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
#LeMans2010
#24hLeMans
#EnduranceRacing
#AudiVsPeugeot
#MotorsportHistory
#RacingDrama
#LegendaryRace
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Yep, it's that Peugeot running in third place in the hands of Anthony Davidson.
00:04Now, this is going to be fascinating as they come up and through the curves,
00:08underneath the Dunlop Bridge and down and beyond.
00:12It will give us a real sense of whether Alan has got the pace underneath him
00:18on this vehicle to actually get back out to the number one Peugeot,
00:22which seems to have survived the contact rather remarkably well.
00:25Yeah, he may not even, of course, there is the possibility, initially,
00:29he may not even realise he'd touched the Corvette.
00:32Very difficult to call that, Stuart.
00:34It is. I honestly don't think anything will happen.
00:37You could say if Christart Neugard just touched Jende Portaz,
00:42give him a, exclude him from the race.
00:44But again, it is awfully difficult, especially when you're in a GT car being held up by,
00:50as we see, McNish, he's not dropping off the back of Davidson now.
00:53Anthony trying to break the toe there, he saw, just did a quick wiggle across.
00:57I don't think that's going to, I don't think that's going to phase Alan at all.
01:00He's had the bit between his teeth from the get-go.
01:03But you're absolutely right, though, he is sticking right with him.
01:06That car's not pulling away.
01:08Straight line, though, it's a different story, isn't it?
01:10Look at this. Suddenly the gap just starts to pull away.
01:13You can't see it on the foreshortening here with the camera,
01:15but it's probably six or seven car lengths.
01:17That will compress right now here.
01:19But Alan Wittnish is on a mission.
01:21The 39 car, incidentally, has rejoined after extricating itself from the gravel bed.
01:27But this is where our focus remains now.
01:29And when these cars get up to full chad again,
01:32they're going to be solidly in the early 320s here,
01:36and possibly, I think, at some point into the teens.
01:38Davidson may well have been asked to back off ever so slightly after his incident.
01:42He may have to.
01:43We're still not sure just how much remodification the car has taken.
01:48It appears absolutely none, pace undiminished.
01:51But we can't get confirmation on that until we get the proper full-on lap times.
01:55Yeah, he has had a pit stop, and they checked the car over.
01:57They just saw putting that tank tape on the car.
02:00So Persia are obviously quite happy with it.
02:03Yeah, just seeing a 76 Matmuk machine in Narek's hands at the moment.
02:08And as the ill fortune starts to be full of those ahead, you never know.
02:13It may even be podium positions on offer.
02:16Something we can see here is we can see why that Peugeot is two, three, four seconds a lap quicker on average than that Audi.
02:23It's just absolutely shot off in a straight line.
02:26I mean, Alan, you see through the corners of the circuit, the Audi doesn't lose anything.
02:30But in a straight line, that Peugeot just disappears.
02:33And, Stuart, when we had some translation of on-boards, no translation required, of course, for Alan McNish,
02:42but the Germans translated it because they had some kind of in on the radio signal.
02:47And he was just saying, Persia, Persia's everywhere.
02:48I've just been passed by the Persia.
02:49This was a man speaking in urgent terms at the beginning of this race.
02:58In fact, during qualification and indeed also during the free practice.
03:04They couldn't believe the pace of the Peugeots.
03:06And it's being transmitted right here, right now.
03:08Alan McNish is a very, very quick driver.
03:11Possibly one of the quickest that there is in the world at the moment.
03:15And look at the performance gap here.
03:18It's unbelievable.
03:19You really don't get quicker than Alan McNish, especially in a race situation around Le Mans with six hours to go.
03:26And, you know, that Peugeot has just disappeared.
03:29And it has disappeared in a straight line.
03:31You saw with the on-board footage on the first part of last lap, Alan McNish did not lose anything to the Peugeot.
03:37And the minute he got onto the Mulsanne, away Anthony went.
03:41And Nishi was just sat there with the Peugeot disappearing into the distance with nothing you can do about it.
03:46Right, that's our lead car.
03:48And he's got a two-lap advantage on the Peugeot, Anthony Davidson.
03:53Faster in the secondary, the eighth car has a one-lap advantage.
03:57But I suspect they're going to be coming together fairly shortly.
04:02We're on board here with our leader in the nine car.
04:06It's Romain Dumas.
04:07We are, unfortunately, going to have to take ourselves a commercial break.
04:11It always seems heart-rending, especially when you've had so much action.
04:14But we'll keep an eye on it for you.
04:15Don't forget that website.
04:16Mark Cole will be having another dip in.
04:20It's a pleasure to hear from you, particularly from the Pacific Basin.
04:25It's always a pleasure to hear from so far afield.
04:28And just know that we're entertaining you globally here with six hours and 15 minutes of racing left live here at Le Mans.
04:37Yes, there's a class leader in GT2.
04:41Mark Lieb has indeed taken that over for the 77 car.
04:44We'll be back in a moment.
04:45Welcome back to Eurosport here at Le Mans 24 hours, looking at the GT1 class leader.
04:54And who would have forecast this?
04:56The Labra Saline.
04:57Saline, one of the dinosaurs of GT racing.
05:00Its last shout here at the Circuit de la Sarte.
05:03But leading handsomely at the moment, Julian Canal on board that car.
05:07And there's a name to conjure with as well.
05:09But that car currently on lap 247.
05:12The next best GT1, 238 laps.
05:16The Corvette of Julian Deuce and behind him Christophe Nygaard in the Aston Martin young driver's car on 237 laps.
05:26So a very, very handsome lead for this car at the moment, Stuart.
05:29We didn't really expect to see that Saline, did we, up here at the top of the GT1 pile?
05:34No, it's the Saline, the old dog, still going round, hasn't had a problem.
05:38And it's now got a very, very healthy lead.
05:40That car, all it needs to do is just go round at an easy pace now.
05:44Don't put any stress on the car.
05:46And without any problems, that car's going to win comfortably.
05:50As we see Danny Watts now, that really, really impressive Stratka Racing Acura now has a big lead in LMP2.
05:59It's two laps now over Highcroft.
06:01Highcroft had problems around midnight.
06:04David Bradman's in the pits but lost about a lap there.
06:07In third place, here's another good one, Oak Racing, Jeanne Cherouz.
06:11The man who led the Aston Martin squad to the Le Mans Series championship last year.
06:18Jeanne Cherouz stepping down into the LMP2 class Oak Racing Pescarolo.
06:22And that car is heading for another podium finish.
06:26Well, really nice to see both Pescarolo chassis still out there running.
06:31Henri, of course, not here this year.
06:32His first time in, I believe, about 40 years that he's not been a part of this race, either as a driver or as an entrant.
06:38And I think it's just fantastic to see two of the Pescarolos still there, one certainly in podium contention at the moment.
06:44And it would be lovely to have a Pescarolo on the podium in honor of Henri not being here.
06:48So, Danny Watts there in the Silverstone-based Stratka Racing HPD, the car formerly known as the Acura.
06:56It was an estate.
06:57A lot of input from Honda.
06:58We had Darren Davis from Wurf Research here on Thursday night during our coverage telling us how this car was never, ever in a wind tunnel.
07:09All designed on computers, CFD, and then using driver simulators.
07:14So, interesting philosophy there.
07:17Incredibly, incredibly impressive.
07:18And who would have thought that 10 years ago?
07:21But that car going very, very well.
07:23You've got to be going some to turn up at Le Mans and beat the likes of Highcroft coming out of America with their reputation.
07:31And Danny Watts, Johnny Kane, and Nick Leventis have so far been fairly faultless, apart from a couple of minor niggles.
07:40And that's coming to fruition now.
07:43They're inside the top 10 overall and just knocking off the laps now.
07:47And that car, the Highcroft car, of course, having two outright wins in the ALMS series over in America, which has now combined its LMP classes.
07:56But this car is still technically an LMP2 car.
07:59And for it to have been winning outright against cars that are ranked as LMP1, really, shows what a fantastic combination it is.
08:07Nick Lapierre then just seeing the pit stop there for the number four Raker Peugeot.
08:12So, identical trim to the factory cars.
08:15And Nick doing a great job there.
08:17Just handed the car over to Luc Duval.
08:19Luc here from the Japanese Super GT Championship, having his annual bash at Le Mans.
08:25That car, fifth overall.
08:27Been doing some good times.
08:29Been running constantly in the 325s all through the night.
08:33And, of course, it does mean there are still two Peugeots in the race against the three factory Audis.
08:40Haven't mentioned the other Audis, have we, Liz?
08:42The Collis cars.
08:44Christian Alves at the moment, seventh overall in the number 15 R10.
08:49And the other car, just looking for that.
08:51It has retired, actually.
08:52The other car with Rodriguez in the car has retired.
08:55So, there's still one going around, though.
08:56And it's still running up there in the top 10, as you say, along with the others.
09:01And, which car are we seeing now?
09:05This is our lead Audi, I believe.
09:08That's Roman Dumas, yes.
09:09Yes, but still on the lead.
09:11But not much behind is Fassler and Davidson.
09:15Only a lap off, really, or under a lap off, in fact, is Marcel Fassler.
09:19And Anthony Davidson still putting in times that are some four seconds a lap quicker than Fassler.
09:25And six seconds a lap quicker than Roman Dumas.
09:27We've still got a long way to go in this race, as we've been saying over and over again.
09:31I think there still might be some hope there for Peugeot.
09:33Yeah, we've got just coming up to the six hours to go mark in about nine minutes.
09:38But that's still six hours.
09:39I mean, that is still what we're talking about, four Grand Prix's.
09:43That's a thousand kilometer race right there.
09:46That's what many of the races are in the Le Mans series.
09:50Still to go in our race.
09:51So, never give up at Le Mans, that's the motto.
09:54And here's the racing car still being worked on underneath.
09:59These guys have been up for so many hours now.
10:02They had to work all night on Friday as well to get everything ready.
10:05So, probably approaching 48 hours without sleep.
10:08Yeah, and I do worry that it may all be in vain because I do think that car has perhaps not completed enough laps to be counted at this stage.
10:17So, Danny Watts there, just refreshing himself, presumably with the team's relentless energy drink there.
10:25Throws it out, of course, a relentless part of the Straka Empire.
10:29Straka is Greek-Cypriot virgin olive oil, apparently the best olive oil you can get.
10:36And that's the family fortune built on the Leventis family.
10:38Harry Leventis' father, who's got a fantastic collection of classic Ferraris up at Tewesten near Silverstone.
10:44Son Nick Leventis, who's in his own right, is a very, very good historic racer, as you know well, Liz.
10:50He is, yeah, he was at Monza last week, where I was, I believe, where I, unfortunately, was not able to get my little 1960 Alfa Romeo to avoid breaking apart.
11:00But, you know, that's racing, as they say, especially in old cars.
11:04Yes, and, of course, Harry, oh, someone off there, but Harry also owns the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DVR1.
11:11And Nick drives that a lot, used to show it with Peter Hartman before Peter parted company with the team.
11:16But Nick's had some success in that car this year, hasn't he?
11:19He has, yeah, and I'm sure I will see him at the Silverstone Classic, no doubt.
11:22Yeah, we'll all be there, hopefully.
11:24It's going to be an absolutely fantastic weekend there.
11:27Silverstone promises it can be bigger and better than ever before.
11:30So we are riding at the moment with the, is this Marcel Fassler?
11:33Yes, it is.
11:34Yes, his helmet, yes, that's right.
11:35In the second place car, as Liz pointed out, one lap down on leader Raymond Dumas.
11:40Anthony Davidson, another lap down and still no news from officialdom that any sort of penalty is going to be applied.
11:47So I think probably they are turning a French blind eye to that.
11:50Alan McNish in fourth.
11:52Loic Duval in the Oroca Peugeot in fifth.
11:55And in sixth place, Sam Hancock in the best of the petrol cars.
11:59The Lola Aston Martin, the team for which you drove last year, Stuart.
12:03I know, it's fantastic to see Sam in the car.
12:05He's at the moment doing a very, very good job.
12:08Just in the one minute, or three minute, 30 range.
12:11And 18 hours into this race, that is a good, good pace.
12:16And with the troubles that the 007 is now encountering, we haven't yet seen that emerge from the carriage.
12:22The 009 is taking the reins for the ProDrive team.
12:26That's the Martin ProDrive team.
12:27So just looking down LMP 2 order, Danny Watts, who we just saw making a routine pit stop now.
12:32Up to ninth overall.
12:34How good is that for LMP 2 against the huge, huge, competitively LMP 1 classes here?
12:41I mean, and that, I'm sure, is going to be even higher before the end of the race if they have no problems with the striker car.
12:46Well, I think that just shows the reliability that this car has been displaying throughout this race.
12:51And, you know, to be top ten in LMP 2, a few years ago, nobody would have believed that was possible.
12:56I mean, only about sort of six years ago or so, LMP 2, you were lucky to finish if you were in LMP 2.
13:02You were lucky to finish near, you know, anywhere beyond about the bottom four because the cars just would not last.
13:07And I think we're seeing now how much this class has come on in Le Mans racing.
13:12And we've seen basically virtually all of our LMP 2s are on the first page bar, about four of them.
13:18So, it is an impressive class.
13:22Yeah, and as you see, Peugeot Boss is looking on.
13:25Roman Dumas coming in for a pit stop out again.
13:28Just fuel, no ties.
13:29So, again, another double or even triple stint for him.
13:33He will be feeling the pressure at this stage.
13:35No doubt Audi has been informing him what sort of times Anthony Davidson's doing.
13:39Marcel Fassler, as well, has been doing a quicker lap time overall than Roman has.
13:43Makes me wonder if they're needing to look after that car a little bit because Roman Dumas is no slow peddler himself.
13:49He can definitely fight with the best of them.
13:51So, I'm wondering if there's maybe just the tiniest little thing that needs looking after there.
13:55Who knows?
13:56That could be.
13:56I mean, we've seen how quick Roman is, especially in the Penti Porsches.
14:00And he's even driven the Pescarello here a number of times.
14:05He's got his chance to win this race outright with the Audi.
14:09Maybe he's not at 100%.
14:12They've got that one lap leader.
14:15I don't think he's one lap.
14:16So, no, they can't afford to back off because Fassler's coming.
14:22It could be as simple as he hasn't got the perfect set of tyres.
14:24Of course, that's the other thing.
14:25Michelin obviously produce all tyres to the same spec.
14:29But there's always a very, very slight variation.
14:31Just for one second, going back to what you were talking about, Honda performance development, these cars.
14:36It is very, very significant, isn't it, that in LMP2, the top four cars, three of them, are Hondas in first, second and fourth.
14:44Andy Wallace, by the way, is at the wheel at the moment of the RML Lola Coupe.
14:49And that car has the Honda engine in the back.
14:52And Andy Wallace, wonderful to see him back here again.
14:551988 Le Mans winner, of course, for Jaguar, Silk Cut Jaguar.
14:58Oh, the Ferrari going way off the road there to make room for the Eureka car.
15:02Is he going to get a warning for that?
15:05Or will they accept that after what happened at the Porsche curves, that was the best thing to do?
15:10Yeah, no, I think when it's an issue in traffic, then usually they will look past that.
15:16It's mainly when you're looking at cars that are pushing hard and deciding perhaps they'll just save themselves a bit of space by jumping a few chicanes.
15:23That's when you see the warning.
15:24And the fact it was Jean Alessi as well probably would...
15:27Yeah, maybe.
15:29Jean Alessi getting a little carried away.
15:31Jean, at the moment, of course, in second place now in that 95 car.
15:35The AF course car, which is a fantastic return to Le Mans for Jean.
15:39He drove here in the Group C era once.
15:41But this is the first time in, what, 20 years he's been here to be running second in the most competitive GT2 field we've had in a decade.
15:50I mean, that is just such a good performance.
15:52Oh, absolutely.
15:53And, of course, we've seen the F1 drivers really shine in the GT2 class.
15:57Mika Salo has been driving and winning in the various different Ferraris for some time in the ALMS and also here at Le Mans.
16:03So, certainly, we've seen all sorts of different F1 drivers throughout, Stuart.
16:09I know.
16:09And what is very interesting, I've been thinking about this.
16:12When I left the CompG box probably, I don't know, five hours ago, five, six hours ago, we had the cars that were, you know, on pace, the quickest of them all.
16:22You know, you had the Peugeot leading the P1 class.
16:25You had the, I think it was the Corvette lead, no, the Ford GT leading the GT1 class.
16:31And you had the Corvette leading the GT2 class.
16:35Now, five hours, five, six hours on, you know, reliability is starting to come into it.
16:39There's starting to be a few scrapes on track.
16:40And it's the old hands that are coming to the top.
16:42You've got, you've got Audi 1.2 in the P1 class.
16:45You've got a Celine leading the GT1 class with a Corvette second.
16:52And you've got a Porsche leading the GT2 class.
16:54So, they may not have the outright pace, but, you know, those guys know how to win 24-hour races.
16:59And we're seeing this right now.
17:01That's a brilliant point, actually, Stuart.
17:03You've hit the nail on the head with that, I think.
17:04And what we're also seeing is what sports car racing is.
17:10And we'll be right back.
17:34And, sorry about that, we're just waiting for our 24-minute programme,
17:50which will give you highlights of the race evening so far.
17:54And that looks like a remarkably chipper-looking Corvette back on course.
18:00And what a delight to see it as well.
18:03Currently fifth in class, by the way.
18:06I think we're moving around.
18:08Just try and find it.
18:10Warm welcome back.
18:11Great news is that we have Ollie Gavin in the 64 Corvette is back and racing after a substantial amount of work on the back end.
18:24You're live on Eurosport 2, I understand.
18:27So, thanks for your company.
18:29Sorry about the confusion just before the break.
18:31Didn't quite know where we were going in terms of which channel we've been appearing on.
18:37But we are well and truly with you now.
18:39Al-Mutnish staying in the car.
18:40He's got a huge duty on his shoulders.
18:43It'll be a weight to bear, that's for sure.
18:47But he may not have the broadest of shoulders, but he is more than capable of taking that responsibility.
18:52We've got more news on the incident between the Anthony Davison Peugeot and Manu Collard's Corvette.
19:00Apparently, Doug Fian's been telling Radio Le Mans that the Peugeot did not respect Collard's line,
19:05didn't leave him anywhere to go, and he hopes some action be taken.
19:09He told them at the same time they could get the car repaired within five minutes.
19:13And as we've seen, it is now back on track, which is an absolutely amazing performance.
19:18A phenomenal bit of work by Corvette to get that machine back.
19:22And to be honest, they've been absolute gentlemen.
19:24There was no kind of fluster from them, fluster or bluster.
19:26They didn't stalk down the pit lane and let Peugeot know what they thought about it.
19:32I think if it had come the other way around, Jeremy Short, that would have been perhaps a different story emotionally.
19:38Yes, from what we...
19:39Good morning, everybody, by the way.
19:40It's nice to be back here in the commentary booth.
19:41I've just been wandering around the garage area for the last, I don't know, hour and a half or so.
19:46And every time I sort of left one garage having found out something, something else would happen somewhere else.
19:50So it's absolutely manic down there these last couple of hours.
19:53And it's not even...
19:55It's continuing right there now.
19:56There is one of the pro-speed cars off the road into the gravel.
20:00Not quite sure where that is.
20:01But gosh, it's been manic.
20:02You know, I was actually down in the Corvette garage when that incident happened out on track.
20:07And I've just spoken to Antonio Garcia, who, of course, went out, what, about an hour beforehand?
20:11About an hour and a half before that, I suppose.
20:14He said, there's absolutely no warning to that engine failure.
20:17It just blew on the run down to Indianapolis.
20:20So, you know, massive disappointment there.
20:23But, you know, the other car at that stage was running beautifully and out in the lead of the class.
20:26And running, you know, no problems whatsoever.
20:29And then, of course, Manu has that incident out with the Peugeot.
20:32And you're right, there was no histrionics down there so far as the other teams are concerned.
20:37Unlike Dr. Ulrich.
20:39I know that.
20:40Who ran down to BMW camp fairly sharply after the contact out on the racetrack, which really wasn't...
20:45It was just not one of those things.
20:47As was this, effectively.
20:48I mean, the Peugeot was absolutely flying.
20:50I didn't actually see the incident on the cameras at all.
20:54But, you know, it's just one of those things that's going to happen around this little place.
20:58And Stuart Hall will address that in a moment.
21:00But there was organized chaos down there in the Corvette pit when they brought the car in.
21:07I mean, there were people running back and forth.
21:09There had to be about 20 people, probably, mechanics.
21:12You know, they knew exactly where everything was back in the area behind the garage.
21:18And there was a lot of people flying around.
21:21I mean, I was keeping well, well out of the way.
21:23But it was, they were working extremely hard, extremely well, extremely well organized.
21:28That's the whole thing here.
21:29It was panic, but it was organized panic.
21:32It's fascinating to see those guys working over that sort of pressure.
21:35You know, this long into the race when they've been up for such a long time.
21:38They've been massive supporters of Le Mans and racing in general, 50 years they're celebrating of action.
21:43And they're proving that, you know, they have learned an awful lot of tricks,
21:48particularly about how to keep a racetrack alive and in a race.
21:52It was one of the biggest turn rounds for the damaged level that we saw at the back end there.
21:56Some big guys using all of their weight to actually just try and re-modify the back end.
22:01And it's come out looking like new, which is a real credit to them.
22:04They're currently fifth in class.
22:06Yeah, quite remarkable.
22:07And, you know, the car was running absolutely beautifully before.
22:09And I think they showed some things on the front end as well while they were at it.
22:12But, Stuart, you've been in that sort of position, you know, in one or the other,
22:16in the prototype or the GT car.
22:18When the prototype is pushing that hard, like Anthony Davidson was, it was Davidson at the wheel, wasn't it?
22:23Yeah, Davidson.
22:23I mean, he was turning some stunning laps there.
22:25I didn't see the incident on camera, did you?
22:28I saw the incident, and we have touched on this.
22:30We've spoken about it before.
22:32It is part and parcel of sports car racing.
22:35When you've got cars running around that are 45 seconds a lap quicker than other cars,
22:39inevitably there are going to be times when they touch each other.
22:44And we've seen that then.
22:47No action probably will be taken.
22:50And we'll just get on with it.
22:52It happens all the time.
22:53And, you know, I said before, you know, probably 40, 50 times in this race you've probably had quicker cars touched lower cars.
23:00But it's only when there's an accident that it gets noticed.
23:03It's been noticed, and, you know, let's get on with it.
23:07You know, it's part and parcel of racing.
23:09The Corvette boys are back out.
23:10It's a shame for them, but there's still six hours to go.
23:13The signature bus car is making its way through traffic right now.
23:16Everyone's been kind of promoted it as the attrition rate goes up.
23:19The 007 car is in the garage, and it means that 08 and 09 are in a happier position,
23:26although they won't be overly smiling about it and mentioning it too much to their colleagues.
23:30But you do take that step forward.
23:32And if you want the biggest step so far, well, maybe it's been baby steps throughout the night,
23:37is Mark Lieber, that Porsche, suddenly the 77 car finds itself at the top of GT2
23:42in a position that they couldn't have even dreamed about earlier on today
23:46because the Corvettes seem to be running so well, and all of a sudden the roof's coming on.
23:50Yeah, but, you know, as we've seen so often here, anything can happen.
23:54And the Porsche was never out of contention by any means.
23:57I mean, yes, it was going to take a problem of some sort for the Corvette,
24:00but, you know, over 24 hours, you're going to have some sort of a problem, almost certainly.
24:06Just to lose one lap in three or four minutes' worth of time,
24:09that's really just an extended brake change or something like that,
24:13and you're going to bring you back into contention.
24:14And, Jeremy, that's exactly what Peugeot are looking for now.
24:17And Davidson, at the moment, has just posted a 321 021,
24:20and he has been in stunning form.
24:24Alan McNish has been behind him and just watched him go away,
24:26and Alan McNish is not a slow driver, as we have said, by any means.
24:31And he doesn't even use the word slow ever for anything.
24:35Yeah, and he's pushing hard because he knows that he's got an outside shot,
24:39at least at getting up to the top position.
24:41So he's been pushing hard, and when Davidson came out of the pits,
24:44McNish was right behind him, wasn't he?
24:46And, as you say, just motioned away.
24:48You talked briefly there about 007 Aston Martin.
24:50They're still down there working on that car.
24:52It's a gearbox problem, obviously,
24:54and I presume that that information was filtered up.
24:57But the car had been running beautifully, hadn't they?
25:00All the Astons, actually, have been running particularly well.
25:05There was a few, a couple of slow snits, perhaps,
25:07from the amateur driver Juan Barrazi at one stage early this morning,
25:13and a few others, really nothing major at all.
25:16The cars were running absolutely like Glockberg,
25:18and all of a sudden,
25:19Harold Premat had a problem with the gearbox.
25:21And they come back in here for some refettering of the 64 car, Stuart.
25:25Yeah, it looks to me that they are looking at the rear end of the car as well,
25:29so that is the end that got stuffed into the wall about a half an hour ago,
25:32so maybe they haven't fixed the lot.
25:35And just going back to the Aston Martins,
25:38the approach of the Aston Martin team, they're ready to pounce.
25:41I mean, it is very difficult to beat the diesels at the moment
25:44with the regulations the way they are,
25:46but we can see now you've got the 009 car in sixth place
25:49and you've got the 008 car in eighth place,
25:51and the only cars in front of them are diesels.
25:55God help the diesels when the rules get more or equal,
26:01because Aston Martin are going to build a hell of a car.
26:04And look at that, look at that.
26:06It shows you 18 hours into the race,
26:09there's no let-up, especially from Leuchte Duval,
26:12using all the road and more,
26:14and that's puncture territory, that is.
26:15So it will be interesting to see if he gets away with that,
26:18because there's an awful lot of dust kicked up
26:19when he passed all that traffic.
26:21There were three or four cars abreast there at the moment,
26:23and they were expecting him for Carlton Kirby for a while,
26:26and that was pretty fraught at this stage in the race.
26:29You don't normally expect four cars who try to go for the same piece of road,
26:32most of them on different laps.
26:34No, exactly.
26:35And we saw earlier,
26:36we saw the Peugeot taking a really big risk
26:40down sort of a lane on the Mulsanne
26:43that wasn't even available, really,
26:44and he got a bit of a warning for that.
26:46And we're seeing all sorts of moves like this.
26:48This late on in the race,
26:49when there's so much debris on the side of the circuit,
26:52it's not really the smartest thing to do, is it Stuart?
26:54No, it's not, but these guys are pushing.
26:56They're pushing really, really hard.
26:58The top five, any one of those guys could win this race.
27:02It just needs a small problem for any one of them,
27:04and it's Curtin.
27:05So they've been told to keep pushing really, really hard,
27:09and they certainly are for what we're seeing.
27:11But as you say, Liz,
27:12it could not be the cleverest of decisions
27:16because if you're going to go offline,
27:17there's going to be plenty of debris 18 hours into the race,
27:20which could result in a puncture.
27:21If you get a puncture sort of two, you know,
27:2530 seconds into your lap,
27:26you're going to have to spend the next five minutes
27:28driving around with perhaps a wheel starting to delamulate,
27:31which starts to damage bodywork,
27:32which starts to knock hoses and things off the engine,
27:35and then you're going to be in the pits
27:37for a long time for a repair job.
27:39That's a good point.
27:40I mean, you know, this pickup is a major problem.
27:42We've seen big balls of rubber being caught up
27:44in the wheel wells of some of the cars as well,
27:46and I was just talking to Andy Wallace down there,
27:48and we talked about it overnight.
27:50The R&L car has basically been running absolutely beautifully.
27:53Really, the only problem they've had
27:55is towards the end of a long stint,
27:56and they've been generally triple stinting the tyres
27:59and the drivers,
28:00and towards the end of the triple stint,
28:03they get a lot of, they pick up a vibration with the car.
28:05And it turns out it's rubber built on the inside of the wheel,
28:10which is relatively unusual.
28:12Well, it's not exactly as unusual.
28:13You do get little bits of rubber in there,
28:15but it's causing a major imbalance,
28:18and that makes driving very, very difficult.
28:19It does, and I've actually had that happen in a car before,
28:22and it is a really weird sensation.
28:23You start to think that maybe you've even got a puncture
28:25or something like that,
28:25because it does sort of shake and vibrate the car,
28:27but it is a hardship on this track.
28:31You can see there as the Peugeot's going by,
28:32you can actually see all the rubber pickup
28:34on the side of the circuit,
28:35and the more we get on in this race,
28:37the more of that excess rubber will be
28:40on the outside of the track,
28:41and one of the things that'll happen
28:42is you run through that,
28:43and you pick it up on your tyres,
28:44and that could actually sometimes make you lose the car.
28:47I mean, it can throw the car so off-balance
28:49that you could lose the rear and have an accident,
28:51so that's another risk that could be going on there.
28:53And that vibration that you get
28:55when effectively the wheel goes out of balance,
28:57like Andy was saying,
28:59you get picked up on the outside,
29:01the edges of the tyres tend to pick up the loose rubber
29:03if you have to run off-line,
29:05and also when that rubber gets,
29:06just sort of small specks,
29:08if it gets stuck to the inside of the wheel
29:10as it's revolving,
29:12it causes a major imbalance,
29:13and that can shake off all sorts of things
29:15on the car too, Stuart.
29:16It can certainly make the car vibrate unnecessarily,
29:20and then things can work loose,
29:22but also, if you're in a car
29:24that's not a closed cockpit,
29:26these big balls of rubber hitting you in the face,
29:28it's quite a startling,
29:29you drive along the Mulsanne behind a Persia,
29:31and suddenly a big ball of rubber comes out
29:32and hits you in the head,
29:34you know, you certainly feel it.
29:36That's a very good point,
29:37that's not so nice when it happens,
29:39and amongst other things,
29:41bits of louver and all sorts
29:42come following out, don't you, Stuart?
29:43Yeah, it's not nice at all, is it?
29:46So we've got, what,
29:46just less than six hours to go now
29:48in this race,
29:49so we're a long way in,
29:51we're three quarters of the way into the race,
29:54but three quarters of the way into the race,
29:55but it's still six hours to go,
29:57that's as long as a race
29:59as we generally would get in the Le Mans series,
30:01and, Stuart, let's have a rundown of the order,
30:04I don't know whether we've done that lately,
30:06have we done that lately,
30:06a rundown of the order?
30:07Not for a little while.
30:08Yeah, right, it's still not,
30:09car number nine,
30:10we just saw Romain Jumann
30:12made a pit stop,
30:13what, about 20 minutes ago,
30:15he has completed now 299 laps,
30:18Marcel Faesler in car number eight,
30:20in the second of the Audis,
30:21he made a pit stop just two or three minutes ago,
30:24so he is on schedule there,
30:25just less than one lap down,
30:27he's just actually left the pits,
30:28he's just completing his out lap now,
30:31in car number eight,
30:32Anthony Davidson,
30:33he's, well, he's still just one lap down,
30:35I think, isn't he,
30:36it's almost two,
30:37but not quite,
30:38so just over a lap now for Anthony Davidson,
30:40that car still is absolutely flying,
30:42last time around for Anthony Davidson,
30:44three minutes, 22.5 in car number one,
30:46the best pace now of the Peugeots,
30:49there's only two of the four still running,
30:51Alan McNish,
30:52a farther lap back down in fourth place,
30:56completed 296 laps,
30:58and the gap between the two Audis
30:59at the front of the field,
31:00as Faesler comes across the line
31:02to complete that out lap after the pit stop,
31:04is just one minute and 27 seconds,
31:07so less than a minute and a half
31:09between those two Peugeots,
31:11farther down the field,
31:12so a quick run down,
31:13Loic Duval still runs there
31:14for the Orica Peugeot in fifth place,
31:17and then the best of the Lola Aston Martins,
31:19double in nine,
31:20Sam Hancock doing a sterling,
31:22good job at the wheel of that car,
31:23as he has done all week in sixth place,
31:26Christian Albers,
31:27in the best of the Colas' Audis,
31:29again that's a pretty respectable run there,
31:31in car number 15,
31:32the R10 TDI,
31:33the, what, 76-year-old car now,
31:36isn't it,
31:37and he is running for the Colas' team,
31:39that car's again run pretty much like clockwork,
31:41second of the Lola Aston Martins run by the Signature Plus team,
31:45on 008,
31:45Pierre Ragg at the wheel in eighth place,
31:47followed by Didier Andre in the Orica AIM-engined car in ninth,
31:52and then in tenth place,
31:53the first of the LMP2 cars,
31:56as it has been virtually throughout the race,
31:58the Stracca Racing HPD of Danny Watts,
32:01who's fairly recently taken over,
32:03I think,
32:03from Johnny Kane,
32:04those two have done by far the lion's share of the work in that car,
32:07and they still hold about a two and a bit lap lead,
32:10over the similar car of Highcroft Racing,
32:13Marina Franchitti driving there,
32:15quick look at GT1,
32:17it's still the Celine,
32:19the Lava competition,
32:23Celine,
32:23car number 50,
32:24that's run absolutely like clockwork,
32:26they had a few minor,
32:28minor delays early on,
32:29but they've just taken advantage of this attrition,
32:32and they've now got a handy lead,
32:33in GT1,
32:35GT2,
32:35it's Richard Leitz,
32:37who leads in,
32:38car number 77 for Porsche,
32:40after all those Corvette problems,
32:41over the last hour and a half,
32:43leads by,
32:44I think it's just less than a lap,
32:46over Jean-Lelacy,
32:48still running well in the AF Corsa,
32:50car number 95,
32:51the Ferrari,
32:52car number 7,
32:53as we see coming through Arnage there,
32:54is running now in fourth place,
32:57in GT2,
32:58we saw Richard Westbrook had a puncture,
33:00that was about an hour ago as well,
33:01that car has been running well,
33:03they had,
33:03they put a fresh engine in for the race,
33:06and they found out,
33:07they didn't find out till the race,
33:08that it was really down on power,
33:10and they've trimmed out the aerodynamics on a car,
33:14just to find the straight line speed,
33:15Richard Westbrook says,
33:16it's handling absolutely beautifully,
33:18and all,
33:18the only delays they've had,
33:19apart from that,
33:20was a couple of punctures,
33:21so we've looked,
33:22despite all that,
33:23they're still very much in contention,
33:24and all of the cars,
33:26it's been held there,
33:27there's something to play for,
33:28there's never,
33:28apart from GT1 perhaps,
33:29there's still hope,
33:32for the contenders here,
33:33we've seen a real change about,
33:34and just,
33:35even just in the last couple of hours,
33:36we've seen everything turn around,
33:38in all three classes,
33:39except for GT1,
33:40like you've said,
33:41so,
33:42there's really,
33:43yeah,
33:43there is,
33:43there's a lot going on here,
33:44after so many hours in this race,
33:46there's not a huge gap,
33:47between all the front runners,
33:49so,
33:49I think that's really going to,
33:50show what we're going to have,
33:53in the future.
33:53Indeed,
33:54so there's the,
33:54sole remaining BMW,
33:56coming down the Mulsanne,
33:58one more time,
33:58he's still running in,
34:00sixth place in the class,
34:02so we've still got,
34:03about five and three quarter hours,
34:05to go in this race,
34:05we're glad you're here,
34:06with us on Eurosport,
34:08and we'll be back,
34:08in just a couple of moments.
34:09Welcome back to Eurosport,
34:15Jeremy Shaw with you,
34:17and Stuart Hall alongside,
34:18Liz Halliday has finally,
34:19taken a little bit of a break,
34:20she's going to take a snack,
34:21she's well earned,
34:22after being on the hour,
34:23on the go here,
34:24for the last three hours or so,
34:27and,
34:28well,
34:29nothing has changed,
34:30since you've been away,
34:31which is actually,
34:31fairly unusual at this stage,
34:33over the last couple of hours,
34:34Stuart Hall,
34:35everything seems to have happened,
34:36and now finally,
34:37a little bit of peace and quiet.
34:38It certainly has,
34:40Jeremy,
34:40it's been a really,
34:41really topsy-turvy race,
34:42everyone said in LMP1,
34:45Peugeot are the favourites,
34:46they're going to run away with it,
34:48where are they now?
34:48The third,
34:49Audi 1, 2.
34:51In LMP2,
34:52we've got the two Acuras,
34:541 and 2,
34:54they always were the quickest,
34:55and the only thing,
34:58we thought that might hamper them,
34:59is the fact that they've never,
35:00never done a full 24 hour race before,
35:02well they're proving us wrong now,
35:03in GT1,
35:04we've got the Celine,
35:06that certainly wasn't the quickest car in class,
35:08the Ford GT was,
35:09and now where is the Ford GT,
35:12I don't,
35:12well I don't think they're both out,
35:13actually,
35:14I haven't seen one for a while,
35:15but no,
35:17the Celine's leading by a long,
35:18long way,
35:19that only has to keep it together now,
35:20and that will win the class,
35:22and in GT2,
35:24the old stalwarts,
35:24the Porsche,
35:25Porsche with Richard Leitz,
35:26Ferrari with a Lacey,
35:27Ferrari with Simonson,
35:28Porsche with Marco Holzer,
35:30and the quicker Corvettes,
35:32are no longer there,
35:34and the Risi Competizione,
35:36Ferrari's no longer there,
35:37so,
35:37you know,
35:40as we're seeing,
35:41the stalwarts of the class,
35:44of the guys that know how to win 24 hour races,
35:46are indeed at the front.
35:47Yes,
35:48they are indeed,
35:48aren't they,
35:49and there is the Celine,
35:50in for a scheduled pit stop,
35:52once again,
35:53the car has completed,
35:54now,
35:55255 laps,
35:56it's,
35:57a couple of laps behind Richard Leitz,
36:00in the,
36:00uh,
36:01Felbermeyer car,
36:02uh,
36:03and,
36:03they are,
36:05the,
36:05the Celine has been,
36:06it's interesting,
36:07the Celine story,
36:08isn't it,
36:08because these cars have been around,
36:09for a long time now,
36:10they've never really,
36:11achieved the ultimate success,
36:13they've been knocking on the door,
36:14the cars have always been fast,
36:15they look great,
36:16as they always have done,
36:18and,
36:18uh,
36:19it came into this race,
36:20kind of as a dark horse,
36:21but also,
36:22it was favoured by some,
36:24but not by others,
36:25the drivers line up,
36:26it was,
36:26was,
36:27uh,
36:27particularly considered to be strong,
36:29but,
36:30they've done a good,
36:30steady job.
36:31They really have,
36:32and they've capitalised on the reliability,
36:34woes of the other guys,
36:35uh,
36:36the Celine,
36:36the Celine has always been a very quick car,
36:38and,
36:38in the past,
36:39it has had its reliability problems,
36:41uh,
36:41especially here at Le Mans,
36:42but,
36:42uh,
36:43maybe 2010 is the year that,
36:45uh,
36:45it could come all good.
36:47Yeah,
36:47and that would be great to see,
36:48I mean,
36:49that,
36:49that car,
36:49it's a beautiful car,
36:51the,
36:51original concept for that car,
36:53from,
36:53uh,
36:53Steve Celine's,
36:54uh,
36:55organization,
36:55down in,
36:56in Southern California,
36:57the car was developed and built initially at Ray RML,
37:00Ray Mallet's company in Wellingborough,
37:02in England,
37:02and,
37:03uh,
37:03very much a transatlantic cooperation there,
37:06to get that beautiful car on the road,
37:07I think it's just absolutely stunning,
37:08and,
37:09it's,
37:09it's great to see,
37:10that library car running so well.
37:11Here's a,
37:11a scheduled stop again now,
37:13for Sam Hancock brought that number 009 car into the pits,
37:17it's running in sixth place,
37:18absolutely running like clockwork,
37:20it's so good to see these accidents,
37:22I mean,
37:22they sound sensational,
37:24every time they go past,
37:25a big smile comes across my face,
37:27and the fan is a real fan favorite as well.
37:29It is,
37:29they sound beautiful,
37:30they look beautiful,
37:31and the team is,
37:32the team is working really,
37:34really well right now,
37:34and,
37:35uh,
37:35you know,
37:35there is a few problems with the 007 car,
37:37so the,
37:38the 009 car is flying the flag,
37:40Sam Hancock's just done a great stint,
37:41a stint aboard that car,
37:43and there's now,
37:44is now handing over to Juan Barazzi,
37:46so,
37:47we'll see how he gets on.
37:48Yeah,
37:48there's a stage,
37:49well,
37:49about one o'clock in the morning,
37:50I think,
37:50when Barazzi took over the,
37:52took over the wheel from,
37:54again,
37:55from,
37:56um,
37:56Sam Hancock,
37:57and,
37:59for,
37:59for two laps on the screen,
38:00on the timing,
38:01on the scoring screen,
38:01it said,
38:02cut,
38:02009,
38:03slow on track,
38:04it was going incredibly slowly,
38:06he was just being so careful,
38:08Barazzi,
38:08he's,
38:09he's not a professional like these other guys,
38:11and he was just,
38:12he was taking it easy,
38:13but he was taking it so easy,
38:14the middle sector was something like,
38:17uh,
38:17instead of being sort of 85,
38:19or 85 seconds or so,
38:20it was about 180 seconds,
38:21it was incredibly slow,
38:23but,
38:24you know,
38:24you don't win the race,
38:25if you make mistakes,
38:26so as long as you can keep the car on the road,
38:27yes,
38:27it might have cost,
38:28it cost him at least a couple of minutes,
38:30on that out lap,
38:30but hey,
38:31at the end of the day,
38:32who cares?
38:33Yeah,
38:33indeed,
38:34uh,
38:34you know,
38:34that car is leading the unofficial petrol class,
38:36and it's 6-0 the rule,
38:37so,
38:38whatever the problem,
38:39or whatever issues,
38:40Juan Barazzi had,
38:40whether,
38:41whether he,
38:42he was just,
38:42uh,
38:43you know,
38:43maybe even learning,
38:44learning the circuit in the dark a bit more,
38:45I don't,
38:46I really don't know,
38:46but,
38:47uh,
38:47you know,
38:48that car is there,
38:48that car is the quickest petrol car,
38:50and,
38:50uh,
38:51it's going well,
38:51but,
38:51uh,
38:52as we see,
38:52the 007 car has now been repaired,
38:54that has just gone out of the pits,
38:56with,
38:56uh,
38:56Stefan Mooker aboard,
38:57so,
38:57uh,
38:58expect to see some fireworks.
38:59Yeah,
38:59that's right,
39:00the car now has been stationary in the pit lane for quite a lot,
39:04well over an hour,
39:05certainly,
39:06uh,
39:06there was gearbox problems on that car,
39:07they've been feverishly working away in the garage,
39:10trying to get it back out again,
39:11they have done so now,
39:12it's now completed 271 laps,
39:15so it's 21 laps behind the 009 car,
39:20probably cost about 25,
39:21uh,
39:22yes,
39:22but it's been in the pits for about an hour,
39:24so,
39:24you know,
39:25they've got no hope,
39:26of course,
39:26of making up that time,
39:27they've got to hope for the other guys to have some problems,
39:29so the car's now down in 14th place overall,
39:32I guess what they're aiming for now,
39:33Liz Howell,
39:33they're good to see you back here,
39:35if you get back into the top turn.
39:36Yeah,
39:37I think they'll be hoping to still finish the race,
39:39they've certainly done enough laps to hold on to that for some time,
39:42so,
39:43I think they'll keep working away until they think the car absolutely won't finish,
39:46but,
39:46I know that Aston Martin would love to get all three of its cars to the finish,
39:50certainly.
39:51It also looks like that,
39:53we've not seen the shutters go down on the Lola Judd number 11,
39:56that is the Dresden car,
39:57however,
39:58I do think that they have perhaps exceeded the minimum amount of hours they need to do,
40:04basically,
40:05I've probably not said that very clearly,
40:06but,
40:07essentially,
40:08we spoke about this earlier,
40:10saying that they needed to do within 75% of the overall race distance done by 9am,
40:17and I don't think they've achieved that,
40:18they have been in their garage for a very,
40:20very long time,
40:21I'm hoping we can maybe get a hold of somebody,
40:23and see if that is an official retirement,
40:25but the shutter certainly hasn't come down yet.
40:27No,
40:27it hasn't,
40:28I was down in that pit for quite a while actually,
40:31about 45 minutes ago,
40:33had a long chat with Emanuele Pirro,
40:35and the car at that stage was in the garage,
40:37and,
40:37yeah,
40:37they've had a litany of problems,
40:39all sorts of things,
40:40at one stage,
40:42I guess it would have been a couple of hours or so ago,
40:44maybe a little bit more than that,
40:46Johnny Cocker was sleeping in the hut,
40:49back behind the panic area,
40:52and Paul Drayson had just gone out of the car,
40:54and had a little bit of a fuel leak,
40:57and Paul did one lap,
40:59came in and said,
41:00I can't drive it,
41:01it's just the fumes,
41:02I'm overcome by the fumes,
41:03they actually took him off to the medical center,
41:05he's fine,
41:06but the guy,
41:07some of the crew guys ran back to the hut,
41:09literally got Johnny Cocker out,
41:11he was in a deep sleep,
41:12as you would be,
41:13if you can get to sleep at all,
41:14you're going to be in a deep sleep,
41:16which he was,
41:16he literally ran to the garage,
41:19got in the car,
41:20and out he went,
41:21and he went off on the first lap at Indianapolis,
41:23and you know,
41:23that's,
41:24I don't know,
41:24I'm sure you,
41:25I don't know whether you guys have been in that situation,
41:27you've been literally woken up and got in the car,
41:28but it's not something you want to do.
41:30All I can say is fair play for Johnny Cocker,
41:33being in a deep sleep at Le Mans,
41:35I'd never have been,
41:36he must be very high,
41:37that's what I was going to say,
41:38if you can get to sleep at all,
41:40it's going to be a deep one.
41:40A good man if he's managed that.
41:42He's obviously very relaxed and taken it in his drive.
41:44I think rest is more what you can get at Le Mans,
41:46but deep sleeping doesn't usually happen.
41:48He was fast asleep in there,
41:49trust me,
41:50and when they put him in the car,
41:51I mean,
41:52that's a big ask.
41:54It is,
41:55and you know,
41:56you go to bed,
41:57you think your teammates are going to do the job,
42:00and if there is a problem like Paul had,
42:02and you are overcome by fumes,
42:03you know,
42:03you've got to put the other guy in,
42:04and obviously they've gone and woken Johnny up,
42:06he's dreaming about probably being in a beach in Barbados somewhere,
42:08and within five minutes,
42:10he's charging down to Indianapolis at 205 miles an hour,
42:14so I'm not surprised he went off.
42:16No,
42:16exactly right,
42:17that's exactly what Emanuele said,
42:18and you know,
42:19the guys have worked so hard.
42:22Pirro is impressed with how hard those guys have worked.
42:26They've overcome all sorts of adversities,
42:28and when I was talking to him,
42:29there was some conjecture as to whether or not they were going to be able to continue past 9 a.m.,
42:33and I asked Pirro about that,
42:35and he had no idea of that rule.
42:37He said,
42:37I've never actually been in a team that's had to come across that potential that you're going to be pulled out of the race before,
42:44and he said the crew didn't know about it either.
42:46They're just going about their business.
42:48Fair enough.
42:48They're trying to repair the car and get it back off over the race.
42:50Well, I hope that's the case.
42:51I hope they can carry on.
42:52Certainly,
42:52there is 100% the rule that at the end of the race,
42:55to be classified,
42:56you must have done 70% of the race distance,
42:59so that has always been in play,
43:01and most teams I've ever worked with have sort of kept an eye on that.
43:05When we've had a lot of problems,
43:06they've sort of said,
43:06look,
43:07we're not going to make it past that distance,
43:08or when the cutoff point hits,
43:10that's it,
43:10really.
43:11You have to sort of throw in the towel,
43:12so I do hope they don't work in vain for that matter,
43:15but you never know.
43:17I hope they can get it back on.
43:18I'd love to see them running.
43:20Well,
43:20we can see the racing garage right in front of our commentary box across the way there,
43:24and there really isn't a flurry of activity down there.
43:28It's been quite quiet in there,
43:29so whether they've got one or two guys just trying to fix that problem,
43:35or they've actually decided to throw in the towel and haven't shut the shutter,
43:39because there really hasn't been much going on for the last hour or so anyway.
43:43That's exactly right,
43:44and I think just a rough calculation.
43:46No,
43:47it does look like Justine Monnier is actually down there,
43:49but we don't appear to be getting that interview,
43:52unfortunately,
43:52but she does appear to be down there interviewing them,
43:55so hopefully we will hear something very soon.
43:57It looks like she's speaking with Emanuele.
43:58The leaders have just completed over 300 laps,
44:02so 70% of that would be 210 laps,
44:05and the number 11 cars have competed at the moment only 174,
44:08so on that basis,
44:09it's a fair bit outside that cut-off period.
44:13And car number 69,
44:15the J-Lock Lamborghini also I think is going to suffer a similar fate,
44:19which is a shame,
44:20because they've worked hard as well,
44:21and have generally done a very good job to keep that car on the road.
44:26There's still,
44:26there's only one,
44:27two,
44:27three,
44:28four GT1 cars still classified at the moment.
44:31I think that Lamborghini has been in the pits,
44:33however,
44:34for quite a long time.
44:35Yeah,
44:36I think the Lamborghini may struggle with a similar fate at the end of this race.
44:39I don't even know if they're still working on the car.
44:41We can't see them from here,
44:42but they were running at the back of the entire race up to that point.
44:47Great to see them actually running for as long as they were,
44:50especially after last year being such a disaster for that team.
44:52They were lucky to come back this year,
44:53weren't they,
44:54Jeremy?
44:54Yeah,
44:54they certainly were,
44:55and there's a lot of question marks.
44:56I think it raises sort of why and how they managed to get an entry again
44:59after a pretty pathetic,
45:01quite frankly,
45:02performance one year ago.
45:03But this year,
45:04it's been,
45:05it's a new car.
45:06It's a,
45:06it's a right range hearing new Lamborghini Murcielado,
45:09and they've,
45:10they have done a very respectable job.
45:11I mean,
45:11the cars has been,
45:13that's been the fastest car out there,
45:14but it's been relatively reliable,
45:16and it's been running some respectful lap times as well.
45:20Now,
45:20something I'm just noticing here is the times of Luke Duval.
45:23He's been putting in,
45:24he's just done a fastest sector time for that car for the race.
45:27That's the number four Peugeot.
45:29That is the Matmut car,
45:30I believe,
45:31which is definitely putting the fight and the push onto Alan McNish.
45:35They're only a lap down,
45:36or maybe even less.
45:37So,
45:37certainly,
45:38I think he's been getting the call as well to push,
45:40push,
45:41push,
45:41because you never know what's going to happen in this race,
45:43and it may just unfold into their hands.
45:45Yeah,
45:45you're right.
45:45The,
45:45the gap,
45:46I believe,
45:47is less than a lap.
45:49Alan McNish comes past to complete his 301st lap.
45:53Lloyd Duval,
45:54according to timing and scoring,
45:55is on his third sector after competing 300.
45:58So,
45:59yeah,
45:59less than a lap,
46:00and we'll see what this up was.
46:02We'll have a look at that gap when they come past next time.
46:05In the meantime,
46:06it's Roman Jim Marais,
46:07304 laps,
46:07completed now by the race leader.
46:09The Colas Audi there in for a pit stop.
46:12Christian Albers running in seventh place.
46:15As we see on board now with Marcel Fasseler,
46:18driving the number Audi,
46:19number eight Audi R15.
46:22And now we're cutting away to,
46:23I think,
46:23I think,
46:23is that,
46:23is that Baccarus?
46:25Oh,
46:26no,
46:26it's out.
46:26They're saying it's Albert,
46:27but I'm thinking that,
46:28that looks like Baccarus helmet in there.
46:29So Baccarus may have got into the car
46:31and just taking that car out.
46:33Probably,
46:34probably just been woken up as well from his,
46:36from his sleep.
46:37So he'll be going out in that car for his morning stint.
46:42We're back with Fasseler now,
46:43just overtaking the,
46:44the Luc Alcon Corvette into the Ford chicane,
46:48hunting down Roman Dumas in the number nine Audi.
46:51That lap,
46:52he was actually two seconds adrift of Roman Dumas.
46:55So,
46:55you know,
46:56that gap is eking out a little bit,
46:58but as we say,
47:00this is traffic
47:00and I'm sure Fassel will get a couple of clear laps now
47:03and be able to close that gap again.
47:06There is the work going on in the garage.
47:09We're going to be switching channels
47:10in about a minute's time.
47:12So if we suddenly go off here,
47:14we're going to have a commercial break in around about one minute's time.
47:18If we go off the air,
47:19please switch across to the other Eurosport channel.
47:21To be honest,
47:21we're not quite sure which one we're on here.
47:23It's Eurosport International.
47:24You'll be switching from Eurosport 2 to Eurosport International
47:27in around about a minute.
47:28So don't think that we've left you.
47:29Please do switch over.
47:30We are going to continue our coverage
47:32all the way through to the end of the 24 hours.
47:34Of course,
47:34there is the number four car
47:35is in the pit lane for a scheduled pit stop
47:38and they clear the windscreen
47:40and everything else that goes along with it.
47:42We're going to go to a break
47:44in just a minute here,
47:46but it continues to rage on.
47:48It's Audi in front still,
47:50Audi, Audi,
47:51then it's Peugeot,
47:52Audi and Peugeot again.
47:53Everyone is being told to push on the German.
47:55Yeah, they are.
47:56I mean, you know,
47:56there's still five and a half hours to go,
47:58so there's a lot of drama still to be played out here at Le Mans.
48:02We're glad you're with us
48:03if you're going to switch across to the Eurosport channel.
48:05We'll be back in just a moment.
48:12Welcome to Eurosport Live coverage
48:14of the 78th Grand Prix of Endurance
48:16for 24 hours of Le Mans
48:17here at the Circuit de la Sarte.
48:19My name is Jeremy Shaw
48:21alongside me of Liz Halliday and Stuart Hall
48:23and the drama continues
48:24and perhaps there's Giorno Lacy
48:26telling us what he thinks about
48:28his second experience of the 24 hours of Le Mans.
48:31This is the biggest story at the moment.
48:33The class-leading GT1 car,
48:35the Saline,
48:36the Larder competition car
48:37has been running absolutely flawlessly
48:39throughout this race,
48:40maybe a couple of minor niggles
48:41in the early part of the race,
48:43but nothing since then
48:44has been running like clockwork,
48:46but Stuart Hall,
48:47the car has just been off the road.
48:49Yes, Jeremy,
48:50it's been off the road at the Ford chicane.
48:52They really didn't need that.
48:53That car's got the best part
48:55of a 10-lap lead in GT1
48:56and we still don't know how that happened,
48:59whether it had contact,
49:00whether the driver lost it on his own
49:01or it's had a problem,
49:02but it's in the pits now.
49:03It's full of gravel.
49:05As we can see outside our commentary box,
49:06it's actually going,
49:07going to go into the garage,
49:08so that could suggest
49:09it's got a bit of a problem
49:10and that's the reason it went off,
49:12but a 10-lap lead,
49:13they really, really didn't need this.
49:15This is our race leader,
49:17Liz Halliday,
49:17the car number nine,
49:18Romain Dumas.
49:19He brings that car in
49:20for scheduled service.
49:21The only good thing
49:22that could possibly happen,
49:24actually, to that Celine
49:24is the fact they do have
49:25a 10-lap lead,
49:27but going back to Romain Dumas,
49:28they are still leading this race.
49:29They've been leading it
49:30for quite some time
49:31ever since the number two Peugeot
49:32had a turbo problem
49:34and had to finish their race early,
49:37so I think Romain started
49:38to pick up the pace a little bit.
49:39He's pushing that Audi
49:40as hard as he can
49:41and just a minute ago,
49:42we saw Alan McNish
49:43do a fastest sector time
49:45in his car for the race,
49:47so certainly the Audi boys
49:48are pushing as hard as they can.
49:50I think we're seeing
49:51the whole front end
49:52of this grid pushing flat out
49:54this far into this 24-hour race.
49:56If you're just joining,
49:57let's have a quick rundown
49:58of the order.
49:58We've seen all sorts of dramas
49:59overnight.
50:00The Peugeots were far and away
50:01the quickest cars
50:02in the race overall.
50:04They were dominated
50:04the early hours.
50:06We had one car go out
50:07with a suspension failure,
50:09actually a chassis failure.
50:11The chassis pulled out
50:12of the,
50:12the suspension pulled out
50:13of the chassis.
50:14That was a pole-winning car
50:15of Sebastian Bordet
50:16before he even had a chance
50:18to get behind the wheel
50:19as we see the work continue
50:20there after the visit
50:22to the gravel track
50:23by that number 50, Celine.
50:25We had about two and a half hours ago
50:28the number two Audi
50:30went out suddenly.
50:31Frank Montani at the wheel
50:32in the lead of the race
50:34with an engine failure
50:35just coming on
50:36to the Mulsanne straight.
50:37So it is now
50:38Romain Dumas
50:39in car number nine
50:40for Audi
50:40and leads this race.
50:41The gap between himself
50:43and the teammates,
50:44car number eight,
50:45Marcel Faisler
50:45at the wheel.
50:46Now one minute,
50:4714 seconds.
50:49And Anthony Davidson,
50:50the sole remaining factory,
50:52Peugeot 4,
50:539.08,
50:54is running into third place.
50:55They've had a couple of delays.
50:58The car was off the road
51:00and they are still running out
51:02very, very quickly.
51:03Anthony Davidson
51:04has been the fastest car
51:05on the track
51:05for the last couple of hours
51:07trying to make out
51:08that one lap deficit.
51:09Anthony Davidson
51:10has been taking
51:10some huge risks.
51:11We saw him going
51:12very, very wide
51:13earlier on the straight
51:14just to make a pass
51:15around about
51:15two or three other cars.
51:17And then going back
51:18to the Celine,
51:19I think it's important
51:20to say that usually
51:21when a GT1 car
51:22of this type
51:23has been off
51:23in the gravel,
51:24it would have to go
51:25into the garage.
51:25It's not like
51:26putting one off
51:27in an LMP car
51:28where you can sometimes
51:29get away with it,
51:30give it a bit of a brush down
51:31outside and carry on.
51:33You do need to sort of
51:34scoop out the gravel
51:35because they do suck it
51:36into them in a major way.
51:37And having driven
51:38the Lister and the Aston
51:39and having put them both
51:40in the gravel myself
51:41at times,
51:42I do know it takes
51:43a bit of an effort
51:44on occasion.
51:44So hopefully they'll be able
51:45to get it cleaned out
51:46and get it back on the road
51:47as fast as they can.
51:48Yeah, and as you said
51:49a few minutes ago,
51:49they still have a handy lead
51:51over the next place car
51:53which is the Aston Martin,
51:54the car number 52,
51:55the young driver AMR
51:57Aston Martin DBR9.
51:59It's Peter Cox
51:59who's not exactly young
52:01but he is driving that car.
52:02They were in the lead
52:04of the class early
52:05in the race.
52:06They then had a problem
52:07drop back.
52:07There is the Aston Martin
52:09DBR9
52:10with Peter Cox
52:11at the wheel.
52:12The Dutchman
52:12vastly experienced
52:14and these guys
52:15make very few mistakes.
52:16He's sharing that car
52:17with Thomas Enger
52:18and with Christopher Nygaard
52:22from Denmark.
52:24They've done
52:24a beautiful race.
52:25I'm not sure
52:26what the problem was
52:27earlier in the race
52:27but they lost
52:28a lot of time.
52:29It was a drive shaft
52:30earlier on.
52:31I saw Thomas
52:32probably at about
52:3310 o'clock last night
52:36and he was tucking
52:37into some pasta
52:38and told me
52:39that they had
52:40a drive shaft problem
52:40but they were still
52:41confident of getting
52:42a good result
52:43and as we see
52:44now that car
52:45second in class
52:46and the Céline's
52:48in the garage
52:48with the Henry
52:48the Hoover
52:49around it
52:49so you know
52:50it could get close.
52:53Very much so.
52:54The gap was 10 laps
52:55as it is how they say.
52:56It's now down
52:56to 8 laps.
52:57The Aston is running
52:58like cock.
52:58It looks like
52:59it looks almost
53:00brand new.
53:00I mean considering
53:01the fact it's
53:02basically white
53:03with the red stripes
53:03across the car
53:04it looks remarkably
53:05clean for what
53:069 to 18 hours
53:08plus of competition.
53:09Well certainly
53:10Thomas Enger
53:11and Peter Cox
53:11very very experienced
53:12drivers and especially
53:14experienced GT1
53:15drivers as well.
53:16This was the pole
53:16leading car
53:17the last GT1 pole
53:18ever that will be
53:19set at Le Mans
53:20because this class
53:21of course will be
53:22finished at the end
53:22of this year
53:23which is sad.
53:24I think a lot of
53:24people are sad
53:25about it.
53:26The ACO says
53:28the decision
53:28has been made
53:29based on current
53:30GT1 cars
53:31not really having
53:32the reliability
53:32for this type
53:34of racing anymore.
53:35They're trying
53:35to focus more
53:36on the GT2
53:36class and to
53:37expand that
53:38into the two
53:39new sections
53:39that it will
53:40have.
53:41But it would
53:42be wonderful
53:42to see them
53:43finish up there
53:44sort of the
53:44last hurrah
53:45of GT1.
53:46It would indeed
53:47and right
53:48behind the
53:49we saw the
53:51Aston Martin
53:51passing the
53:52Corvette
53:53their car number
53:5372.
53:54I think the
53:55only remaining
53:56car yes
53:56because the
53:5773 car went
53:57out.
53:58I believe
53:58that also
53:59was an
53:59engine failure
54:00only about
54:01a half an
54:01hour after
54:02the 64
54:0463 Corvette
54:05both Corvettes
54:06in GT2
54:08in the GT2
54:09category
54:09were leading
54:11comfortably
54:11they were
54:12looking absolutely
54:13in control
54:14then the
54:15engine blew
54:15on the number
54:1664 car
54:17and about
54:18what an hour
54:18and a half
54:18later
54:19maybe less
54:20than that
54:20Antonio
54:21Garcia
54:22his was an
54:23engine failure
54:23the 64 car
54:25of Oliver
54:25Gavin
54:26then had
54:27an incident
54:28it was
54:29Emmanuel Collard
54:29at the wheel
54:30on that
54:30car
54:31they had
54:31an incident
54:31with Anthony
54:32Davidson
54:33in the
54:34Peugeot
54:34trying to
54:34make
54:34up lost
54:36time
54:37there was
54:37an incident
54:37down in
54:38the Porsche
54:38curves
54:39heavy rear end
54:40damage to
54:40the car number
54:4164
54:41but that
54:41car is
54:42back out
54:43in the
54:43fray
54:44albeit now
54:45only seven
54:46laps down
54:46which is
54:47absolutely
54:47amazing
54:47they only
54:48lost seven
54:48laps
54:49with a
54:49huge
54:49amount
54:50of repairs
54:51they had
54:51to do
54:51to that
54:52car
54:52but the
54:52Aston
54:53Martin
54:53in
54:53GT1
54:55oh
54:55there is
54:56the Corvette
54:56that does
54:57not look
54:57good
54:58that does
54:58not look
54:59good
54:59well they
55:00did take
55:00a significant
55:01impact to
55:02the rear
55:02of that
55:02car
55:02when he
55:03got hit
55:03by
55:03Anthony
55:04Davidson
55:04and this
55:05is looking
55:05like big
55:06problems
55:06for them
55:06yeah
55:07that almost
55:07certainly
55:08looks like
55:08an engine
55:09failure
55:09and I saw
55:11while they
55:11were repairing
55:12the car
55:12after
55:13Colard got
55:14hit out
55:14on the
55:14racetrack
55:15they brought
55:15it back
55:15to the
55:15bits
55:15it was
55:19they were
55:19rummaging
55:19around
55:20behind
55:20the garage
55:20area
55:21trying to
55:21get a
55:21radiator
55:22as well
55:23to fit
55:23into
55:23that
55:24car
55:24so
55:24I think
55:25maybe
55:25it's
55:25overheating
55:26perhaps
55:26when
55:26Colard brought
55:28the car
55:28back to
55:28the pit
55:29lane
55:29and maybe
55:30we are
55:31now seeing
55:31the legacy
55:31of that
55:32such a shame
55:33because
55:33I'm not sure
55:34if I've ever
55:34seen these
55:35guys not
55:35finish a
55:36Le Mans
55:36with at
55:36least
55:36one car
55:37I think
55:37they pretty
55:38much
55:38always
55:38have
55:39such a
55:40stalwart
55:41of American
55:41racing
55:42and I
55:44really believed
55:45that one of
55:45them was going
55:45to win
55:46this race
55:46and I have
55:47to say
55:47I think
55:48if there
55:48hadn't been
55:48that collision
55:49I still think
55:50they would be
55:50leading this
55:51class
55:51and it's
55:51just such
55:52a shame
55:52to see
55:52a race
55:53get ended
55:53with contact
55:55on the circuit
55:55Yeah
55:56isn't that
55:56right
55:56of course
55:57the Corvette
55:58team
55:58won
55:59the GT1
56:00class
56:00last year
56:01with
56:02ease
56:05almost
56:05at the end
56:05of the race
56:06the second
56:06car
56:07had a
56:07gearbox
56:08transmission
56:08failure
56:09last year
56:10but
56:10the other
56:11car
56:11came through
56:11with the
56:12class
56:12victory
56:12but
56:12that
56:13is
56:13I think
56:14almost
56:14certainly
56:15going to
56:15seal
56:15the end
56:16for this
56:16magnificent
56:17team
56:18of Pratt &
56:18Miller
56:19team
56:19their base
56:19up in
56:20Michigan
56:20they do
56:21a sterling
56:22job
56:22the cars
56:23are absolutely
56:24beautifully
56:24prepared
56:24the team
56:25runs like
56:26clockwork
56:26Doug Feehan
56:27manages that
56:28whole organisation
56:29with an iron
56:30fist
56:31and there's
56:32a great
56:32camaraderie
56:33in there
56:33as well
56:34they all
56:34know
56:34exactly
56:35what the
56:35other guys
56:36are doing
56:36Carl Kirby
56:37is back
56:37with us
56:38and Carl
56:38what a shame
56:39to see that
56:40second of the
56:40Corvettes
56:41now pushed
56:41behind the
56:42wall
56:43Yeah
56:43it is a real
56:44shame
56:44and I feel
56:45like their
56:46undoing has
56:47not been of
56:48their own
56:48making
56:49as it were
56:50it's a real
56:50shame
56:51a real
56:52real shame
56:52they've had
56:53such an
56:54amazing history
56:55Corvette
56:55for so many
56:56years
56:56I think they're
56:56celebrating 50
56:57years in racing
56:57at Le Mans
57:00indeed
57:00it's been
57:02a tremendous
57:03gift I think
57:04that they give
57:05to us
57:06constantly
57:06and they
57:07have been
57:08supporters
57:09stalwarts
57:10indeed
57:10of not only
57:11GT2
57:12but of course
57:12GT1 as well
57:13and you feel
57:15that maybe
57:16it wouldn't have
57:16lasted as long
57:17as it has
57:18GT1 without
57:18their support
57:19certainly
57:20they've given us
57:21some great action
57:21and some beautiful
57:22looking vehicles
57:23that's right
57:23and switching
57:24of course
57:24from GT1
57:25to GT2
57:25this year
57:26for the
57:26factory team
57:27that was
57:28the 64 car
57:29going out
57:29apparently
57:30with an engine
57:30failure
57:31here however
57:31is the LMP2
57:33the baby
57:34prototype class
57:35being led
57:35by Stracker
57:36Racing
57:37virtually throughout
57:38Danny Watts
57:39brings that car
57:40into the pit lane
57:41for all routine
57:42service
57:42and Liz Halliday
57:43those guys
57:44have really
57:45done a fabulous
57:45job
57:46it's two
57:46professional drivers
57:48Danny Watts
57:48and Johnny Kane
57:49and Nick Leventis
57:50the team owner
57:50who has done
57:51a very respectable
57:53job as well
57:53he has
57:54he's had a big
57:55task on his hands
57:55because they've been
57:56leading that race
57:57almost the whole way around
57:58he's really had to work
57:59hard to get there
57:59and it looks like
58:00that's Indianapolis
58:02someone had a really
58:03big off here
58:03at Indianapolis
58:04that we can't see
58:05it looks like
58:05there's been
58:06we're just looking
58:07at the tyre tracks
58:07there
58:07we don't know
58:08whether that's been
58:08dragged
58:09but it looks like
58:10it's headed into
58:11a zone
58:11which they thought
58:12was perhaps
58:12a bit neutral
58:13whether that was
58:14of their own
58:15design or not
58:16I do not know
58:17but here it is
58:18it's the AF Corsa car
58:19and it has had impact
58:20it has had impact
58:21does it look like
58:22big impact though
58:22second in class
58:23well we're going to
58:24find out right now
58:25here we go
58:25straight on
58:26big big big lock up
58:28absolutely
58:28the rear wheels
58:29are driving
58:30they are
58:31the brakes are locked on
58:32and the rear wheels
58:32are still driving
58:33Liz
58:33I don't know
58:34that's not a nice
58:36place to be
58:36you could tell
58:37the driver was doing
58:38everything he could
58:39to stop that car
58:39and what a horrible
58:41feeling that is
58:42to be piling in
58:43on such a fast corner
58:44where you've got to be
58:45able to brake
58:45and down change a lot
58:46and that was
58:47so fortunate
58:49that he had
58:49at least a bit of space
58:50and a bit more
58:51extra braking
58:52to enjoy there
58:53if indeed he was
58:55actually enjoying it
58:56second in class
58:57you know
58:59I'm just starting
59:00to wonder
59:01as to the fortunes
59:03of some of these
59:04vehicles
59:04Fisichella
59:05we saw a lazy
59:06looking absolutely
59:07exhausted a wee
59:08while ago
59:08it is
59:10as you know
59:11a 24 hour race
59:11we've got over
59:12five hours remaining
59:13just to go back
59:14to the top class
59:15as he limps his way
59:16around
59:16just been down
59:17to Audi
59:17and what they're
59:18talking about
59:18is their range
59:20and that is a huge
59:22huge ask
59:23for Peugeot
59:24to actually get back
59:26at an Audi
59:26which has actually
59:29been quadruple
59:29standing
59:29staying out just
59:30a lap or so
59:31longer
59:31Jeremy
59:32they've got the range
59:33that they need
59:34and to actually
59:35eat that up
59:35you've got to have
59:36some ill fortune
59:37to befall Audi
59:38if Peugeot
59:39I suspect
59:40are going to get
59:40back into this one
59:41and you're talking
59:42about the Persia
59:42they're getting
59:43better fuel consumption
59:44doing one more life
59:45is that right
59:45no
59:46Audi say
59:47they think
59:47they've got a better
59:48range at the moment
59:49well
59:49the last couple of times
59:50into the pit lane
59:51the race leader
59:52has come in
59:53with a
Recommended
3:17
|
Up next
1:00:09
1:00:01
59:52
1:00:05
1:00:00
1:00:00
59:59
59:59
1:00:01
1:00:00
1:00:00
59:59
1:00:00
1:00:01
1:00:00
1:00:00
1:52
59:57
59:55
59:59
1:00:06
Be the first to comment