By: Jock Simpson
As the pit stops unravel the #61 Freisinger 911 GT2 is back leading the 'non Viper race' but the #84 993 RSR is currently 36th and ahead of some supposedly more rapid machinery. It wasn't that long ago the 993 RSR was struggling to be allowed to start the racer. So believe it or not at one point the GT3 Porsches were lying just behind the Oreca Vipers and ahead of one of the Chamberlain Vipers. We suspect there are some wry grins back at Porsche. Was this really what they expected !
After four hours everything is nicely poised, BMW #17 leads, 0.077 secs behind them is the #2 Toyota and then just over a second is the #1 car. But we are coming up to the next set of pit stops.
#5 Mercedes is 4th and #6 Mercedes is 5th. We reckoned that the 'young bloods' in the BMW may go well as it gets dark, just as they did in qualifying.
Huge drama as the second placed #2 Toyota made an unscheduled pit-stop with an electronics failure in the steering wheel. Being sent out again in third place, presumably not with the problems fixed, it immediately came under pressure from the #6 Mercedes. Lap times for the Toyota are now up to 3:39s effectively keeping the Merc at bay.
Rain, rain, rain, the word spreads like wild fire............"Where is it raining and how much ?". misty rain is pretty much covering the whole track, but times have only dropped 1-3 seconds.
Amazing when you see the in car shots looking out of the screen, they must be driving by radar !
The rain stopped as suddenly as it began but it is still very murky here at Le Mans.
#27 Kremer Porsche has been pushed into the pit lane, probably out of fuel since it went back out and was back on the pace immediately, albeit having lost some time.
Lehto is in the leading BMW and they are leading by over a minute after the unscheduled Toyota stop. But the #2 Toyota with Kelleners at the wheel is nibbling away at the BMW lead.
We all thought that the #1 Toyota was going to be the 'hare' , instead it is in 'tortoise' mode at the moment.
Sospiri has brought the Toyota #1 into in the pits and worse still straight into the garage. A mass of mechanics descended on the car and Martin Brundle is now in the car.
Next in is the #3 Toyota for a scheduled stop, Katayama is now in the car #66 Porsche has just got a puncture after the pit entrance ... it will be a long lap !
#3 is back out .. no problem.
#2 Toyota in the meantime is in for a scheduled stop and they want to stay ahead of the #5 Mercedes and it will hang onto 2nd place .. just ! When they get back racing the #5 Merc is taking a close look at the #2 car . Dumbrek is in the Merc .. and Kelleners in the Toyota.
#1 Toyota is in the pits and seven laps behind while the team sort out a hydraulic leak
Then at 20:40 hrs approx we had a simply huge accident when the Dumbreck Merc flipped and took off. Everybody had worried about just this happening and sadly it did.
The car flipped at least 30 feet in the air and then crashed high into the trees and as it rolled it landed on its wheels. The marshalls were stunned and not unnaturally took a moment to react. It was a big one ...Immediately the Mercedes Team closed the #6 pit garage doors, this is a traditional way of withdrawing the #6 car.
The accident happened midway between Mulsanne and Indianapolis, luckily this in an area where there were no spectators. Aerial shots show that the car came to rest about 10-15 metres away from the track having flown around a couple of hundred yards before crashing into the trees . It didn't look as if the car rolled.
While all this was going on the #2 Toyota is back in its garage, everybody was expecting it, the engine cover is off and they are changing the discs.
There are two safety cars out on the circuit out while they sort out this major incident several cars have seized the chance to go to the pits.
At 21:09 hrs our information is that Peter Dumbreck is , amazingly, not seriously injured and will of course be shipped off to Hospital for a check up. He may have been saved serious injury since the car fell through the trees and landed on its wheels and possibly rolled several times.
The general feeling amongst the media here at the circuit is that Mercedes should have withdrawn their cars and this was an accident that should never have been allowed to happen.
Dusk began to fall and the headlights began to come on and then at 21:24 hrs the safety car pulled off and we were racing again. During the safety car session all sorts of cars pitted and the leader board became somewhat muddled ! Perry McCarthy locked up at Indianapolis and took a journey up one of the slip roads in the #10 Audi.
But at 21:30hrs the race order was as follows :-
17, 2, 15, 22, 8, 3, 21, 21, 18, 13, 18, 7,
11, 27, 14, 51, 1, 52, 25, 53, 26, 61, 55,
81, 56, 67, 50, 64, 10, 84, 63, 32, 54, 80,
29, 66, 9, 62, 57, 64, 65, 31, 60
The #2 Toyota is 31 secs behind the #17 BMW and going quicker than the BMW.
#15 BMW is a lap astray. The battle for 4th and 5th is great scrap between Nissan #22 and Audi #8. The last of the Toyotas, the one with the Japanese drivers , is seven seconds behind them.
The #10 Audi has now made it back to pits, but curiously not much was done to the car, very strange ! But as we speak the #10 Audi is back again in the pits, there seems to be a brake problem and the wheels are locking up.
Hugh Chamberlain is telling us that they changed the sump on the #57 car , they lost an hour and half. This all happened when the car hit a curb rather enthusiatically. As a rule it isn't normal to change a sump on a race car ! The next problem seems to be a gear box malfunction , so.. guess what they will be changing that as well ! Busy weekend all round !
So as we reach the end sixth hour the battle up front up is still between the Toyota #2 and the two works BMW's. With Mercedes no longer taking any part in the proceeding this will be the tussle for over all honours. But sneaking up behind them ready to collect the spoils if anything goes wrong , (remember Mazda in 1991) are the #22 Nissan and the #8 Audi.
There has been so much drama elsewhere we have overlooked GTS ... surprise surprise the Vipers are still running #51#52 and #53. The #51 car is currently running 16th overall, how about a top ten GTS finish ? First of the 'rest' is the remaining Freisinger #61 Porsche 911GT2 . The big shock is the #81 Manthey Racing Porsche 996 GT3 car it is running 23rd overall and is the effectively beating all sorts of GTS cars , such as the Chamberlain Viper and #50 Oreca Viper.. what on earth is it doing there !
22:00 hrs
17, 2, 15, 22, 8, 3, 12, 21, 18, 13, 19, 7
11, 27, 14, 51, 1, 52, 53, 55, 61, 26, 81
56, 67, 50, 25, 6, 64, 10, 5, 63, 54, 84,
80, 29, 32, 66, 62, 9, 57, 24, 65, 31, 60.