How is it that eight hours have gone by since I observed, with some astonishment, that eight hours had already gone by & that sixteen hours still remained? Sixteen hours have now passed since the race started, seventeen hours since I started watching the pre-race festivities. This is such a long, strange day, that paradoxically passes so very quickly.
G.T.E. Pro.
During the night, the Porsches seemed invincible, resisted only by the № 51 Ferrari 488 Evo of A.F. Corsa, Ferrari's quasi works program. By this, time, though, the № 63 Corvette has worked its way back into second, though a Porsche still leads & the Ferrari lurks in fourth. One difficulty facing Corvette Racing is that they run only two cars. The № 64 crashed out dramatically in the early hours, leaving the № 63 to carry on alone. By contrast, both Porsche & Ford came to Le Mans with four cars running in G.T.E. Pro., with both marques running two-car squads in the full World Endurance Championship (W.E.C.) & the North American I.M.S.A. SportsCar Series. Against those eight, plus the two Ferraris, the two B.M.W.s, & the two Aston Martins stood two, now only one, Corvettes.
L.M.P.1
The Toyota hybrids continue to rule in P.1, but the Rebellion privateer is keeping them honest.
G.T.E. Am.
In G.T.E. Am., the privateer Ford is a lap ahead of the second-place running Ferrari, & is even running ahead of the most woebegone G.T.E. Pro. runners.
L.M.P.2
The race, through the whole of these sixteen hours, has been between the № 36 Oreca of G-Drive (branded as an Aurus) & the № 26 of Signatech (branded as an Alpine). Behind them are three more Oreca 07s before we come to the first JSP217; all the P.2 cars have the same V8 engines, so the biggest difference comes down to chassis, & the Oreca 07 is consistently the class of the class.
Hypercar
Not for the next W.E.C. season, 2019-2020 (running from Silverstone in September 'til Le Mans next June), but for 2020-2021, the current L.M.P.1 spec. is to be replaced by a new specification referred to as "Hypercar." Hypercars may be purpose-build prototypes or derived from road cars. The spec. was announced on Friday, with Toyota & Aston Martin committing to the inaugural 2020-2021 season. It is not yet known how many other manufacturers & privateers will jump in, nor what exactly will happen with the super popular P.2 class (there are twenty P.2s running at this year's Le Mans). But let's shelve further speculation 'til after (a) this race & (b) some sleep.
Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans!
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