In the round-up: Toyota have moved into the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours after the first nine hours.
In brief
Penalty costs Kubica lead at Le Mans
The number eight Toyota moved into the lead shortly before the nine-hour mark at the Le Mans 24 Hours. The car shared by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa rose to the head of the field after the long-time leaders in the number 83 customer AF Corse Ferrari pitted to serve a penalty.
The Safety Car was deployed after almost six-and-a-half hours of racing when Dries Vanthoor in the number 15 BMW Hybrid V8 hypercar crashed out on the Mulsanne straight after taking a glancing blow from Robert Kubica’s race-leading Ferrari. Barrier repairs kept the race neutralised for well over an hour and a half. Kubica was handed a 30-second stop-go penalty for the contact after the race resumed.
The number six Penske Porsche is running second, ahead of the other Porsche and number two Cadillac. The three Ferraris, which headed the field in the early stages, are next, led by the works number 50 car. That took the lead on the first lap in the hands of Nicklas Nielsen, working his way forward quickly from fourth on the grid. However he lost time when he returned to the car when rain began to fall approaching the six-hour mark and Ferrari opted for slick tyres instead of wets.
The number 38 JOTA Porsche and the second of the Cadillacs complete the top 10 with 13 hours remaining.
Both Alpines out within six hours
Engine trouble put both Alpine hypercars out within the first six hours at Le Mans. Ferdinand Habsburg pulled over at Arnage with smoke billowing from the rear of his number 35 A424, while the sister number 36 machine retired in the pits.
“This is the team’s first year in the Hypercar category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which we knew from the start would be a steep learning curve,” said the team in a statement.
“We will further investigate the issue and we will come back stronger and more determined next year in Le Mans. The car showed good pace to make Hyperpole in qualifying, we had a good race start and this gives us encouragement for the future.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
‘The victory in Canada with Ferrari in 1995 was a liberation. But perhaps the most intense moment was the presentation to the press organized by Fiorio in 1990 in Fiorano. Remembering the first laps in the Ferrari with all the fans around the track and on the bridge still gives me the shivers.’
JOTA completes airfield shakedown with number 12 Porsche (Sportscar365)
‘A replacement chassis supplied by Porsche Penske Motorsport arrived at Le Mans on Thursday after Ilott hit the wall at the Forest Esses in free practice two on Wednesday night.’
Ilott: ‘We’ll go and push for a win’ (FIA WEC)
‘That’s a big workload for the team. It’s probably the first time that I’ve put at risk in an endurance environment and I felt very bad for that.’
Mohammed Ben Sulayem: ‘Moreover, the FIA’s teams and departments have worked tirelessly to shore up the financial future of our organization. Through their efforts, we have reduced the operating loss by €+7.0m compared to prior year, to €-0.8m. We have also established new processes to achieve further cost reductions in the coming year.’
Character building fightbacks: Taylor Barnard on the moments that made him (Formula 2)
‘I didn’t have any testing, did three races and then had to give up the championship because I couldn’t afford it anymore. At that point, you make the transition from karts to cars and you’re already unsure of how you’re going to fare because it’s completely different to what you’ve been used to. I jumped in and I was finishing nearly last in all the races.’
IndyCar’s new TV deal with Fox Sports: The good, bad and remaining questions (Indianapolis Star)
‘The app — which will house access to all three’s live sports properties — will reportedly cost $40-$50 per month. Without a cable (or cable-like streaming) subscription that comes with FS1 and FS2 and which start around $70 per month, Venu Sports will be the only way fans can watch all of IndyCar’s practice and qualifying action.’
Brabham recounts his career-defining 24 Hours of Le Mans win, 15 years on (Nine)
‘It kind of left us to do our own thing, which was really good, because you could see there was way too much tension and pressure on the other side of the pit garage, particularly on the drivers, because they felt they were monitored every lap time. Are they quick? Are they not quick? They had to be the quickest to keep their jobs and such.’
Rosie Wait – Head of race strategy (Mercedes via YouTube)
Italian F4 round 7: Vallelunga (Italian F4 via YouTube)
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