24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours LIVE at Planetlemans - Chapter 10

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Grey skies continue over Le Mans and even if it has stopped raining the track cannot be considered dry at the moment. Audi is still in command but Peugeot is putting everything on the table to win this one. In LMP2 the Dutch Porsche RS Spyder of van Merksteijn is still in the lead while the 009 Aston is now a bit further ahead from the Corvettes. In GT2 it is still a Ferrari top 5 with Risi showing the way to the rest.

9:00- There’s still a lot of care needed by the drivers, the track is pretty wet in some sections

9:02- After the pit stops, Peugeot 7 and Audis 1 and 3 rejoin the race

9:03- With 6 hours to go the running order in LMP1 is 2 Audi, 7 Peugeot (1 lap), 9 Peugeot (2 laps), 3 Audi (20 secs), 1 Audi (1 lap), 8 Peugeot (7 laps), 17 Pescarolo (3 laps), 5 Oreca (7 laps), 18 Rollcentre (2 laps)

9:06- In LMP2 it is the 34 van Merksteijn Porsche over 35 Saulnier Pescarolo (8 laps), 31 Essex Porsche (1 lap), 40 Quifel ASM Lola (7 laps) and 32 Barazi Zytek (18 laps)

9:07-Problems for the Rollcentre Pescarolo , they are in the pits

9:09- In GT1 the Aston 009 leads from Corvette 63 (1 lap), Corvette 64 (1 lap), 007 Aston (3 laps), 72 Alphand Corvette (1 lap)

9:10- Also problems for the 40 Quifel ASM Lola as the mechanics are working on the back of the car.

9:11- In GT2 the top 5 is all Ferrari still: 82 Risi, 96 Virgo (1 lap), 97 BMS (2 laps), 90 Farnbacher (3 laps), 99 JMB (1 lap). This last car has been in the pits for quite a while as well, 6th in class is the Felbermayr Porsche 9 laps behind JMB

9:15- The Rollcentre Pescarolo is back with Vanina Ickx behind the wheel

9:16- Quifel ASM Lola is back on the track as well

9:17- Mc Nish on the 2 Audi is lapping quicker than anyone else, he is the only one under 4 minutes/lap

9:18- The Bruichladdich Radical rejoins after a longer pit stop than ususal while the Quifel ASM is back in the pits

9:20- Pit stop for the 10 Lola Charouz, that car is 11th overall 1 lap behind the Rollcentre Pescarolo

9:21-Pit stop for the 9 Peugeot, Klien stays in the car. Also the 72 Alphand Corvette has been in and out. The Quifel Lola still in the pits….

9:24- Mc Nish continues to be really fast under 4 minutes, that is a couple of seconds a lap quicker than the 7 Peugeot.

9:27- It seems that the issues for the Quifel Lola and JMB Ferrari are pretty serious, both standing still for a while…

9:29- Sascha Maassen on the Essex Porsche is chasing the Saulnier pescarolo, he is lapping over 15 seconds a lap quicker !!!

9:30- And the Saulnier LMP2 Pescarolo is now in the pits with the Essex Porsche 2 minutes behind them

9:32- The leader in the pits, Capello is now in the car

9:34-Peugeot ready for a pit stop with rain tyres while the JMB Ferrari might be ready to rejoin….

9:35- And Peugeot number 7 comes in for a stop while the Terramos car is out o its garage. This Courage-Mugen has done 179 laps, 127 less than the leader. The 17 Pescarolo has non functioning lights and will have to come in for repairs

9:37- Essex is now back to 2nd in LMP2 having overtaken Saulnier during their pit stop but now they come in themselves….

9:38- Dome in and out of the pits, this one is running 25th overall, 1 lap behind the Creation . In the meantime the Epsilon Euskadi 20 comes to a stop at the Playstation chicane

9:40- Audi has done about 4 to 5 pit stops less than Peugeot up to now. The Quifel ASm Lola is still not running while the 99 JMB Ferrari has rejoined but now it’s only 4 laps ahead of the Felbermayr Porsche

9:44- Pit stop for Peugeot number 8

9:47- And now it is Alexandre prémat lapping very quick in 3.57 pushing Klien who is the only other man under 4 minutes in 3.59. There’s a battle for third place it seems….

9:49- After their pit stop, Essex renewed their chase and are now under 2 seconds behind the Saulnier Pescarolo

9:50- And Maassen goes through to second in LMP2…

9:51- No change in GT1 where t 009 Aston still leads from the 63 Corvette, GT2 is still an all-Ferrari affair . Spin from Pirro but he rejoins and he is also going under the 4 minutes

9:52- And the 40 Quifel Lola rejoins again while Virgo is into the pits for a regular stop

9:54- Pirro into the pits for routine stop as well

9:55- Audi 3 is also in the pits for fuel

9:57- Corvette 63 is now in the pits

9:59- And now it is Risi, the GT2 leader in for a regular stop. The Larbre Saleen has been in the pits for a very long while

10:01- Modena and Barazi stop, bot car running far behind in their respective classes 33rd and 28th overall

10:03- Prémat on Audi 3 is 1.56 min behind Klien on peugeot 9, even when he is chipping off one or two seconds a lap it sems improbable that he might get to overtake for third

10:06- Klien goes very fast in 3.55, he wants to get that Peugeot to the podium for sure…

10:08- The 007 Aston is in for a stop. The Salen is still in while both Epsilon Euskadis seem to be done. Number 21 is at the garage, number 20 has not been signaled since it stopped at the chicane.

10:09- Maassen on the Essex Porsche has already built a lead of 42 seconds related to the Saulnier pescarolo where the first Chinese driver ever at le Mans is driving now (Cong Fu Cheng)

10:11- Pit stop from Klien, let’s see what’s the difference to Prémat now…on Audi 1 Werner has taken over from Pirro. It seems the 2007 winners are far from a hot at the podium, but there’s still much more than 4 hours to go.

10:13- Wurz ready to take over number 8 from Sarrazin, disappointing day for car number 8 with several issues and running 6th, 11 laps behind the leader

10:14- Pit stop from 8 Peugeot as expected, another long stay at the pits seems to be materializing for the Bruichladdich Radical

10:16-The Dome ends in the gravel trap while Prémat is 50 secs behind Klien now. Villeneuve is ready to jump on number 7 Peugeot

10:18- The Bruichladdich radical is back on the track, in the meantime Minassian has unlapped Peugeot number 7 by overtaking Capello ut as we said, they are due in for a stop.

10:20- Verstappen takes over from van Merksteijn during a pit stop of the LMP2 leaders.

10:22- Warning to the 007 Aston for not respecting the limits of the track.

10:24- The Dome rejoins after making it back to the pits with no damage

10:25- And finally the peugeot 7 is in, Villeneuve in Minassian out

10:26- The 9 peugeot has extended it lead to Audi 3 to 53 seconds, seems they will be able to defend their position

10:27- Corvette mechanics working under the 64 car in the pitlane, this is more than a normal pitstop

10:28- Verstappen spins!! But he’s lucky , nobody’around , he does not hit the barriers and can continue

10:29- Another pit stop for Saulnier while Audi 3 rejoins. The Dome has an issue with the lights and will need to come in to fix it.

10:30- Verstappen in to change tyres, let’s hope he can keep it clean as his advantage is now 9 laps on the second (and that in wet Le Mans LMP2 terms is over half an hour!!!)

10:33- Audi ready for a pit stop, it has to be the leader

10:35- The Saleen seems to be ready to rejoin after an extremely long pit stop

10:36- Big mistake from Werner, he almost lost the car at the second Ford chicane. It seems the car has no damage but probably the intermediates they asked for were not the right choice….

10:39- Now Werner is very slow on the Hunaudieres, will he have damaged something? The 8 Peugeot (6th overall) is 7 laps behind anyway.

10:41- The 21 Epsilon is an official retirement now while number 20 can be also considered as such since the car never managed to make it back to the pits

10:42- Capello is lapping 4 seconds faster than Villeneuve. Werner still coming back to the pits very slowly…

10:44- Time for our recap…LMP1 is 2 Audi, 7 Peugeot, 9 Peugeot, 3 Audi, 1 Audi

10:46- The Dome spins and hits the barrier full frontal… the track is tricky and still wet.

10:48- The Dome crawling back to the pits. In LMP2 the top 5 is 34 van Merksteijn, 31 Essex, 35 Saulnier, 40 Quifel ASM, 32 Barazi

10:49- GT1 is 009 Aston, 63 Corvette, 64 Corvette, 007 Aston, 72 Alphand Corvette. In GT2 the Ferraris lead with 82 Risi, 96 Virgo, 97 BMS, 90 Farnbacher and 99 JMB, Felbermayr is 6t 4 laps behind and the Lizards are 7th

10:51- Audi 1 is in the garage while the Dome enters pitlane. Best petrol car is the 17 Pescarolo, 7th overall.

10:53- Another very good stop from van Merksteijn, Verstappen stays on the car

10:55- Peugeot 9 in again for a routine stop

10:57- Minassian once more trying to unlap himself is chasing Capello on Audi number 2

10:58- In a risky manoeuver at Dunlop, Minassian goes ahead of the Audi but he is still almost a lap behind