We are at half distance, and now, under full course yellow. This may be the first time we've had a full course yellow in darkness in a six hour event. It's expected, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But, not in a six hour event. The good news is that a good chunk of the damaged Toyota, has been cleared up. Mike Conway is OK. But, there's been a lot of debris around after the crash. Audi hits the pit lane. It is car #7, with Marcel Fassler at the controls. Mark Webber did overshoot his pit box. The World Endurance Championship, might be a great place for Formula One refugees.
No radio countdown before the latest full course yellow. Hmmm. Edoardo Freitas usually gives the countdown. Stand by, for green flag racing. Green. Go! We watched the battle between David Heinemeier-Hanson and one of the other LMP2 contenders. Stop/go penalty for the #1 Toyota. Anthony Davidson, gets a penalty for dangerous driving entering pit lane. He got slightly off the road. Sebastien Buemi, don't get out of the car. The #77 Porsche puts a lap on the #50 Corvette and the #88 Porsche. It's a stop/go penalty, for the #1 Toyota.
The #8 Audi has also had a pit stop infraction. It is for a dropped tire in pit lane... losing control of the tire. Loic Duval is in the #8 Audi. We now have a little over the same time distance of an IMSA race, left, in this one. We are awaiting word on Mike Conway's condition after his wreck. Track temperature, has dropped somewhat. Porsche's continue to lead, as Loic Duval, pits for a penalty, in the Audi. Loic Duval drops to fourth and has had the sting taken out of his tail as it were. Timo Bernhard leads by a good margin.
Class leaders at this juncture are:
LMP1: #17 Porsche Team
LMP2: #26 G-Drive Racing
LM GTE Pro: #92 Porsche Team Manthey
LM GTE Am: #77 Dempsey - Proton Racing
Make no mistake. These two Porsche teams are going to want to beat each other. Jonny Kane spins the Strakka Prototype and continues. Someone is going to get pinged for an infraction, pretty soon, it seems. Marcel Fassler runs a 1:53 flat. So, he is slower than the Porsche's. The Rebellion's run nose to tail. Both factory Porsche's are running the quickest laps in LM GTE Pro, in the 2:05 bracket. This is now the stage of the race, where teams begin to back time it.
You want your best driver at the wheel, in the final stages. It's Timo Bernhard vs. Neel Jani in the Porsche fight. The #30 ESM LMP2 racer is pitting, for a routine stop. The #47 KCMG car also pits. LMP2 pit stops continue. Porsche is the only team that uses two different systems for electricity harvesting for their hybrid design. Could BMW run a fully electric race car? The A.C.O. are resisting the idea.
Loic Duval made another scheduled pit stop, for two tires. The #17 Porsche has been penalized. The bloke assisting the driver and cleaning the windshield, caused the team to be under investigation, via video, of the pit stop. The Ferrari's do not have lights that flash. To "flash" them, you have to turn them on and off. The lighting regulations have to conform to road car regulations, and that wouldn't. Pit stop time for Porsche again. The leader is in, (#17). They will incur a short penalty for working on the car while refueling. That's a no no.
Neel Jani leads the race in the sister #18 Porsche, and he now pits. Timo Bernhard still remains second. But, he needs to make a scheduled stop. More new tires for car #18. Have they gone through all their sets? Not sure. Timo Bernhard retakes the overall lead. Well, maybe. Marcel Fassler is now only 26 seconds behind. Now, Pedro Lamy has been nicked for a pit lane infrigement in the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Porsche has to go back to scrubbed tires. Timo Bernhard will pit soon as Loic Duval runs fastest lap of that car's race at 1:47.215. 1:47.436 for Porsche. Alexey Basov pits the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari. A drive through penalty for the #1 Toyota. Pierre Kaffer has spun the #4 CLM prototype. Kaffer has to be drained, after also running the Tudor Championship race, and this race. Again, Timo Bernhard, now leads this race, overall.
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