Again, a mix of snow and rain, greeted the drivers, at Silverstone. Fox Sport's Calvin Fish, almost raced in the snow, in a Formula 3 race in 1984, at Silverstone, racing with V8 Supercars veteran, Paul Radisich. Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima, have 113 Formula 1 starts between them. Toyota has to be pumped about having a competitive car to try and beat Audi and Porsche this year, with their new twin turbo V6 motor. Race Director Edoardo Freitas told teams to make their drivers aware of tire temperature, in a restart situation, as we watch that wicked shunt between Mike Wainwright and Brendon Hartley.
G Drive is in the lane, with some issues. The leader is in. Audi, in the lane. Benoit Treluyer will stay behind the wheel. Marcel Fassler will not get into the car just yet. The team also seems to be double stinting tires. Nope. They'll change tires, and away he goes. Toyota, in the lane. Back time the race, now. Porsche now leads. Kazuki Nakajima, will stay in the car. Benoit Treluyer back on track, with Marc Lieb, in the lead. We are looking for the sister car to Davide Rigon, and it's Gianmaria Bruni. These are the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE's #51 and #71 respectively. We will look for Marc Lieb in pit lane, soon.
Gianmaria Bruni is sharing a Ferrari with Brit, James Calado, and he's made up quite a bit of time. Porsche, is now, in the lane. They have a fuel advantage right now. However, they may need an extra stop. Oh dear. The right rear tire is down, on the Toyota. He's got a cut tire, and is riding the rim into the lane. Well, he's into Maggots/Becketts. This is a long lap, and he has to watch out that the tire does not shred and damage bodywork. The #2 Porsche is turned looose, but the Audi makes the pass. Marc Lieb resumes second, behind th Audi. Romain Dumas, is now at the wheel of the Porsche, pardon me.
We are now under a safety car as Kazuki Nakajima still limps the Toyota around, with a continually shredding tire. Carbon fiber and Kevlar are everywhere. The safety car closes the gaps. Billy Johnson and Marino Franchitti, are third and fourth in LM GTE Pro. Today, Ford could get on the podium. They will have huge competition at Le Mans. Ford will race Ferrari, Corvette, and Porsche. They are also racing in the WeatherTech Championship at Long Beach. Stay tuned, for a race report, on the Long Beach event, later on.
We are under the safety car, and looking at a slow motion replay, the Porsche handles bumps better than the Audi. Audi and Toyota have fully new cars. The Porsche, is an evolution of the 919. It's odd that Audi has kept the R18 moniker, on a new car. Thankfully, they are not calling it the R18 eTron Quattro. That's a mouthful. Audi is running the six megajoule class, because of the heavier diesel engine. They can have more power, but, the batteries etc. and all the onboard equipment on the motor, makes the car heavier.
We are back to green, and the track and ambient temperatures, have gone up. Traffic is a factor as Dumas runs deep, trying to pass Treluyer around the Rebellion machine. Audi has a faster lap time than the Porsche. 1:40.4 compared to 1:40.5 for the Porsche. Romain Dumas will put the car anyplace to make the pass. Marcel Fassler, has yet to run in the Audi. Kazuki Nakajima climbs out of the Toyota. Could it be game over for them? They've had that tire issue. The #13 car is fourth with Matteo Tuscher at the controls. The Alpine cars are locked together.
The Alpine cars are built by Oreca,, and Hughes de Chaunac, a very successful company in sports cars. Pippo Derani will drive the last part of the race for ESM. Remember, he's proven how fast he's been, winning the big endurance races in the U.S. already this year, at Daytona and Sebring. Matteo Tuscher is leading Nick Heidfeld as far as the Rebellion team is concerned. The #5 Toyota is still in the garage. One Audi, one Porsche, and one Toyota, at the front of this field. Benoit Treluyer, gets squeezed. The noises are so different with the cars. At high speed, with the Audi, years ago, you could hear wind noise, and not the engine.
The speed these cars carry through fast corners, are amazing, and these things have to be an absolute blast to drive. Mark Webber has won in Formula 1 at Silverstone. Webber wants to win in a sports car at Silverstone. But, that won't happen today. Audi continues to lead. Treluyer leads Dumas and Sarrazin. In the last two hours and nineteen minutes, we should see three more pit stops. The Audi slides through a corner. Big correction! The Ford's are running well, but they are a half second down on the Ferrari 488. The game is changing indeed.
Contact did puncture the tire on the Toyota. Two hours and 15 minutes to go. The next ten minutes will tell if Audi will be OK on three more stops before this race ends, chaps. Marino Franchitti is currently at the wheel of the #67 Ford GT. Harry Tincknell will finish the race. James Calado is running well in the Ferrari 488 GTE. Sam Bird, is driving the #71 Ferrari. These cars look fantastic. The 458 Italia, was a great car. But, the new car, has more downforce and more power. What a great car. The AF Corse GTE Am car, is a normally aspirated 458 Italia.
Ryan Dalziel in the ESM Tequila Patron Ligier Nissan is running pretty well. The Audi and the Porsche are the cars on the lead lap at the moment. We are coming close to the end of the fourth hour. Drama! Romain Dumas has gone off and on, and he got tagged by the #67 of Marino Franchitti. The stewards are looking at Marino Franchitti violating a safety car procedure. Marcel Fassler will finish this race for Audi, and Neel Jani, will finish, for Porsche. Audi will need only three more stops. Porsche vs. another Ford. Billy Johnson is in car #66, the sister Ford GT.
Romain Dumas has to take risks. The Porsche won't have one less pit stop, compared to Audi. It looks like the Porsche and the Ford did make contact. Romain Dumas may have checked up. Fifteen seconds is the gap between the two leaders. These guys need to stay sharp, and do race with other teams, maybe in the U.S. Brad Kettler stays on, with Audi, with Lena Gade, about to depart the team, a little later on. We will see these cars at Spa Francorchamps, next month. Stay tuned, for more details on that race, at the end of this race report.
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