The Rebellion will be recovered, in a slow zone, in zone number one. We are prepping for GT pit stops. The #91 and #92 LM GTE Pro Porsche 911 RSR's pit, and now, Aston Martin, takes over the class lead. Viktor Shaitar pits, and we look for James Calado to do likewise. Andrea Bertolini and Alexsey Basov, share the #72 SMP Ferrari 458 Italia, with Shaitar. Ooh. Jonny Kane slides off into the gravel trap on th final corner. He's behind Nelson Panciatici, Ryan Dalziel, and Oliver Webb. We're an hour and six minutes into this race, with Marc Lieb leading Marcel Fassler and Loic Duval. Porsche, Audi, Audi.
Anthony Davidson goes off the road and will get a warning for that. The battle heats up between Porsche and Audi. The Porsche tries to follow, and is using an LMP2 car as a pick. Audi's have the legs through the twisty bits, and Porsche has the oomph on the straights. More traffic ahead. Mark Webber follows Loic Duval. Webber has enough in hand over one of the Audi's. The #77 Proton Dempsey Porsche pits. Patrick Long hands over to team owner, Patrick Dempsey.
Pedro Lamy pits the Aston Martin, too. Both Rebellion LMP1 cars, are out. Game over for that team. We missed the start of this race. But, Neel Jani, took off, hitting the afterburner button, and he was into the lead. Audi was trying to keep themselves honest. But, Porsche has had the upper hand, thus far. Problems early on for the #97 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, too. Earl Bamber in one of the LM GTE Pro Porsche's also got spun by an Aston Martin. We saw the AF Corse Ferrari have problems, too.
Dempsey Proton and Patrick Long, led LM GTE Am. We go back to live pictures if you are watching on Fox Sports. Marc Lieb still leads this race. Lieb is in traffic. Mark Webber is running faster. Porsche factory drivers lead every class right now, including Nick Tandy. Patrick Dempsey is third in class right now. Marc Lieb has taken over car #18 from Neel Jani. Audi has been having temperature trouble/cooling issues. Audi's have been trying to pull out of line, because of the general cooling issues on their big diesel V6 engines.
It's a scorcher at the Nurburgring. Earl Bamber leads LM GTE Am. He is racing for Abu Dhabi Proton. Bamber will race in the VLN here at the Nurburgring, with a Porsche Cayman GT4, too. Whoops. Nick Tandy has spun in the #47 KCMG LMP2 car. But, he is back on track. Earl Bamber is slated to pit the Porsche 911 RSR soon. But, the Rebellion team is continuing to have a dreadful race, despite the cars having new livery.
Mark Webber is leading Francois Perrodo in one of the Ferrari's. We are nearly an hour and a half into this race. Audi 1-2. Porsche 3-4. Toyota 5-6. Marc Lieb and Mark Webber lead, running 1-2. Audi's drivers lead the championship. The points are really shuffled, and it looks like Audi will have the driver championship leader after this race. A complicated day, to be sure. Richard Lietz leads Davide Rigon, and Patrick Pilet, in LM GTE Pro. Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche.
Roald Goethe in the #96 Aston Martin gets the black and white flag, for exceeding track limits. This could result in a penalty. These guys are involved in battles for real spots, but, the lead cars also have to thread their way through. Loic Duval and Marcel Fassler, in the Audi's are racing nose to tail. We've had one full course yellow, and a brief slow zone. Some of these blokes are fast enough on track, they could race each other with supermarket trolleys and it would be fun. What's a supermarket trolley? A shopping cart.
Marcel Fassler passes Alex Wurz in one of the Toyota's. Toyota has had a learning year this year. It's not been one to forget. But, they just aren't in the same league as Porsche or Audi. Drama for the leader. A tech infringement for the #18 Porsche, an hour and a half into this race. There had to be a pit stop issue, or, something at the start of the race. Too many people over the pit lane line? Maybe. Yours truly, is scratching an itch, for more than one reason. What have the Porsche team been penalized for?
There's action for Porsche, and in the Audi pits. Francois Perrodo was squeezed by the #30 ESM Ligier Honda of Scott Sharp. Brendon Hartley will take over the #17 Porsche, when Mark Webber comes in. Marc Lieb gets a five second stop and go penalty. The penalty is for excessive fuel consumption, according to race director, Edoardo Freitas. That's the first time yours truly can remember such a penalty being applied. He's in the pits, now. This has to be done separately. Mark Webber is going to take over the race lead.
It will be close! Webber is going to take it. No? No. They will fight for position. They touch! Lieb hip checks Webber off the road! Ouch! If you touch, according to the Porsche bosses, you are in big, big trouble. They run through the Mercedes Arena section, and Marc Lieb may not have seen Webber. He's not there. He's not there. Oops. He's there. Ke-thunk. The leader has two pit stops, if you are following the timing and scoring.
The fuel is measured on a three lap basis, and the teams havee a new fuel measurement unit. The top three in LM GTE Am are covered only by 15 seconds. Brendon Hartley has taken over the #17 Porsche 919 from Mark Webber. Andre Lotterer has taken over the #7 Audi R18 eTron Quattro. The #47 and #36 LMP2 cars have pitted. KCMG still leads in LMP2. Jonny Kane pits the Strakka Racing LMP2 car. Danny Watts will take over the car. The #26 G Drive Ligier JS P2 takes over the lead, with Roman Rusinov at the controls. The #8 Audi also pits.
It's going to be a battle between Audi and Porsche. The early infringements of the race, are being meted out. It's the car that gets the penalty, and not necessarily, the driver in it. Brendon Hartley chases Marc Lieb. Alexander Wurz in the Toyota is being scored second. But that isn't true. ESM pits their Ligier Honda. Marc Lieb could lose second spot to Andre Lotterer. He won't lose second. But, the Audi will be close. We have over four hours left to race. Romain Rusinov leads LMP2, but is being caught by the #47 car, now in the hands of Matt Howson.
Gustavo Yacaman is also closing in the #28 Ligier. Lucas di Grassi is also trying to find a way past Marc Lieb. Lucas di Grassi is the fastest bloke in the top four spots. di Grassi is at the wheel of Audi #8. Ooh. All four wheels off for Marc Lieb! Romain Dumas takes over the car. But, Lib had a close call with the Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- driven by Gianluca Roda. Now, Brendon Hartley has taken over the race lead. Nico Prost is at the wheel of the #12 Rebellion. But the team has been having a really fraught race.
Danny Watts is trying to pass Scott Sharp for sixth in LMP2. There is an engine battle and a chassis battle here. Honda vs. Nissan, and Ligier vs. Gibson. Danny Watts is still chasing, Scott Sharp. When we get to the end of this lap, Watts will look to maintain the pressure.
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