By: Jock Simpson
The #18 BMW is right on the pace and catching up time. The weather must be about spot on at the moment since several cars have been putting in their fastest laps of the race. It is a tad brisk out there at the moment, this clearly helps the cars, if not the spectators.
The traditional Le Mans mist has proved to be a bit of a bonus since it is saving drivers problems with the low dawn sun at the Esses.
We know we do bang on a bit about the famous Nissan Flag Wavers... they have not missed a beat for hours and hours and hours, they're still at it, they must be knackered unless of course there are lots of different wavers swapping duties!
#21 Nissan Courage is in with what looks like gearbox problems, it has lost 7th place to the #12 Panoz. They rejoined at 06:15 hrs.
#12 Panoz and #17 BMW leading car had a moment and touched. They both escaped unscathed but no doubt it caused a noticeable adrenaline rush !
06:27 hrs and #80, one of the 996 GT3s, is in the gravel trap. It is in good and deep and waiting for the tide to come in! Instead a friendly tractor has arrived and they are out but probably full of gravel.
#81 Porsche GT3 in for a routine stop...
#80 Porsche GT3 in for valet to remove the gravel, and maybe an almost scheduled stop.
The grandstand is dotted with unconscious heaps of sleeping bag as the hardcore nutters brave it out and will be soon thinking about a bit of breakfast and black coffee.
Even after 14:30 hours of racing those Oreca Vipers are still running in the right order and looking as if they haven't really broken into a trot yet. The #81 Porsche 996 GT3 is 5th in GTS and 15th overall. They are of course leading LMGT by a huge margin. The next GT3 is running 26th.
#7 has stopped out at the end of the pit lane and the marshals have pushed it back down the pit lane. The engine cover came off, it doesn't look trivial. The engine fired up in the garage, but it still has to start under its own power. It may well be a broken gearbox. This will three out of four gear boxes for Audi, so they have had a bit of practice.
They can now change a gearbox in less than 7 minutes it seems
The pit lane is suddenly a bit like the M25.
#17 back in the race refuelled and out.
#12 Panoz is back out and sounding nice and fruity.
BMW #15 will be arriving where all this action is taking place and there will need to be a few judicious movements of bodies.
Quick times are still coming in, the cool morning air and good visibility should combine to give us some rapid times. As the weather and track warm up these quick times may start to fade away.
#11 Panoz routine fuel stop it is running 20th overall.
#7 Audi back in action, quite a pit stop that, it took a total of about ten minutes end to end!
#3 Toyota is in for a routine stop and it rejoins.
#64 The Konrad Porsche is in to have a few kilos of gravel hoovered out of every orifice.
Justin Bell ,#52 Viper, is very fresh, happy and relaxed having enjoyed the dawn session. He did point out that they do need to take care of the gearboxes ..the gear box deteriorates early on and then settles down and hopefully holds together until the finish.
At 07:00 hrs ..
17, 15, 3, 8, 18, 7, 12, 21, 13, 51, 52, 53, 14, 55, 81, 56, 50, 64, 26, 11, 63, 10, 54, 84, 80, 2, 62, 19, 61, 57, 27, 67, 66, 65, 22,The Official retirements at 07:00 hrs on Sunday are as follows :-
#21 Nissan Courage into the pit garage
#8 Audi in for routine stop and driver change. Didier Theys, now at the wheel.
7:22 Kristensen takes over in the #17. The air outside is still cold, and Kristensen tries to keep warm by beating his body to improve the circulation.
7:25 the #7 Audi limps round the circuit, and goes straight into its pit garage. Mechanics immediately remove all bodywork getting ready for what looks like it could be a very long stop
#12 Panoz has a successful scheduled stop, and on the subsequent lap the otherwise troubled #11 also stops and then fires up looking and sounding like clockwork. Both cars are presently running very quick times, the #12 improving its personal best with a 3:40,5. Should this continue, the #12 stands a good chance of at least a top 15 finish overall. It is presently lying 19th, but is catching the #26 Konrad Lola lying 18th.
The battle for GTS honours is still an all Oreca affair, but the third placed #53 is slowly catching the #52. This looks like a good battle building up. The 4th placed #81 GT3 Manthey Racing Porsche is now 8 laps behind leaders Beretta/Wendlinger/Dupuy in the #51.
The #64 Konrad Porsche had a puncture on the right rear wheel, and after making its way successfully along the Mulsanne straight the driver decided, rather optimistically, to up the pace going into Indianapolis... the result was inevitable, but he soon dug himself out of the gravel and managed to take the car back to the pits at a more realistic pace.
No. 55 Paul Belmondo Viper shed a rear wheel at 07:57 hrs. It rolled off into the distance when a wheel nut came undone. The driver is having a go at lifting the car single handedly and refitting the wheel... a working knowledge of gravity might indicate that this is a daft project! However ‘Plan B' came into operation and he is driving home on three wheels and a brake disc. It is a long way.. the opposite front wheel is clear of the ground.
#62 Roock 911 GT2 arrived in a cloud of smoke, maybe it out braked itself at Arnage, but it rejoined unfazed.
#55 Paul Belmondo Viper into the pit garage for a general sort out and repairs.
At 08:00 hrs :-
17, 15, 3, 8, 18, 12, 21, 7, 13, 51, 52, 53, 14, 81, 56, 50, 26, 11, 55, 63, 64, 10, 54, 84, 80, 62, 19, 2, 57, 61, 27, 65, 67, 66, 22,#62 car is in the pits after its Arnage moment.
#10 Audi seems to be gradually returning to ‘component form' out in the country and heading home to the pits where it will be greeted by a new front panel, new front tyres, rear body work is off, left rear wheel is a bit hard to get off, front body work replaced. Quite what flew off remains a mystery. It seems that it was a puncture after all.