Brendon Hartley has gone off the road from the race lead! Oh my gosh! He almost flips the car! I thought he was on his lid! The Porsche gets up on it's side and Hartley, is devastated. Game over. He committed too far into the corner and the GT class Porsche had no clue he was there. Rules stipulate a 25% increase in vent holes to keep the car from flipping. Tohyota pits and we see issues for the #8 Audi R18. Lucas di Grassi is recycling the system, just like rebooting a computer. The #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR in LM GTE Pro, driven by three British pilots, including Michael Wainwright, Adam Carroll, and Ben Barker.
We are under full course yellow. You can pit any time you like. Freeze the field, with no need for a safety car. Maybe they'll switch to a safety car. Freeze the field at 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles an hour), on the road, and the pit lane speed is 60 kilometers per hour (37.5 miles per hour). Meanwhile, more concerns for Audi. A mechanic is handling the hybrid, to make sure there is no electricity turned on. There was a huge puff of white smoke, and Lucas di Grassi knew he had to get out of it. It's a miracle, when we see a replay of the Porsche wreck, that the 919 Hybrid didn't turn turtle.
Mechanics with the fire extinguisher gets to the Audi, and, boom! Fire. The mechanic arrives, and then, out comes the flame. One Audi now remains in the race. Game over for Benoit Treluyer. The technology in this series is fantastic. They are very sophisticated. The Porsche uses two MGU motor generator units. Mike Wainwright says Ben Barker, is OK, and so is Brendon Hartley. Everyone makes mistakes. We are still under the 50 mile per hour full course yellow speed limit as the #8 Audi is being worked on. The virtual safety car idea, works well. Use the brakes under yellow, and driving against the brake pedal, to generate tire temperature.
Race Director Edoardo Freitas, makes teams aware of what will happen before we go back to green. Will Stevens did well in Formula 1, but now, he's venturing into GT and prototype sports car racing. Like computers, these cars, do what you tell them, not necessarily what you want them to do. We are coming up on two and a half hours into this race. We are back underway. Marc Lieb has taken over the #2 Porsche. One bullet in each gun for Audi and Porsche, and Lieb door slams a Rebellion. Porsche and Audi 1-2. Lieb and Benoit Treluyer, with the two Toyota's going for it. Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima are in the Toyota's.
Lieb was pinchd by the Rebellion, and so, the Audi came by. This track has undergone a lot of changes. This track is owned by the British Racing Driver's Club. The British midlands is a hub of motorsport, in England. Unlike the Porsche, the Audi and Toyota have only one motor generator unit. It's very different to be using the battery system, for Audi and Toyota after they came from their respective flywheel and super capacitor systems. The #4 CLM of Simon Trummer struggles and so does the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette C-7-R- with Yutaka Yamagishi at the controls. The SMP entry is the BR01 Nissan. It's a Russian funded team.
Next year, LMP2 will change drastically, with four confirmed chassis's and a choice of engines in the U.S. but with Nissan power in Europe and the rest of the world. LMP2 will become aspec category more or less. With these yellow flags, the fuel strategy will be equalized. We watch Richard Bradley, Kiril Ladygin, and Bruno Senna, trying to catch Danny Watts, who is the class leader. Stephane Sarrazin is fourth overall in the #6 Toyota TS050. Kazuki Nakajima runs third behind Benoit Treluyer and Marc Lieb. The #26 G Drive Racing car is in the hands of Rene Rast, sharing with Roman Rusinov and Nathaniel Berthon.
Ooh! The G Drive car is off and on, into Stowe corner. Bruno Senna in the #43 car is passed by Rast in car #26. Rene Rast kept booking it and made it stick. Bulldozer time, eh? Yikes! Marc Lieb is closing on the Audi right now. They cannot take chances, because there's only one Porsche left. Efficiency is the key with the hybrid cars. Danny Watts leads LMP2 in the #42 Strakka Racing machine. Danny Watts continues to be chased by Rene Rast. One open cockpit Gibson vs. a closed cockpit Oreca.
They have changed, to Oreca chassis' from Ligier chassis'. Marc Lieb is not letting Benoit Treluyer escape. We are approaching the halfway point in this race, at three hours. Benoit Treluyer is told to stay in the car at the next stop. Audi does not want to put third driver, Marcel Fassler, in yet. One Porsche and one Audi remain, running 1-2. Again, Toyota's run third and fourth. SignaTech Alpine and Baxi DC Alpine, run together. Two different teams. One of the cars has a problem. These are both Alpine A460's with Nissan 4.5 liter V8's. David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung, and Nelson Panciatici share the Baxi car. The Signatech machine has Gustavo Menezes, Nicolas Lapierre, and Stephane Richelmi.
In the lane, is #35, for a tire change. It was only a puncture. You cannot spin the tires as you exit pit lane, for safety reasons. One of the Manor entries is in the garage. #44, the Le Mans entry, with Will Stevens, Tor Graves, and James Jakes. Stevens is a FAormula 1 veteran, and Jakes, an IndyCar veteran. Ed Brown in one of the ESM cars runs off the road. It is the #30 of Ed Brown, Scott Sharp, and Johannes van Overbeek. The sister car #31 is shared by Pipo Derani, Ryan Dalziel, and Chris Cumming. We are now at the end of the third hour, and halfway, through this motor race, ladies and gentlemen.
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