Le Mans Hour Three:
As hour three began, the three safety cars were still out. The safety cars were off-track after 15 minutes, releasing the cars in mixed conditions. No rain was falling, but the conditions were far from perfect. The RAM Racing Ferrari was having trouble, finding its way into the gravel trap.
It seemed that rain, and heavy rain at that, was going to be with us in a matter of ...moments; we were only two and a half hours in, could the race really be this dramatic for the entirety of the event?
Sure enough, the rain was here, and it was here in force down the Mulsanne. It looked as if it was a monsoon, and one of the first victims was the #62 Ferrari of Howard Blank. It spun but it got going. The #48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca, and the #41 Greaves Zytek, had made contact at the start of the Mulsanne. Both cars had heavy right front damage, but both managed to get underway again, and would begin their limp back to the pits.
So, after less than 20 minutes, the Safety Car was back out, and the #8 Toyota was also ready to roll again, waiting for the safety car to come by so it could re-join the field; Lapierre and co. were likely out of contention, down to 49th place and over ten laps down.
The #41 was now back in the pits, and the repair job began.
The #12 Rebellion of Nicolas Prost was now up to fifth overall. Perhaps this race wouldn’t be an all-out sprint, and the cars that stay out of the barriers and out of trouble can finish well. Stephane Sarrazin was now in the #7 Toyota, and the #20 Porsche of Timo Bernhard was back up to second following the manic weather issues. The race was about to green with 2 hours and 50 minutes completed so far.
The green flag brought a lead change, since the #7 was held in the pits until the SC train passed by. This handed the lead to Timo Bernhard, who was being very careful with the throttle along the Mulsanne for many reasons, including the massive amounts of spray on track. Richard Bradley was having issues in the KCMG Oreca LMP2, spinning at the Porsche Curves, fortunately with no damage.
The GTE PRO class was currently looking promising for Porsche, with the works 911 RSR’s 1-2 in the class. However, the GTE AM leader was ahead of them, with Patrick Long putting on a brilliant performance in the Dempsey Racing Porsche.
So, after two hours of racing, and one hour of sailing, the #20 Porsche of Timo Bernhard leads in LMP1, just 9 seconds clear of the #7 Toyota (Sarrazin) and a minute clear of the #2 Audi of Benoit Treluyer. Franck Mailleux leads LMP2 in the Race Performance Oreca.
The GTE AM leader, Patrick Long, still leads the entire GTE field, with the two Manthey Porsches a further ten seconds down the road, heading the GTE PRO pack.
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