Experience the unforgettable 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans — a race that delivered one of the most dramatic finishes in endurance racing history. Toyota, Porsche, and Audi fought relentlessly for 24 hours at the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, showcasing the peak of hybrid technology, strategy, and human endurance. From high-speed battles to heartbreaking twists in the final moments, Le Mans 2016 stands as a true modern classic. Relive every lap, every duel, and every emotion of this extraordinary race.
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#LeMans2016
#24hLeMans
#EnduranceRacing
#MotorsportHistory
#ToyotaVsPorsche
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00Paul on his in lap, on Matthias on his out lap with an issue there.
00:00:04So it's the LMP2 Alpine car of Stefan Rochelmi that leads in LMP2 in sixth overall.
00:00:09René Rast, the Audi factory driver of course in the 26 Arika,
00:00:14as well as the development driver for the Project Cars video game.
00:00:18It's not bad, these racing drivers, they get to do all manner of play time as well as work.
00:00:22Ladijin is third in the BR Engineering car that's run by SMP.
00:00:26And fourth position, it's the all Anglo-Saxon British striker, Johnny Kane at the wheel at the moment.
00:00:34And that car could be on for a podium on its swan song.
00:00:40Still the Toyotas reel in the number one Porsche to try and put a lap on it
00:00:45as they work their way through the traffic.
00:00:47The Porsche has got past the Murphy, now it's going to get past the Manor.
00:00:50Flash the lights, get out of the way.
00:00:52Those are the two Toyotas you've just been lapped by and I'm trying to catch them.
00:00:56This is a great battle.
00:00:57Pretty intimidating for these P2 drivers and GTE drivers, seeing these cars coming past them.
00:01:03It's not so much headlight flashing going on as was going on last night,
00:01:06but the guys just, you know, get out of my way, we're coming through.
00:01:10You're going to come to a sequence like the Porsche curves,
00:01:12and this is where that gap will have and flow.
00:01:14The cars will close back up.
00:01:17You're seeing Timo Bernard there in shot as well.
00:01:19So that's Bernard, who's several laps down ahead of Bohemi Conway.
00:01:24And in the same shot, our third place car there with Neil Jarny at the wheel.
00:01:30So here we go.
00:01:31Here's the traffic that I was talking about through the Porsche curves.
00:01:33You're a brave man to go high around whoever that is in the...
00:01:37who got well off, off circuit.
00:01:39OK, mate, you've got two Toyotas and car two behind you.
00:01:42You've got two Toyotas and then car two just behind you.
00:01:46Guy Wilson-Clarke there with a message with an undertone, one would suggest.
00:01:53Basically, there are two Toyotas behind you.
00:01:55The Porsche's right on the tail.
00:01:56We want the Porsche to lead the Le Mans 24 hours.
00:01:58You know what to do.
00:02:00Yeah, exactly.
00:02:01Without saying anything, I think he had that one covered off.
00:02:05So, no, they'll...
00:02:07Well, Timo Bernard's just pushing on as hard as he can.
00:02:11I get to sit here for four more hours of this battle.
00:02:13This is absolutely incredible.
00:02:15Julian Porter's going to have to mud-wrestle me to the ground at this rate
00:02:17because this is absolutely majestic, the Le Mans battle we're getting.
00:02:21I don't want to see that.
00:02:22You don't want to see...
00:02:23I don't want to see that.
00:02:24I'm not going to be the man in the middle of it.
00:02:26The Toyotas running one and two with a Porsche right on the tail.
00:02:29The gap between those three cars, as we go now, seven hours to go,
00:02:34we have completed 17 hours of racing.
00:02:38And the gap is 2.2 seconds between the top three.
00:02:41This is like Steve McQueen's Le Mans all over again.
00:02:46And that was a fictional movie.
00:02:47That was a glorified example of what Le Mans could be.
00:02:53Yeah, absolutely.
00:02:54And this is the real thing.
00:02:56This is the real thing.
00:02:57So, BR01 up onto the podium for the first time in the P2 category so far this race,
00:03:03that's massive.
00:03:05To see those guys, the SMP racing guys, getting some reward for all their efforts.
00:03:08I think that's the first time we've seen anything other than an Orica in a podium place in the LMP2 class.
00:03:15So, those guys will be pressing on extremely hard.
00:03:17That is the last time this, the BR01 SMP racing chassis will be here at Le Mans.
00:03:24So, let's see what they can do.
00:03:27They really, really would love to take that car away with the podium.
00:03:30So, see where we are.
00:03:31Stracca racing only 11 seconds behind those guys.
00:03:34And then we're still seeing Thierry fall down the order.
00:03:37So, if either of our guys down in the pit lane can have a look and find out what's going on there with the number 46,
00:03:43it does seem like this is slipping from their grasp.
00:03:45They were, when they first got that car turned round and down the pit lane,
00:03:48looked like they were still going to be in with a shout.
00:03:51But Wemi leads, Conway second, Yarny third.
00:03:53And here they come on the number one Porsche.
00:03:56This is going to be interesting.
00:03:58I'm half expecting, if Keanu Reeves is still on the site,
00:04:01I'm half expecting him to wander over to Mark Webber and whisper in his ear,
00:04:05I want Porsche to win Le Mans in the same sort of style of Steve McQueen
00:04:08and whoever it was that played the team manager in the 1970 movie.
00:04:13Because this is the best script for a Le Mans 24 hours you could possibly write.
00:04:18You couldn't even dream this kind of fight.
00:04:21And it's happening right before our very eyes with just under seven hours to go.
00:04:25That is a WEC race plus an hour.
00:04:28This is absolutely baffling how close it is.
00:04:31Yeah, and the WEC races have been very close so far this year.
00:04:33So if that six hours is anything to go by and we don't have a race of attrition,
00:04:37then I think we'll be there and having that scrapped down to the last lap.
00:04:41Team manager, car one, can you please tell your driver he's getting blue flags on the display.
00:04:46He just has the lever behind him.
00:04:48Doing the right thing there.
00:04:52So why are you afraid to just reminding Porsche that they need to play nicely.
00:04:56Get Webber out of the way.
00:04:57If he passes too many of those blue flags, the Porsche team will get a penalty.
00:05:01Bernhard.
00:05:01As we see him, yeah, I mean, you'd almost say boxing him in against the Aston there.
00:05:08So, yeah, sorry, Bernhard needs to get out of the way.
00:05:14And he's not.
00:05:15Still going past more blue flags.
00:05:16And he's not.
00:05:17I suppose from his point of view, what's the worst that can happen?
00:05:21The number one car gets a penalty.
00:05:22It's already out of the race.
00:05:23Absolutely, but Eduardo Freitas doesn't look at those things very kindly, you know.
00:05:28So, yeah, there you go.
00:05:29He's letting them pass.
00:05:30So he did his best to push them back.
00:05:32But, no, Eduardo and his team, they know that what comes around goes around.
00:05:39So, yeah, they do a fantastic job of governing this WEC championship.
00:05:44Yeah, you can do it for a lap, but you can't do the Sylvester Stallone-driven thing
00:05:48and get out of the pits and very nearly kill somebody.
00:05:51Yeah, so that's that done.
00:05:52And so Anthony Driver is no longer in the pits.
00:05:59It's Gert who's taken over down in the pits.
00:06:01Can you just confirm to us that that is Tyrier is a retirement?
00:06:07Is Tyrier a retirement, we think, potentially.
00:06:11It is a retirement.
00:06:14Oh, dear.
00:06:15So the TDS by Tyrier car, thanks to Gert down in the pits.
00:06:19But the Tyrier is out.
00:06:22So, obviously, that shunt, either it did a lot more damage than we thought it did
00:06:27or there was a bigger underlying problem that caused that crash.
00:06:31That's really sad for those guys.
00:06:32They really had done a fantastic job.
00:06:35They were leading at one point.
00:06:35Those guys with the Alpine cars for the lead of the class, exactly.
00:06:40But that has brought the BR-01 up onto the podium.
00:06:43And those guys at SMP Racing will feel this is just for all the efforts they've gone to,
00:06:48designing a car from a clean sleep sheet of paper and, yeah, doing it the hard way.
00:06:53So, you know, we've now got Orica, Orica, BR-01 and then a Gibson.
00:07:00So, again, it would be great to see the Gibson on the podium in its final Le Mans.
00:07:07That car not able to come back next year being an open cockpit car.
00:07:11The new 2017 regulations will have a selection of five chassis to choose from
00:07:15and a power plant given to us by the Gibson guys, which will be based, I believe, on a Nissan block.
00:07:22Jason Turner, while we were on the subject of movies,
00:07:28reminding us that Steve McQueen, of course, was going to race in the Le Mans 1970 edition
00:07:35with Jackie Stewart, of all people.
00:07:37But the movie studio said, no, don't do it.
00:07:39They actually wrote no racing into his contract,
00:07:42which was about the same sort of time The Great Escape came out.
00:07:45I mean, can you imagine Steve McQueen and Jackie Stewart in a 9.17?
00:07:50That would have, that could have won it.
00:07:51That could easily have won that race.
00:07:54Yeah, absolutely.
00:07:55I don't know how good Steve McQueen really was, but, yeah, 9.17 was a pretty good car.
00:08:02So the Toyotas, one and two, Buemi in front of Conway.
00:08:06Two sprint specialists.
00:08:09The trend is get a few sprint specialists who know what they're doing
00:08:12because the way that Le Mans ebbs and flows nowadays,
00:08:15it really is four Wex sprints within the space of 24 hours.
00:08:22It is so, so tight and so tense.
00:08:24And these guys are pushing it to the extreme here.
00:08:26I'm just wondering what we're going to see on this replay.
00:08:30No, just going past a slower car on the outside.
00:08:34So we had seen for about an hour lots of green sector times,
00:08:38so personal best sectors.
00:08:40But that seems to have gone away now.
00:08:42Everything just settling back down to a bit of sense.
00:08:45So that mad hour we had there with lots of mistakes going on was also a pretty quick hour.
00:08:50Everybody just settling back into the fight.
00:08:52If we look at the GTE Pro class, it's now seven seconds between Bordet and Villander.
00:08:57So Villander being able to just stretch the Ferrari and bring a gap to the Ford.
00:09:02I think that's going to run and run, that situation.
00:09:05They're on the same lap.
00:09:07And then Richard Westbrook also on the same lap in the other Ford, in the number 69 Ford.
00:09:13But a lot further back.
00:09:17I've got some P2 cars between them and the overall classification.
00:09:23Recent competition only there.
00:09:25This is the leading car in GTE Pro.
00:09:28And the Ford is in as well.
00:09:29Sebastian Bordet is in the pit lane at exactly the same time.
00:09:32So again, we've got another pit stop race here.
00:09:34This is fantastic.
00:09:35The Ford boys versus the Ferrari boys.
00:09:37Full service for the Ford.
00:09:39I don't know whether we're yet.
00:09:40We're full service on the Ferrari as well.
00:09:42So this is people planning to the end now.
00:09:45This is people looking to the end saying, right, full service now.
00:09:48We won't need another full service for another two hours.
00:09:53And then go from there.
00:09:54So they're now parallel in terms of strategy.
00:09:57They're parallel on fuel mileage.
00:09:59This is now just a sprint race for the next seven hours to the end.
00:10:02I'm getting goosebumps watching this battle between Ferrari and Ford.
00:10:05It's just like good old times, isn't it?
00:10:06It is a massive story in this Le Mans 24 hours.
00:10:10And considering how close it already is, this could even eclipse the headlines that we've got between Toyota and Porsche at the moment because it is so close.
00:10:18And this is retro is the new cool, basically, being played out in the GTE Pro because we've got a Ford GT and a Ferrari battling it out for the victory in the GT class.
00:10:27And there is nothing to choose between them.
00:10:28The Ferrari leaves.
00:10:30If all has gone to plan at Ford, they should be leaving seven seconds ago.
00:10:34So the Ferrari has done a good job.
00:10:38The Ford taking a little bit longer.
00:10:40So the gap has opened up a little bit there as a result of that pit stop.
00:10:44Sebastian Bordet shuts the door.
00:10:45There's been a driver change there.
00:10:47And I think there's been a driver change at Ferrari as well.
00:10:49It's Matteo Malicelli who's now in the car.
00:10:52So Malicelli's in.
00:10:53Who's in in the 68 Ford now?
00:10:55That's going to be leaving the pits.
00:10:59It's Muller.
00:10:59Ford A lost 14 seconds there on the stop.
00:11:02So that's not down to fuel fill time.
00:11:03That's all equalised through the restrictors in the fuel rig.
00:11:06That's just down to, I think, seeing the Ford guys adding a bit of oil as well.
00:11:09So they've just got more done.
00:11:12And hopefully they can bring that time back down to close the gap.
00:11:16So 14 seconds lost in the pits for the Ford.
00:11:22It's Toyota now.
00:11:24Number six, Toyota, Mike Conway chasing down Sebastian Buemi.
00:11:28The number two car now in camera shot.
00:11:31Four seconds between them.
00:11:32Five seconds covering our top three overall.
00:11:36So close.
00:11:37So close.
00:11:38The gap on the GTE Pro battle, which is our other major, major battle, very close battle.
00:11:45It's now 22 seconds.
00:11:46So the seven plus two does give us the gap that we were expecting.
00:11:50Just look at the graphic at the top of the screen.
00:11:52This is how much speed the Porsche 919 hybrid carries through the Porsche curves.
00:11:56So the faster curves, that was at 260 kilometres an hour.
00:12:00The amount of G that a driver must go through through those Porsche curves must be mind-blowing.
00:12:05You're talking fighter pilot.
00:12:06Yeah, I know, absolutely.
00:12:07And that's a very narrow section of circuit with walls very close to either side.
00:12:13They're brave boys.
00:12:14Jake Robson asks, are you surprised we haven't seen any big crashes regarding LMP cars lapping GTs?
00:12:22This year, no, I'm not.
00:12:24These guys are all professionals.
00:12:26You know, even the amateurs, the gentlemen drivers are extremely professional and take this sport extremely seriously.
00:12:34You know, it's about being respectful, if you ask me, the LMP drivers, being respectful of the GTE cars.
00:12:41They shouldn't be expected to jump out the way because there's an LMP car coming through.
00:12:45There's been contact.
00:12:46We've seen that.
00:12:47We know that there is wounding on the number six Toyota from contact, wheel-to-wheel contact with the GTE Ferrari.
00:12:55So it has happened, but I just think a lot more space being given and the system's improving within the cars,
00:13:02a lot more visibility around the cars, within board cameras, rear-facing cameras.
00:13:07So no excuse really for driving into one another.
00:13:10Yeah, the general guide to etiquette when lapping a car is that the lapped car is not going to move off the racing line.
00:13:16It's the duty of the car that's faster to go around the car, so pick the moment wisely to go around.
00:13:21It's not the duty of the car who's slower in front to get out of the way unnecessarily.
00:13:26They're driving their own race, so it's basically the duty of the prototypes to make the move at the appropriate time and pull out
00:13:33because that's the safest thing to do.
00:13:35It's the safest thing for a GTE car to do.
00:13:36If you've got a slower car in front of you, weaving around all over the place, trying to get out of your way,
00:13:41that actually causes more problems than it solves.
00:13:43So from a GT driver's point of view, you just keep driving on the racing line.
00:13:47As long as you don't deliberately block, you're doing fine.
00:13:49Yeah, absolutely.
00:13:52So down the straight, Toyotas 1 and 2.
00:13:54Bohemi has opened up the gap to 2.6 seconds with a blinding first sector.
00:13:58He did a 32.8 on the last.
00:14:00He seems to have got very lucky with the traffic.
00:14:03His teammate Conway seems to have been a little bit held up.
00:14:05But again, it's the ebb and flow.
00:14:09I have a feeling it's going to come back to Conway before too long just because we've got a nice little cluster of slower cars up the road.
00:14:16And that's not even the one we're looking at.
00:14:19So Conway, still within striking distance of the lead of this race.
00:14:23As into the pits comes the Greaves 41 with Memo Rojas at the wheel.
00:14:28That car has steadily been increasing its form and has moved up into sixth overall in the LMP2 category.
00:14:34Somebody is asking on Twitter, can we, for the newbies, explain the differences between LMP1, LMP2, GTE, Pro and M?
00:14:41Not today.
00:14:42I'd love to say we could for the newbies.
00:14:45The key factors, just a really brief one, the LMP1 cars driven by manufacturers, LMP1H, two classes there.
00:14:53The H, the hybrids, are carrying, in this instance, this year, all three of them battery packs that are giving them an amount of electrical energy deployed differently depending on which of the manufacturers you're in.
00:15:06And then the LMP1L is just pure turbocharged engines in that case, turbocharged V8 from AER, powering all three of those cars.
00:15:18Not that any of them are really still running and with us.
00:15:21We have got one of the rebellions still going around.
00:15:24Then LMP2 is chassis to a very similar standard to that.
00:15:31There are still open cars there.
00:15:33engines produced by Nissan in the majority.
00:15:37We have got Hondas and Judd engines in that class.
00:15:41Those cars, about 450 horsepower, are lapping, you know, pretty respectively compared to the LMP1 cars.
00:15:49But, yeah, they're designed for a gentleman racer to come in and drive them.
00:15:53GTE, Pro and M, the cars are very similar.
00:15:56So this year is the first year we have a change again between these two classes where we've got the pro cars with new aero packages.
00:16:04A lot more downforce and going slightly faster than the AM cars.
00:16:08But, again, those cars have to be based on a production road car.
00:16:12The Ford is here with a waiver because we don't yet have the production road car for sale.
00:16:16But they are, the GTE cars, generally, a production car converted to be a race car.
00:16:25I'll tell you what, I'm impressed you managed to do that in such a short space of time.
00:16:29I've never been able to explain it that quickly.
00:16:31That's brilliant.
00:16:32Michael Lancaster actually makes a point on that, the Ford waiver, is that Ford has announced they'll make 400 GTs.
00:16:40That's a lot.
00:16:41I think they're all sold.
00:16:42Yeah, they are all sold.
00:16:43And I think you had to be invited to buy one, is what I understand.
00:16:48That's a pretty exclusive club.
00:16:49You can bet that all six of their drivers were offered one.
00:16:52Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:52I mean, McLaren were...
00:16:53No, all 12, sorry.
00:16:54All 12 of their drivers were offered one.
00:16:57I'd be surprised, but I think Mr. Franchitti might have bought one.
00:17:02Oh, yeah, Dario definitely would have bought one.
00:17:04Dario, that's going to be the drive to the supermarket, Dario.
00:17:08Yeah, absolutely.
00:17:09So, no, I mean, they will build those 400 cars.
00:17:12They really have to, as part of the binding agreement they signed with the other manufacturers.
00:17:17But those cars will be pretty unique.
00:17:20And it's exactly what McLaren did with the P1.
00:17:22And there's other good examples of that.
00:17:25So, you know, McLaren built a limited number.
00:17:27I think they built 350 P1s.
00:17:29So, it's the same thing.
00:17:31These small, exclusive hypercars that are being produced now all over the place.
00:17:37LaFerrari FXX is another good example.
00:17:39Here's a question I've got, and this is an interesting one.
00:17:45We had a bit of an era 15 years ago where the Audi R8 was the car to have.
00:17:50So, they built a few of them, and they sold them to customer teams.
00:17:52We just don't seem to have that in LMP1 nowadays.
00:17:55There are no teams out there that are buying the new top-of-the-range Porsche 919 hybrid, the Audi R8.
00:18:01The cars are too hard to run.
00:18:02You know, you're talking about 180 people within the Porsche outfit now.
00:18:08You can't do it as a privateer with these hybrid systems.
00:18:11They're so complex.
00:18:12You know, you are not in a position where somebody can take a Porsche 919 and run it.
00:18:17Just the resources required to run those cars are just absolutely too great.
00:18:22You know, we're just seeing Fred Susset there, though, one of the other really huge stories of this race
00:18:26as things settle down at the front with a 10-second gap covering the first three.
00:18:31He's about to get in the car.
00:18:34This guy, quadruple amputee, fantastic story in the Garage 56 entry.
00:18:42So, not about new technology, really, this year, although the tech on that car to allow a quadruple amputee to drive it is pretty impressive.
00:18:50So, he's getting ready to get in that car.
00:18:54I believe he did a double stint last night.
00:18:56That's incredible.
00:18:57I think that's the first time we've seen him do that.
00:18:58That's incredible.
00:19:00And, yeah, completely.
00:19:02Completely.
00:19:02We'll talk.
00:19:03I'm sure, well, hopefully we'll see him being put into the car.
00:19:07Porsche Radio.
00:19:07Is the region helping?
00:19:09Where are you struggling?
00:19:10Where has it helped?
00:19:11Helping a little, but somehow in the middle of the city.
00:19:14In this case, I come carry the speed I would like to.
00:19:18The car just washes away.
00:19:19And a lot of movement at high speed.
00:19:22Copy.
00:19:22A lot of movement at high speed, says Neil Jarny.
00:19:26So, the car is not quite coming to him at the moment from his point of view.
00:19:30Frederic Salsay, going back to that story, more than I want this battle to go to the wire for the LMP1 victory.
00:19:37More than I want the GTE Pro victory to go down to the wire.
00:19:41More than I want a lack of rain.
00:19:44More than I want a lack of safety car periods.
00:19:46I want to see that SRT41 car cross the finish line.
00:19:50The Morgans are very well tried and respected chassis.
00:19:53So, they know the reliability is there.
00:19:56Let's hope that he can do it.
00:19:58Gert is down in the pits.
00:19:59I believe down at the Ritzy Competizione pit.
00:20:01Sunday morning.
00:20:03It's all to play for.
00:20:04There's only seconds between you and the Fords.
00:20:07Yeah, it's crazy.
00:20:08We've been doing 18 hours of hard racing.
00:20:11Survived the early rain.
00:20:14Hard condition during the night.
00:20:15Now, actually, our car is running pretty well.
00:20:19We were lucky with one of the slow zones against Ford.
00:20:22But, again, they were lucky with the safety car.
00:20:24The whole gap was canceled.
00:20:26So, I had to push like hell for the last four laps to get close to a 10-second gap.
00:20:31And we had some issues on the pit stop.
00:20:33And theirs was even worse.
00:20:34So, now the gap is around 20 seconds.
00:20:37And we keep pushing and see what happens in the end.
00:20:41The fact that you're the only Ferrari, does that add to the pressure?
00:20:44No, no pressure.
00:20:45I mean, we try our best.
00:20:48We do our job.
00:20:49Obviously, we work for Ferrari and there's a good collaboration between us and IAF Corsa.
00:20:55But this is a one and another team.
00:20:57So, we do our job here.
00:20:59I'm fortunate to the others.
00:21:00But we cannot lose any energy thinking about them.
00:21:03We just go.
00:21:03We need to think our home, our territory.
00:21:07Fascinating to hear from Tony Valanda.
00:21:10That's a great battle between two American teams, works teams, going head-to-head for the GTE Pro category victory.
00:21:16And still, the CYGNATEC Alpine is leading in the LMP1 class.
00:21:19LMP2, yeah, absolutely.
00:21:20LMP2, yes.
00:21:21What I've just seen that's particularly interesting is Audi number eight just set its fastest lap of the race.
00:21:33Didn't quite hear, unfortunately, what the CYGNATEC said.
00:21:35It's been in French.
00:21:36Oh, dear.
00:21:37So, no, right, we've got the Audi just set its fastest lap of the race at 3.23.
00:21:42They're far from out of this.
00:21:43We kind of dismissed the fact, oh, Audi number eight's not there.
00:21:46You know, this, the battle that we're being 12 seconds between the first three.
00:21:51The Audi's only a lap back.
00:21:53And it's just set its fastest lap of the race.
00:21:55It's very true.
00:21:55We're talking about Toyota and Porsche, Toyota and Porsche, Toyota and Porsche.
00:21:59The Audi is only a lap adrift and in fourth position.
00:22:02Why are we counting them out at the moment?
00:22:04We shouldn't be.
00:22:04No.
00:22:05I think, you know, since we've come on, we've kind of dismissed it.
00:22:07But then just seeing that green fastest personal best for the Audi number eight,
00:22:11suddenly it reminds you that, hang on, this is Audi.
00:22:14Never count Audi out.
00:22:16They're only a lap back.
00:22:17They can do this still.
00:22:18There's still plenty of time for them to do, pull off something, something massive.
00:22:23You know, could we have Toyota, Porsche, Audi in any particular order on the, on the Toyota radio, on the podium?
00:22:33What should I do?
00:22:34What should I do?
00:22:36Just try to be consistent in the driving style.
00:22:40It's all okay.
00:22:40Try to be consistent in driving style.
00:22:42Interesting to hear Bohemi asking the engineer, what should he do?
00:22:48You know, he's in the car.
00:22:51He's the one that can feel what's going on.
00:22:53It's like he's looking for reassurance.
00:22:55It's like he's feeling the pressure of leading the race, you know, and where Mike Conway has just settled in doing what he does.
00:23:03Conway took two seconds out of him on the last lap.
00:23:05I think Sebastian Bohemi getting himself quite agitated now, just needing to just calm it down before a mistake happens.
00:23:14But I think he's aware of the fact that there's still 6 hours and 40 minutes to go.
00:23:17He can't really sit on his laurels and just sprint away.
00:23:20He's got to nurse the car as much as he has push it.
00:23:22He can't, but, you know, he's talking about a balance issue there.
00:23:24But looking to the engineer for the solution, you know, at the end of the day, the engineer is not in that car.
00:23:29Audi now getting warned for track limits on the exit of six, which is exit of six is Porsche curves.
00:23:39No, it's not.
00:23:39It's Tetrouge on the exit of Tetrouge.
00:23:41So both the Audis now choosing to really throw it down faster, 10 laps behind Duval, but Duval only one lap, as we say, behind our leaders.
00:23:51So Audi clearly deciding that it's time to push.
00:23:56Jake Robson on Twitter wants to know a little bit more about the tech that Frederic Sausset needs to use to drive the car.
00:24:02So very quickly, because we are in the midst of a pretty exciting battle here, basically, Sausset, he activates his accelerator and the brake via a conventional pedal system.
00:24:12It's exactly the same.
00:24:13The difference is his seat insert actually has paddles which are connected to the pedals that he works with his thighs.
00:24:21So he's actually using his thigh muscles, basically, to stretch to the pedals.
00:24:25So that's how he works the pedals.
00:24:27Then, because, of course, he doesn't have any hands, so he's then using a prosthetic limb on his right arm.
00:24:34That plugs into an attachment on the steering wheel.
00:24:37And obviously, that's then removed and replaced with a conventional one so that Tasso and Bouvet can drive the car.
00:24:42But that basically means he's driving this whole race one-handed.
00:24:45Yeah, absolutely.
00:24:46It's incredible.
00:24:47They've also given him some concessions because of Sausset's disability, so they tried to make it as easy as possible for him.
00:24:53So the brakes are power-assisted.
00:24:55The ABS has been granted on this car and this car alone.
00:24:59But as a result of that, it's still pretty incredible what he's able to achieve.
00:25:03Yeah, and the gearbox is running in an automatic mode as well for him.
00:25:07But, no, absolutely.
00:25:08And the times he's doing, the times he's done all year throughout the European Le Mans series have just been coming down and down and down and down.
00:25:14But he practiced through driving an LMP3 car last year, in effect, a CN car.
00:25:20He did a lot of laps in that.
00:25:21And I think that car was actually a lot harder for him to drive than this car with the assistance that he's been given.
00:25:27But, no, he's doing a fantastic job.
00:25:28We've not seen any mistakes from him, none at all.
00:25:32I've never even seen that car go off.
00:25:34No moments, no silliness.
00:25:36Just getting it done knows what it is that he needs to do when he's in the car to deliver consistent lap times.
00:25:42You know, we watched him last night hold some traffic up through the Porsche curves.
00:25:46He was holding a couple of GTE cars up and then one car's up.
00:25:49But he stayed online.
00:25:50He just got the job done, came through, and knows what he's doing, knows what he's there to deliver.
00:25:56And, yeah, hopefully we'll see that car on the first page of the timing come the end of the race.
00:26:02It's my hope.
00:26:03Do you know, I don't even think I've ever seen that car in the garage.
00:26:06Only when he's been being put in the car.
00:26:08That's it, yeah.
00:26:09Other than being in the garage to be put in the car, I've not seen that car with damage or problems at all.
00:26:16No, absolutely.
00:26:17You know, they lose quite a lot of time installing Fred into the car.
00:26:21But, no, he's doing an absolutely fantastic job.
00:26:26Takes about five, ten minutes to get that done properly.
00:26:28But that's not a surprise.
00:26:29The only other bit of tech that's very different to anything else is the seat.
00:26:34He has to meet the FIA evacuation standard, of course, because for safety reasons you've got to be able to get out of the car in a hurry.
00:26:40So to enable him to do this, his seat is actually forced upwards by compressed air.
00:26:44So it's, in effect, it's an ejector seat.
00:26:46At the push of a button, it goes up and then he rolls himself out of the car.
00:26:49And he's very well trained to do that.
00:26:51So anybody thinking, well, that's quite dangerous, isn't it?
00:26:54Well, no, Fredrik has practiced this.
00:26:55He can choose when he rolls out or where to.
00:26:57He's practiced it time and time again.
00:26:59So he knows exactly what to do if the situation occurs.
00:27:02Into the pits again comes the leading L&B 2 car.
00:27:07Standard stop by the looks of it.
00:27:09There's no tyres ready, I don't think.
00:27:13Fuel, windscreen wipe, get those dead bugs off the windshield.
00:27:16Staying in.
00:27:18Rikki Elmi staying in.
00:27:22Fuel is done.
00:27:25And away he goes.
00:27:27That is a pretty superb routine stop.
00:27:29They're looking good.
00:27:30They just need to keep doing this, basically.
00:27:32Yeah, I mean, L&B 2, five, six years ago, we'd have seen this being a race of attrition.
00:27:37It would be who could spend the least time in the pits.
00:27:39Long gone are those days.
00:27:41You know, now it is a sprint race, much as we're seeing in L&B 1 and GTE.
00:27:45Barbara on Twitter, my life as Babs, fastest speed on a straightaway.
00:27:51I'm guessing that's...
00:27:54I'm guessing that's...
00:27:55260Ks-ish.
00:27:56Yeah.
00:27:58280Ks?
00:27:58Yeah, 260, 280Ks.
00:28:00Yeah.
00:28:01I'm not sure.
00:28:01I haven't paid much attention to top speeds this week.
00:28:03It's been...
00:28:04It's been one of those factors.
00:28:05The L&B 2 lines have kind of gone on the top speeds this year because they're all on the
00:28:10same hybrid systems.
00:28:12Last year, there was big talk around the top speeds because we had such disparity across
00:28:16the three L&B 1 cars and the way they delivered them, the four L&B 1 manufacturers last year
00:28:22with Nissan here as well.
00:28:22And Nissan was actually the quickest thing in a straight line.
00:28:26They were hitting 220 miles an hour, the Nissan last year, on one run when they had full
00:28:33hybrid and petrol engine going and the slipperiness of that car, which is what the whole thing
00:28:41was designed around.
00:28:43But no, we'll keep an eye on the speed traps.
00:28:45I'll try and find some speed traps on the screen.
00:28:48It's a shame I didn't...
00:28:50It's a shame it didn't really work out, the Nissan, because although it was...
00:28:54I won't say it was doomed to failure because it was a very big, ambitious plan.
00:28:58It was...
00:28:59You're never really going to get something like that to work without, you know, years,
00:29:05potentially even decades of research because it's just so far from the norm.
00:29:10But I love the audacity of it.
00:29:11You have to question why, what, 300 engineers based around Ingolstadt and Stuttgart between
00:29:19them haven't come up with driving a car around backwards?
00:29:23Okay.
00:29:24When you explain it like that, that makes me sound very, very slow.
00:29:29But I understand exactly what you're saying.
00:29:31You know what I'm saying.
00:29:31Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying.
00:29:33Hold on.
00:29:34You know, they've got the budgets.
00:29:36I mean, from a fan's point of view, it was cool.
00:29:38It was cool because it's completely different from anything else you're ever going to see.
00:29:42Exactly.
00:29:43But there is a reason that it's not done by anybody else.
00:29:45There are 300 engineers in Germany who haven't tried that, you know.
00:29:50But ultimately, I think Ben Bowlby's concept was pretty damn good.
00:29:56But, you know, the Delta Wing was the prime example.
00:30:00What Ben did there was brilliant.
00:30:02That car was running with the P2 cars.
00:30:05That concept continued to be developed in the USA.
00:30:07being driven by Catherine Legg and Mima Rojas.
00:30:11And, you know, it led Daytona.
00:30:14Catherine led Daytona.
00:30:15Yeah.
00:30:16Overall.
00:30:17So the concept of the Delta Wing that Ben came out with was pretty good.
00:30:21But I think maybe the Nissan concept, just a step too far,
00:30:25trying to apply that concept to the current LMP1 regulations.
00:30:29It's not to say it was a stupid idea.
00:30:31It's that, hang on, the current LMP1 regulations, it's not the ultimate answer.
00:30:36I'm going to stick myself out on the limb and say I absolutely love that Delta Wing.
00:30:40I think it's so cool.
00:30:41The Delta Wing, that whole project has been fantastic.
00:30:44And what they've achieved through that has been pretty good.
00:30:46It's gone away from the original concept somewhat now.
00:30:49But it is a fantastic piece of machinery.
00:30:53And they've had to add some weight to it to get the reliability.
00:30:55But what Catherine showed at Daytona is, you know, it can do it.
00:30:59She absolutely, you know, she drove away from all of those guys.
00:31:03And it would be great to see Catherine Legg here in something.
00:31:06Oh, yes.
00:31:07I think she really proved what she can do at Daytona.
00:31:11And that she is probably the fastest female currently in international motorsport.
00:31:18I'll take that.
00:31:19Yeah, I'd say that's probably right at the moment.
00:31:21Christina Nielsen, who's racing here, is probably a close second.
00:31:24And Christina is currently leading the GTD point standings in the WeatherTech series.
00:31:31Yes, she is.
00:31:31She's a very, very handy peddler.
00:31:33But I think Catherine's experience probably takes it.
00:31:37I'd absolutely agree with that one.
00:31:39Catherine Legg, fastest woman on the planet, best woman on the planet for racing.
00:31:42Yeah, I'd say that's about right.
00:31:45Reid DA, Smarty Pants, again, he's decided to go after clarification on this tyre rule thing.
00:31:51And apparently, 24 Hours of Le Mans themselves have tweeted,
00:31:54the teams are limited in terms of the number of tyres they are permitted to use.
00:31:57It's about 40 sets for LMP1.
00:32:01And straight to the rule book.
00:32:03I'll let you read it.
00:32:05Straight to the rule book goes Charles Dawson.
00:32:07I've lost my mind.
00:32:08Right, okay.
00:32:09Where is it?
00:32:09What am I looking at here?
00:32:117.74.
00:32:13Summary table of tyre limitations per event.
00:32:15Do not apply to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
00:32:19Yeah.
00:32:20Either way, we'll stop one-upmanship.
00:32:23Two different books saying two different things.
00:32:26That's the FIA current website.
00:32:28Avery Hages tweeted us as well.
00:32:29Regarding top speeds, the P1 cars have reached about 330 to 340 kilometres per hour
00:32:35on the Maussan straight during this race.
00:32:38KPH.
00:32:39KPH, yeah.
00:32:40That's, that's, yeah, okay.
00:32:41That's pretty astonishing still, isn't it?
00:32:43That's really fast.
00:32:44Really, really fast.
00:32:45Into the pits comes Conway.
00:32:47Car number six.
00:32:48So the first one to blink is the one in second place, as Marcel Fessler in the number seven
00:32:53Audi is in the pits as well.
00:32:54There goes the Porsche through to second position.
00:32:5618.6 behind Bohemi's Toyota.
00:32:59Robert on Twitter.
00:33:03Are the cars using the same tyre compounds during Le Mans as the rest of the wet season?
00:33:08Yes.
00:33:08There are various compounds.
00:33:10They're probably using more compounds here than anywhere else.
00:33:13But Michelin do develop the compounds specifically for each manufacturer.
00:33:17So they'll have been able to choose probably some time ago what they wanted.
00:33:21And I suspect there'll be compounds they haven't used during the race as well.
00:33:25Because they've got to cover all eventualities with the weather.
00:33:28But talking to the Michelin guys, they were saying that there's one manufacturer with up
00:33:31to eight compounds of the slick here.
00:33:33It's a two-part question as well, because they talk about WEG, but they also ask IMSA.
00:33:37I think the rules are different for IMSA, aren't they?
00:33:39Yeah, IMSA rules are different.
00:33:41The Continental spec tyre in IMSA.
00:33:44So it's very different out there.
00:33:46You've got your spec tyre that you're running on all year.
00:33:49So things are starting to settle in a little bit in this battle for the lead.
00:33:56Nobody's really blinking a big blink yet.
00:33:59Conway in and out for his second stint in the car after some fuel.
00:34:05Did they change tyres?
00:34:06I don't think they did, did they?
00:34:09I can't remember.
00:34:10No, no, no, no tyres.
00:34:11No tyres, yeah, no tyres.
00:34:12I didn't think they changed the tyres.
00:34:14Jani is the man in the car at the moment.
00:34:1659 seconds ahead of Mike Conway's Toyota.
00:34:21That's about right.
00:34:22But he hasn't really got a big enough gap over Conway to resume out in front of him again.
00:34:28So now he's going to need to go for it.
00:34:30Pedal to the metal, flat out.
00:34:32They're splitting the strategy there between Conway and Buemi.
00:34:38So they had both pitted on the same lap at the end of that yellow flag.
00:34:42And now we've got Conway pitting on 275.
00:34:45So that was a 13 lap stint for Conway.
00:34:48Rather than the 14 that we have been seeing,
00:34:50it looks like they're going to lead Buemi out and bring him in at the end of this one,
00:34:54which will be a 14 lap up.
00:34:56And that means that we're going to see Buemi in the pits now.
00:35:00The Toyota team, they've just done Conway's service.
00:35:04Buemi is next.
00:35:04And Jarny, I think we won't see him in the pits for another three laps.
00:35:09Three laps or four?
00:35:12Trying to keep the calculations going.
00:35:14We're going to be seeing Jarny two, six, five, four laps.
00:35:18No, he'll be three because he's going to run a 13 lap stint.
00:35:20Yeah, yeah, three laps.
00:35:21I wasn't sure when it's half past eight in the morning
00:35:25and you've been watching this incredible battle nonstop pretty much.
00:35:32I tell a lie.
00:35:33I did get three hours sleep last night.
00:35:35I know everybody's mouth just dropped to the floor.
00:35:37Well, as I said on Twitter last night, there's no chance I'm sleeping.
00:35:40I suddenly realized, you know what?
00:35:42That three hours could be the difference between me calling the race winner
00:35:45and calling the seeing a patch of something on the screen.
00:35:50So I just thought three hours, that'll do.
00:35:52And I tell you what, I am better for it.
00:35:54I'm feeling guilty, though.
00:35:55I'm feeling very guilty.
00:35:57There's a lot of people out there in South Africa, in America,
00:36:00in China, in Indonesia.
00:36:02I was talking to you last night.
00:36:03There was a chat from Indonesia who are going to go the full distance here,
00:36:0724 hours, with all sorts of incredible concoctions to keep you awake.
00:36:11Combinations of food and drink and sleeping arrangements,
00:36:14computer arrangements.
00:36:15Some of you have got three or four screens.
00:36:17You've got more, just about the same amount of screens that we have
00:36:19here in the commentary box.
00:36:21One for timing, one for race action, one for telemetry data.
00:36:25Buemi on his in-lap sets a fastest sector two,
00:36:28two seconds faster than Conway's time.
00:36:30But now Conway on the out-lap responding to that.
00:36:33No, that's Buemi.
00:36:34So as Neil Yarny comes through to take the overall lead with him in,
00:36:39car 68 getting a penalty for engine running during refueling,
00:36:42which is one of the Fords.
00:36:45That is one of the Fords.
00:36:46That's a very drive-through penalty for Dirk Moulin.
00:36:49The car in second place, 13 seconds off Maluchelli.
00:36:52That could be the turning point in this race in the GTE Pro.
00:36:55I wonder whether they've got a problem.
00:36:56I wonder whether that car was left running because they've got a problem.
00:36:59There's no reason a professional outfit like the Chip Ganassi outfit would not leave the engine running
00:37:05during a fuel stop unless there was some good reason for it.
00:37:11Porsche darting out of the way of the AAI Corvette rather dramatically there.
00:37:15Let's watch again.
00:37:16Whoops.
00:37:21That was close.
00:37:23Still the Porsche pushes on.
00:37:25There it is.
00:37:25There's the penalty confirmation for the Ford in second place.
00:37:28Driven currently by Dirk Moula.
00:37:30Just 12.9 seconds behind Maluchelli in the Ferrari.
00:37:32And that is going to be a costly penalty for Ford.
00:37:36That's really going to throw Ferrari a bit of a lifeline.
00:37:40Just trying to work back from the end of the race and work out where we're going to be
00:37:44because we've got this current three-lap gap between Yarny and Bohemia and Conway on the strategy.
00:37:51So the fuel numbers, it's going to be interesting to see how who's...
00:37:57Somebody's going to have to do a splash and dash to bring them back into line at the end of the race.
00:38:03Do you know, I think it's going to be Toyota.
00:38:04If anybody's going to have to do a splash and dash, I think it's going to be Toyota.
00:38:09No, I would say the other way.
00:38:11I would say it's going to be the Porsche.
00:38:14Information to the pit lane.
00:38:15Drive-through penalty on car 68.
00:38:18Drive-through penalty on car 68 for having the engine running during the refueling.
00:38:24Storrs decision number 44.
00:38:27I think you're absolutely right, Giles.
00:38:29This is a professional racing team.
00:38:30This is the works Ford outfit.
00:38:32There's no way they're leaving that engine running during a refueling stop unless they needed to.
00:38:37Yeah, there's something going on there that they want some time to understand, I think.
00:38:40Just looking, though, at this situation with the stops.
00:38:43I think because the thing that we're missing is the fact that the Toyota can go that extra lap consistently on the stint.
00:38:51And I think that's what's going to save them from the splash and dash at the end, which the Porsche is going to owe us.
00:38:56Now, the Porsche, 42 seconds ahead currently, if it was aligned.
00:39:00They're going to be losing a minute and five for a full tank.
00:39:06They won't need to take a full tank.
00:39:08They might get away with taking maybe 20, 30 litres.
00:39:13So that time could come down to maybe 50 seconds.
00:39:16It's still a loss that they're going to have to deal with and they're going to need to start building the gap to be able to do that if it comes to it.
00:39:26But then we know that one of these Toyotas is likely in the next hour to be sent as the hair.
00:39:31If you come into the Le Mans 24 Hours with WEC and IMSA or ELMS testing and data and races coming into this one, you do have a better preparation platform.
00:39:43The proof of that is in the two GTE Pro Porsches, 91 and 92.
00:39:49That's the Porsche Motorsport factory outfit at GT level.
00:39:53And neither of them have made the finish.
00:39:54They're not racing in anything else, those two cars this year, not even in the United Sports cars out in America.
00:39:59So, no, they are doing the USCC.
00:40:02Oh, no, sorry, they are doing the USCC.
00:40:03They are, no, no, no, Porsche North America are, have got them doing that.
00:40:07So, this is the English stat-based GT program, isn't it?
00:40:09Yeah, this is, this is, this is the guys from Manthei Motorsport.
00:40:13And they're not doing.
00:40:14They're not doing the full WEC campaign.
00:40:16This is the only race they're doing.
00:40:18So, even Porsche with a works outfit cannot get the 91 and 92 to the finish in the same way that some of the other teams.
00:40:29It's interesting because I know that they were putting a system on that car whereby the, um, if the nozzle, refueling nozzle, was entered into the car, uh, the engine would be killed by, by a switch on that.
00:40:51So, I suspect there's a system failure there, actually, which is what's caused it, because I remember having that conversation earlier in the year with, uh, with the engineers at Multimatic.
00:40:59So, probably a system failure.
00:41:00So, yeah, I mean, it, it will be interesting to see how that, that, that plays out the, the Conway, the way Mianni, um, battle in terms of fuel.
00:41:13It certainly isn't all things equal in terms of fuel at this moment in time, but, uh, only time is going to tell.
00:41:19And safety cars will play into that, um, to a degree.
00:41:23The slow zones play into that due to fuel, fuel usage and fuel saving.
00:41:27So, let's see.
00:41:28With nobody knows he's got it right until three o'clock.
00:41:31Ferraris are leading in both the GTE AM and pro categories at the moment.
00:41:34It's going to be a great day at Maranello if things keep going the way they are.
00:41:37The Tricolore will wave across the podium if the Signatec Alpine keeps going the way it is in the hands of Stéphane Richelmy, Gustavo Menezes and, uh, Nicolas Lapier.
00:41:48But the Porsche is leading at the moment.
00:41:50However, it's not leading on pure pace at the moment.
00:41:53The Toyotas have managed to get a pit stop and they are really slamming that gap down.
00:42:00It's down to 42.6 seconds and Yanni owes us a pit stop.
00:42:04Yeah, absolutely.
00:42:06Yeah, they'll get ahead of him.
00:42:08Uh, it'll be tight as to whether Conway gets out ahead of him.
00:42:11Conway really does need to push on now.
00:42:12He's lost, uh, 20 seconds to Bohemi in the, uh, in this stint so far.
00:42:17So, I wonder whether we're now starting to see the split strategy between the five and the six of send, send the five as the hair, leave Conway in the six in reserve and see where we get to.
00:42:28Now, uh, I would hate to be the team manager having to make the call as to which one you send, um, which one you leave back.
00:42:34They're in reserve.
00:42:36Uh, but it's going to be, going to be interesting.
00:42:38The thing that, again, we're, we're not focusing on, which we really should be, is Audi number eight.
00:42:43Audi number eight is the fastest car on track at the moment.
00:42:46Three minutes, 22.9.
00:42:47It's four seconds a lap quicker than the leading Porsche.
00:42:51Three seconds a lap quicker than the Toyotas.
00:42:53Audi are not done.
00:42:54No.
00:42:54Audi know that they can pull this back.
00:42:56And it's interesting to see the pace has come to that car.
00:43:00Um, they'll be doing things on the number seven car to try and work out what they can do, um, to, to improve situation with the balance.
00:43:08I tell you what, if Audi win this race, and that's not a million miles away from possibility, people at home thinking, nah, you're off your rocker.
00:43:17It's not.
00:43:18This is Audi, don't forget.
00:43:19They've won 13 of the last 16 Le Mans 24 hours.
00:43:22You don't do that by accident.
00:43:24If they pull this back and they, well, the lap time suggests they could do it.
00:43:29There's a full WEC race still coming up.
00:43:31Six hours coming up.
00:43:33Audi could do this.
00:43:34They could actually win the Le Mans 24 hours.
00:43:36I can't believe we're not including them more in this fight.
00:43:39They're only a lap away.
00:43:41Audi could win this.
00:43:42If they win this, this will be their greatest victory.
00:43:44There's no question about that.
00:43:45Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:46It's the most competitive Le Mans 24 hour I think we've, uh, we've ever seen.
00:43:50Um, we're just, same thing in the LMP2 class.
00:43:53Ronnie Rast is now back on board the Orica number 26 G drive car.
00:43:57And he is now throwing laps down to try and close the gap to the Alpine number 36
00:44:01with, uh, Ricky Elmi at the wheel at the moment.
00:44:04He's just gone three seconds a lap faster.
00:44:06He's a lap down at the moment at three seconds in the last lap taken out of, uh, of the Alpine.
00:44:12So let's see.
00:44:13This is going to be grandstand finish across all cars, across all classes.
00:44:17Muller has now served his penalty in GTE Pro.
00:44:20And the gap to, uh, to, uh, the Malicelli Ferrari is now 38 seconds.
00:44:26So he lost 32 seconds there in the pit lane, uh, Richard Westbrook is now only 158 behind
00:44:34in the other Ford, uh, Dirk Muller, uh, that's sorry, behind Malicelli.
00:44:39Um, so he's 34 seconds behind his sister car and, uh, and gaining.
00:44:44And then in the Amgras, Swiedler does seem to be able to, uh, just keep the gap to the Porsche.
00:44:51But now with, uh, David Hanemar Hansen bonded into the number eight Proton competition car.
00:44:56Francois Perodo in the number 83 Ferrari.
00:44:58Um, another lap back.
00:45:01So still this one lap, one lap, one lap.
00:45:02And that, that gap in GTE Amp doesn't seem to be coming down.
00:45:07Toyota one and two again.
00:45:09The gap, 22.4 seconds between Bohemi and Conway.
00:45:12He's been opening up that gap quite nicely as Sebastian Bohemi.
00:45:15But that's not the real story.
00:45:17The story is the guy in fourth position.
00:45:19Lloyd Duval lapping three seconds a lap quicker than any of the three cars in front of him.
00:45:26Audi are not throwing in the towel.
00:45:28They will refuse to say die.
00:45:30He's just constantly pumping the times in as well.
00:45:33He's, he's now on the out lap, uh, no, in lap.
00:45:36So Duval in, I need to make a note of that and see where he was in terms of his lap.
00:45:41His lap, two, seven, seven.
00:45:45We know Audi cannot do, um, more than a 13 lap stint.
00:45:51Uh, those guys have said, look, this is where we are.
00:45:54This is what we can do.
00:45:55Whereas we know that both the others, if they want to, can do the 14.
00:46:00Michael Colonna, what are the factors separating Toyota from the Porsche pit strategy?
00:46:05Is it drivers?
00:46:06Is it tires?
00:46:07Is it fuel rate?
00:46:09It's a complicated question, but there is a very simple answer, Giles.
00:46:13Go again.
00:46:14Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:46:16The factors separating Toyota from the Porsche pit strategy, what is it?
00:46:20Is it drivers?
00:46:21Is it tires?
00:46:21Fuel rate?
00:46:22No, it's, it's this extra lap.
00:46:24This extra lap that we're getting out of the, um, out of the Toyotas.
00:46:28Uh, they're not the fastest car on track, but they're consistently just pulling time away.
00:46:34Brilliant shot.
00:46:35Brilliant shot.
00:46:36Reading a Disney magazine.
00:46:37That is genuinely...
00:46:38Stolen from his child.
00:46:40That is the best thing I've seen all of them on 24 hours.
00:46:42I think this is the, the point where Delirium starts to sit in for the mechanics.
00:46:46The thing is, the thing is, he's probably sitting there thinking, well, this edition of Auto Hebdo, it's really gone down.
00:46:53Absolutely.
00:46:55Well, let's, let's go down to the pits because, uh, Neil Yarny has just got out of the Porsche and Gertie's with him.
00:47:02Neil, you've just got out of the car.
00:47:03It was a pretty hectic stint and switching positions with the Toyota here on Sunday morning.
00:47:08Still six hours to go.
00:47:09What will make the difference, you think?
00:47:12Uh, I, I, I don't know how the strategies will play out, but it seems to be a head-to-head race.
00:47:20And, yeah, everything counts at the moment.
00:47:22Everything, every little thing is counting.
00:47:23Uh, it's a straight fight between you and the both, Toyota.
00:47:27So are you keeping an eye out on the Audi number eight as well?
00:47:29It's not that far behind.
00:47:31Um, no, at the moment we're just looking ahead and all that backwards.
00:47:35Uh, the fact that you're one car against two, will that play badly or is that no worry for you?
00:47:42The, what, the fact that it's one Porsche against two Toyota, is that, is that a big factor or not?
00:47:48No, in the end, I think both of them want to win as well.
00:47:51So, you know, everyone wants to win.
00:47:52Thank you, Neil.
00:47:56Some French radio there from the signature car.
00:47:59So, um, yeah, no, I think summarizing what we've been saying in terms of, um, they're pressing on.
00:48:04They're looking forward.
00:48:04They're not looking back at the Audi.
00:48:07And, uh, yeah, Mark Lieb now installed in the Porsche.
00:48:10Let's see, you know, the gap now, 50 seconds to Bowiemi, 51 seconds.
00:48:15Um, and he's completed his outlap.
00:48:17So we'll now see what he can do in terms of sector times.
00:48:20Uh, it's an even gap between, uh, Bowiemi, Conway, Lieb, 25 seconds between each one.
00:48:26They always find a way to make people smile, don't they?
00:48:29It's James.
00:48:30James from, uh, Dunlop.
00:48:33James Mitchell, who, uh, used to work for the Jota team.
00:48:36Uh, James is, uh, always of good humor.
00:48:39Um, yeah, works at McLaren during the week, but, uh, brought into the Dunlop fold for, uh, for the weekend.
00:48:45He got well and truly stitched up there, didn't he?
00:48:48I will enjoy sending him a message in a moment.
00:48:50Uh, JSR Devon and IcePod on Twitter both asked the same question.
00:48:56How many tear-offs do the cars have on their windscreens?
00:48:59Up to eight.
00:49:00Up to eight.
00:49:01Okay.
00:49:01And, uh, it's interesting because IcePod said he hadn't seen any of the disposable windshields being removed.
00:49:06It's a strange one.
00:49:07You don't want to remove them unless you need to.
00:49:11And the disposable windshields these days aren't just there to, for cleanliness.
00:49:15They're also there as a toughener for the windscreen.
00:49:18It's amazing how much tougher the windscreens are with those on.
00:49:22Um, normally, the time you see them coming off is during the early morning.
00:49:27Uh, that's when you want to pull them.
00:49:29Um, but, yeah, you're absolutely right.
00:49:31I haven't seen them coming off really either.
00:49:33I haven't seen people taking them away.
00:49:35I suppose one flick of gravel, that's a crack in the windscreen at the wrong angle.
00:49:38It is, whereas these, these films do such a good job of protecting the screen.
00:49:43Um, so, no, I mean, I haven't seen any off either, so I totally agree with that.
00:49:49So Toyota, Toyota, Porsche, Audi, Audi is the order at the moment.
00:49:53But we're not counting Audi out of this one yet, despite the fact that they are on lap 279 and Bohemi is on lap 280.
00:50:01There's only a lap in it, folks, and there's 6 hours and 12 minutes to go.
00:50:04Anything is still possible, and Audi know that.
00:50:07They've come back from the brink before.
00:50:09They wouldn't have won 13 out of the last 16 of them on 24 hours if they didn't know how to cope with adversity.
00:50:14And Leuchttuval, in the number 8 Audi, is getting on with this.
00:50:18He's doing everything he can, and he is flying.
00:50:20Yeah, just waiting for some decent sector times from, from the Audi number 8.
00:50:25But, um, he'll be coming through very shortly.
00:50:28There he is, 32-7.
00:50:29Yep, fastest in the first sector.
00:50:31Fastest in the first sector by some three-tenths.
00:50:34So, yeah, he's absolutely on it.
00:50:36And I think that there's only one way forward for those guys now, and that is absolute maximum attack.
00:50:41They've got to take risks.
00:50:43They've got to push through the traffic.
00:50:44And they've just got to hope that those drivers don't make a mistake.
00:50:46On the subject of Audi, JCL's 2 on Twitter.
00:50:50Could it be possible that Audi has been holding back so far, and that they'll surprise us in the last hour?
00:50:55Not a chance in heaven.
00:50:57No, I mean, we've got to remember why they lost the time.
00:50:59Ultimately, the Audi's had turbo problems early on, on the number 7 car, which took that car out of the race, really.
00:51:06That's 10 laps behind its sister car.
00:51:08Those guys then had another issue, which we still don't understand what it was.
00:51:14The car had to come in.
00:51:16They brought number 7 in first.
00:51:17They practiced changing something under the rear deck on number 7.
00:51:21They lost four minutes.
00:51:22They did the same thing on number 8 a lap, two laps later.
00:51:26So, they have lost time through mechanical reliability issues.
00:51:32The drivers have been pretty faultless, it has to be said.
00:51:36And they were pretty damn good on the strategy at the start of the race as things went on with the rain.
00:51:41They've only led two laps of Le Mans so far.
00:51:43Audi don't do things by halves.
00:51:46They don't hold back.
00:51:48Audi are not known for holding back.
00:51:50They never do.
00:51:50So, why would they?
00:51:52No, absolutely no.
00:51:53But I do think what we're seeing now is the drivers being told, look, there's only one chance.
00:51:57Just drive.
00:51:58Just drive as fast as you can.
00:52:00Yeah.
00:52:00We may get to the podium.
00:52:01We may get the win.
00:52:02We may not.
00:52:03The only thing you can do is drive out of your skin.
00:52:06And that's exactly what Luke Duval and his two teammates has to be said.
00:52:09It's not just a one-man job.
00:52:10Lucas de Grassi and Oliver Jarvis are both on exactly the same strategy here.
00:52:15Just go for it.
00:52:16And Oliver Jarvis is no slouch, nor is Lucas de Grassi.
00:52:19So, they've got three incredibly fast racing drivers in that Audi.
00:52:22Paul Marcel Fessler, Benoit Choliot and André Lotterer, who have won Le Mans together three times now.
00:52:30They're not really going to get a look in at this rate.
00:52:33I would have said maybe...
00:52:34There is no chance for those guys.
00:52:36You're not going to lose four cars for ten laps.
00:52:42One, maybe.
00:52:43Yeah, absolutely.
00:52:44A podium is probably still reasonable for those guys.
00:52:47It's still plausible, but I don't think at this stage in the game we're going to lose that many cars.
00:52:53Touch wood.
00:52:55So, down the Mulsanne straight once again.
00:52:58Heading towards the first chicane.
00:53:01That is the SMP car running in third position in LMP2 with Victor Scheitar in the field.
00:53:06The only driver in the entire field who was also doing the Road to Le Mans race earlier on.
00:53:11Yeah, Victor drove the GT3 Ferrari 488 to victory in the Road to Le Mans GT3 classification.
00:53:19Did a fantastic job there, and I'm sure that the SMP boy is very happy with that, and the guys back at the factory.
00:53:25And Michelotto also very happy to see their GT3 car winning here at Le Mans.
00:53:31Surely that makes him a glutton for punishment, doing a race like that for an hour on his own, and then doing a 24-hour race straight after.
00:53:37I think Victor's pretty well respected now.
00:53:40You know, Victor last year, GTE Am driver for the SMP team, and now promoted up into the LMP2 squad.
00:53:50Proving why he was put there now.
00:53:53You know, he's doing a fantastic job.
00:53:55He is running five seconds off Rene Rast, but that's not a fair reflection.
00:54:04He's running the same pace as all the other top drivers in LMP2, but Rast really is on it now, trying to close the gap to Ricky Elmi.
00:54:13So, Rast, his last lap was four seconds, five seconds faster than anybody else in the class.
00:54:20Here's Andrea Pizzitola, former GT Academy graduate.
00:54:25Yeah.
00:54:26Talented racing driver.
00:54:27One of the ones who's managed to make it outside of the GT Academy.
00:54:31Yeah.
00:54:33There's not many of those either.
00:54:34Lucas Aldonies, Jan Mardenbrough, and the Japanese winner.
00:54:39I can never remember his name off the top of my head.
00:54:41Somebody who watches the GT Academy will remind me.
00:54:44Jan, I think, will continue to do very well in Japan.
00:54:46But I think the chances of Jan coming back and having much of a European career, frankly, at the moment with the projects that Nissan have got on are slim.
00:54:55But he's definitely becoming a superstar out in Japan.
00:54:58Yeah, Jan is one of those kind of people who is not going to go for a small beer opportunity.
00:55:03He wants big, he wants brash, he wants bold.
00:55:05And the only way you're going to get that is with a factory effort in a very, very strong competition.
00:55:10Hence, Nissan in Super GT.
00:55:12It's a great choice for him, to be fair.
00:55:13It is, it is.
00:55:14And, you know, they're putting him through an F3 programme out there as well.
00:55:18So he knows what he's doing.
00:55:19And he's getting all the experience that he needs.
00:55:22But, no, it's good to see these Nissan athletes, these Mo athletes still in there.
00:55:28And, you know, Chris Hoy sharing that car with Pizzatola.
00:55:32And, yeah, we'll see where we are at the end of the race.
00:55:36Here's an easy question to answer from Jason Turner.
00:55:38Say the number eight Audi crashes out.
00:55:40Can a driver from the number seven give up his spot to a faster driver from the Audi number eight, like McQueen did in Le Mans?
00:55:48No.
00:55:49It's as simple as that.
00:55:49It's not allowed in the rules, so you can't do that.
00:55:52It's similar, but to Cooper McNeil.
00:55:53He obviously fell ill earlier on.
00:55:56And there could very easily have been another driver somewhere down the pit lane who could have taken this place.
00:55:59But that's not in the rules either.
00:56:00So, sadly, you can never see that happen.
00:56:02And that happened, unfortunately, with Gunnar Janett was here.
00:56:05And he was ready to get in that car during warm-up to do his five laps.
00:56:10He was stood there in his suit with his helmet on while they were having the discussion with the FIA about whether they could put him in the car.
00:56:17And, unfortunately, the FIA had to say, no, look, you can't do this.
00:56:21We're not going to let you in at this stage.
00:56:23I think even with the dispensation of the other teams, they probably wouldn't have allowed that to happen.
00:56:28Nico de Pia.
00:56:29Does each team get to choose brand of fuel or is all fuel supplied by one brand?
00:56:33All fuel is supplied by Shell.
00:56:35It's got 20% ethanol in it.
00:56:39The diesels from Audi have got a stock diesel supplied again by Shell.
00:56:47So, that's completely governed by the regulation.
00:56:52Six hours and five minutes to go in the Le Mans 24 hours.
00:56:56And we were talking about it being a two-horse race.
00:56:58It could just become a three-horse race again.
00:57:01We cannot underestimate the power of Audi.
00:57:05They are still coming and they are still lapping at exactly the same pace as the Toyotas and the Porsche now.
00:57:12The Porsche has just done a 323.3 to pick up the pace.
00:57:15The Toyotas are on 324s, as is the Audi number eight.
00:57:19So, it's still a three-way fight.
00:57:22It has to be.
00:57:25Give it an hour.
00:57:26Yeah, give it an hour.
00:57:27Give it an hour.
00:57:28Let's see where we are with five hours to go.
00:57:31I think that Audi is going to be back on the lead lap.
00:57:35Yeah, I don't think it's a slim chance.
00:57:39I think it's a very good chance because that's an Audi.
00:57:42If it was any other car in any other class in any other fight, I would be doubtful by now because we've got six hours to go.
00:57:48But that's an Audi.
00:57:48It's going to be back on the lead lap and then it's going to get interesting.
00:57:52Then if you're a Toyota, you're going to be starting to think about, right, okay, what do I do with my two cars?
00:57:59Do I cover the Audi and chase the Porsche?
00:58:03How do we do it?
00:58:04You know, they're going to have some difficult decisions to make, but the difference is Toyota have got two bullets in the gun.
00:58:10Audi has led two laps of this race.
00:58:12If they take the lead on the last lap, surely that will break the record for the least amount of laps a winner has ever led the Le Mans 24 hours.
00:58:19I'm sure it probably would.
00:58:20That's absolutely astonishing, the story that's playing out here.
00:58:23Loic Duval, Lucas de Grassi and the third man.
00:58:26Mark Lieb's got the message, 3.22.5 on that last lap in third place, in the third place Porsche.
00:58:32So now chasing down, trying to close the gap to the Toyotas as these pit stops swing through.
00:58:38So Lieb on 52 seconds behind the leader, 21 behind Mike Conway.
00:58:43Conway does seem to be losing a decent chunk of time to Bohemi.
00:58:48But Bohemi's just got it going, got it hooked up, and he's taken 30 seconds out of Conway so far in this stint.
00:58:55So it's a big gap.
00:58:57Conway just gives him a little bit of a response, but that's probably down to traffic through the first sector of this lap.
00:59:02But yeah, Conway, 30 seconds lost so far in this stint.
00:59:08He's just done a 3.27.2, so that's four seconds in one lap gone.
00:59:12Yeah, I think Conway's the conservative car.
00:59:15I do think Toyota have now made the decision, look, we need to run one car safe, one car fast.
00:59:19I really wouldn't have liked to have been one of the guys on the pit wall to make that call.
00:59:25But my gut feeling is, when we heard Bohemi talking about team orders,
00:59:28there'd already been a discussion with Mike Conway before he got in that car.
00:59:32And Mike knew what he needed to do.
00:59:34Mike was going out there to bring consistent, fast lap times.
00:59:38He was quick enough to stay ahead of the Porsche, but not go and break the car.
00:59:44Believe me on the other hand, go, go, go.
00:59:46Yeah, just give it the beans, go for it.
00:59:49And that works as a strategy because if the number five does push itself too far,
00:59:53they've still got one left.
00:59:54Yeah.
00:59:55And he's still got a great chance.
00:59:55And, you know, he's not going to end up a lap down, although 30 seconds over once did.
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