Le Mans Series, Estoril - Race - Final Two Hours

Hughes's pace in the RLR car is as quick as anything in P2 at the moment, certainly quicker than Firth who is now into the 1:40s, GTE pace.  Hirschi had lost some ground too, seemingly with a spin, he is now 90 seconds down on Ebbesvik.

Kimber-Smith is in the 1:34s but has the best part of two laps to make up on the leader.  54 seconds is the gap to Firth and TDS, which would at least give them a podium to stand on and celebrate their championship win yesterday.

Walker is stil only a second behind Lieb, first and second in GTE Pro.  In GT Am IMSA lead by a lap from Quaife's CRS Ferrari. 

1:47 to go and Hirschi pits, promoting the struggling TDS, now running at a far more competitive pace and also Greaves.  It is a long stop for Race Performance.

1:41 to go, Jousse now leads by 29 seconds but Bellichi is holding his pace for now.

Kimber-Smith pits and third at least looks strong for Greaves because the Race Performance car lost five minutes in the pits with replacement of the rear wing and diffuser.

1:31 to go and Walker is now close enough to Lieb to be contemplating a pass.

Ebbesvik finally hands the car over to Kraihamer, who shows his gratitude with the car's fastest lap, a 1:33.076.  This puts Firth temporarily in the lead of P2, until he pits with 1:22 to go.  TDS are now on the same number of stops as Greaves, Kimber-Smith being now only 20 seconds behind.  Frey is now two laps further down for Race Performance.

1:19 to go, Jousse pits, Walker tries to draft in behind #12 down the straight as it laps the GTE Pro duellers.  Lieb holds the gap at around 1/3rd of a second.

Fuel only for Jousse, he is out just 47 seconds later.  Is Tinseau just to be an accessory this weekend?

Again Walker has a think about ducking out behind Lieb on the straight as this time Jani blasts past, the gap now only a tenth.

Next time round and something large and black flies up behind Lieb and slams off the front of Walker's Ferrari on the start finish straight.  No damage done.

Jousse's lead is now 69 seconds as Walker gets baulked by having to allow some prototypes through and Lieb pulls half a second away.

Kimber-Smith is about to take third from Firth.

Lieb pits, Walker through to the lead.

86 second stop for #77, Walker is in next lap.

Bell comes out from the pits 4 seconds ahead of Lietz, barring problems they should be able to run to the finish now.  84 second stop, a good in lap from Walker.

Kimber-Smith pits from third when he was just seconds away from second place and the stop seems a little early. 

Bell has managed to put three GTE cars between him and Lietz, allowing him to double his lead to seven seconds in just his second flying lap.

Kimber-Smith rejoins after a 4:25 stop, third looks the best result now, but looks safe as #40 is in the pits again.

FINAL HOUR

Kimber-Smith hasn't given up on second after all, with a 1:32.611.  An electrical problem was to blame for his last stop.

Boullion is gaining on Jousse, four seconds in the last lap, now down to 50 seconds.

Bell is in the sweet spot too, as is Lietz, 9 seconds apart and in the low 1:40s. 

Lietz is now starting to reel Bell back in as he hits a 1:40.1 to Bell's 1:40.7, there is no traffic between them.

50 minutes to go.

Jousse is being troubled by Danny Watts and his pace has tumbled to the high 1:30s, now back to a 1:33 but J-CB is in the 31 so the gap is now just 32 seconds.

Bell's lead is now just 4.5 seconds, has he pushed the Dunlops too hard too soon on this very abrasive surface?  He is in the same track space as Tor Graves in Neil Garner's FLM, lapping at similar speeds but this may be affecting his clear progress.

Jousse pits from the lead, losing it to Boullion.  A 1:13 stop.  Jousse does the fastest final sector of the race on his out-lap, then the fastest first and second sectors for the car next time round.

New tyres and a light fuel load, Boullion pits next time round with 40 minutes to go.

Jousse does a 1:30.733 so this is now a 38 minute sprint race, Boullion 1.8 seconds behind. 

Bell's lead is only three seconds now.

Rosier is in the mid 1:35s in #44, gaining on #40 by four or five seconds a lap on Race Performance, 28 seconds up the road, fourth in class.

36 minutes to go

Kraihamer pits from the P2 lead, no dramas.

26 to go - Firth pits from second in the TDS Oreca, quick splash and dash.

Rosier has now caught Frey. 

Your writer is pacing from the windows on one side of the press room to those on the other to follow the lead battle (7 seconds); Bell and Lietz (3.2 seconds) and Rosier /Frey, but the pace difference between the latter pair sees Rosier through in the Norma and into fourth place in P2, sixth overall.

#76 pits from third in GTE Pro, new tyres are fitted and Pilet gets straight back to work, Vilander is only 32 seconds behind him. 

Pilet does a 1:39.563, Porsche on the rise as Lietz makes the most of traffic to get within a second, then the Norma gets between them and Lietz loses another four tenths.

A stop for #40.

Pilet is just up the road from Bell, 2 laps down.

Lietz is on Bell's tail, but again a P2, this time Strakka, dives between them into the first turn, costing Lietz another 8/10ths.

Jousse passes this excellent two hour long GTE scrap with 16 minutes to go as he starts his 214th lap with a 15 second lead.

Final ten minutes.  #41 has a very quick fuel stop and rejoins third in P2.

Pilet's lead is now 40 seconds over Vilander.  Jousse's lead overall is nearly 20 seconds.  A masterpiece of planning by Pescarolo.

0.8 seconds is the gap to back to Lietz from Bell and that is the only fight to watch, but it is superb. 

Boullion slow and pits.  Possibly ran out of fuel? He makes it back just before Bell and Lietz bear down on him, splash of fuel and away. No, it was a puncture.

2 minutes left, Lietz now only 0.3 down.

Boutsen Energy suffer a fire on the penultimate lap and off into the gravel and they won't take the flag.  Not sure if it was a crash and then a fire, or a fire and off into the gravel for Kraihamer to escape.

Pescarolo wins a brilliantly masterminded victory.  TDS wins a rather disjointed affair in P2, Greaves and Extreme Limite will form the podium as Kraihmaer is  greyed out on the timing screen with "DNQ" next to him.  This may mean that TDS leap from sixth in the championship to finish second by virtue of two wins to Boutsen Energy's none...  Actually it appears that Strakka might take second in the championship despite a very distant sixth.

GTE Pro was a real highlight thanks to JMW and Felbermayr-Proton's simply brilliant drivers.   Bell clinched it by a tenth of a second in the end.

So despite the tight and narrow nature of the track this was one of the cleanest sportscar races for years and although the numbers were low, the intensity of the fighting was as high as you could wish for.  Were it not for the early problems for #12 this could have been an incredible three-way fight, as it was, thanks to both #13 and #16 collecting cautions for passing under yellow, they managed to bring the fight all the way to the end when it appeared that Pescarolo's somewhat risky strategy was in fact a mark of genius.

In GTE Bell, Lietz, Walker and Lieb were placed under the highest pressure for the entire final two hours and this was a battle that everyone in the press room enjoyed.

A great way to round off the season.

PS