8 Hours of Portimao: The race in 52 minutes!

[Applause] [Music] [Music] you know the ocean has has a lot of benefits and it's a way it's still a workout and for your mind it's something amazing at the end we can leave the board with you guys between races and stuff when i come back home there are so many amazing beaches that um it's just great to to switch off recharge the batteries and then you know go back to the fights on on the racetracks 2012 13 when i was on the verge of going into formula one i hated endurance like i could not look at it you know if i had an offer to race a gt car or whatever i really i really did not like it and then i had no choice then to to try it you know bmw employed me and they said look we'd like you to start doing some endurance and from day one it was love at first sight sharing a car with friends it's one of the most gratifying experiences that i've had on a racetrack so i love it walking the track is vital for learning a new venue like portimao and it also gives the opportunity to catch up with old friends good to see you you're right hey man how are you all good yeah good okay yeah yeah yeah yeah i think we'll be all right yeah i think we'll be all right i'm curious i'm really curious we just want to get like a few laps in fb1 and then we'll know because we have no idea we have no idea how quickly from looking at the other thing that toyota it looks horrible does it yes downfall size yeah yeah in spa sector two they have no chance with us right and it's a four-wheel drive difficult here with the lmp2 cars here so on the test here where were you braking more or less about where the line is two downshifts downshift stop the car properly and then no curb no curb as far in as you can go but stay away the yellow of the yellow and attract limits on the exit it's hard to say it's hard to stay within the limit quite hard if you missed if you missed the entry a little bit you won't turn we never do this in the race you get a penalty if you keep going nah it's fine i'm portuguese we're in portugal don't worry have you already paid the stewards it's fine we should explain the reason why the gentleman driver is telling antonio to how to drive is because he did a test here recently and we didn't [Music] for many this is a new venue for james glickenhaus it's the start of a whole new adventure we're just trying to do it as best as we can but in the spirit of the privateers and people like jim hall carol shelby briggs cunningham the americans sportsmen if you will privateers who went out and tried to race the giants and that's what we're doing [Music] it's a very emotional very special day i mean the weck and lamar hyper car is the top of sports car racing and of course le mans is the crown jewel of that so you know we do a lot of races and a lot of things and they're all very special but this is a particularly wonderful thing that we're trying to do that's not bad yeah it's pretty good i was thinking yeah my love of racing which went back to the 60s when you saw dream prototypes that looked like cars that you could hope to own one day racing each other and that dream just stayed with me still the biggest problem is the flat tire that it so you have to put a lot of steering in it which causes a lot of tc the target for this weekend is to finish the race to get as much information as we can to make the car faster for the next race and then eventually to go on to le mans and try to do very well plenty more yeah plenty valentino antony did you get uh the situation clear on the start when you came back so i asked him because obviously tom is on a second row i'm third row but my row will always react quicker because this guy dictates when he goes so there is a small risk of me crossing the line in in front of tom and the first thing he said he said follow your row and then i asked him what if i cross the line in front of the city then yes other teams will complain it will be looked at for sure uh let me see what i can do but uh i don't i don't even want to get into that no no clear hopefully the toyota is a bit of a bear jump and the road will be but basically what i will just make sure i don't cross the line i mean it's eight hour race i don't wanna risk one minute under one minute to close spittings and under one minute to close videos [Music] very glad to see you here good to see you and i'll finish my career in front of you because i'm the safety car driver oh okay good all the best finally do you feel good yeah did you use those tyres on the way to the grid yeah they're okay yes they're okay i mean no vibrations whatsoever all good all right traffic just keep the uh just keep the blue car behind yours i will oh there's pick up yeah but this is the p3 tyre no no no no no no no you have the quality [Music] [Applause] we are under five minutes to start the formation lab for the eight hours of portimao so [Music] the red lights are out the eight house supporting hour is underway pulsato nico lapierre in the blue alpine leaves the toyota hypercar rivals behind him lmp2 lockups in the middle of the field is the glickenhaus the gt cars are already amongst them as everybody rushes out of turn one to turn two and the turn three hairpin and the pole sitter in lmp2 is facing the wrong way tom blondquist in the middle of the field how is nobody hitting him weaving to build temperature and pressure in the tyres the race leader lapierre jumping away from the toyotas what about the glickenhaus there it is successfully started its first ever race this brand new car on board with our gt leader this is the pole sitter kevin ester was shatteringly quick in qualifying you can see that there is still some temperature to be found for these tyres it's a really tough track for tyres this long sweeping right-handed section that leads onto the main straight absolutely murders the rubber great battle between inter-europol and high-class racing very close indeed down the straight around the outside into the first turn who's going to take the advantage they both break too late and run out wide i can't afford to be doing that too often in the race it was a great start for nico lapierre determined to try and distance himself from the toyotas as at spa alpine know they have an issue they don't carry as much fuel as their toyotas they'll have to stop more often in the gte pro class there are two porsche versus ferrari fights the 51 car started by james collado already started to put a little bit more pressure on the porsche than perhaps kevin ester might have expected black and yellow racing team netherlands leading in lmp2 they started in third place on the grid team wrt also getting by the jota sport car that started from pole position [Music] in the gte am class a frantic battle and the d station aston martin triple seven with the black and green already up to third place and diving down the inside for second position phenomenal start to the race for tominobu fuji as he goes underneath and pole sister edgier perfetti through as well goes the 54a of course of ferrari well perfetti the pole sitter getting beaten up left right and center running out wide picking up rubbish on the tyres and now 77 this is christian reed gtm change of lead through comes the aston martin the 54 ferrari is right there as well the porsche's not bringing their tyres in quickly perhaps will that be better for longer tire life are they just a little less aggressive than the aston and the ferrari d station leads from af quarter the porsches are sagging down the order [Music] nico lapierre the race leader pulling away from the toyotas so let me go i have just the know you i have just the lawyer problem of radio [Music] d station aston martin starting to slow marcos gomez goes through in the 98 aston for second and tomo nobo fuji is really starting to struggle now smoke pouring off the car under braking looks like he may have a tyre issue richard westbrook early steps for this clicking house program their first ever race this is all about getting to the finish piling up the data as they prepare for their first ever assault on the 24 hours of le mans quicken house under no misapprehension they know they've got a mountain to climb they'll be battling the giants of the sport challenge for third place in gt pro and a robust one daniel serra dives to the inside of the 91 ferrari passes jimmy bruni well done hold on well sarah had been working on this for a lot of laps and finally just forced his way through jimmy bruni not expecting him to appear inside there [Music] lead battle in lmp2 robin freeze all over the back of kid of vandergarde in the racing team netherlands cast straight down the inside and overcooks it outbreaks himself vandergaard comes back friends has been trying to figure out where to attack the dutch driver and that was as close as it gets look at this from on board the racing team netherlands car robin friends shoots across his bows in the pits the race leader the alpine inn for regular service but stopping a few laps shy of where toyota will come in they will need at least one more pit stop in the race than their hyper car rivals and that means they are really pushing hard now toyota number eight leading toyota number seven and the senior tech team know that the alpine is a little bit quicker than the toyota on a lap but not maybe enough they're gonna have to magic something up here okay so if you are now p1 p1 alpin has pitted alvin has pitted [Music] let's hear from our frustrated lmp2 pole sitter tom blonquist i mean first of all it's obviously a big big shame a big blow to our race thankfully we have eight hours to try and you know make amends vander garda i think it was managed to get around the outside into here but i was kind of in the middle and then pounded it and i think someone hit me on the inside and spun me around so yeah really really ashamed you know this we're a long way behind first in completion for blanquette's teammate antonio felix de costa they fared a little better in that contact at the start but now he's got to face the music [Music] sorry man i was trying to back down it was too late sorry man sorry about this [Music] early pit stop for jimmy bruni struggling on his tyres porsche not where they expected to be in terms of race pace versus ferrari into the pit lane from second place toyota number seven stopping a lap earlier than the number eight car that's traditionally how toyo to do it if they're going to stagger the cars the leader gets the choice but as the pit stops cycle through the alpine goes back ahead and it will also retake the lead when number eight stops in a lap [Music] race leader in the pits toyota so well rehearsed and for toyota this is their 100th world championship race as a team of their 31 wins 30 have come in world endurance championship events will alpine ruin their party on their centenary they will do everything they can to try first racing pit stop for clicking house racing in world endurance championship richard westbrook will get out ryan briscoe runs round and pops the door open and this must become absolute clockwork routine for the team if they understand any chance at le mans drama for francois perodo damage on the right front corner is that contact or has the tyre let go and rips the car apart look in the background gone straight off with a puncture he's made it to the pits but there is a lot of work to be done oh contact in lmp2 battle for six roberto gonzalez in the green jota car being turned around by ben hanley oh and this is the leader's view where'd you go where'd you go he cuts inside nicely handled frustration for juan pablo montoya and henrik hedman at dragon speed three wide down to turn one and the ferrari that's james collado ahead now of the porsche change of lead in gte pro so james collada who stayed in ahead of the 92 car kevin est had handed that over to neil johnny and there's kevin talking michael christensen their third teammate through what's going on well as we saw with daniel serra the ferrari just with better grip than the porsche goes through on the inside 90 minutes into the eight hours alpine leading by over 12 seconds from the better of the two toyotas they'll need a big advantage though by the end of the race to overcome what's expected to be at least one extra pit stop that their rivals won't need to take frustration is too evident on the radio he's stuck in traffic and he's only ever really happy if he's leading the race as alpine stop toyota will cycle back through to the top of the pile they'll go one two andre mcgraw takes over as the team refill once more but they still have that extra pit stop somehow to work around it has however been a great double opening stint from nico lapierre we had a good start and we stayed in front of the toyota which was the first target and then we were pushing as much as we could we know we have to open this gap to do the the the extra stop because they are much much longer than us on fuel so it will be at least one more stop we know we have to open the gap and i was trying to do that as much as possible as you know we had the radio problem in the middle of my first tint they could not hear me anymore so it was not so comfortable but in the end we made it and we're gonna fix it for the next interview change for second place in lmp2 paul deresner in the 22 united car passing 29 fritz van aired now in the racing team netherlands machine said the gentleman driver having his first stint here in portugal oh trouble at the hairpin the red cast the glickenhaus 77 dempsey proton the triple 7d station aston there's been contact ryan briscoe trying to get the glickenhaus moving it had gear selector problems in free practice have they returned the d station aston isn't moving it's trying to tire marks on the side of the glickenhaus the am battle here the aston pulling out briscoe trying to pull in and that is a classic contact in traffic incident here at the hairpin as the aston moves to its left briscoe's trying to go right and unfortunately three into one does not go now the clutch is slipping um probably damage as well the glickenhaus goes back into the garage this is all part of racing the team need data more than they need repair bills [Music] [Music] yeah i was just going here there were two gt cars and then one he he just pulled out hit my rear wheel hit the rear wheel [Music] i mean i was trying to be zero risk [Music] in the battle for hypercar supremacy another round of pit stops from toyota will push the alpine back to the front [Music] is [Music] into the pits from the lead in gte and the iron dames rahel frey brings in the ferrari and michelle gatting will take over they're running in the top four consistently this is a very strong race from the all-female crude ferrari toyota interestingly looking like they're gonna put the faster car in front and that's mike conway he's just taken over the number seven machine from its starting driver jose maria lopez toyota know that they need to work hard to take this win try through penalty for car 31 this is car 31 the leader in lmp2 wrt so for speeding in the pit lane well that means the first job of the new driver will be to come in and serve the penalty battle for the lead in gte and between the two ferraris the dark blue one roberto la court the silver car giancarlo fisa keller and he's using the aston that they're trying to lap la court trying to go to the outside fisikela sneaks by to grab the lead thanks to the slower aston of dylan pereira [Music] theresa mill racing team car spinning on the in lap here and [Music] tatiana calderon just rolling back into the gravel tyres obviously at their end number one it hits its marks to china calderon brings the car in colombian gets out to hand over to sofia flourish god lose in the hairpin so [Music] [Music] because [Music] [Music] matteo vasivir waiting to take over as the alpine comes in double stint completed for andre no growl their titanic battle with toyota continues [Music] what there was so much time in the beginning with the traffic i was afraid to to try to overtake like uh like in spa so i prefer to cool down a little bit just to don't make any mistake but then it was super traffic then after that 12 flat was was getting better because then you get used to we saw that to the track as well [Music] it's been a tough race so far and andre will have more work to do later and that means rest and respite is absolutely crucial let the body and mind recover guys this little bit hard in the beginning in the race [Music] blinking in the sunshine the glickenhaus emerges from the garage and heads back out into the race with a new clutch fitted lmp2 leader in the pits the united auto sports number 22 car has two new drivers this weekend paul de rester is in for philippe albuquerque one of the regular drivers who's racing in america and wayne boyd who's just stepped out in for fabio shera who unfortunately tested positive for covid wrt now in the lead of the race but it was a great first ever stint in world endurance for wayne boyd um yeah it was it was firstly i'd like to say you know get well soon to fabio obviously it's horrible situation for the mr world championship race but for me it was an amazing opportunity to uh have a go at it and uh definitely under the deep end a little bit there's a lot of pressure i'm putting on my own shoulders the team are pretty cool with it but um you know i'm glad just to get that first double stint out of the road and get the nerves away in from first and second in lmp2 now the jota sport cars driver changes all round they're going a lot longer on fuel than their rivals and that may pay off in the long run paul deresta cycles back into the lead for united wrt and racing team netherlands still in the hunt toyota one two brendan hartley now in the number eight car ahead of mike conway with the alpine in third place working their way through traffic desperate not to lose any time and conway really closing down the leader now down into the hairpin there's been a change mike conway goes by for the lead [Music] that was clearly orchestrated by the team they want the faster car in front not being held up into the pits is the number seven toyota that hands the lead back to number eight out gets conway and in gets kobayashi [Music] well i mean it's just uh as the slits are evolving we're changing quite a few things in the car and uh we're just trying to relay all the messages to the next driver getting in and uh it's yeah it's tricky to manage the double stint with the tires so just uh just some advice on what happened throughout the stint because it's a bit limited the data they can see at the pit wall so uh just trying to download as much as i can to feed the information to the engineer four hours in four to go alpine leads from toyota in hypercar joe to one two in lmp2 for united wrt inter-europol racing team netherlands all competing in gt pro it is all about ferrari porsche are completely lost but in gte am the 98 aston martin has cycled back to the top of the pile ahead of a slew of ferraris just two cars have retired from the record 32 car field 77 and triple seven after that accident [Music] so miguel molina in the red ferrari car number 52 in second place in gte pro ahead of him is 92 the porsche that lies in third whatever porsche imagined for their race day here in portugal i'm sure they did not imagine that by not long after halfway they would have been lapped by the ferraris but that is what has happened paul dalalana under pressure from thomas floor the ferrari sails down the inside of the hairpin lead change in gte am but the aston martin remaining competitive with three hours and 45 minutes to go drama at racing team netherlands lots of smoke pouring off the car as it comes into the pit lane damage on the left rear corner the suspension is broken [Music] on board with job vanita inside the gte pro ferrari contact and he's gone off and that is where the damage has come from the young dutchman can't believe his mistake the suspension needs changing the brakes and probably the drive shaft too this is a long stop [Music] we were leading in class which was would have been a very good result um we had a broken suspension i was not expecting like i thought that if i go in there could have been contact possibly but not with [Music] [Music] just over three hours of the eight hours supporting our remaining pit stop time for alpine and this is where toyota start to see their advantage unwind as the alpine comes in the toyotas are also due a huge lockup coming into the pits oh kamui kobayashi [Music] hits a little marker board no other major dramas though driver change here nico lapierre slots back into the alpine but they are now one full pit stop more than toyota completed and they are just gonna squeeze out back in front of the number seven car toyota's advantage is starting to work in their favor [Music] filipino the team boss in the alpine garage watching as nico lapierre sets a new fastest race lap in comes number eight toyota nakajima remains at the wheel the battle continues to rage alpine giving chase to the toyotas they remain one two after the pit stops alpine need something special battle the second in lmp2 the green jota car that started from pole that is stoffel vandaunt chow millacy coming up behind him and charlene the wrt number 31 machine looking around the outside that's very brave but it's not legal went way out beyond the white line another new fastest lap for nico lapierre in the alpene and well malaysia made the pass but it was only successful because he ran wide out of there he needs to give that back now they see around the outside of the gt pro ferrari stopper van dawn sees the opportunity to come back on the inside retakes second place from the wrt car wrt have had two drive-through penalties already by right they should be well clear but they're still in the hunt yeah well unfortunately uh we had already two drive-through uh due to uh some issues one was uh one was not able to uh engage the pit limiter in the first pit stop at the right time the second one for blue flags [Music] not always easy to understand to accept them but well we are still there fighting for we are only 16 seconds from the lead and uh about three hours to go oh there's trouble for miro cannot cut he's looped the car around and he's got all four wheels stuck in the gravel nobody else involved tire or driver fatigue perhaps but he's firmly beached pit entry closed we are under safety car pit entry closed we are under safety card [Music] for the first time in the race with two hours and 43 minutes we are under safety car no full course yellows yet either mira kanopka being craned back onto the track and the safety car is going to close up all the battles super tight now in lmp2 when they when the safety car goes green he's allowed to lift so what he has to do is lift to the gt's that means the other guys [Music] he is allowed to lift and manage the gap so if he lifts up 13 and loses a second he can then go flat through 14 and be fine and what that'll mean is the constantino effect the other guy won't be able to so wouldn't he be boxing [Music] we can only box it after the end of this lap green flag racing once more in portumail after a short four-lap safety car toyota trying to weave heat into the tires in the background you can see the alpine the safety car has brought them right back into it they were almost a lap down good restart as well from wayne boyd for united auto sports the blue car jumping away from stoffel van dorn another learning experience in his first world endurance championship race for the ulsterman challenge for second lapierre around the outside of nakajima in the number 8 toyota doesn't get through but it shows that the alpena's got great speed in the final sector and on the straight here we go again this time lapierre goes to the inside and takes second place away from kazuki nakajima [Music] galping much better on its tyres on the long corner that leads to the straight and uses that speed to go by into the pits again it comes the alpine from second place they'll drop back down to third you go we keep the same tire you confirm we keep the same tire lapierre will stay in the car and continue to try and hunt down the [Music] toyotas piss off for toyota number seven [Music] kobayashi is out and in gets jose maria lopez but they have a growing issue the number eight car is going longer on fuel [Music] [Music] the number eight car is edging ever closer to avoiding a final pit stop in the last few minutes [Music] with their rivals in number eight saving fuel the only option left for the crew of number seven is to go flat out and build a lead that will cover the pit stop they'll need battle for third place charmeleci drift out wide and davidson goes by no malaysia comes back at him fantastic racing throughout the lmp2 field the 38 jota car i think davidson thought he got it done down into the hairpin on the inside malaysia uses the momentum of the outside line and comes back in front once more whatever and davidson knew about charmelesi before now he does know he is a robust competitor kevin este in the ferrari battling for second with daniel serra the porsche is getting a wave by behind the safety car as lapped cars has brought them right back into the frame but they still are struggling with tires [Music] wrt in third place charmeleci with anne davidson the 38 calf this time wriggling by malaysia running out of tires you saw him lock up into the corner and davidson flashing his head lights at the af courser ferrari now setting sail after the second place car in lmp2 job done but malaysia held him up we can go uh to the end without the extra splash both cars we are racing we'll have to do a splash the alpine and car 7 will both have to do a splash without rescue we will not so efficient driving is what we need trouble for real team racing's esteban garcia this is the pro-am class leader in lmp2 and through past him goes the toyota what happened all contact ricardo pera in the gte am porsche and it almost caught out the wrt car as well [Music] he gets the engine fired up but that has cost them the lead in pro-am now out front in pro-am high-class racing anders fuel back he's just taken over the car from jan magnusson [Music] it was a long three steps but had a i had a ton of fun out there so much fun fighting with well fighting against you know the the lap time but also fighting against the other guys out there super fun so happy yeah you're in the lmp2 class but also within the pro-am category and it's looking good for you especially after that we've just seen yeah no so so right now it looks good but it's still an hour and a half to go and a lot of stuff can happen but i'm pretty sure uh dennis is happy about this battle for the lead in gte am the chetila ferrari giorgio cena giotto ricardo pera in the porsche down the inside trying to go through a little bit of contact yes there was the porsche dragging a bumper the ricardo pero has gone through he's already under investigation for contact with the lmp2 car i'd be careful if i were him number eight toyota in the pits number seven goes through to take the lead but the number seven team still need to go faster and build an advantage for a late race pit stop here comes the alpine in third place we are in the final hour right now it looks good for for us to car right if we can keep everything together but that being said if there's a full course sale or a safety car then it would bring the others into play so yeah i think we played we played the strategy right today as a team we we we split the strategy we saved the fuel the other guys went for it um so far looks like it's gonna be okay well the other guys include alpine they didn't have a fuel option so they have had to go for it right from the very start and they are still up for a podium finish who knows what might happen in the gt pro class the race leader the 51 ferrari alessandro pierguidi desperately trying to save fuel to avoid one final stop porsche don't have that option let's hear from alessandro's teammate birthday boy james collado it's tricky out there all the cars are suffering with blistering on the tyres it's quite severe so we're just trying to manage that as much as we can and uh yeah we're quite on the edge on fuel to make it to the end so la's doing a lot of fuel saving just to try and see if we don't have to do a splash so uh so far it's looking good the porsche is just boxed so um let's see it's still still 35 minutes to go trouble for high-class racing anders fuelback is stationary at the side of the track this is the pro-am leader as well the all-danish lineup oh this could be a disaster real team racing now takes the lead in pro-am and early in the race they were last what a topsy-turvy race it has been in lmp2 as we get set to go full course yellow everybody down to 60 kilometers an hour to allow the high-class car to be rescued and a final rush into the pitch for the number seven toyota i would team they would box but then also we can raise our target because we won't we can the race will be shorter so we can raise our target do you think if they go ahead or not yeah i think and that is exactly what has happened in the pits jose maria lopez and now the number seven car has the fuel it needs to get to the end but it's lost track position to its teammates number eight leads number seven there'll be around 25 minutes of green flag racing for number seven to take the lead and win this race full course yellow removed full course yellow removed will the gloves come off can number seven overcome the 10-second advantage of the number eight cup at the head of lmp2 there's a tough battle between teammates shaping up as well tom blondquist ahead of antonio felix acosta they're 1-2 for jota and these the cars that collided in the first lap jose maria lopez all over the back of sebastian buemi toyota number seven has got the pace that 10 second gap has evaporated but now they've got to force their way through if they are allowed all contact there between the jota cars change of lead in lmp2 he's ahead oh my god down at the hairpin antonio felix de costa on the inside of tom blonde quest and a tiniest touch as he rubs his way past yeah and davidson [Music] [Laughter] team boss david clark it's been a worrying race for him final lap of the eight hours of portugal round two of the fia world endurance championship the chequered flag awaits toyota looking for a one-two result in their 100th race and they have earned it across the finish line the chequered flag is out for sebastian buemi victorious for the second time this season with teammates kazuki nakajima and brendan hartley ahead of the sister number seven car [Music] a remarkably close fort one two for jota and frantonio felix de costa a first ever win in portugal [Applause] wait ferrari finished one two in tte pro alessandro pierre greedy and james collado breaking a long winless streak and there was a ferrari win in the gte am class as well chester their first victory in world championship racing toyota's 100th world championship race ends it in a one-two with alpine valiantly challenging all the way through and taking the final podium spot a of course a first and second in a race where porsche were utterly outclassed and the ferraris lead the manufacturers table too because of the length of the race there are points and a half for all categories here in portugal and that's going to make a big difference the pro-am race was a tough one in the end real team coming out on top to claim their first world endurance victory [Applause] [Music] what an emotional day for antonio felix de costa that's cool excellent job a first ever win in his home country thank you man yeah you guys did awesome yeah that's not easy doing that in a hot car so that was impressive so yeah we got this one down a little bit and we'll get it better but you know in the end i was pretty comfortable yeah so yeah you know we're going step by step it's not that we're ignoring it no no no yeah yeah but thanks so much for everything and we'll see you soon yeah all right yeah james dickenhouse's dream has become a reality the first step on the road to le mans has been taken the next is at monza [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: FIAWEC

Views: 16,543

Rating: 4.9622641 out of 5

Keywords: fiawec, wec, fia wec, endurance, world endurance championship, racing

Id: kO0otW53N9w

Length: 52min 25sec (3145 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 30 2021