American Le Mans Series

Petit Le Mans LIVE – Chapter 4

© American Le Mans Series

After six hours of racing it is still impossible to say who will win this Petit Le Mans this year. Audi and Peugeot keep fighting, with the Penske Porsches staying close. The Lizards are leading GT2, Corvette is leading GT. Back to the track…

17:15- A rather dirty Flying Lizard Porsche #45 is still leading GT2 and going strong.

17:17- Dindo Capello is in the box. It looked like he got out of the car but it was only a seat adjustment in which he was helped by McNish. The #2 Audi is in as well.

17:20- Mika Salo is still slowly catching Wolf Henzler…could the GT2 battle be re-ignited soon?

17:21- Nicolas Minassian has gone into the pit for what is a regular stop.

17:24- Minassian is having some problems lapping the traffic. The Risi Ferrari #61 of Tracy Krohn allowed the Penske Porsche of Romain Dumas to close in…the moment the Peugeot has a clear track it quickly moves away again.

17:25- Second and third placed LMP2 cars, the #5 Penske Porsche and #26 AGR Acura, are in the pit. The Andretti Green Racing crew is the quickest of the two and Tony Kanaan manages to overtake Ryan Briscoe in the pit.

17:29- Salo has closed the gap to Henzler…who is now using the #46 car as a buffer. The battle is on!

17:30- At the front of the field Minassian is lapping quicker than Luhr, slowly closing the gap. As said before, it is far from over.

17:33- Luhr has found some speed and is back at a 9 seconds gap.

17:34- Salo takes a look at the inside of the Lizards Porsche and outbrakes Henzler at turn 10. Henzler doesn’t defend his line and allows the Finn to pass him and take the lead in GT2.

17:35- Capello nearly made contact with Salo. The Risi Competizione driver went into the turn and the Audi tried to dive up the inside going in. Luckily the Italian braked a bit more.

17:37- More problems for Corvette? Several GT2 cars are passing the C6.R…

17:39- Dumas is in the pit lane, handing over the car to Bernhard. Capello moves into third overall.

17:42- GT2 leader Mika Salo has come in. The Finn gets out of the car….and then jumps in again. Full service for the car.

17:45- Three wide over the finish straight. Big clouds of dust are being kicked up as one of the GT cars hits the dirt.

17:47- Problems for the VICI Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR! Smoke coming from the left rear tyre…was this the GT car that was pushed onto the dirt? Marc Basseng nursing the car to the pit.

17:49- The wheel arch is being checked for damage…Nicky Pastorelli has taken over from Basseng.

17:50- Problems for Tafel Racing! The #73 is beached on the curbstones, just outside the racing line but in a dangerous place. Could this lead to a new caution?

17:52-(FCY) Full course caution. And just as the yellow is shown the Ferrari gets clear of the curbstone and manages to rejoin just in front of the pace car.

17:53-(FCY) The safety car has picked up the Audi of Lucas Luhr. This won’t be a lengthy caution.

17:59-(FCY) A bit longer as first expected…the officials have decided to use this full course caution to get rid of the dirt on the track. Several teams are therefore using the opportunity to make a pit stop.

18:02-(FCY) The lights on the Mazda safety car are still on…

18:11-(FCY) And still behind the safety car…but the lights are now out!

18:12- Lucas Luhr’s attempt to get rid of the Peugeot at the restart has failed and the Peugeot is still close behind.

18:13- Luis Diaz goes off at the top of the hill. The Mexican hits the wall damaging the suspension and bodywork.

18:14- Diaz is slowly rolling over the track, smoke coming from the car…there is a lot of damage.

18:15- And Peugeot is back in the lead after overtaking the Audi at turn 10!

18:17- Into the pit and straight behind the wall. Luis Diaz has made it…but will the Acura return?

18:20- The three Penske Porsches are in 1 group fighting the AGR Acura, one of the Dyson Racing coming up. Several GT2 cars ahead now.

18:21- Salo has lost some of his lead…possibly as a result of more LMPs overtaking the GT2 cars.

18:22- Twelve cars close to each other now…everyone has to keep his eyes open now.

18:25- Franck Montagny is almost able to touch the rear wing of Timo Bernhard’s Porsche…another fight that is not yet over.

18:28- And there is another one. The Risi Ferrari of Jaime Melo is closing in on the Marc Lieb driven Flying Lizard Porsche. Will Lieb stay ahead of Melo…or will they let him by in order to get more security in an attempt to win the title.

18:30- Melo took a look, but Lieb moved across to prevent Melo from passing him. The racing conditions are getting worse with the sun setting.

18:33- Franck Montagny in the pit, rather unexpected.

18:34- Sarrazin is going from one side of the track to the other making his way through the rest of the field…

18:35- Jaime Melo finally makes his move on Marc Lieb at turn 10(a). The German doesn’t do much and the Brazilian puts the Risi Ferrari back in the GT2 lead.

18:36- Sarrazin is now 15 seconds ahead of Luhr and 23 ahead of Capello…

18:40- The Andretti Green Racing Acura apparently had some overheating problems.

18:43- Official retirement of the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura.

18:44- More problems for the Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR. Jörg Hardt has stopped the car on the escape road just after the Esses.

18:47- Just over seven and a half hour completed here at Petit. A quick run-down on the top three per class…LMP1: Peugeot 07 -Audi 2 – Audi 1; LMP2 Penske Porsche 5 – Penske Porsche 7 – Andretti Green Acura 26; GT1 Corvette 3 – Corvette 4; GT2: Risi Ferrari 62 – Lizards Porsche 45 – Tafel Racing 71

18:55- Pit stop time. Peugeot and Audi are in, the crews working hard. Capello has handed over the car to McNish, no driver change at Peugeot.

18:56- Lucas Luhr, who was still out on the track comes onto pit road. He was the leader after Sarrazin came into the pit.

18:57- Marco Werner takes the place of Lucas Luhr in the Audi…fuel and tyres.

18:59- Great pit stop for Sarrazin. Not changing drivers and double-stinting the tyres means the gap that was there between the Peugeot and the Audi has gone from 6 seconds to almost a lap it seems.

19:00- Sarrazin overtakes Ryan Briscoe and is back in the overall lead.

19:02- Ryan Briscoe brings the Penske Porsche #5 in to the pit. Helio Castroneves back in the car as it returns to the track.

19:07- McNish is flying. He can see the Peugeot right in frontof him, but has to cope with the backmarkers first. Can he unlap himself?

19:09- The headlights on the cars are now becoming brighter as the darkness starts to fall. Smoke from the VICI Racing Porsche as it enters turn 10. While Sarrazin quickly moves around McNish has to brake hard to avoid this Porsche as well as the JMB Ferraril.

19:11- McNish has set his sights on he Peugeot, but Sarrazin is not willing to give up. Behind Sarrazin Werner and Bernhard are very close. The Intersport Lola #30 runs wide coming on to the finish straight, throwing sand onto the race line.

19:13- Second placed Lizards Porsche in the pit for a driver change, fuel and tyres.

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