping about three seconds a lap quicker.

00:26:20A problem, however, for the eighth place car.

00:26:24Yes, unfortunately, it has ended up in the barriers here.

00:26:29Just for the time being, into the tyres, I should say,

00:26:33for the time being, we're not sure why that is the case.

00:26:36But the Signature Plus boys, just seeing who's on board,

00:26:40it's Pierre Rague at the moment as well,

00:26:42as we just head back down to the pits.

00:26:44We'll go back to that as soon as you get any movement in the vehicle.

00:26:47Just hoping they're all OK.

00:26:48Yeah, no, the Highcroft Racing Accurys,

00:26:53obviously they've fixed what they thought was a problem.

00:26:55They've put a fresh set of tyres back on Marino Franchitti,

00:26:58and he's going to head out there.

00:26:59And once again, resume back and trying to hunt down Nick Leventus

00:27:03as we see the Pierre Graggs 008 Aston Martin,

00:27:08the Signature Plus car, in the barriers.

00:27:10I think it was the first chicane,

00:27:13and it was in the middle of the first chicane.

00:27:14It was quite a strange place to go off.

00:27:16So hopefully the director's going to cut to a replay of that.

00:27:19It'll be good to see what happened there,

00:27:21but hopefully they're going to tow the car out of the barriers

00:27:25and he can get that car back to the pits

00:27:27because it really is having a good run.

00:27:29Big shake with debris coming out of the back of the 75 car.

00:27:32He's clearly had a brief excursion as well.

00:27:34He's sending gravel all over the place at the moment.

00:27:38He saw the rear end twitching,

00:27:40and he dumped at least a shovelful down there.

00:27:43These cars do pick up an enormous amount of gravel, don't they,

00:27:45when they do go off.

00:27:47There was the shimmy, I think,

00:27:49but whether this is his...

00:27:52Yes, it is.

00:27:52There is his outing.

00:27:53Even a short excursion like that, Stuart,

00:27:55you see how much is actually being spat away here.

00:27:58Manages to keep it going, gets back on course,

00:27:59but look how much he's dragging on,

00:28:01and that's debris for the invitation

00:28:03for everyone else to come and play with.

00:28:05And you can see he's kind of moving that around

00:28:07as you go down to the next corner.

00:28:08He's just trying to get rid of some of that gravel

00:28:11that gets stuck to the tyres.

00:28:12When you've got hot tyres, Stuart Hall,

00:28:14they pick up all sorts of debris,

00:28:15and you want to get that debris off the tyres,

00:28:17get the tyre back up to temperature again.

00:28:19When it's hot, it picks up anything,

00:28:21and when you go through gravel,

00:28:22it loses a lot of heat,

00:28:24and heat is grip very, very quickly.

00:28:26Yeah, not only, Jeremy, does it lose heat,

00:28:28but the gravel here is very, very sharp.

00:28:30We've seen in the practice and qualifying

00:28:32and during this race,

00:28:33there have been a lot of punctures.

00:28:35So spreading that gravel all over a corner,

00:28:38like Indianapolis,

00:28:39you know, it's a very cambered corner.

00:28:41The cars are going fairly quickly through it,

00:28:42even if it's a tight left-handler.

00:28:44And, you know, that is puncture territory.

00:28:48We're going to take ourselves a short commercial break.

00:28:50The Signature Plus car still waiting to be helped out here.

00:28:54It's embedded.

00:28:55We can't quite see what the damage at the front,

00:28:57if there is indeed any,

00:28:59but it looks like there may well be.

00:29:01A lot of discussion going on,

00:29:02plenty more to say back in a moment.

00:29:08Very warm welcome back.

00:29:09Dave Richards has just popped up,

00:29:11which is rather auspicious,

00:29:13as we have troubles going on down on the track

00:29:16for some of the 00 machines.

00:29:19And we're not even sure

00:29:20whether it's actually Juan Barazzi

00:29:22that's on board the Signature Plus car.

00:29:24Very warm welcome to you, by the way.

00:29:25Hi.

00:29:25Well, it's certainly not Juan

00:29:26because he's driving one of our cars,

00:29:28the 009 car.

00:29:29But we're not sure if it's Pierre Roug

00:29:33or his co-driver

00:29:34because I think there's something wrong

00:29:35with the transponder in the car

00:29:36to give the right driver.

00:29:38So, yes, we're thinking.

00:29:40It's actually stating that it's a...

00:29:41I can't beg your pardon,

00:29:42but in the 008,

00:29:44the Signature Plus machine.

00:29:45But for the time being,

00:29:46we're not quite sure whether it is.

00:29:47Apart from that,

00:29:48you've had the usual mixed fortunes out here,

00:29:52but you find yourself in sixth place

00:29:53with a 009 machine with Barazzi,

00:29:55which is correct.

00:29:56And, yeah, it's a...

00:29:58When we spoke to you earlier on this week,

00:30:01you actually said

00:30:02your intention first and foremost

00:30:03was to take the petrol class.

00:30:05Correct.

00:30:05And you're in the position

00:30:07to do it just now.

00:30:08Yeah, but, you know,

00:30:08how many hours have we still got left?

00:30:10Four and a half hours.

00:30:11It's...

00:30:12And, you know,

00:30:13the sting's always in the tail

00:30:14in these 24-hour races.

00:30:15And you start to see...

00:30:17There's been...

00:30:17So much going on

00:30:18in the last couple of hours.

00:30:19It's just been non-stop.

00:30:20And gearbox problem

00:30:21for our 007 car,

00:30:23which is very unfortunate.

00:30:24The lads did a great job.

00:30:25Took the gearbox out,

00:30:26replaced the parts,

00:30:27put it back in again.

00:30:28But the best they can do

00:30:30is sort of just

00:30:30hope for the demise

00:30:32of some people

00:30:32in front of them now.

00:30:33David, that car,

00:30:34the 007 car,

00:30:35been running absolutely beautifully.

00:30:36All three drivers,

00:30:37Adrian Fernandez,

00:30:38Stefan Mooker,

00:30:39and Harold Premack,

00:30:39really doing an expert job.

00:30:41I mean, they had no problems

00:30:42whatsoever, did they,

00:30:43until they had that gearbox issue?

00:30:44No, no, no.

00:30:44It was running absolutely smoothly.

00:30:46They saw the temperature rise

00:30:47on the monitors.

00:30:48You know,

00:30:49they sort of scan

00:30:50all the temperatures

00:30:50and they watched the temperature rise

00:30:52and they called it very quickly.

00:30:54And they saved the gearbox.

00:30:56Otherwise,

00:30:56if they left it out

00:30:57a little bit longer,

00:30:57it would have been

00:30:58just blown itself up.

00:30:59So it effectively

00:31:00had a precautionary pitch.

00:31:01So you didn't actually

00:31:01lose a gear or anything?

00:31:02No, no, no.

00:31:03It's a bearing.

00:31:04A bearing went in the gearbox

00:31:05on one of the bevel gears

00:31:07on the gearbox.

00:31:08A very high-low bearing.

00:31:10And the temperature rose

00:31:11and they spotted it,

00:31:12brought it in.

00:31:13But that meant

00:31:13taking the whole gearbox out

00:31:14and stripping it.

00:31:15They've been running

00:31:16a very respectable pay assembly.

00:31:19You've got to be thrilled

00:31:20with the way the cars

00:31:20have been running.

00:31:21No, they've run a very good job.

00:31:22You know,

00:31:22it's where we expected

00:31:23them to be.

00:31:26Clearly,

00:31:26the Audis

00:31:27and the Peugeot's.

00:31:28Peugeot's particular

00:31:28are a lot,

00:31:29lot quicker than us.

00:31:30And the diesel advantage

00:31:32this year

00:31:33has been more so

00:31:34than any other year,

00:31:35I think,

00:31:36quite frankly.

00:31:37And that's disappointing

00:31:38in many respects.

00:31:39But I think now

00:31:42the organisers

00:31:43have really realised

00:31:44just that

00:31:45they can't carry on

00:31:46like this.

00:31:46They have to do

00:31:46something about it.

00:31:47They can see the car

00:31:48coming out of the tyre wall

00:31:50now.

00:31:50I don't know

00:31:50if that's going

00:31:51to go anywhere.

00:31:51It doesn't look

00:31:53too clever.

00:31:54You've had a chance

00:31:54though,

00:31:55David,

00:31:56to have a look

00:31:56through,

00:31:57perhaps you haven't,

00:31:58the regulations.

00:31:59Yeah, yeah.

00:32:00How happy

00:32:01or dissatisfied

00:32:01are you

00:32:02with what's in prospect?

00:32:03Well,

00:32:04we've been looking

00:32:04at the regulations

00:32:05for a little while.

00:32:06It's nothing new news.

00:32:07You know,

00:32:07there's some aspects

00:32:08of it which are

00:32:09announced on Thursday

00:32:09that are slightly different.

00:32:10But I would really

00:32:14like to come back

00:32:14next year

00:32:15with a brand new car

00:32:17to the new regulations

00:32:18and slug it out

00:32:19with Audis and Peugeots

00:32:21on a level playing field.

00:32:22And that's our goal.

00:32:23We're not shying away

00:32:25from the competition

00:32:25in any way.

00:32:26But at the same time,

00:32:28it has got to be

00:32:29a level playing field.

00:32:30And every year

00:32:30we come back

00:32:31under the promise

00:32:32that it will be.

00:32:32And unfortunately,

00:32:34the diesel technology,

00:32:35to be fair to the ACO,

00:32:37the diesel technology

00:32:37moves on at a rate

00:32:38that nobody quite

00:32:40anticipated.

00:32:41And they don't put

00:32:42the peg in the ground

00:32:42far enough ahead.

00:32:43That's reflected

00:32:44in the lap times

00:32:45that they're achieving here.

00:32:45It's just colossal.

00:32:46Just colossal.

00:32:47Trying to dial out

00:32:48at least give

00:32:49a little bit more

00:32:51level playing field

00:32:53with air restrictors

00:32:54and what have you.

00:32:55But it just seems

00:32:55to get quicker and quicker

00:32:56each year.

00:32:57Now, you bring

00:32:58an awful lot to the table

00:32:59here as far as

00:33:00LeMond is concerned.

00:33:01It is a huge investment.

00:33:03I know you're going

00:33:03to be going

00:33:04taking an awful lot

00:33:05back in-house as well

00:33:06which has given

00:33:06your commitment.

00:33:08So, just how much

00:33:09wiggle room

00:33:10and negotiating clout

00:33:11does that give you

00:33:11for people who don't know?

00:33:13Well, it's not about

00:33:14negotiating clout.

00:33:15It's about the intent

00:33:17of the organisers

00:33:18to...

00:33:19The signature's

00:33:20coming back in.

00:33:21It looks like

00:33:21they might be able

00:33:22to recover this car.

00:33:23So, anyway, the organisers

00:33:25have made it clear.

00:33:26Why would you run a race

00:33:28that was sort of favoured

00:33:29one party, not the other?

00:33:31What do the spectators

00:33:32come all the way here

00:33:32to watch?

00:33:33What does everyone watch

00:33:34on Eurosport to see?

00:33:35They want to see a great race

00:33:36between equal competitors

00:33:38and, you know,

00:33:40I'm not saying we'll have

00:33:41equal resources to an Audi

00:33:42or a Peugeot for that matter

00:33:43but, you know,

00:33:44we punch above our weight

00:33:45and I want to be given

00:33:46that opportunity.

00:33:48And what would be

00:33:48your idea?

00:33:50You would build a car

00:33:50in Halsey?

00:33:51You've had this collaboration

00:33:52with Lola, of course,

00:33:53with this particular car now

00:33:54which has been around

00:33:55for a couple of years or so.

00:33:56What would be the plan

00:33:57though for next year?

00:33:58Yeah, we would design

00:33:59our own car

00:33:59and our own engine.

00:34:01Great.

00:34:02It's a very exciting prospect.

00:34:03I think, you know,

00:34:04but as I say,

00:34:05it's got to be such

00:34:06that we think we can win

00:34:07and the decision has to be made

00:34:09in the next weeks.

00:34:10Otherwise, I guess we'll move

00:34:11to GT2 and go back

00:34:12to GT2, GT Res, Ian.

00:34:14I mean, yeah,

00:34:14you've had a sort of draft

00:34:16of the regulations

00:34:16for a while now

00:34:18so you've been able

00:34:18to give it some thought.

00:34:19I mean, what is the lead time

00:34:20to develop a brand new car?

00:34:22It's got to be at least a year.

00:34:24We've done a lot

00:34:26of development already.

00:34:27We've got a design on paper

00:34:29and we've got the engine

00:34:29design as well.

00:34:31And so the rules

00:34:31that you have thrown

00:34:32last week,

00:34:32we weren't throwing too much.

00:34:33Let's go down to the pit lane

00:34:34and Sebastian Tiffett.

00:34:41Marco Werner,

00:34:42the car's in the box.

00:34:43What happened?

00:34:43What's the problem?

00:34:44Yeah, everybody is down

00:34:46in the moment

00:34:47in the team Highcroft.

00:34:48Looks like as well,

00:34:49the engine.

00:34:50Looks like that we have

00:34:51a water leak somewhere

00:34:53so we have too much

00:34:54air pressure

00:34:55in our water system

00:34:57from the engine

00:34:57and we will see

00:35:00what happened

00:35:00what we can do

00:35:01or if we can do something

00:35:02to finish the race.

00:35:04So you're not very optimistic

00:35:06that the car can leave

00:35:07the garage again?

00:35:08Leave it again,

00:35:09but the question is

00:35:11if we can finish the race.

00:35:13Looks not good.

00:35:14Thank you very much.

00:35:15It doesn't look good.

00:35:18You've got to ride

00:35:19your fortune here.

00:35:20We've just seen

00:35:22the Sigurdjie Plus car

00:35:23making its way back.

00:35:24Haven't quite caught

00:35:25sight of it

00:35:27just for the time being,

00:35:28but we'll get back to that

00:35:30as soon as we possibly can.

00:35:32Misfortune's here.

00:35:33It's always a huge story

00:35:34with many, many chapters

00:35:35to tell, David.

00:35:37What have been the highlights

00:35:38for you,

00:35:39whether it's from

00:35:40your own team or not?

00:35:41I think the highlights

00:35:42actually are sort of

00:35:43just watching the crowd

00:35:44and the support

00:35:45we have out here

00:35:46win or lose.

00:35:47They're there in the sort of

00:35:48rain in the sort of

00:35:49middle of the night

00:35:50cheering, waving

00:35:51the Aston Martin flags

00:35:52and that's, for us,

00:35:53that sort of motivates

00:35:54the team

00:35:55and it makes it all

00:35:56worthwhile coming here.

00:35:57There certainly is

00:35:58a gaggle of fans

00:35:58outside of your

00:36:00installed area

00:36:02in the pit lane.

00:36:05Keeping them at bay

00:36:05must be an issue

00:36:06I think on occasion.

00:36:07Oh, it's, you know,

00:36:08that's part of the game

00:36:08and no, we just enjoy

00:36:10having them there

00:36:10and it's great

00:36:12to see the support

00:36:12we enjoy

00:36:13and long may it continue.

00:36:16Certainly five car

00:36:17digging itself in good

00:36:18and proper

00:36:18on a number of occasions

00:36:19here and as it does so

00:36:21it's constantly,

00:36:22it seems,

00:36:23just bringing an awful

00:36:24lot of gravel

00:36:24to the party here

00:36:25for others to enjoy.

00:36:27It has been stuck

00:36:28but it is back on here.

00:36:30It's looking a bit shaky.

00:36:31Can you update us

00:36:33also on the GT1 car?

00:36:34We saw Thomas saying

00:36:35that they had a

00:36:36drive shaft failure

00:36:37early evening yesterday,

00:36:40wasn't it?

00:36:40That's right.

00:36:40Quite early on in the race

00:36:41they had a drive shaft failure

00:36:42and they've been making

00:36:44their way back from that.

00:36:45They're about six laps down

00:36:46at the moment

00:36:47on the Saline

00:36:48but they're lapping it

00:36:49about 15 seconds

00:36:50a lap faster

00:36:50at the moment.

00:36:52I don't think

00:36:53without some further problems

00:36:55for the Saline

00:36:55that's going to be

00:36:56possible to catch

00:36:57but the Saline

00:36:59but the Saline did go

00:36:59off the road earlier

00:37:01and who knows.

00:37:02Yeah,

00:37:02it just takes one more

00:37:04off for the Saline

00:37:05and you might get

00:37:05yourself back into contention.

00:37:06They lost about

00:37:07a couple of laps only

00:37:08with their last indiscretion

00:37:09but it's been great battles

00:37:12in all of the classes

00:37:12and GT1,

00:37:14your thoughts on GT1

00:37:16not coming back

00:37:17here to Le Mans?

00:37:18I think it's

00:37:19the right position.

00:37:20Most of the cars now

00:37:20are sort of getting

00:37:21quite old

00:37:22and the GT2 rules

00:37:25are very competitive.

00:37:26You've seen some great

00:37:27racing on GT2.

00:37:28It's been a fantastic class

00:37:30and we've got a team

00:37:31out there with GMW

00:37:32and we would work

00:37:34a lot harder with them

00:37:35now and sort of

00:37:35develop that car

00:37:36and I think you're going

00:37:37to see a lot more

00:37:38accidents in that category

00:37:39in the future.

00:37:39Yeah,

00:37:39you've already announced

00:37:40a new technical partnership

00:37:41with another team

00:37:42to come into this series

00:37:43next season.

00:37:43Correct.

00:37:43Just saw evasive action

00:37:49being taken there

00:37:50by the number one Peugeot.

00:37:52A little bit of debris

00:37:52I think left behind

00:37:53by the Signature Plus car

00:37:54and look at this

00:37:55in the middle

00:37:57of the course here

00:37:59and that is a very,

00:38:02very handy piece of work.

00:38:03The marshals that we have here

00:38:04have been absolutely outstanding.

00:38:06The safety features

00:38:06that are built into this circuit.

00:38:08You see the paramedics

00:38:10arriving in an instant,

00:38:12it seems.

00:38:12You couldn't be better

00:38:14taken care of

00:38:15than right here,

00:38:16could you Dave?

00:38:16No,

00:38:16the enthusiasm

00:38:18of everybody here,

00:38:20the officials

00:38:20and the welcome

00:38:21we get to the town as well.

00:38:22Anyone who hasn't been here

00:38:23go to the parade

00:38:24on a Friday night

00:38:25is just something special.

00:38:26It is wild.

00:38:27I went down

00:38:28for the start of the race

00:38:29to watch it down

00:38:29from the Esses

00:38:30and I mean

00:38:31I could barely get a glimpse

00:38:32of the track down there.

00:38:34There are so many people.

00:38:36Every vantage point

00:38:37is taken.

00:38:37It's tremendous.

00:38:38A lot of Brits

00:38:39over here as well.

00:38:40Oh, huge.

00:38:41It's tremendous fun.

00:38:43So just to remind you

00:38:44throughout the day

00:38:45and throughout this race

00:38:47of course

00:38:47we're staying with the action.

00:38:49That did not look good at all.

00:38:51That was their water problem

00:38:52that they were talking about

00:38:53a little bit earlier on.

00:38:54We're going to be transferring

00:38:55to Eurosport 2.

00:38:56If you ever do lose pictures

00:38:58of Le Mans

00:38:58just go fishing around

00:39:00with your remote control

00:39:01because we will be bouncing

00:39:03from one channel

00:39:04to the next

00:39:04just to keep a handle

00:39:06on the other sports here.

00:39:08Keeping a hand

00:39:08on the steering wheel

00:39:09right now

00:39:10and doing a terrific job

00:39:11with the 008 machine

00:39:13bringing it back.

00:39:14Still not sure

00:39:14who's

00:39:15sorry

00:39:17you do know of course.

00:39:18Well, no we don't actually

00:39:19because it says

00:39:20that it's Pierre Roug

00:39:21but I'm not certain

00:39:22the transponder's right.

00:39:23It could be

00:39:24one of the other drivers.

00:39:24All right, well we'll check it out

00:39:26when he gets out

00:39:26but we're going to have to

00:39:27take our leave

00:39:28from Eurosport International.

00:39:29I think British may well

00:39:30be staying the same

00:39:31but if not

00:39:31then check out Eurosport 2

00:39:33because we're bouncing

00:39:34all over the place

00:39:35but we are staying with it live.

00:39:36Our thanks to Dave Richardson.

00:39:37Always a pleasure

00:39:38and great to see you

00:39:40and the best of luck

00:39:41and fortune

00:39:42which everyone needs here.

00:39:49Welcome back to Le Mans.

00:39:50I'm Stuart Hall

00:39:51joined with Jeremy Shaw

00:39:52and Carlton Kirby.

00:39:53At the moment

00:39:54we see the number 008

00:39:55signature Aston Martin

00:39:57in the pits

00:39:57with front end damage.

00:39:59It looks quite

00:40:00quite a lot of damage.

00:40:01It went off

00:40:01at the first chicane

00:40:03the middle part

00:40:04of the first chicane

00:40:04and it looks like

00:40:07there's not only

00:40:08bodywork damage

00:40:09but front right

00:40:10suspension damage as well

00:40:11so I think the car

00:40:12is going to be

00:40:13going to be in the pits

00:40:14for some time.

00:40:14It was having a very

00:40:15very good run

00:40:16in eighth place at the time

00:40:17so let's hope

00:40:17they can get that part

00:40:18of the car repaired

00:40:19and out as quickly

00:40:21as possible.

00:40:21And it's been a good

00:40:22six or seven minutes

00:40:23since that car

00:40:24went off at that first chicane.

00:40:26We never did see

00:40:26a replay of the accident

00:40:27but he's heavily buried

00:40:30into the tire wall there.

00:40:31Pierre Ragg we believe

00:40:32was at the wheel of the car

00:40:33although it's now shown

00:40:34as Benito Ixon

00:40:35doubt they've made

00:40:36the driver change already

00:40:37but perhaps they had.

00:40:39But he or she

00:40:41was able to lift

00:40:42that car back

00:40:42to the pit lane.

00:40:44There is however

00:40:44as you say

00:40:45quite excessive damage.

00:40:46The good news is

00:40:47so it's still got

00:40:48a gap of about

00:40:50two laps

00:40:51and a bit more

00:40:52over Andy Merrick

00:40:53who's the next place

00:40:54car in the overall

00:40:55classification.

00:40:56Car number six

00:40:56that's the Orica

00:40:57AIM.

00:40:58She has the open

00:40:59top sports car

00:40:59of the Orica

00:41:00MacBook team

00:41:01and they're running

00:41:02ninth place.

00:41:03Let's back to the

00:41:04set the scene

00:41:06at the front of

00:41:06the few units

00:41:07Phil.

00:41:07It's Roland Juma

00:41:08who leads now

00:41:10in the car number nine

00:41:11the Audi R15

00:41:12plus

00:41:14the vastly reworked

00:41:16car from

00:41:16a very unsuccessful

00:41:18debut with the R15

00:41:19concept last year.

00:41:22That car is running

00:41:22out in front of the

00:41:23field by around

00:41:24about 34 seconds

00:41:25of the Marcel Fersler

00:41:26in car number eight.

00:41:27Anthony Davidson

00:41:28is just over

00:41:30a lap behind

00:41:31in the sole

00:41:33remaining factory

00:41:33Peugeot

00:41:34and he's closing

00:41:35as a general

00:41:36average at around

00:41:38about three seconds

00:41:39a lap.

00:41:39Last time around

00:41:40for Anthony Davidson

00:41:41another stunningly

00:41:42quick lap

00:41:42three minutes

00:41:4220.6.

00:41:44I've just been

00:41:45trying to do

00:41:45some calculations

00:41:46if Anthony Davidson

00:41:48is able to gain

00:41:49on the race leader

00:41:50an average of

00:41:51three seconds a lap

00:41:52generally the cars

00:41:54are doing around

00:41:55about 17 laps

00:41:56to an hour

00:41:56so that would mean

00:41:57he would gain

00:41:58about 50 seconds

00:41:59per hour

00:42:00on the race leader.

00:42:02If he was able

00:42:02to maintain that

00:42:03margin without

00:42:04any of the delays

00:42:04to the end

00:42:05of the race

00:42:06it might actually

00:42:07be quite close.

00:42:08Mark Cole is with us

00:42:09and Mark

00:42:10it's a fascinating

00:42:11prospect I think

00:42:12here for us.

00:42:13We've had a topsy-turvy race

00:42:15we saw the Peugeots

00:42:15completely in control

00:42:17through all the

00:42:18opening stages

00:42:18and really through

00:42:19the night as well.

00:42:20All of a sudden

00:42:21it's been handed

00:42:22to Audi

00:42:23with the various

00:42:23difficulties

00:42:24and now

00:42:25can that sole

00:42:26remaining factory

00:42:27Peugeot

00:42:27the number one car

00:42:28Anthony Davidson

00:42:28at the wheel

00:42:29he'll share it

00:42:30with Mark

00:42:30and Alex

00:42:32first.

00:42:32Can they make up

00:42:33that deficit?

00:42:34They had to push

00:42:35absolutely flat out

00:42:36the whole way.

00:42:37Yeah a couple of

00:42:38hours ago

00:42:38we were trying

00:42:39to work this out

00:42:39and of course

00:42:40the gap then

00:42:40was two laps

00:42:41Anthony's brought

00:42:42that down

00:42:43at the moment.

00:42:43we believe

00:42:44he did the fastest

00:42:45lap of the race

00:42:46a little earlier

00:42:46a 3.19.5

00:42:48actually quicker

00:42:49than Montana's lap

00:42:50and we haven't

00:42:51got a confirmation

00:42:51of that at the moment

00:42:52but we've been

00:42:52keeping a sort of

00:42:53fairly loose record

00:42:54of that

00:42:55so Anthony has

00:42:56as far as we know

00:42:56been the fastest

00:42:57man here at Le Mans

00:42:58this year.

00:42:59He can do it

00:43:00of course he can

00:43:01it's a

00:43:02well it's very close

00:43:03in fact

00:43:03he's got to

00:43:04he's got to maintain

00:43:05at least

00:43:06a three second advantage

00:43:07all the way through

00:43:08the end of the race

00:43:08I reckon

00:43:08it's very very close

00:43:09but of course

00:43:10the advantage Audi has

00:43:11is Audi

00:43:11Audi have got solid cars

00:43:13oh and he's off

00:43:14he's just gone off

00:43:15oh dear oh dear

00:43:16that's coming into

00:43:17the Ford chicane

00:43:17and not good

00:43:19was he coming into

00:43:20the pits anyway?

00:43:21yeah Ant was coming

00:43:22into the pits there

00:43:22and just got it

00:43:23there's a little

00:43:24sort of chicane

00:43:25as you come into the pits

00:43:26just as you slow

00:43:26the car down

00:43:27and it's just like

00:43:28he went into the right

00:43:30far too quickly

00:43:30which when he understeered

00:43:31out onto the kerb

00:43:32he launched himself

00:43:33over the kerb

00:43:34which almost launched

00:43:35him back onto the track

00:43:36so we could have had

00:43:37a Frank Bieler situation

00:43:38where he missed

00:43:39the pit lane

00:43:40and he'd have had to

00:43:41go around and do

00:43:41another lap

00:43:42and therefore

00:43:42he could have run

00:43:43out of fuel

00:43:43but that hasn't happened

00:43:45he managed to get it

00:43:46back into the pit lane

00:43:47and he's handing over

00:43:48now to Alexander Verz

00:43:49this is the 27th stop

00:43:51for that Peugeot

00:43:51Fassler's had 27 stops

00:43:53Dumas has had only 26

00:43:54so we'll expect him

00:43:56to make one soon

00:43:57Alan McNish 27 as well

00:43:58so they're very much

00:43:59all on the same thing

00:44:01but my goodness Stuart

00:44:02you don't want to do

00:44:03this to a car

00:44:04this late in the race

00:44:04that's how you brake

00:44:06cars coming down

00:44:07heavily on those kerbs

00:44:08well as we saw

00:44:09in qualifying

00:44:09at a much higher speed

00:44:11Sebastian Bordet

00:44:13went off at Tet Rouge

00:44:14launched the car

00:44:15up into the air

00:44:15it landed very heavily

00:44:17and as Jeremy pointed

00:44:19out last night

00:44:19that could have

00:44:20contributed

00:44:21to the tub

00:44:23suspension damage

00:44:24that forced that car

00:44:25out of the race

00:44:25and we see Juan Barazzi

00:44:26again having a spin

00:44:28in that 009 Aston Martin

00:44:30Christian Bacquard

00:44:32must be rubbing

00:44:32his hands together

00:44:33there he is there

00:44:33in shot now

00:44:34but I think he may

00:44:36he may now

00:44:37be on the same lap

00:44:39as Juan Barazzi

00:44:39so game on

00:44:41for the Audi R10

00:44:42catching the Aston Martin

00:44:43009

00:44:44that's the sixth place car

00:44:45and of course

00:44:46it's a very easy place

00:44:47to do that

00:44:47you either go straight

00:44:48on into the wall

00:44:48or you boot it too early

00:44:49and the back steps out

00:44:51down here at Arnage

00:44:52and then there's a second spin

00:44:54in this stint

00:44:55for Juan Barazzi

00:44:56so that's exactly

00:44:57what that 009 team

00:44:58doesn't need

00:44:59the car's been running

00:44:59flawlessly

00:45:00as we heard David Richards

00:45:01from ProDrive

00:45:02tell us not too long ago

00:45:04but boy

00:45:04that's a scary stop

00:45:05he's got mastered that

00:45:06in the middle of the race track

00:45:07which sounds strict

00:45:08what the heck's that guy

00:45:09doing on the apex of the corner

00:45:10that to me is

00:45:11absolutely ridiculous

00:45:12quite frankly

00:45:13but these guys

00:45:14know what they're doing

00:45:15they've done a fabulous job

00:45:16through the restoration

00:45:16they've got the car running again

00:45:17and no harm no foul

00:45:19away goes that car

00:45:20you know that

00:45:21that pit stop

00:45:22by Anthony Davidson

00:45:22it did look like

00:45:23it was a scheduled pit stop

00:45:26didn't it

00:45:26he seemed to be

00:45:27in the pit lane

00:45:27when he had that incident

00:45:28here again

00:45:28as a replay

00:45:29as these guys

00:45:30that's a bit frightening

00:45:31for me

00:45:31that is very dangerous

00:45:32well for anybody

00:45:33quite frankly I think

00:45:34but the odd thing is

00:45:35he'd only done 11 laps

00:45:38on that stint

00:45:39and generally

00:45:39they've been running

00:45:40at least 12

00:45:41and generally 13

00:45:42in that car number one

00:45:43so whether it was

00:45:44a late decision

00:45:45to come on the pit lane

00:45:46I don't know

00:45:47well it'd be interesting

00:45:48to find that one out

00:45:49yeah what's the news

00:45:50by the way

00:45:50on the Frank Kitty car

00:45:51still sitting in the pits

00:45:52I didn't hear what the

00:45:53engine problems

00:45:54engine problems

00:45:55still there

00:45:55but that's amazing

00:45:57isn't it

00:45:57suddenly Stracca

00:45:58it's all come back to him

00:45:59even with their slower driver

00:46:01Nick Leventis

00:46:02the gentleman driver

00:46:03that's just come

00:46:04into their hands

00:46:05seven lap lead

00:46:06at the moment

00:46:07Stuart

00:46:07but you mustn't back off at all

00:46:09you've got to keep pushing

00:46:10because the moment

00:46:11you stop pushing

00:46:12you lose your concentration

00:46:13no you really

00:46:14really can't stop pushing

00:46:15as we saw

00:46:16Vanini X

00:46:17a really really long face

00:46:18there

00:46:18suggest it wasn't

00:46:19it wasn't Pierre Raag

00:46:21apologies to Pierre Raag

00:46:22it wasn't Pierre Raag

00:46:23in the car

00:46:23I think it may have been

00:46:24Vanini X

00:46:25as David Richard said

00:46:27but

00:46:27Aston Martin

00:46:29wheeling out Darren Turner

00:46:30Juan Barazzi

00:46:31obviously

00:46:31that was his in lap

00:46:33and Backwood's getting

00:46:34very close

00:46:34so they're going to

00:46:35roll out the ace card

00:46:37yeah if it wasn't

00:46:38planned to be his in lap

00:46:39it certainly is now

00:46:40he's going to bring that car

00:46:41and hand it over

00:46:41to Darren Turner

00:46:43now you've had David

00:46:45Richard up this morning

00:46:46I've just been with

00:46:47Martin Brain

00:46:48for five minutes

00:46:48having a chat about everything

00:46:49very very happy in progress

00:46:50we had him on the programme

00:46:52last night

00:46:52telling us

00:46:53that they have got plans

00:46:55for next year

00:46:55he won't tell us

00:46:56what the plans are

00:46:57but obviously

00:46:58well advanced

00:46:59the plans

00:47:00for the new

00:47:01Lola's

00:47:02for LMP

00:47:02one next year

00:47:04as these cars

00:47:05become grandfathered

00:47:06but

00:47:06I think he's very

00:47:07very pleased

00:47:08quietly

00:47:08that they are

00:47:09leading petrol again

00:47:10yes

00:47:10and it is

00:47:12it's a Lola

00:47:15for who you

00:47:15wanted to be

00:47:16a Lola

00:47:16it's an Aston Martin

00:47:17for who you wanted

00:47:18to be an Aston Martin

00:47:18technically

00:47:19it's a Lola

00:47:19Aston Martin

00:47:20but

00:47:20whatever

00:47:21I'd like to think

00:47:22it's British

00:47:23and we lead petrol car

00:47:24and that's fantastic

00:47:26and the British car

00:47:28of course

00:47:28way up there

00:47:29towards the front

00:47:30were British

00:47:30sorry

00:47:30British crude car

00:47:31Anthony Davidson

00:47:32still pushing so hard

00:47:34well

00:47:34he was pushing so hard

00:47:36where's that car gone

00:47:36at the moment

00:47:37the Alex Van Zandivert

00:47:39still in third place

00:47:41in that car

00:47:41just had that hand over

00:47:42as we saw

00:47:43and Alex will probably

00:47:44do what

00:47:45a double stint now

00:47:46I think so

00:47:47a double or even a triple

00:47:48depending on how aggressive

00:47:49they're going to go

00:47:50to try and catch

00:47:51these two Audis

00:47:52yeah

00:47:52four hours

00:47:53and 18 minutes

00:47:54left of this race

00:47:55and what an extraordinary

00:47:56race it's been

00:47:57it hasn't been a moment

00:47:58while I've been on air

00:47:59certainly

00:47:59probably ten hours on air

00:48:01where we haven't had

00:48:02something going on

00:48:02every five minutes

00:48:03yeah

00:48:04I completely agree

00:48:04I was down in the garage

00:48:05area about an hour

00:48:06or so ago

00:48:07and just going

00:48:07wherever I went to one garage

00:48:08something else

00:48:09would happen somewhere else

00:48:10I was planning on only

00:48:11spending about 20 minutes

00:48:12over there

00:48:12before I came back up here

00:48:13but there was so much

00:48:14going on

00:48:14I tried to try and find out

00:48:15at least what was going on

00:48:16in most of the garage

00:48:17it was wild

00:48:18to be perfectly honest

00:48:19but I'm still wondering

00:48:21about that pit stop

00:48:22of that number one car

00:48:23it's certainly

00:48:23the first time

00:48:24that I can remember

00:48:25that car has only done

00:48:2611 laps

00:48:27on one stint

00:48:28and okay

00:48:29it's been going

00:48:30very very quickly

00:48:31but I think even so

00:48:32he should have been able

00:48:32to do at least 12

00:48:34to me

00:48:34that pit stop

00:48:35was at least one lap

00:48:36earlier

00:48:37at least one lap

00:48:38earlier

00:48:38than they had originally

00:48:39anticipated

00:48:40it's just possible

00:48:41that Anton is going

00:48:42towards his hours

00:48:42he's been in the car

00:48:44for a long time

00:48:45not all at one time

00:48:46but certainly

00:48:47we came on about

00:48:477.15 this morning

00:48:48he was just getting

00:48:49in the car then

00:48:49and it's now

00:48:50what 10.40

00:48:51it is possible

00:48:54Mark

00:48:55as we see the BMW

00:48:56going very slowly

00:48:57this is not what

00:48:57we want to see

00:48:58those guys

00:48:58have been doing

00:48:59a fantastic job

00:49:00they've had a lot

00:49:01thrown at them

00:49:01in the last

00:49:02sort of 21 hours

00:49:04and this is not

00:49:06good

00:49:06the team

00:49:07deserve a good finish

00:49:08yeah they actually

00:49:09got themselves

00:49:09up to 21st place

00:49:10you're at the wheel

00:49:11here behind the

00:49:12Porsches and the

00:49:14Ferraris

00:49:14ok it's a tryout

00:49:16this year

00:49:16we know that

00:49:17we've had this

00:49:18discussion before

00:49:19the thread

00:49:20that is it a

00:49:20touring car

00:49:21is it a GT car

00:49:22the answer from

00:49:23DMW is

00:49:24a touring car

00:49:25is four doors

00:49:25this only has two doors

00:49:27I think it is a GT car

00:49:28it's their first year

00:49:30at Le Mans

00:49:30you can't expect

00:49:32to come with that

00:49:33car

00:49:34the first year

00:49:34with that car

00:49:35and especially

00:49:37with the amendments

00:49:38they've had to make

00:49:39to the rear suspension

00:49:40and everything

00:49:40in the last few months

00:49:41and just blow everyone

00:49:42away

00:49:43I think they've done

00:49:43a fantastic job

00:49:44so far

00:49:45and I think they'll be

00:49:47back very very strongly

00:49:48indeed

00:49:48yeah of course

00:49:49what's hanging over them

00:49:50is the fact they've come

00:49:51straight here from

00:49:52Nürburgring 24 hours

00:49:53where they blitzed it

00:49:54won it outright

00:49:55and so I think

00:49:55much more was expected

00:49:56of them

00:49:57yeah they didn't blitz it

00:49:58did they

00:49:58because they took over

00:49:59the leader race

00:50:00in the last few hours

00:50:01when the hybrid

00:50:02that fascinating

00:50:04hybrid Porsche failed

00:50:05and then of course

00:50:07the gearbox in that BMW

00:50:08that was struggling

00:50:09towards them

00:50:10they were down the gear

00:50:11and so they were

00:50:11kind of looping home

00:50:12to the end

00:50:13it was a wonderful

00:50:14success for them

00:50:15I mean

00:50:15they barely even dreamed

00:50:18of winning that race

00:50:18I think when they

00:50:19went into it

00:50:19but they came away

00:50:20with as you say

00:50:21a magnificent success

00:50:22and I think as a result

00:50:23of that success

00:50:24they kind of

00:50:25knocked themselves

00:50:26on the head a bit

00:50:27because the organisers

00:50:28of the Le Mans series

00:50:30said yeah

00:50:30we reckon that car

00:50:31is going a bit quickly

00:50:32they had put on

00:50:33a slightly smaller

00:50:35air restrictor

00:50:36restricted the amount

00:50:37of air that goes

00:50:37into the engine

00:50:38by 0.6 of a millimetre

00:50:40which doesn't sound

00:50:41very much

00:50:42but Dr. Mario Tyson

00:50:43reckons that cost

00:50:44probably about 10 horsepower

00:50:46and you know

00:50:4710 horsepower

00:50:47at this level

00:50:48it might be

00:50:50450 horsepower

00:50:51or so

00:50:52but still

00:50:52it's a significant

00:50:53difference

00:50:54particularly

00:50:54when you come

00:50:55to a place

00:50:55which is all about

00:50:56horsepower

00:50:57and straight line speed

00:50:58you just mentioned

00:50:59you just mentioned

00:50:59in that Jeremy

00:51:00about the Porsche Hybrid

00:51:01the car that was

00:51:01leading it

00:51:02at the Nürburgring

00:51:03we had Dr. Daniel

00:51:04Alderson up last night

00:51:05from Porsche Motorsport

00:51:06he's the guy responsible

00:51:07for the hybrid programme

00:51:09they use the Williams input

00:51:10for the hybrid flywheel

00:51:13so the Kurs systems

00:51:14we asked him the question

00:51:16the new rules allow you to transfer

00:51:19this hybrid power

00:51:21through a second axle

00:51:23if you want

00:51:23and he said

00:51:24yes we are not ruling out

00:51:25four wheel drive

00:51:26if we come back

00:51:27to Le Mans next to

00:51:28the new rules for next year

00:51:30they only allow

00:51:30do they not

00:51:31you can only use

00:51:34the hybrid power

00:51:35on two wheels

00:51:36on one axle

00:51:38so what they do

00:51:39you've got your normal

00:51:39back axle

00:51:40on the Porsche

00:51:40they would

00:51:41they would utilise

00:51:42the front axle

00:51:43for the hybrid boost

00:51:45they get

00:51:45fascinating

00:51:46I love that sort of technology

00:51:47that's a great thing

00:51:48I think about

00:51:49Le Mans series racing

00:51:50both in Europe

00:51:52and the American Le Mans series

00:51:53in the States

00:51:55it's all about technology

00:51:56and advancement technology

00:51:57and particularly

00:51:58kind of

00:51:59greener technology

00:52:01or advanced technologies

00:52:02which is somewhat lacking

00:52:03now in many other forms

00:52:04of motorsports

00:52:05well we have seen

00:52:07in the American Le Mans series

00:52:08the Zytec hybrid

00:52:10with Johnny Mollum

00:52:12who's been up in the box

00:52:13quite a lot during this race

00:52:14and that's had

00:52:15that's had some good results

00:52:16so that's certainly

00:52:18and we've seen in F1

00:52:19that technology is available

00:52:20and we're sure to see it

00:52:21really really doing

00:52:22well in sports cars soon

00:52:23so York Mollum

00:52:25is still crawling

00:52:26around the circuit

00:52:27out of your sight

00:52:28at the moment

00:52:28as we watch the

00:52:29number

00:52:30nine

00:52:33nine car

00:52:34yes

00:52:34at the league car

00:52:35Roman Dumas

00:52:35that distinctive

00:52:36white helmet of his

00:52:37Andre Lotter

00:52:38in second place

00:52:39and Alex Wirtz

00:52:40for Peugeot

00:52:41third

00:52:41Alan McNish

00:52:42in fourth

00:52:43and again

00:52:43maybe what we're seeing

00:52:45Jeremy

00:52:45is the change

00:52:46of the old order

00:52:46now

00:52:47all these young drivers

00:52:48particularly in the lead car

00:52:49three Porsche heroes

00:52:51coming in

00:52:52drafted in by Audi

00:52:53and they've really

00:52:54carried the race for Audi

00:52:55yeah

00:52:56Porsche, Audi

00:52:57you know

00:52:57VW

00:52:58all getting together here

00:52:59Mike Rockefeller

00:52:59he's 26 years old

00:53:00Timo Bernhard

00:53:01is 29

00:53:01Roman Dumas

00:53:02at the wheel right now

00:53:03he's the oldest

00:53:04of the bunch

00:53:04at 32

00:53:05the Frenchman

00:53:06in this team

00:53:07the lead now

00:53:08over that second place car

00:53:09of Andre Lotter

00:53:10is up to

00:53:11almost exactly

00:53:12two minutes

00:53:12and about

00:53:13what an hour and a half ago

00:53:14the gap between them

00:53:16was about

00:53:16a minute and 20 seconds

00:53:17so he's pulled out

00:53:18about 30 seconds

00:53:20over the last hour

00:53:21and a half

00:53:22meanwhile

00:53:22Alex Wirtz

00:53:23he's still running hard

00:53:24there in third place

00:53:25but at the moment

00:53:26not going much quicker

00:53:27than the Audis

00:53:28we're going to be back

00:53:30with you in a few moments

00:53:31here on Eurosport

00:53:32we'll see the BMW

00:53:33number 78

00:53:34being pushed away

00:53:34into the garage

00:53:35stay with us

00:53:36Jeremy Shaw

00:53:36with Mike Cole

00:53:37and Stuart Hall

00:53:38welcome back to Eurosport

00:53:43Jeremy Shaw

00:53:43with Stuart Hall

00:53:44and Chris Parsons

00:53:45has joined us right again

00:53:46in the group here

00:53:47above the main straight

00:53:48and overlooking the pit lane

00:53:49at the Circuit de la Salle

00:53:51for the 78th running

00:53:52of this endurance class

00:53:54in the 24 hours

00:53:54at Le Mans

00:53:55we're watching

00:53:56Roman Dumas

00:53:56the race leader

00:53:57last time around

00:53:58it was 3 minutes

00:53:5925.4

00:54:00in the Audi R15 Plus

00:54:03he's got a lead

00:54:04of about 2 minutes

00:54:05over his teammate

00:54:06Andre Lothra

00:54:06in third place

00:54:07the sole surviving

00:54:09factory Peugeot

00:54:10Alex Wirtz

00:54:11at the wheel

00:54:11of car number 1

00:54:12and Chris Parsons

00:54:13we've seen this race

00:54:14ebb and flow

00:54:15all the way through

00:54:16and we've got

00:54:17almost 20 hours

00:54:20into the race

00:54:21initially it looked

00:54:22like a Peugeot route

00:54:23now it's an Audi 1-2

00:54:25and we've seen

00:54:25everything in between

00:54:26as well

00:54:27but isn't that

00:54:27all about

00:54:28sports car racing

00:54:29endurance racing

00:54:30we were talking

00:54:32at 2 o'clock

00:54:33this morning

00:54:33about how quiet

00:54:35it was

00:54:36we knew

00:54:37there would be

00:54:37an explosion

00:54:38of interest

00:54:39as soon as

00:54:41the light started

00:54:41the light came up

00:54:43why it is

00:54:44when the light

00:54:44comes up

00:54:45we don't know

00:54:45they're lapping

00:54:46just as fast

00:54:47at 2 o'clock

00:54:47in the morning

00:54:48as they are

00:54:49at 5 or 6 o'clock

00:54:50in the morning

00:54:51but you go

00:54:53through these phases

00:54:54in every endurance race

00:54:56when it goes

00:54:56a little bit quiet

00:54:57you know

00:54:58it won't be long

00:54:59and just around the corner

00:55:01there will always be interest

00:55:03and it's just

00:55:04here we are

00:55:05Jeremy

00:55:05you know

00:55:05it's one of those races

00:55:07it's wonderful

00:55:08that's why we love

00:55:09this sort of racing

00:55:10and that's why

00:55:11at least a couple

00:55:12hundred thousand people

00:55:13are here

00:55:13to watch this race

00:55:14as well

00:55:15you see a few of them

00:55:15there out amongst the trees

00:55:17there's all sorts of

00:55:18vantage points

00:55:18it's a great track here

00:55:20there's a wide variety

00:55:23of places to watch

00:55:24from

00:55:24there's the dead car park

00:55:25not so good

00:55:26those guys

00:55:26all out of the race

00:55:27and several cars

00:55:28out on the track

00:55:29as well

00:55:30we've seen all

00:55:30sorts of dramas

00:55:32but you know

00:55:32I don't think

00:55:33the final drama is over

00:55:34I went away

00:55:35about 3 o'clock

00:55:36last night

00:55:37I left

00:55:37and I came back

00:55:38about 7.15

00:55:39I think

00:55:40or thereabouts

00:55:40and not much

00:55:41had changed

00:55:42and then

00:55:43just about the moment

00:55:44I walked into the racetrack

00:55:45Frank Montani's

00:55:46engine blew

00:55:47his car number

00:55:47two

00:55:48the Peugeot

00:55:48had been leading the race

00:55:50very comfortably

00:55:51that engine blew

00:55:52moments before that

00:55:54the engine in the number 63

00:55:57GT2 Class EV Corvette

00:56:00of Antonio Garcia

00:56:01that blew up as well

00:56:02since then

00:56:03we've seen dramas

00:56:04in GT1

00:56:05we had the

00:56:06Selina S7R

00:56:08the Carnival 50

00:56:09Lava competition car

00:56:10that's running

00:56:11as a result of attrition

00:56:13that's taken over

00:56:13the lead of the class

00:56:14that was off the road

00:56:15as well

00:56:16because it's been

00:56:16Stuart Hall

00:56:17we just don't know

00:56:17which way to look

00:56:18it certainly is all

00:56:19kicking off isn't it

00:56:20Jeremy

00:56:20we just had a shot

00:56:21a little while ago

00:56:23of the sole remaining

00:56:24BMW in the race

00:56:25in the garage

00:56:26we saw that going

00:56:27slowly on the track

00:56:28about 5-6 minutes ago

00:56:29it looked to me

00:56:30that they were changing

00:56:31the drive shaft

00:56:32it looked like they were

00:56:33the mechanics had a new

00:56:35drive shaft in hand

00:56:35and that's what they were

00:56:36putting into the

00:56:38back of the car

00:56:39so that's probably

00:56:40the reason why

00:56:41it was going a little bit

00:56:42slowly

00:56:43yeah good point

00:56:44and here is a look at

00:56:45Alex Burst

00:56:46now has taken the wheel

00:56:47on car number one

00:56:48Anthony Davidson

00:56:49did a fantastic stint

00:56:51triple stint

00:56:52in that car

00:56:53he was in the car

00:56:54for we reckon

00:56:54probably over three hours

00:56:56and was able to make up

00:56:57a lot of ground

00:56:58on the two Audis

00:56:59ahead of him

00:57:00since then

00:57:01Alex Burst

00:57:02well that lap around

00:57:03was a 3 minutes

00:57:0321.4

00:57:04which I'm fairly sure

00:57:06is the fastest lap

00:57:07he's turned

00:57:08since he got behind

00:57:10the wheel of that car

00:57:10which is on lap 3.18

00:57:12so he's done now

00:57:13eight laps

00:57:14in this stint

00:57:15Alex

00:57:15so he seemed to be

00:57:16struggling a little bit

00:57:17maybe it was just

00:57:17traffic whatever

00:57:18he certainly hasn't

00:57:19made up as much ground

00:57:21on the Audis

00:57:21as the car was doing

00:57:23about an hour

00:57:24or so ago

00:57:25no we've had our

00:57:26calculators out

00:57:27the old pins

00:57:28have been sharpened

00:57:29it's looking very close

00:57:31but it really is

00:57:32going to be a close

00:57:33round thing

00:57:34and as you say

00:57:34Jeremy

00:57:35the harder they push

00:57:36the more often

00:57:37they have to stop

00:57:38and lately

00:57:39the margin between

00:57:41the Peugeot

00:57:42and the Audis

00:57:43has not been

00:57:44large enough

00:57:45I don't believe

00:57:46to make up

00:57:47that deficit

00:57:47which now is

00:57:48well over a lap

00:57:50from car number 9

00:57:51leading the race

00:57:52to car number 1

00:57:53in third place

00:57:54meanwhile

00:57:54the fastest car

00:57:55on the track

00:57:56at the moment

00:57:56is Loic Duval

00:57:57in the number 4

00:57:59Orica Matmut Peugeot

00:58:00he's only about a minute

00:58:01and a minute

00:58:02isn't changed

00:58:03behind Alain Nish

00:58:04in the battle

00:58:05for 4th and 5th

00:58:06and another guy

00:58:07who's charging

00:58:07at the moment

00:58:08is Darren Turner

00:58:09you saw John

00:58:10Verratti make a couple

00:58:11of spins

00:58:12during his last stint

00:58:13over an hour or so

00:58:14at the wheel of car

00:58:14in the 009

00:58:15the first of the petrol

00:58:17engine car

00:58:17the lower Aston Martin

00:58:18he's handed over

00:58:19to Darren Turner

00:58:20and Darren has put

00:58:21the foot down

00:58:22he certainly has

00:58:23he'll have been

00:58:24given the instructions

00:58:25by the AMR crew

00:58:27to go out there

00:58:27and do what he does

00:58:28best

00:58:29because

00:58:29Kwan had a number

00:58:31of little issues

00:58:32in that car

00:58:32and that has allowed

00:58:34Christian Bacquard

00:58:34in the number 15

00:58:35collars Audi

00:58:36to catch up

00:58:37but now Darren's

00:58:39out in the car

00:58:39he's that lap

00:58:40he was 10 seconds

00:58:41quicker than backwards

00:58:42so he really is

00:58:43flying right now

00:58:43it's just turned

00:58:44the quickest lap

00:58:45that car has done

00:58:46all race

00:58:47which is a 3 minute

00:58:4725.4

00:58:49so Darren driving well

00:58:51looking at

00:58:53Alain

00:58:55Romain Dumas

00:58:56last lap

00:58:57that's

00:58:58a 29

00:58:59which really is

00:59:00giving away

00:59:01quite a lot

00:59:02to

00:59:02Alexander Wurtz

00:59:04who turned in

00:59:05a 21

00:59:05so

00:59:068 seconds

00:59:07that lap

00:59:08you don't want

00:59:08too many more

00:59:09laps like that

00:59:09do you Stuart?

00:59:10no you don't Chris

00:59:11at Tascra

00:59:12we're seeing now

00:59:13is that Romain

00:59:14this might be why

00:59:15he's done a 29

00:59:16if that is Romain

00:59:17because

00:59:17yeah that is Romain Dumas

00:59:19getting stuck behind

00:59:20the stacker racing car

00:59:21of Nick Leventis

00:59:22and it actually looked like

00:59:23they could have had

00:59:24a little bit of contact

00:59:25from the angle

00:59:26from our angle

00:59:27it looked as much

00:59:28but you know

00:59:29with these

00:59:29camera angles

00:59:31they can be very

00:59:31very deceiving

00:59:32as we know

00:59:33earlier in the race

00:59:34there was a lot

00:59:35of controversy

00:59:36about the safety car

00:59:37and

00:59:38the three safety cars

00:59:41and the time

00:59:42that that cost

00:59:43the Audi team

00:59:44so

00:59:45it could

00:59:46easily sway

00:59:47another safety car period

00:59:48or a couple of safety car periods

00:59:50and a bad call

00:59:52and it could be

00:59:53it could all come down

00:59:54very quickly

00:59:55indeed

00:59:56yes it's definitely

00:59:57there is all to play for

00:59:58it is still very very tight

00:59:59there's still over four hours

01:00:01to go

24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 – Full Race Part 18

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