Anthony Davidson serves a penalty for Toyota. Porsche and AF Corse continue to battle in LM GTE Pro. We see the #2 Toyota, in the garage. A fraught time for the team. We watch Marco Seefried in the #77 Porsche, and Patrick Dempsey can be very happy with his stint, after only being here at Mount Fuji for the first time. As the weather changes, we can almost see Mount Fuji in the background of the track. The track is drying out quickly. Mike Conway is still in the #2 Toyota. They may not be out of this thing yet. Conway looks to be getting ready to take the car back out on track.
#2 is off the dollies and back on the track. In LM GTE Am, the leader in class, pits. We watch the battle between Andre Lotterer and Brendon Hartley. Hartley is having boost issues. They are down on torque (down on energy from the battery). Hmmm. Hartley won't be able to take advantage and make a move on the Audi. #47 is in the lane. Nick Tandy is out of the car. His team mate, takes over the car. Not sure which co-driver it is. Brendon Hartley in the #17 Porsche gets a run on Andre Lotterer and makes it stick. Marc Lieb leads over Brendon Hartley and Andre Lotterer.
Julien Canal leads LMP2 and Matthew Howson has taken over the #47 machine. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR is understeering, and Patrick Pilet is going for it. He needs to cool his tires. It could be possible to switch to slick tires. But, this idea will be a gamble more than anything else. There is rain in the air. Pilet has the pace to pass the AF Corse Ferrari? Does he have the room to pass Toni Vilander? This is the battle for the LM GTE Pro lead! Pilet is going for it! Into Panasonic bend, th Ferrari has thr steam out of the corner. There's nothing between them.
Pilet tries to pass, and he almost does! He's on the wet line, and Vilander makes the move! Yikes! Two different lines. It was like a slot car track! Both Audi's are now in the lane. Pardon me. Only the #7. Pilet goes inside Vilander, and he was out on the paint. Pilet is now leading LM GTE Pro, giving Porsche a lead in three of the four classes. They do not have a car in LMP2. But, they did, years ago, with the RS Spyder.
Toyota is pitting, as the track is drying. The ESM cars are running well, and the #77 Proton team car is running well. These teams have American drivers, obviously. Toni Vilander is falling behind in LM GTE Pro a bit. #17 sets fastest lap so far. Not sure of the lap time to be exact. Andre Lotterer is running in the 1:43 and 1:44 range. Marc Lieb pulls off the fastest second and third sector times in the 1:33 bracket. Lotterer loses third to his team mate, Lucas di Grassi. Lotterer goes offline and almost off the road.
Rolling the dice on car #7 has not worked yet. It could be pit stop time for the #17 Porsche. Brendon Hartley asking for another set of intermediate Michelin tires. There is a new set of intermediate tires at the ready for the Porsche. Oh dear. Audi is under investigation by the stewards, for one of their early pit stops. In and out, for Porsche. No tires. Fuel only. No time to change tires and keep the lead. #18 is now in the lane, too. Serviced and sent... Marc Lieb. No tires for #17. Audi #7 is back in for intermediate tires.
There's no way #7 will be able to challenge for a podium spot. Trouble for the #31 ESM car in the hands of Jon Fogarty. Fogarty is beached. Full course yellow. He cannot reverse back onto the road from the apex of the corner. Pit stop time for one of the Ferrari's, as we are ready to go back to green again. The track is green, according to Edoardo Freitas. Porsche cannot deploy the entirety of their hybrid energy. This has been an issue in the past. The internal combustion engine has been fantastic. But, the hybrid power, is a concern.
Don't put too much pressure on the driveshaft. They could also be traction limited. Aston Martin #99 spins with Alex MacDowall at the wheel. Audi will have to change back to intermediate tires, as Lucas di Grassi puts in fast lap on old intermediates at 1:32.2. di Grassi is as close as he's been to car #17 with Marc Lieb at the wheel. Andre Lotterer can run identical lap times to di Grassi. A dark cloud sits over the track, and has not moved. Slight rain will fall for the next fifteen minutes. Fred Makowiecki now leads LM GTE Pro over Gianmaria Bruni.
Brendon Hartley lowers best lap to 1:31.938. The track here at Mount Fuji continues to dry. Nelson Panciatici brings the #36 car into the lane, and stays in the car. Fuel, but no tires. Julien Canal is now past that car. Luis Felipe "Pepe" Derani is running well, and Mike Conway in the #2 Toyota is also moving up. A wide, dry line is beginning to appear on the road here at Mount Fuji. The drying race course is going to put a lot of pressure on everyone, as we are close to ending the fourth hour of this race.
The Porsche's are down on speed, it seems. It is wet. So the speeds are down. But, 297 kilometers an hour is a lot less than 314 kilometers an hour during practice. For comparison, that's 185 miles an hour, vs 196 miles an hour. An eleven mile an hour (17 kilometer per hour), difference. This race has not completely dried out yet. Rather, the track has not dried out. The LMP1 lap record is a 1:26.2. These guys are five seconds off of that. Lucas di Grassi still runs in the 1:33 bracket in the Audi. Andre Lotterer is setting good lap times. But, Brendon Hartley has a 1:19.6 fastest first sector time.
Slick tires for the #83 Ferrari 458 Italia. Gianmaria Bruni leads in LM GTE Pro at the moment, with Fred Makowiecki second in class.
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