Relive the full broadcast of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2009 — a true battle of endurance, technology, and determination. Peugeot and Audi faced off in an intense 24-hour duel on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, pushing their prototypes and drivers to the absolute limit. Every lap brought drama, precision, and pure racing emotion as strategy and reliability shaped the outcome. Experience the triumph, the heartbreak, and the passion that defined one of the most iconic editions in Le Mans history.
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#LeMans2009 #24HoursOfLeMans #FullRace #EnduranceRacing #Motorsport #AudiVsPeugeot #LegendaryRace #HistoricRace #EpicRacing #SpeedAndEndurance
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00On his pit stop, managed to jump Allen into third place, so Peugeot splitting the Audi's, we've got a problem down there for one of the Felbermeyer Porsches.
00:00:08We've also got reports the racing box LMP2 car is limping round with a puncture, that's Richard Leeds.
00:00:13Wow, and he was well up in that class, he was in the top three or four, at least for a while, and that is a major problem for those guys.
00:00:24That's a very fast car, and was expected to be very much a contender for victory in GT2.
00:00:31Mark Lieb, Richard Leeds, Leitz, and Wolf Hensler, that's a very, very fast combination of drivers, but it looks like they've got a fairly major problem.
00:00:38It looks like they're struggling to start the car again, yeah, it looks like he was on his way into the pit, somehow it stopped, and now he's struggling to restart the car,
00:00:45because you can see the lights coming on, which will come on automatically when you fire up the engine, but then they keep cutting off.
00:00:50That car is down in 43rd position, you just saw there, so if you're going to have bad luck, have it all in one car, try not to spread it amongst the rest of the field.
00:00:57So, the story of the race so far, Audi, one car, big problems, Peugeot, one car, even bigger problems.
00:01:05Peugeot, another car with problems, really.
00:01:07An Aston Martin problem.
00:01:08And talking about Aston Martin, a good opportunity here to bring up a message, an email sent to us by Rob Chalmers of Warrington,
00:01:16and he said that he points out, of course, that Aston Martin is represented in three classes,
00:01:21and he asks us, when was the last time a manufacturer had a car in all classes, if at all?
00:01:281999 Porsche.
00:01:291999 Porsche.
00:01:30That was a great answer.
00:01:31Thank you very much indeed.
00:01:33And Rob, thank you so much for that email.
00:01:35Anorak of knowledge over here.
00:01:36And Rob tells us that he gives certain parts of his anatomy to be joining us here this weekend.
00:01:41We've already given some of us.
00:01:43We don't need to go into more details, Rob, but thank you so much for the email.
00:01:46And anybody else who wants to email us here, please do so.
00:01:49You can reach us at lemans.eurosport at yahoo.com.
00:01:54lemans.eurosport at yahoo.com.
00:01:57So please keep your messages flowing, and we will try to get to some as this race unfolds.
00:02:02Yeah, anyone wanting to know about Nick Manassi we were talking about earlier,
00:02:05we can now confirm he is way down in 51st place.
00:02:08009, just got stop and go penalty, presumably because it got assistance to get started.
00:02:13It's rejoined.
00:02:14Yes, yeah.
00:02:14And here comes car number seven.
00:02:16Whoa, he's flat!
00:02:17Oh, I almost ran over his engineer there, that would be bad.
00:02:22Mental note, make next years out of rubber.
00:02:24Yeah, yeah.
00:02:25So Manassian, is he staying in the car?
00:02:27Yeah, but I mean, this has been an awful run for them, hasn't it?
00:02:29It's, uh, he's done 325, though.
00:02:31I mean, the guy is so quick when he's, uh, he's managed to get out there.
00:02:35Yeah, he's gonna have it turned on absolutely nasty.
00:02:36He's done the second fastest lap of the race.
00:02:38Yeah, and he's been turning a string of quick laps.
00:02:41He's been the fastest car on the track on a regular basis over the last, uh, you know,
00:02:45half an hour or 45 minutes since he took over at that repaired car number seven.
00:02:50But the bad news is, of course, a long, long way down and made up really no ground at all
00:02:54on the overall race leader.
00:02:55His teammate, Frank Montani, who's really doing a super job.
00:02:58And Frank's turn another quick, couple of quick laps as well.
00:03:01Last time around, a 3 minutes 26.2 and two or three laps ago, he did a 3 minutes 25.6.
00:03:07So within a half a second of his, uh, fastest lap of the race.
00:03:12But apart from just getting that, uh, just overshooting his pit slightly, the pit stops
00:03:16are so much slicker this year from Peugeot.
00:03:18Yeah.
00:03:18Okay, it's gonna take three seconds extra because of the reduced diameter on the fuel refilling
00:03:23nozzles.
00:03:24But Peugeot really, really do seem to have learned a lot from watching Anthony last year.
00:03:27Well, they put the time in, I think, over the winter and through the earlier parts of
00:03:31this year, they've, they've really pushed hard to make their pit stops absolutely well
00:03:35oiled and 100% because they knew that that's partly where they lost it last year.
00:03:39The Velbermar car then being pushed in, luckily he's stopped in the pit lane, just on the
00:03:44entry.
00:03:45Richard Leitz, one of the factory drivers, one of nine Porsche factory drivers there
00:03:49this weekend.
00:03:50Oh, what a disaster for them.
00:03:51Oh no, it does look like...
00:03:53He's got power, hasn't he?
00:03:55Well, it's outside of assistance, so, uh, there's the two Aston Martins.
00:03:58Well, as long as he, they pushed him to a safe place, so if he can get it going now, somehow,
00:04:02and get it back.
00:04:03All he's got is a short distance, so if he can get it running, then...
00:04:05I mean, maybe this is a good point, just, just to say, ask you Liz, why, why, why in
00:04:10Europe?
00:04:11If a car does that, do we exclude it in America?
00:04:14The show must go on, it's a totally different culture.
00:04:16Well, yeah.
00:04:17Yeah, and I think it's better that way, to be honest, because so many times, it's an
00:04:22incident where someone's just gone off ever so slightly, and they just leave them there,
00:04:25and that's it.
00:04:26And I think that's horrible.
00:04:27I think it's much better that if you have a chance, if the car is not ruined, give them
00:04:30a shot to get going again.
00:04:32Down to the pit lane.
00:04:34And, uh, I've just seen, uh, just saying it's a crash, Olivia has looked up, seen his
00:04:55sister car, uh, Stefano Telli, in the wall, quite a big accent there for the, uh, MacBook car.
00:05:02Oh dear, that's rather, rather shown in the interview, isn't it?
00:05:05But he's saying, well, having, apart from that, been going okay so far.
00:05:09He said, I had problems, the accelerator lost pace, but, uh, while Olivia's talking, we're
00:05:16just watching the replay of the sister car going off into the wall at some speed.
00:05:20That car surely is going to be finished.
00:05:23Jeremy, what a disaster there.
00:05:26He just looked like he'd straight that left rear wheel onto the grass, didn't he?
00:05:29He turned in to that right-hand corner, Liz Halliday.
00:05:32Just, just that little bit, and even just that little bit of grass that you would catch
00:05:36at that speed could just be enough to fire you into the wall.
00:05:38Yeah, and this is Stefano Telli.
00:05:39I mean, again, a Le Mans winner and one of the finest drivers in the world.
00:05:42And Stefano, an incredible driver, but it just, just goes to show that, you know, mistakes
00:05:46do happen, even the very best, and, you know, it's just a real tragedy for them.
00:05:50I hope, I think it will probably be game over.
00:05:52It's his 13th Le Mans, I guess it's his unlucky 13th.
00:05:55There is Houda Shonak, the, uh, team owner of the, uh, Orica MacBook team.
00:06:00And, you know, Stefano Telli was so crushed last year to miss this race.
00:06:05He'd had that massive crash at Monza, hadn't he?
00:06:07In the Le Mans series race there.
00:06:09And he broke his foot, didn't he? I think it was.
00:06:11Broke his ankle very badly.
00:06:13And he was out for several months.
00:06:15He was almost fit enough to drive here, but not quite.
00:06:18He couldn't risk it.
00:06:19He came back this year with such high expectations,
00:06:21uh, gunning, maybe not for the overall victory,
00:06:24but certainly, I think, a legitimate contender for the top petrol engine car.
00:06:28And it comes through a, uh, fairly steady.
00:06:30Well, and last year wasn't even the first time that he'd missed a Le Mans due to injury.
00:06:34He'd had a, I think it was back in 2005 or 2006, he had a massive injury.
00:06:37Oh, and we got another one off. This is the, uh, the four car, the, uh,
00:06:40the Creations car.
00:06:42Oh, no, that's Venina in that car.
00:06:44Oh, this is a second incident of the weekend.
00:06:46Oh, no, what a shame.
00:06:47She's been actually turning very good times.
00:06:49Yep, Wednesday night she, uh...
00:06:56So, they're going to the aid of Venina.
00:06:58It's the aid of Venina there as we still ride on board in the number two car.
00:07:12That's, uh, Mike Rockenfella.
00:07:14So, they start, the retirement's starting to come thick and fast.
00:07:17Martin Haven and Simon Hill will be joining us in a couple of minutes.
00:07:20And Martin's rushing around looking for the marker of doom.
00:07:22Uh, once more mark the wall.
00:07:24I think we can certainly take the Stefano Telecar, the Eureka Courage out of that equation.
00:07:30So, on we go.
00:07:32Oh, he's getting back.
00:07:33So, he's getting back.
00:07:34They've got that car back on the track.
00:07:35It may be nothing worse than this than a crushed rear end and lost wing.
00:07:40We've just seen a large piece of something come off the back of it as he's come back out as well.
00:07:45But, yeah, that could potentially be really good news for them.
00:07:48It looks like it's moving all right and hopefully they've got that spare to put it back out on the circuit.
00:07:53I mean, it looked a lot worse, didn't it?
00:07:54It did.
00:07:55Than that when it was in the wall.
00:07:56You think, oh, dear.
00:07:57It just shows that Le Mans, you can never, never say never.
00:08:01Well, we're going to speak to you to show now and see what he's got to say about that latest incident.
00:08:15We're going to ask about the car going in the wall.
00:08:18He said, we don't know what happened.
00:08:27The drivers are under orders, not to take any risks in the first three hours.
00:08:30I don't know what happened there.
00:08:37It's a big surprise for us, though, because Stefan doesn't make mistakes.
00:08:41Now we've got to do work on the car.
00:08:44It's a big mistake, which will cost us a lot.
00:08:46You still have one car on the road, which is quite well placed, despite the fact that you're in the engine.
00:08:50We thought we were going to be on schedule, made a mistake, and it's going to cost us.
00:08:53Yes, I think that there are two races.
00:08:55There are the diesel race race and the engine race race.
00:08:57And we have to do zero fault.
00:08:59Yeah, we were really moving up the order.
00:09:01Peugeot, Audi, everyone's had problems.
00:09:03And we need to make no mistakes at all.
00:09:05If you want to have any chance, you've got to have a strategy where you run at a safe pace and don't make any mistakes.
00:09:17Do you think you're able to go to the Aston Martin?
00:09:20Anyway, 22 hours to go. A lot can happen.
00:09:23We've still got a chance to catch up to the Audi's or the Aston Martin.
00:09:31They turn a lot faster than us, because I think tomorrow morning they'll have more difficulties to be there.
00:09:36Thank you very much, Hug. Thank you.
00:09:38We really don't know about the Aston.
00:09:40Perhaps we've got a chance.
00:09:42So, Hugh, still optimistic.
00:09:45Well, there you go.
00:09:46Here's a guy who's been around this sport a long, long time.
00:09:48So, he knows to take the ups with the downs.
00:09:51Don't panic.
00:09:52Just do the work on the car now.
00:09:54Get it back in the fray.
00:09:55And don't make any more mistakes.
00:09:57Just goes to show how easy it is to just make that one tiny little mistake and, you know, it can just be all over like that.
00:10:04But I think it's looking not quite as bad as we thought originally, hopefully.
00:10:07It does look like he's coming back and out at a bit of pace.
00:10:09So, hopefully they'll have the spare.
00:10:11Won't be too much damage and he'll be back up and running.
00:10:14I think that's absolutely right, Liz.
00:10:15You know, he's lost one lap so far, but it could have been a lot more before he got back to the pits.
00:10:20I don't think he's back in the pit lane just yet, is he?
00:10:23No, he's not.
00:10:24Just creeping through Porsche curves now, yeah.
00:10:26Anyway, so the other car we just saw snatch off, the Pescarello.
00:10:30The Pescarello Peugeot right there on the pace at the moment.
00:10:35That's its main opposition, of course.
00:10:37It's the battle of the garage east as it was, but things all moved up a bit since then.
00:10:41So, just to confirm, Montani for Peugeot leading overall in LMP2.
00:10:46It's at the moment Caspar Elgar on board the Essex Porsche that's leading that category.
00:10:51Johnny O'Connell in the Corvette.
00:10:53And it's Dominic Farmbacher in the Ferrari leading in LMGT2.
00:10:58Now we can just see Vanini Eegs coming into the pits now as well.
00:11:01We've just seen that snapshot of her coming in.
00:11:03She's had an off in the gravel.
00:11:05Hopefully that's nothing more than just a slight driver error and they'll be back up and running soon.
00:11:10Yeah, she had this moment, didn't she, on Wednesday night.
00:11:13The car had just come over from America, from Carolina.
00:11:17Done no running, no testing.
00:11:19Jamie Camberwater said to us we should never, never, never have put Vanini Eegs in there
00:11:23because it was wet, it was dark.
00:11:25The car was handling like a pig.
00:11:27She went off on her out lap and put it off.
00:11:29We don't blame her.
00:11:30We blame the car.
00:11:31Not the way you really want to start the weekend.
00:11:33And Vanini Eegs is a very, very experienced driver at Le Mans.
00:11:36She's done well in an LMP car.
00:11:38And, you know, the creation's a challenging car to drive.
00:11:40A very good car, but definitely challenging.
00:11:42And not the way you really want to start is in the wet, in the dark.
00:11:45Yeah, so the Eureka car just about in the pits now.
00:11:49He's had a real struggle, hasn't he, to get down there.
00:11:51Coming into pit road now.
00:11:52So, hopefully, there we are.
00:11:55It's actually in the box now.
00:11:56Here we are, we can see it being pushed back into the box.
00:11:59And I guess we won't see that for another 10, 15 minutes.
00:12:02Yeah, well that'll be key.
00:12:03You won't know how long it'll take them to get that, certainly at the very least, a new rear wing on the car.
00:12:08The hope is that he won't have damaged the suspension as well.
00:12:12Well, they'll be taking the back off quickly as they can, and the front as well,
00:12:15and give it a really good check over before they send him back out.
00:12:18But, hopefully, it won't be too bad.
00:12:20Stefan's certainly been optimistic.
00:12:21He's staying at the wheel of the car.
00:12:22He's not getting out.
00:12:24Yeah, that's good news.
00:12:25That's always a good sign.
00:12:26If the driver stays in the car, in the garage, then means they're hoping for a quick turnover.
00:12:30The whole team falls on the car like a pack of hyenas.
00:12:35As he said, everyone you've got can work on the car.
00:12:39As many people can get in the garage.
00:12:41We're looking just down at the order.
00:12:43We're just coming up, then, to just gone past the two-hour mark in this race.
00:12:47Another 22 to go, as Hugh Schoenig was telling us.
00:12:50In comes the number 13 car.
00:12:52That's the Bellici Lola.
00:12:54That's running in 11th place at the moment, having a very solid run.
00:12:57Yeah, they really have done a nice job, haven't they?
00:12:59Just running consistently.
00:13:00That's exactly what they needed to do.
00:13:01Their fastest lap so far at 3 minutes 33,
00:13:04which is only about three seconds off the factory Lola Aston Martins.
00:13:08This is, of course, the number 13 car.
00:13:10It's a year-old car.
00:13:11It does not have the latest upgrades, either to the aerodynamics or the engine.
00:13:17So they're just running, you know, they have a game plan.
00:13:20And they're running to that game plan.
00:13:21We saw even on the test day on Wednesday, six-hour test.
00:13:25They did bare minimum of laps.
00:13:27They knew the conditions were wet.
00:13:28They knew that, or they believed at least,
00:13:30that the weather conditions were going to get better through the weekend.
00:13:33They didn't want to risk damaging the car in the wet.
00:13:36They didn't want to, you know, risk damaging anything at all.
00:13:38So they did a minimum number of laps and then got onto the job yesterday.
00:13:42And they've done a nice job so far in this race.
00:13:44A nice clean stop there for the car number 13.
00:13:47Now, this is a car that can be very, very quick, as it's shown.
00:13:49And I think that it really could do well if it's had a clean run.
00:13:52It looks like there's problems here for one of the Hankook car.
00:13:55That's Hankook tyres debut here at Le Mans this year, of course, in that Ferrari.
00:14:00And a bit of a moment there at the approach.
00:14:03I don't know, maybe left the pit lane entry too late or maybe just spun coming in.
00:14:07We'll no doubt see on the replay.
00:14:09But at the moment, it's Montani leading from there.
00:14:11And he has come into the pit.
00:14:12So I think that's what happened.
00:14:13He just missed the pit lane.
00:14:14It's probably his first time he's ever had to come into the pits.
00:14:16Probably.
00:14:17Apart from in the dark.
00:14:19There is Dominic Farnbacher in the GT2 class leading Hankook car.
00:14:24They've run a very nice pace so far.
00:14:27They are planning on a double stint in the tyre.
00:14:29You can see some damage to the left rear corner on that car.
00:14:33Away goes the car number 89.
00:14:36Not sure whether they changed the driver or not.
00:14:38It was Dominic Farnbacher who had been at the wheel before.
00:14:40And I didn't see them change the driver.
00:14:42I must admit I wasn't looking.
00:14:44There's another note meanwhile.
00:14:45Mark Lieb has reported.
00:14:47And Mark, of course, is one of the drivers in the team Felbermar Proton car.
00:14:53The car number 77.
00:14:54He shared with its lights and Wolf Edsler that the reserve pump is not working.
00:14:59And we believe it might simply have run out of fuel.
00:15:02And the reserve pump not working.
00:15:03They weren't able to get it back to the pits.
00:15:05And it looks like their race is over.
00:15:06What a disaster.
00:15:07God, that is exactly what you do not ever want to happen at Le Mans.
00:15:11I think that is a lot of teams biggest fear ever.
00:15:13Is having something like that happen or just running out of fuel.
00:15:16It seems like such a simple way to lose your entire race.
00:15:19So that is really, really a blow for them.
00:15:21Right.
00:15:22Well, Simon Hill is here and he's champing at the bit.
00:15:24So I'm going to stand down and let Simon take over.
00:15:26And in a few minutes, Martin will be coming back as well.
00:15:30So from me, I'll see you all later.
00:15:32And good luck.
00:15:33Thanks very much indeed, Mark Cole.
00:15:34And Simon has indeed been pacing up and down like a...
00:15:38Well, I don't know like what actually.
00:15:39We'll find out what he's been pacing up and down like in a couple of minutes.
00:15:42But in the meantime, look, it's just a super pace that Frank Montagne is setting.
00:15:45At the front of the field, Liz Halliday.
00:15:48That gap between first and second.
00:15:50It's now, of course, a Peugeot 1-2.
00:15:52Because Mark Janais has got past Mike Rockenfeller.
00:15:55The gap from first to second, 1 minute 54 seconds.
00:15:58It was about 1 minute 45 when they went back to green.
00:16:01When, of course, it was Alan McNish in second place.
00:16:04So those two lead Peugeots running a very similar pace.
00:16:07And it's around about 3 minutes 28 to 3 minutes 30.
00:16:11And the Audi seem to be struggling to get much below 3 minutes 31, don't they?
00:16:14Yeah, they do.
00:16:15And I think what's going to be interesting to see is what happens in the night.
00:16:19We're going to get into the night.
00:16:20We're going to see, you know, the Audi drivers really come to life.
00:16:23But they're so good at Le Mans.
00:16:24And also the temperature is going to go down.
00:16:26Maybe we're going to see them speed up a lot.
00:16:27It'll be very interesting to see what sort of times are going on.
00:16:30We're just going to go for a break now.
00:16:33Stay with us.
00:16:34We'll be back with you in a minute.
00:16:36Welcome back live to Le Mans where the number 16 Pescarolo is coming down pit lane.
00:16:49Christophe Tanso at the helm.
00:16:50We're going to see the first driver change.
00:16:51We are.
00:16:52Tanso bails out.
00:16:53And the car will take fuel at the same time.
00:16:57And then tires.
00:16:58We'll get down to the Orica team as well.
00:16:59Catch up with them.
00:17:03So the Orica team replacing the wing on car number 10.
00:17:06Now the screen told us it was Stefano Ortele.
00:17:09And we were saying how unusual it was for such a veteran driver to make the mistake.
00:17:13In fact, as we saw when the car was pushed back in.
00:17:15Jeremy sure it was Bruno Senna who was at the wheel of that car.
00:17:18Now that's perhaps not quite so surprising.
00:17:21But for Senna, that's a real little knock in confidence.
00:17:24And that's going to take him another few laps to really trust himself to really ring 11 tenths out of the car.
00:17:29Yeah, my mistake.
00:17:30I didn't in that case.
00:17:31I didn't even look at the driver's helmet.
00:17:33I just presumed the scoring was right.
00:17:35So my apologies for that one for not spotting that.
00:17:38I guess there have been quite a few transponder problems this week.
00:17:41We saw that in qualifying.
00:17:42So I guess I should learn my lesson.
00:17:45Try and pay a bit more closer attention to the helmets rather than just what the timing and scrutiny says.
00:17:50Well, with 156 drivers in the race.
00:17:52155 drivers in the race.
00:17:5465.
00:17:55165, I can't count at all.
00:17:56It is quite hard to know all the helmets.
00:17:58More trouble.
00:17:59And that's for one of the British entries.
00:18:01Nicola Ventis at the wheel of the Stracca racing.
00:18:03Janetta Zytek.
00:18:04So just as Mark Cole leaves, his village teammate strikes problem.
00:18:09And they are 17th.
00:18:11Or were.
00:18:14Oh, and more trouble.
00:18:15That's the RML-OS noise.
00:18:16That's a racing box, Lola Judd.
00:18:18Thomas Biaggi creeping in.
00:18:19Now, Jeremy, everybody played safe on their first pit stops.
00:18:22There was a safety car that might have slightly misled them as well with regard to fuel consumption.
00:18:27I wonder if that's part of the problem.
00:18:29The Stracca car running on straight on there.
00:18:31You can almost add your own sound effects there of wastegate chatter from the driver rather than the engine as he overshot.
00:18:39008, Aston Martin in the pits there.
00:18:41So that's lap, for him, lap 35.
00:18:44And Darren Turner stays at the wheel.
00:18:46We welcome to the booth Simon Hill.
00:18:48Afternoon, Simon.
00:18:49Don't sit down again.
00:18:50You're working.
00:18:51Simon, it is a bit like a Formula Ford race the first hour, isn't it?
00:18:56Absolutely manic.
00:18:57It's completely crazy, and it's been like this from the start in just about every class,
00:19:01and we don't really know where to look, which is very much like last year.
00:19:04And one of the key things that I think we're going to start to see now is this situation seems to,
00:19:09that safety car situation seems to have slightly caught a few people out in terms of strategy.
00:19:13We wonder there, we saw the racing box car coming in slowly.
00:19:16Could that have been a miscalculation on fuel?
00:19:18We heard that the Porsche that had the problem earlier on, Felbermayer car,
00:19:22seemed to be a problem with the reserve pump.
00:19:25These kind of things could be happening because people are starting to guess a little bit.
00:19:28Lap times can affect that as well, traffic can affect it,
00:19:31and if you're running marginal, well, remember Frank Bieler back in 2003,
00:19:35lost himself a race win.
00:19:37And Jeremy, don't forget, because there's so much wet running on Wednesday
00:19:40and only restricted running in the dry on Thursday,
00:19:43they may still not have an absolute full consumption figure,
00:19:46and this may be more of a problem as the race goes on.
00:19:50That is a good point, Martin, because fuel consumption can be affected by all sorts of different factors,
00:19:59the grip on the track, even the ambient conditions.
00:20:02So you're right, the conditions are so different today to what they were right in qualifying on Thursday.
00:20:09That's why I'm sure we saw that at least the Peugeots come in one lap earlier on that first hit
00:20:15than it might otherwise be due from here on.
00:20:17Well, I think particularly you're right,
00:20:19and we definitely saw Audi stop a long way short of what we know,
00:20:22and Peugeot a lap short of what we know.
00:20:24They can absolutely do, well, based on previous assumptions,
00:20:27but, of course, even the Peugeot is not the same as it was last year.
00:20:30They developed it, they've got more power from the engine,
00:20:32but the wings, the extra weight and so on all help to change that.
00:20:35And even some, perhaps, that 30 kilos of extra weight that the turbo diesels are carrying
00:20:40might just tip the balance that they can't quite do a full lap without really whispering it.
00:20:46And on the first tank at Le Mans with a limited build-up, you don't want to take that chance.
00:20:53No, that is not a chance you want to take.
00:20:55And, you know, we were talking this morning to a couple of the GT drivers,
00:20:59Mika Sarlo has a dramatic experience there, of course.
00:21:02He was telling me that between 14 and 15 laps they can do on the stint.
00:21:06If they're going flat out with the fuel mixture turned up to full rich,
00:21:10which is basically more fuel, less air, more horsepower, less fuel consumption,
00:21:15they can do about 14 laps.
00:21:17If they tweak the engine, sorry, 14 laps, if you tweak the engine back a bit on the mixture,
00:21:22have a bit more air to fuel ratio, then they can stretch it out to 15 laps.
00:21:27So it's all one of the things they can play with.
00:21:29They do have a fuel adjustment within the car that the drivers can play with,
00:21:34but I'm expecting the leaders to be on pit lane any time now.
00:21:38We saw the Racing Box Lola, incidentally, creeping into the pit lane relatively slowly.
00:21:42We did see a couple of cars running over a bit of debris.
00:21:44Apparently, the Racing Box car was hit by Alan McNish,
00:21:46who's got a bit of damage to the front of the nose,
00:21:48as well as whatever that was that he picked up earlier on.
00:21:50So, quick inspection.
00:21:52The Lola is back out on track as we ride in second place with Marc Genet.
00:21:57And between the two Peugeots, well, there's about half a lap at the...
00:22:02Well, a minute or so, I suppose.
00:22:04Not quite a half a lap.
00:22:05There's about a quarter of a lap between the two of them.
00:22:08But certainly at the moment, Montagne in the number eight car, Simon,
00:22:12has got the legs on anyone in the field.
00:22:14And you need to be blessed in this race as well.
00:22:16So far, he's had a bit of a Teflon coaching when it comes to trouble.
00:22:19Well, I think he's obviously taken the lion's share of the luck, if you pardon the pun.
00:22:22So therefore, he's got himself in this situation.
00:22:25Now he's got to make the most of it.
00:22:26You know, these guys are F1 drivers, essentially.
00:22:29They are able to push that hard for that long.
00:22:31And that in itself can affect it.
00:22:33Last year, I heard that Nick Manassian has a slightly different brake and front technique to the guys.
00:22:37And that can get him slightly more fuel consumption out of the car.
00:22:40A lot of the drivers left foot brake, as many racing drivers do now.
00:22:43Nick prefers to right foot brake.
00:22:45Gave him a little bit of a better advantage in terms of fuel consumption.
00:22:49Right on board now with the seventh car.
00:22:51And you can see that the pace is clearly in all of the Peugeot still, even though the troubles hit them.
00:22:55Yeah, he's having quite a battle there.
00:22:57That's Alexandra Premat in car number three Audi,
00:22:59which is a couple of laps down from the race leader.
00:23:02They're having a good little battle or so here.
00:23:04Well, Manassian, of course, is even further back.
00:23:06So he's trying to un-lap himself a little bit on Premat.
00:23:09But for the cars that are delayed, and we're looking here at the Peugeot and the Audi, both delayed,
00:23:13there is now absolutely nothing left to fear.
00:23:16The worst has happened.
00:23:18And you just have to drill the car for every millimetre of the remaining race.
00:23:22Let's hear from the pits.
00:23:24Stefan Otelli.
00:23:26What happened with the car, Stefan?
00:23:28I think I made a mistake.
00:23:32He was in the car.
00:23:34I touched a white line, says Stefan.
00:23:36And you can't do that here.
00:23:40So it's a silly mistake, put us in big difficulties.
00:23:44I think I crossed the white line, and the car got away from me.
00:23:50It's my mistake, though.
00:23:51It's my mistake, though.
00:23:52It's the battle with Aston Martin pushing.
00:23:53Are you pushing to the limit?
00:23:54It's the beginning of the race, but everybody's a little tense.
00:23:56It's my fault.
00:23:57It's my fault.
00:23:58It's my fault.
00:23:59It's my fault.
00:24:02It's my fault.
00:24:04Thank you, sir.
00:24:05Thank you, sir.
00:24:06Thanks.
00:24:09So, well, it's the beginning of the race, but yes, everybody's a little tense.
00:24:11Thank you, sir.
00:24:12But unfortunately, just my mistake.
00:24:14Well, you know what?
00:24:17He's putting his hands up to that.
00:24:19Bruno Senna seemed to be in the car when he was pushed back into the garage.
00:24:22So although I hadn't seen it, they obviously had affected the driver change
00:24:25when Otelli stopped and they fueled the car, which they always do before they repair any work.
00:24:29race leader continues in the Peugeot and Alan McNish in fourth place pits now
00:24:35having completed 37 laps of the race. Jeremy is counting out when he last came
00:24:42in. Car number one last came in on 25 laps so he's done just 12. We know the
00:24:48Audi can do 13 and we suspect possibly might even squeeze to 14. Yeah well it's
00:24:54pretty interesting isn't it because this time around Frank Montagne is on lap
00:24:5938 now his last pit stop was on lap 25 so he is certainly stretching that out.
00:25:05Yeah well it'd be interesting we've always felt in the past that Audi when
00:25:11they needed something might just have had a little bit extra in fuel consumption
00:25:14now they're going to need every single iota performance whatever it is whether
00:25:20it's speed grip cornering braking or fuel consumption Simon you can't keep
00:25:25anything in the tank last year showed us that there are no margins for error not
00:25:29in this battle of the titans.
00:25:31And also let's think back to Sebring which is the last time of the only time these two
00:25:35cars have gone head to head this year and it how just how close that finish was the
00:25:39standard of the drivers had has been unquestionable we know about that the
00:25:42pace Stefan Sarrazan is is a superstar as we've seen in terms of qualifying as are of
00:25:46course all the top Audi drivers however the key thing also now is is this this thing
00:25:50that you were mentioning earlier Martin how Peugeot up their game off track
00:25:54although we've seen a few things and quite come to plan well Jeremy interesting here
00:26:00that the Peugeot was run longer yeah there you go i mean that's got to be a not a good
00:26:05first for Dr Wolfgang Ulrich and the Audi team because uh up until now we've generally seen the
00:26:11Audis go farther on the fuel stint than the Peugeot this time around though not the case one thing you
00:26:16mentioned earlier about the when you're talking to the Ferrari drivers the GT guys about changing the
00:26:20fuel mix maybe that's what Audi have had to do we're going to take a short break here on
00:26:24Eurosport join us for more action from Le Mans in a few moments
00:26:32traffic jam in the pits Audi coming in Peugeot going out that is Marc Genet in car number nine
00:26:38that is the second place car we've been uh running up behind the collars Audi car number 14
00:26:45that car coming in from eighth position now there's two R10 TDIs might
00:26:52suddenly become a bit of a salvation for Audi Simon Hill six untried rookie drivers
00:26:58a new team new cars to them different cars from the cars that won here last year for Audi
00:27:04but already back up into the top 10 so those cars picking up pace every lap very very strong especially
00:27:11as Volzmann jumping in because of the problem Narain Carter Kane appears to have a physical problem we
00:27:16think it's a shoulder problem of some sort question is of course is Narain going to be fit enough to
00:27:20drive they haven't qualified any other drivers used to be the days where you'd swap drivers around
00:27:26from car to car can't do that anymore of course so could be a potential problem we're hoping that
00:27:30Narain's okay but you're very very right there in terms of the pace they started to get themselves into
00:27:35a nice race rhythm we've looked at their qualifying times maybe not as quick as we would have expected
00:27:39the Stracker car for example Danny Watts out qualified both of their cars um so that could
00:27:45be very very significant the question i had when i looked at this lineup at the start of the year
00:27:49especially at Le Mans is why didn't they find a Pirro and a Bela and put one in each car as a
00:27:53as a real like solid basement that would have been a great move i think well i agree that would at least
00:27:58continue some continuity because then Jeremy you'd have two drivers one in each car who knew what an
00:28:04R10 TDI felt like when it was in the sweet spot as it is their drivers here their drivers in the
00:28:09Le Mans series it's all new to them so i mean it's a huge learning curve and really every lap these
00:28:14cars do they're getting quicker and quicker because they know more and more yeah but then again yeah
00:28:18this is a ground-up operation in terms of sports car racing so i can understand perhaps they're coming
00:28:23in with some very talented young very talented young drivers who you know conceivably could or at least
00:28:29hoped to have a career in formula one it appears now that's not going to happen so they've got
00:28:34some of the best drivers you could possibly get i mean noreen carth again he's a proven talent and
00:28:38the same goes for uh for all of these guys quite frankly certainly uh yeah the guys who are in the
00:28:45cars at the moment charles waltzman is a useful driver andre lotterer an extremely good driver
00:28:50now swaltzman and andre lotterer have just swapped over so we still need to find a copy of the rules and
00:28:57find out whether you actually have to use all three drivers or whether the collars team could
00:29:02say look he's effectively nearly broken his flipping shoulder there's it's not even remotely safe to
00:29:07send him out but don't make us retire the car because of this you know beyond anybody's possible
00:29:13you know planning that this could happen i'm i would think they should be allowed to claim force
00:29:18majeure and be able to continue with two drivers but uh on a similar a similar note then martin could they
00:29:24take a force majeure situation say can we rotate our five drivers between two cars no there'd be a
00:29:30way could they know because you've got one healthy car the only question is whether the 14 car will be
00:29:35allowed to uh remain running so i don't think you could use five over two but certainly one car with
00:29:41just two that might be a possibility it's interesting you mentioned about that well we're hearing here from
00:29:48mark lieb about the car couldn't get the porsche back in unfortunately the mechanics uh couldn't do
00:29:54anything until it gets in the pit lane we saw it being pushed out of the way by the marshals but
00:29:59this fuel problem it was uh running right down and uh you could we could see the lights coming on and
00:30:04off they were flicking the ignition trying to get the reserve power to go resetting the ignition resetting
00:30:09everything short of hitting it with a birmingham screwdriver uh there were really wasn't much else they could
00:30:15do and unfortunately and that really was porsche's a number one driver lineup that was as close to a
00:30:21factory porsche as you can get with norbert singer in the garage engineering three factory drivers it
00:30:26might have been horst felbermeyer senior's entry but it was as close to a factory porsche effort as
00:30:32you're going to get without having rothman splashed all over it or martini so that car it now looks like
00:30:38may well be meeting the marker of doom a lot earlier than we expected but again look at the pictures here
00:30:44from everywhere around the circuit cars cars cars this is 12 kilometers an eight mile track and yet
00:30:49simon there's still no clear air for anyone anywhere no i mentioned earlier we saw that that on board
00:30:55with montagne there was a point where he had a little bit of a run but you talked about talented
00:30:58young drivers well here's a great example bruce shiny and nicola lapierre both f1 standard drivers
00:31:03if ever there was one lapierre uh gp2 race winner a1 gp flashing his lights now it seems like these the
00:31:09oracle car has found some really good race pace uh didn't again didn't perhaps qualify as high up as
00:31:14maybe we would have thought and certainly a big setback with uh or telly having his off but clearly
00:31:18the race pace is there lapierre very experienced of course at le mans as well and he's just at the
00:31:23fastest lap that that car has set thus far in the race chasing down uh bruce juani and there's a great
00:31:29little battle isn't it too as you say very talented frenchman coming up behind one of the lucas
00:31:33one aventure chevy corvettes through the porsche curves and there is nothing you can do you just
00:31:38have to follow the follow the guy through there and then try to get a run on the straights but you
00:31:42know these gt1 corvettes have had an awful lot of horsepower and really they're only going to be
00:31:47able to make their move under braking which is what they will do right quite now and they've got by one
00:31:51and look what's right in front of them through the second part of the four there's there's another
00:31:54one of the beggars those two alphon corvettes i have to say they're not exactly that far apart on pace
00:31:59are they what we're two hours in and they're not even a hundred meters apart yeah interesting
00:32:04decision by nicola lapierre there to sit behind the the corvette through the despite as you pointed
00:32:09out martin that he'd just set the fastest lap that that car had done clearly he knows he's got
00:32:13the place to get in front of juani but whether it was a radio call like chill out nicholas just wait
00:32:18there or whether it was a a good decision by a very intelligent racing driver he's always been
00:32:22a real thinking driver some of the drives he's had in the other formulas shows you that the guy doesn't
00:32:27drive uh just with his heart like some drivers do he uses a lot of nous and certainly that could
00:32:31play into his hands later on yeah i i don't think anybody's going to take ridiculous chances at the
00:32:38moment but i think everybody now it really understands this race every single opportunity could be the
00:32:45difference between finishing on the podium i was going to say in the points but obviously they're
00:32:48obviously finishing on the podium or not and uh he's got a good run going here a little gallic gesture
00:32:54from lapierre to charlie itself that's the way i am quicker than you uh what can you not see me well
00:33:01i always notice whenever i drive in france that usually french drivers are quite good if you flash
00:33:04their lights they'll get out of your way but clearly it's two frenchmen fighting for the biggest motor
00:33:08race in the world is a bit more at stake but interesting how quickly johnny's dropped off there you
00:33:12can see that the aerodynamics of the car clearly have been infected as we know and it's very very
00:33:17interesting to see that he's gone away so quickly well pescarello car then now running in 11th and up to
00:33:2410th has gone the number 11 orica aim so that car in the top 10 for the first time
00:33:36we're going to uh join our colleagues at uh eurosport one in just a moment on eurosport international
00:33:43and uh run through a quick highlight of what's been happening so far live at le mans
00:33:51so welcome back to le mans those of you who have been uh watching uh eurosport throughout the afternoon
00:33:56we've been live on eurosport 2 since uh we left you last and uh well huge amounts of drama jeremy
00:34:04shaw we've had more drama outside at the first hour as well we've had a couple of uh problems for the
00:34:10peugeot we've had just recently a problem for one of the orica cars going off the road uh it's been
00:34:16very uh tense at the front and all through the classes as well yeah well after a sort of manic
00:34:21first hour we've uh it's now the race has somewhat settled down unfortunately during the safety car that
00:34:26came out as a result of that blown tire on the number seven uh peugeot uh the two the two paced cars
00:34:34out on track as is the the norm here at le mans and unfortunately that split up the two race leaders
00:34:40and allowed frank montani in car number eight to have about a half a lap lead over the rest of the
00:34:46field that he has not only maintained because when it went back to green flag racing the gap was about
00:34:51one minute 45 seconds it's now two minutes and six seconds over mark janet driving car number nine a
00:34:58second of the peugeot's and then the first of the audi r15 tbis has been on average around about three
00:35:05seconds a lap slower than the peugeot's alan mcnisch is still at the wheel of car number one as he has
00:35:11been since the start of the race he is currently now in third place about 10 seconds behind janet and
00:35:19under the gap of another 30 seconds or so to marco verna who has just taken over at the wheel of car
00:35:25number two from mike rockenfeller at the top of the lmp2 class actually very few dramas for the
00:35:31mechanically sound lmp2 cars those that started the weekend with troubles have still got them
00:35:35it's still porsche dominating caspar elgaard for the s16 ahead of seiji ara in the japanese navi team go
00:35:42car and the gap between them there is hovering around 14 15 seconds third and best of the rest
00:35:47is xavi pompidou and number 33 speedy sabalola coupe in the gt1 class the compuware corvette 63 and 64
00:35:57first and second ahead of the alfa-on-eventure corvettes third and fourth and in gt2 your bergmeister
00:36:02leads for porsche but the number one porsche car has run out of fuel the felpermeyer porsche stopped
00:36:08just halfway through the ford chicane and will not it seems to be able to get back to the pit lane the pump for
00:36:14their reserve tank packed up so it has been really pretty dramatic already now this is a car also
00:36:22has had a little bit of drama the rml car had its floor damaged in this morning's morning warm-up a
00:36:29collision with one of the aston lola aston martins which incidentally uh the lola bigwigs are getting
00:36:34very annoyed at uh being referred to only as aston martin on the graphics few of the other cars are
00:36:40referred to only by their engine as opposed to the chassis and engine uh so i did i did say perhaps
00:36:46they'd be a little less grumpy if they had had received a formula one entry yesterday but uh uh
00:36:51it is a lola aston martin in the same whether this is not a master it is a lola master indeed and that
00:36:56lola master it did make an unscheduled pinstop in the uh just into the second hour uh but the car has
00:37:02certainly been running very well indeed tommy erdos at the wheel of the car running as you say martin
00:37:07haven in third place in class and that gt battle simon hill is just tremendous isn't we've got jork
00:37:13bergmeister in the lead now for the flying lizard team let's get down to the pits and christian
00:37:18it's a very very close battle in the lmp2 category um how's it going for you guys out there for the
00:37:24moment and my answer now is going very good we are leading with uh 15 seconds and uh it looks looks
00:37:30good but it's very close uh one second one lap here they are faster than us and the next we are faster
00:37:35than them so it's going to be a really really close race um at the moment your teammates are
00:37:40your teammate um customer got is in the car so when is your first time yeah i think in about one hour i
00:37:47get in the car for the first time so so we'll see thank you very much thanks
00:37:53so christian polsen danish world touring car driver in a bmw and in his second ever sports car race the
00:38:01first time he drove that essex porsche rs spider was in the thousand kilometers of spa and uh getting
00:38:09ready to have his go the cardium by cascara casper elgaard leading that lmp2 category tommy erdos
00:38:15on the rml car third behind the navi team go porsche rs spider and in fourth place savvy pompidou in
00:38:22the speedy sabato lola coupe more action coming up on eurosport welcome back live to le mans where
00:38:36there is more trouble i'm afraid for the crucial motorsport team the mechanics in this car did not
00:38:42go back to their hotel yesterday they woke up on friday morning came to spend the off day rebuilding
00:38:48in the car after dramas on thursday including a crash in the wet session on wednesday as well
00:38:54so behind the eight ball so far that they're in a different pool hall they stayed all night last
00:38:59night trying to fix the car the turbocharger emptied the oil onto the circuit this morning during warm-up
00:39:05basically this car has been nothing but trouble if it was a horse you'd be calling the vet but jeremy
00:39:11shaw apparently that's not they're not quite beaten they are not ready to give up they are going to get
00:39:17the damn thing back on track john portales has tried going in it matthew marsh in it at the moment
00:39:22but it's causing more trouble than it's worth well an awful feeling of deja vu too because exactly is
00:39:27exactly what happened one year ago almost to the to the incident let's say but we're watching there
00:39:33that battle in gt we could see the class leader which is york bergmeister and he has about only three
00:39:40seconds of a lead over the other porsche there patrick pilay those were those two drivers york
00:39:45bergmeister and patrick pilay both drove last year in the american le mans series for the flying
00:39:51lizard motorsports team bergmeister still does so he won the championship last year and in the meantime
00:39:57patrick pilay has switched across to the instant performance management team he is driving
00:40:01very nicely with patrick long who's another flying lizard driver and raymond narak so a good battle
00:40:07there just less than three seconds between them and the best of the ferraris now a full 40 seconds in
00:40:13arrears i have to say i did say earlier on patrick pilay and raymond narak raymond narak is very much
00:40:18involved in the matmut supermarkets and that is him right behind the prototype and pilay narak very
00:40:24experienced a lot of french gt racing fia gt racing not particularly frequent visitors to america but
00:40:30they're very quick and enormously impressed he's less than six seconds six tenths of a second slower on the
00:40:36last lap the new burgemeister who is a factory financed porsche superstar so for an independent
00:40:42driver all right the cars are very very equal but the driver difference there's not much between those
00:40:48two teams as you say porsche one two as quick nick manassion comes back out of the pits well he's not
00:40:53going to have to be quick he's going to have to be uh selecting warp drive to try and get this car
00:40:58anywhere near even a top 10 probably unless there is a you know fire and damnation somewhere you're not
00:41:04suggesting you can't do that are you i'm not suggesting you can do i'm just saying he's going
00:41:07to have to be engaging warp drive mr sulu the other thing that talking about that car that's
00:41:12had his that problem also just been watching the lap times that timo bernhardt's been doing in the
00:41:16third the number three uh audi and for a long time the last of the seven or eight laps or so he's been
00:41:21the quickest of the three audis obviously traffic permitting now looking at that he's unscheduled to be
00:41:26in the top six certainly within the next couple of hours based on what he's doing assuming they don't
00:41:30have any more drama so to make your to sort of continue your point you're making it really is
00:41:35anything possible at this stage of the race from their point of view that is the good news the bad
00:41:38news is he is still two laps down and while he is not kind of lucky to be doing three minutes 30s
00:41:44frank montagne has just turned another three minutes 26.9 these peugeos are at least three or four
00:41:51seconds a lap quicker than the audi's and that is with montagne has a lead of over two minutes and he's
00:41:56still pulling away by three seconds a lap and also crucially still three or four seconds quicker than
00:42:02the aco wanted them to go and the aco had hoped to reel them back down to well a three and a half
00:42:07minute lap and it's still not got that gap down well wait a minute they've done that job perfectly apart
00:42:12from the persia's well yes okay you could argue you could venture that i you might well suggest that i
00:42:20couldn't possibly comment but again we know these cars have been the quickest cars for the last three
00:42:24years last year i remember seeing the fire oh but a glock up there the fastest the fastest audi driver
00:42:28was alexander premat who was something like in the region of four seconds slower than the the slowest
00:42:34persia driver which is jack villeneuve so you know we know that pace has been there for a while it's now
00:42:38seems to be that montagne and the rest of that eight car of course which has got the gloire de france
00:42:43behind it the three french drivers uh all uh fighting for the glory then that's going to be interesting to
00:42:48see if they can all match that pace which doubtlessly they can let's look at the choreography here only one air
00:42:53gun and one tire man are allowed to work on the car at any one time so one man's around one side but
00:42:59look they have got two air guns and two men ready to use them so one will undo the wheel nuts on one
00:43:05side rush back and the other guy and his teammate are so all the teams are still using the four men they
00:43:11would have used just not at the same time so as everybody has said right from the minute this rule was
00:43:16suggested by the aco zero cost saving whatsoever and the possibility of making mistakes because you
00:43:23don't have the same team working down the same car is increased yeah and great choreography down there
00:43:28and as you're talking we've got all the top three cars in lmp2 are all in the pits at exactly the same
00:43:34time the essex car team essex car is just now pulling out of its pits door uh casper elgaard has
00:43:41been driving that car uh and he's been leading by not very much over sagi ara who's still stationary on
00:43:47the pit lane the fuel is still going in to car number five but the rml car was here before the two
00:43:54porsches arrived that means the third place car is now a lap down with 21 hours and 18 minutes to go but
00:44:00he is a lap and a few inches behind the team go navi car not 150 meters behind as he leaves the pit
00:44:06lane indeed and as you're talking about those two cars left just about the same time didn't they so
00:44:09that was the gap you could kind of hear them between first and second in lmp2 again riding on board
00:44:16down the lingua des in odier in odier the mulsanne straight a very different view to that we had in the
00:44:22slicing driving rain of wednesday evening and an awful lot safer going past the restaurant on the left
00:44:28fans packed all the way down this uh straight right down to mulsanne corner still a very favored
00:44:35viewing point you're not allowed to go up the chicane we can go down to mulsanne corner down to
00:44:39arnaje and a lot of the fans that come here 250 60 000 fans a lot of them will use the free shuttle
00:44:45buses hop on go off down to the chicane down to the mulsanne straight in the night if you've got a car
00:44:51it is still one of the breathtaking things you can do in motorsport dead of night hopefully with a little
00:44:56bit of mist in the air cars whistling past you at over 200 miles an hour there's a good shot there
00:45:01of uh of mark janet taking a bit of a sip uh out of his drinks bottle there they have a drinks bottle
00:45:06in which they will refresh at uh pretty much every pit stop so you should do at every pit stop every
00:45:11now and again you'll see the driver out there i don't think you really need to uh hold on to that
00:45:16tube because everything is automated to a button on the steering which you will push uh and that will
00:45:20and that will it will what you flex some fluidity as well it will indeed what you can see there is
00:45:26there's a little coupling there the little white coupling means means that the teams have each
00:45:30driver just has his own little tube that pokes out of the front of his crash helmet they break the
00:45:34coupling in the same way that they break the radio coupling lock it back in that way they don't have
00:45:37to completely change the whole system for each driver and it's just another time-saving efficiency and
00:45:43in fact that's what this little red loop is you can see flapping around by his left shoulder that is to
00:45:47help him tug the radio connection out without having to reach back blind behind it because
00:45:52of course now everybody's got hands devices your head can move about five degrees either side of
00:45:57dead ahead and after that you can't see a darn thing and don't forget in a helmet your vision is very
00:46:01much tunnel vision anyway why they have wing mirrors on cars god alone knows now you they're absolutely
00:46:07redundant oh and incidentally somebody was asking on the on the emails why does the driver not sit in
00:46:12the middle like a formula one car why is there a sort of spare seat well that goes back to the very
00:46:19first le mans race when you were it was used to prove that motor cars not racing cars motor cars could
00:46:26be reliable that was the whole point the grand prix of endurance you were to drive the car for 24 hours
00:46:32and ever since the first race even with things like the jaguar c-type and d-type right up to the present
00:46:37day it is a race for sports cars not single seaters and so there is a dummy hole beside the driver
00:46:46nominally two-seaters nominally two-seaters and occasionally for very very stupid journalists
00:46:52it is possible to be fitted fitted in there and terrified witless by a driver with a beaming green
00:46:58on his satanic face yeah i'm not sure what they do that these and i haven't certainly have an opportunity
00:47:02for a long time i did have a run many years ago actually here at le mans with uh ray malik of
00:47:07course the boss of the rml number 25 lola master he drove me around in the acosta c2 car and another
00:47:13lap around the yellow in the porsche 956 with derrick bell that was exciting well that's what a
00:47:19chauffeur i'll tell you that the uh the passenger space of these guys is absolutely nominal simon hill isn't
00:47:25that yeah absolutely right it is as martin say we're going back to the good old days as it were
00:47:29or the bad old days interesting that very first lemont back in 1923 i watched an interesting
00:47:34documentary about the other day only something like nine cars retired so out of the entries
00:47:38he actually did the job that it was designed to do to prove to a slightly cynical public back in
00:47:43the day that these cars did actually work
00:47:55i guess we're down in the in the corvette here with uh it's running good so i'm telling you guys
00:48:04here just a bit of some setup changes during the pit stops so that's why maybe we are spending a
00:48:11little bit longer but yeah i mean it's just 40 minutes before i got in first time so i'm very excited
00:48:18um i said everything runs according to plan it's the last official outing for the corvette uh in
00:48:24here in le mans so are you enjoying the race i mean i'll tell you once i'm in the car but up to now
00:48:29everything is fine all during this week everything was running as as usual so yeah pretty pretty happy
00:48:36thank you very much interesting garcia of course uh a winner here last year with aston martin going
00:48:42across to the dark side i suppose from a motor racing point of view and what a great place to
00:48:47be near the arnie inn now the uh former winner of the a1 gp world cup of nations interested driving a
00:48:53lola chassis the a1 cars were back in the year that near won it for team switzerland max velti i saw
00:48:58in the paddock earlier of course a stalwart of the salmer mercedes days when they were uh doing their
00:49:03stuff back in their their group c era of course went on to be involved in that you see the guys doing
00:49:07their stop slightly different fuel right because of course it is a petrol car rather than the diesel
00:49:16now down in the pit lane we uh think we may have an interview with the french prime minister
00:49:21just a moment very interested spectator
00:49:32perhaps he's going to chat a little bit later and now yarny coming back out again well
00:49:37neil this is his first run in a in a prototype and uh an interesting mixture of drivers with
00:49:42biliki in there you were talking about miliki before fantastically talented guy very aggressive
00:49:46of course but also uh impressed me early this year jumped in the porsche super cup at monaco and did
00:49:51a tremendous job so very very versatile and the speedy seba type uh seba team have obviously taken over
00:49:57this car that was the lola aston martin the shiru's racing systems car that was so quick remember it went
00:50:02off quite early in the race last year and uh i think without that we could have seen a very very
00:50:07different result from i think you're right and neil john is his uh first time in this car he had just
00:50:11a couple of very brief test sessions before he came here but he's certainly been turning to very
00:50:16consistent lap times in this car and maybe we'll have a chance an opportunity over the next couple of
00:50:21laps to see how quickly he can get back up to speed after making that routine pit stop now looking at our
00:50:26screens we see alan mcnish carving what his way through now in third position and a man that knows
00:50:31alan mcnish extremely well a good friend of his and the man that was racing here last year for
00:50:36creation is johnny molum and joins us in the commentary box johnny hello simon what are you
00:50:41watching that you're seeing is starting to really interest you at this point johnny what's really
00:50:44grabbing your attention i tell you what's really really worrying me is that uh the audi race pace in
00:50:49my mind is not as fast as i was hoping it would be in comparison to the peugeot so i think uh we're almost
00:50:54back to a situation as we were last year where peugeot have a significant car advantage and uh that's going to
00:51:00make it very very difficult without uh whether to actually repeat last year's victory
00:51:10yeah i think that's very very interesting point we were picking up on that earlier we were looking
00:51:14at the times you see that uh for a little while bernhardt was the quickest of the three audis
00:51:18after these problems coming through but all three of them seem to be really really struggling for
00:51:22places do you think there's possibly that they've gone a bit too conservative on the way the cars run john
00:51:27i think basically i think they went out at sebring and won um and everyone thought that that meant
00:51:32they were going to come here and win but in actual fact the peugeot's did have a little bit of a
00:51:35performance advantage at sebring still and i think you're seeing that this is a new car r15 they
00:51:41haven't got it sorted and they don't really know how to unlock its full potential just yet and you're
00:51:45seeing that clearly today i think i think you're right johnny i think uh when they did most of their
00:51:51development on this r50 and tdi it was done in the nice sunny warm conditions down in the south of
00:51:57spain except it rained most of the time so all of their early development had to be done in wet
00:52:02the weather conditions the first time they really ran the current anger in the dry was at sebring
00:52:07and yes you're right the peugeot did have a a slight fairly a very slight performance advantage at
00:52:13sebring and it was only really alan mcnisch was the difference there when he uh did that marathon
00:52:19stick towards the end of the race at sebring he'd been matching times with sebastian baudet and he
00:52:24went when baudet was driving the peugeot but for the last into the race the last couple of hours
00:52:29they put uh frank montagnier in the car and for whatever reason frank wasn't able to get the same
00:52:34performance out of that peugeot as had been sebastian baudet so his recognition took off and won
00:52:39that race but here of course a very different type of racetrack and although it appeared that the peugeot
00:52:45and audi were very closely matched through practice and qualifying clearly in race conditions that is
00:52:51not the case
00:53:02welcome glad you're joining us on uh british eurosport now and uh is still frank montagne in the lead with
00:53:08the peugeot car number eight his last lap around and three minutes 30 the best lap he has done
00:53:13a three minutes 25.106 mark janay in the second of the peugeot's car number nine in second place about
00:53:20two minutes and 12 seconds back uh his best lap timer one three minutes 26.1 in third place right
00:53:27now the first of the audis car number one alan mcnisch his best lap three minutes 29.1 so four second
00:53:35differential yeah interesting also that the pagina car the 17 is lapping it around about the same
00:53:41place as montani we're going to take a short break here on eurosport we'll see you in a few moments
00:53:49welcome back to le mans live on eurosport we're joined by uh johnny mollum and johnny we've been
00:53:54watching this uh this gt2 back we've just seen a pit stop your workmeister was the leader now you've been
00:53:59in a position uh leading at le mans in your class in the gt you've also been a winner at sebring with
00:54:05the recent competition team so you know all about this kind of situation how what is going to be
00:54:09the significant thing at this stage of the race for these teams that's going to be able to get
00:54:12somebody an advantage do you think well basically you're going to see that there's a big big fight
00:54:17going on between the ferraris and the porsches and the one thing that the ferraris seem to have as i
00:54:21from what i understand as an advantage is they're a little bit lighter on their tires around here and
00:54:25their extra temperature is going to be helping them at the moment the porsche on the other hand not quite as
00:54:29able to double stint as effectively on the tire and also with the new pit stop regulations only allowing
00:54:34a certain number or two men on working on two tires that obviously is going to be of an advantage
00:54:39to the ferrari at this stage none of those four cars that are in that fight the two ferraris and
00:54:44the two porsches are going to be able to allow the other an advantage to get away and obviously the
00:54:49mark lieb car the felvermeyer porsche with richard leaks and mark lieb you're going to see obviously
00:54:53is out of that mix now has dropped back and that was actually one of my favorites for the class victory but
00:54:58the rissi team obviously the year we were leading by three laps things went wrong they've
00:55:02since won it last year they know how to win this they won't be stressing just yet they'll just want
00:55:07to stay on the lead lap and then go racing at about midday tomorrow i would say and then we saw
00:55:11those leaders just make a scheduled pit stops jorg bergmeister as he was leaving the pit lane after
00:55:17making a scheduled stop on which they just uh put in fuel there was no fresh tires on that number 80 flying
00:55:24lizard porsche as he was leaving the pit pierre kaffer brought the rissi competizione ferrari on
00:55:29to pit lane and to a halt so that is the gap between first and now second because the second
00:55:36of the porsche patrick billet was in a lap earlier so slightly different strategies there but i was
00:55:41talking to micasalo just before the start of the race and he was he was hoping that the ferraris were
00:55:46going to be able to do one lap more on the tank of fuel than the porsches that time around not the case
00:55:53no i think you're right there it's a very important fuel strategy as well and obviously what engine
00:55:57mapping we're going to be running and i remember when we were running there with rissi ferrari
00:56:00we were running a different engine map to actually try and run it a little bit leaner it's always a
00:56:04dangerous game to play at such a long place where you're on full throttle for so long in terms of
00:56:08looking after the engine to make sure it lasts 24 hours but if you can get yourself into a position
00:56:13where you can gain an extra lap per stint that can really put you in the in the hot seats in terms of
00:56:18being able to win this race meanwhile at the front of the field there's another three minutes 25 lap
00:56:23from frank montani the race leader in car number eight it's just a stunning pace that he is turning
00:56:30and at the top of the petrol engine cars right now it's still number 007 lola aston martin thomas
00:56:35inger now at the wheel of that car and in second place in the petrol engine division if you like
00:56:41an official class is engus teammate jos for stephen who has taken over at the wheel of car number 008
00:56:47and just a second or so between last time around sorry jerry johnny i was going to ask you a question
00:56:52there we talked about uh we're talking about the gt battle how the ferrari porsche work on tires
00:56:58that time that montani's just done this late into the stint obviously he's got a relatively
00:57:02decent set of tires i mean how difficult is it to maintain tire degradation in a prototype
00:57:08compared to a gt car um it's actually a lot easier especially when you're running on michelin's because
00:57:13the car's got so much more downforce you're less likely to slide the tire in a prototype than you
00:57:17on a gt car so in that way it's actually easier to look after the tires um the fact that pagino has
00:57:22just done that and he's also set his fastest sector time and the fastest sector time of that car in the
00:57:26race so far and done a 27.5 it also just points to sheer talent i've raced against simon pagino in
00:57:32american le mans series we races to ferrand motorsports and that boy is just a very quick
00:57:37very talented driver and meanwhile we've got a glimpse there of the 008 aston martin again once
00:57:42again was having a little bit of trouble leaving his pit name just looking out of the booth to see
00:57:46that but that was josh for staff and making his pit stop uh on right on schedule they're doing 12 laps per
00:57:52stint it would appear right now in the lola aston martins and here is the uh a couple of the persians
00:57:59it'll be interesting to see exactly what the relative pace is between these two cars the factory
00:58:04the newer car and of course last year's car the privateer car of the pescarolo team so uh that will
00:58:10give us a bit of an indication to uh as john johnny said doubtlessly there's a huge amount of talent
00:58:15in all of the cars but pagino is certainly one of those drivers you think won't be long before you can
00:58:19see him being full-time factory not just in the part-time role that he's been sometimes and both
00:58:23those two games very very quickly montani is the race he has now put two laps on the private pescarolo
00:58:30run car of simon pagino but as you say pagino uh turning his best lap in that car so far that car's
00:58:36best lap so far in this race three minutes 27.5 on the 46th that's probably one of the reasons he's just
00:58:43done his fastest lap because i tell you what nothing makes you dig a little bit deeper when someone comes
00:58:47up to lap you and it happens to be the leader and he's in the same car theoretically as you yeah you
00:58:52you want to prove a point you know it's interesting here in the drivers playing this little blind game
00:58:56and audi and persia we're not bothered about oh we're not doing that then alan munish after said
00:59:00that's rubbish i'm a racing driver i want to be the fastest guy out there absolutely absolutely you
00:59:04couldn't have said it better and i think the fact that you're seeing audi the way they react the way
00:59:08they look after their drivers the way the drivers are basically all happy with their own little pecking
00:59:12order and also moving that forward they look to alan not probably in terms of speed as a team leader
00:59:17but tom and dindo incredibly good and incredibly gifted at certain areas other strengths persia on
00:59:22the other hand you always get that feeling that they're fighting each other so hard sometimes they
00:59:26lose a little bit of sight of what the real objective is here i'm not sure that's the case right now i
00:59:31think that's something they've worked very very hard on over the winter as we see the lap2 class
00:59:36leading car of casper elgaard and the gt1 class leader johnny o'connell i believe is in the wheel of car
00:59:42number 63 but just back to what you were saying there about how competitive the drivers are the
00:59:47end of that qualifying session on thursday night was tom christensen who drove the final stint in car
00:59:53number one he didn't have an opportunity on to go on to qualifying tyres to try and beat the time that
00:59:58stephan sarrazad had put in with only 11 minutes to go and alan mish
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